Battle of Nagakute 1584 Game Report

Over the past few weeks, I have been making some dice trays and mountainous-looking terrain, with the aim of getting my Samurai armies onto the tabletop for a game. I have decided to try a slightly modified version of the Arrowstorm rules, part of the "You Command" Series of rules by Daniel Mersey and on Wargames Vault.

The rules being used with some house rules for managing Sonae as units.

I have used the Arrowstorm rules before for some Hundred Years War games, and I have always thought they could work quite well for Samurai battles. There were a couple of things in particular that made them appealing for this use.

The first is the limited number of actions available to units. This naturally encourages units to operate in groups, which fits quite nicely with Sendoku period combined-arms formations (Sonae). For my house rules, a Sonae is treated as a single group consisting of Arquebusiers, Ashigaru and Samurai, with the three elements remaining together throughout the game.

The second is the tactics chart and limited number of orders. These provide some interesting choices during a turn, while also allowing units to be ordered more than once. I like this combination of limited choices and the ability to give units additional orders, as it provides more player decisions especially when all your units (Sonae) are essentially the same.

I made my own tactics chart so my Samurai messengers (Tsukai-ban) could fit and used as tokens.

I did make one house rule change to the combat rule. In the original rules, I found combat to be a little too advantageous for the attacker, as the attacking unit rolls for hits first and removes casualties before the defender gets a chance to respond. Instead any Ashigaru in the defending Sonae roll first, with casualties being removed from the attacking unit before the attacking Samurai and Ashigaru get to roll for their hits. Finally, any remaining Samurai defenders roll for their hits. This seems to even things up a bit.

This house rule is intended to reflect the role of the Ashigaru, particularly those armed with spears and longer weapons, in absorbing and holding off the initial attack before the Samurai became involved in the fighting.

A game underway using a mix of miniatures I have collected over the years. Most of the models are from Minifig S-Range, but there are some Dixon models, 25mm Minifig Samurai, and even some plastic 1:72 scale (which work best with the S-Range).

For the first game, I wanted something relatively simple, so I had a look through "The Samurai: A Military History" by S.R. Turnbull, and I found a useful diagram of the Battle of Nagakute, 1584. 

The battle was part of the Komaki Campaign, where a series of battles were fought between the forces of Hashiba Hideyoshi and those of Oda Nobukatsu and Tokugawa Ieyasu. The Battle of Nagakute ended in a convincing victory for Ieyasu.

A battle map from "The Samurai: A Military History".

Battle Setup

The game uses a hex grid with each Sonae consists of seven bases: two Missile bases, two Ashigaru bases, two Samurai bases and a commander base. 

Dice trays containing 3 dice are used to track the strength of each Sonae. Black dice represent the Arquebus and bow troops and start with 2 pips, white dice represent the Ashigaru with 3 pips, and red dice represent the Samurai with 5 pips. When the overall army commander is attached to a Sonae, the Samurai receive an additional pip, giving them a starting strength of 6.

These starting strengths are based on the equivalent unit strengths used in Arrowstorm for bows, spears and men-at-arms units.

The tabletop can end up looking a bit messy when two units move into the same hex as an enemy unit so they can engage in combat. The combined 14 bases do not fit in a hex. Fortunately, this does not matter, provided the commander's base and the dice tray are in the correct hex. Any remaining bases are simply positioned around or near the hex as neatly as possible.

For the game, initiative was diced for, with Ikeda winning the initiative. On the tabletop, Ieyasu's forces are represented by the red army, while Ikeda's forces are represented by the blue army.

The battle setup on the tabletop.

Battle Report

The battle opened with Ikeda's right wing advancing and engaging Li Naomasa. Ikeda's forces gradually gained the upper hand as additional Sonae from both forces were fed into the battle. Oda Nobuo moved up from Ieyasu's left reserve, while one of Ikeda's Sonae joined from the centre reserve.

The battle begins on Ikeda's right wing.

More Sonae move up to engage as Ikeda's forces gain the upper hand. (I should have painted the backs of the mountains!)

As more Sonae moved up to join the battle, the fighting gradually shifted towards the centre. Ikeda's right and centre continued to hold the advantage, while Ieyasu with his Sonae on the right flank eventually joined the fighting in the centre hoping his presence would help to turn the tide. Despite these reinforcements, the momentum still remained firmly with Ikeda's army. 

Ieyasu and his Sonae join the fighting in the centre.

Things are looking pretty bleak for Ieyasu.

In a final attempt to change the course of the battle, Ieyasu committed his last remaining Sonae to the fight. By this stage, his forces were heavily outnumbered, but they fought on bravely against the odds. In the end, however, numbers told. Ieyasu's Sonae was finally routed, and Ieyasu himself narrowly escaped being killed in the fighting.

All Ieyasu's Sonae are committed to battle.

The sound of musket shots,

Echo beneath the mountain tops.

The brave stand and banners fall,

While dice and fate decides it all.

Wrap up

A convincing win for Ikeda and a complete reversal of history!

The Arrowstorm rules create some interesting decisions throughout the game, particularly when picking the four orders on the tactics chart and having to trade-off between movement and combat. On more than one occasion one side or the other wasted a battle order as there were no units to battle.

When a Sonae has lost its Arquebus strength, it needs to close quickly with the enemy. Else, it risks having its remaining strength gradually whittled away by enemy shooting. 

The special tactics also add to the decision-making, as some tactics improve movement, combat or shooting, and they need to be used at the right moment to maximise their effect.

One of the things I particularly liked was being able to treat the Sonae as combined-arms units, with Arquebusiers, Ashigaru and Samurai all operating together. This seemed to work well on the tabletop and is the way I want my Samurai armies to operate.

The house rules all seemed to work well, with the changes to combat reducing the alpha strike effect and making it important to retain some of a Sonae's Ashigaru strength to help against combat attacks.

I now plan to carry on using these modified rules in a few One-Hour Wargames scenarios and see how they play out.

Making some dice trays to track unit strengths

I am currently playing around with some hex-based rules for my Sengoku period samurai armies, and one of the things I needed to do is keep track of each Sonae-sized unit's strength. I do this using three dice, with each die representing one of the three elements of the Sonae: arquebuses, Ashigaru armed with Yari and pikes and Samurai.

I have been using 12mm dice in different colours to track these strengths, and I soon found they were quite fiddly and easily knocked out of position when moving units around the tabletop.

Messing around with some Sendoku period rules.

There was definitely a need for some sort of dice tray. My initial thought was to make them from MDF, but I felt that they might end up being a little too bulky as well as fiddly to make. In the end I opted to make them from cardboard, the type you get from cereal packets, which proved to be to be a neat and tidy option.

The dice trays in use.

The base of each tray is cut from cardboard, measuring one and a half inches by half an inch, with an additional quarter of an inch on each side to form the walls. These dimensions work well for 12mm dice. Once cut out, the sides are bent upwards and strips of masking tape are used to hold the corners together.

The tray measurements are drawn on the cardboard and cut out.

The sides are bent upwards and strips of masking tape are used to hold the corners together. Masking tape proved to be easier than sticky tape as it can be repositioned if you attach it crooked.

All the trays prepared and tested with the dice.

Once all the trays have been assembled, they are glued to another piece of cardboard. This adds some strength to the tray base and also makes the remaining painting and flocking stages easier.

The trays are then given a coat of PVA glue. This does cause the cardboard sides to warp slightly, but once the glue has dried it is easy enough to bend them back into shape.

Once the glue is dry, the trays are painted green to match the bases of my armies, then a second coat of PVA glue is applied.

The trays are glued to another sheet of cardboard and given and overall coat of PVA glue.

The trays are given a coat of paint and once dry a second coat of PVA glue.

The final step is to glue flock to the sides of the trays. This serves two purposes. It ties the look of the trays in with the unit bases, while also adding some additional strength to the sides. Once the flock is in place and the glue dry, another coat of PVA glue is applied to seal it and hold everything securely in place.

After all the glue has dried, the individual trays can be carefully cut away from the cardboard they were mounted on.

Flock is added to the tray sides and sealed with a final coat of PVA glue.

The trays are cut away from the cardboard they are mounded on.

Having now used the trays in a couple of games, they have turned out to be a simple and cheap solution. The dice fit quite snugly inside the trays, but can still be easily lifted out, rotated to show a different face and placed back in position. On the occasions a tray gets knocked over, which has happened once, the dice remained in the tray.

The next post will likely be about one of the recent Samurai games.

The trays in action. It can get quite congested in a hex when two units melee.

Scratch building some mountains for my Samurai games

I am always impressed by the screen paintings of Samurai battles. Many of them depict armies fighting in mountainous terrain. So I thought it was time to have a go at making some mountains for the tabletop.

A scene from one of the screens I always enjoy looking at again and again.

I decided to use upholstery foam to make the mountains. It is a firm foam that can be shaped with a large, sharp knife, and for this job I used my sharpest carving knife. I cut out two identical pieces of foam, or as close to identical as possible, then placed them back to back and began carving them into shape.

The foam is carved using a large sharp knife.

Once I was happy with the shape, it was time to start painting. I use a household acrylic paint. I have a tin of green paint which I use for my basing and other terrain pieces so I have a consistent colour tone to my tabletop. When painting the foam I occasionally dipped my brush in water just to help make the paint flow better when using a scrubbing motion with my old brush.

Before the paint was dry, and it does take a long time to dry when applied to the foam, I added some brown paint which I blended in with the green. Finally, I used a sand coloured paint to lighten up areas, again blending it in with the brown and green.

A completed mountain.

Once the paint has dried, you can dry-brush a lighter sand colour over the surface to highlight any raised areas if you wish. I decided not to do this, as I was happy with the overall effect as it stood.

The mountain can be used as a single large feature, or the two pieces can be separated and positioned along the edge of the tabletop.

The two halves of the mountain.

The mountain was looking a little barren, so I decided some vegetation was needed. The simplest approach was to take some cocktail sticks, push them into the foam and hang pieces of lichen from them to represent vegetation.

Cocktail sticks are pushed into the foam at different angles.

Lichen is hung off the sticks.

A game in progress using the mountain along the table edge.

This is not the first time I have used upholstery foam for terrain. I have previously used it to make English Civil War fortifications and hills for my Sci-Fi games. As I still have some foam left over, I plan to make another two mountains.

One of the benefits of using foam for terrain features is it is light weight, pretty much unbreakable, and easy to store away (generally thrown on top of cupboards or shelving units).

Rematch of the Battle of the Tombs (Dōmyōji - 1615)

This battle report covers my second game of the Battle of the Tombs (Dōmyōji - 1615) remotely hosted by Jon of Palouse Wargaming Journal. In our first game from a few weeks ago (battle report found here) I commanded the Tokugawa forces, who were the historical victors. This time, we were switching sides and I would be leading the Osaka army.

If you've been following Jon's blog, you will know he has hosted this game several times with different wargamers. With the exception of one recent game, the Tokugawa army has been victorious every time. They do begin with the advantage of having an extra cavalry unit, and cavalry can be particularly powerful in these rules.

The game's objective is to reduce your opponent's army resolve, which can be achieved by:

• Destroying enemy units.
• Successfully pursuing after combat.
• Killing enemy leaders.

Additional resolve points can also be gained at the end of the game by controlling the tombs, making them potentially decisive in a closely fought battle.

The Rules

The game uses Jon's Samurai adaptation of the Basic Impetus rules. A few key features of the rules are worth noting:

• Successful charges, followed by pursuit, can wreak havoc on an army's battle line.
• Manoeuvring units is difficult and slow unless they are advancing or falling back (and disorganised units cannot fall back)
• The first activation is determined by a dice roll, while subsequent clan activations are decided by drawing coloured dice from a bag. Winning the initial activation can provide valuable attacking opportunities.
• Even when defending, you need to be prepared to counterattack and make full use of a unit's impetus bonus when charging.

The Plan

With these rule features in mind, my plan for the Osaka army was to refuse my right flank, withdrawing it slightly while repositioning my lone cavalry unit towards the centre, where it could hopefully launch a decisive counterattack. On the left flank, I intended to attack quickly in an attempt to disrupt the Tokugawa centre.

The starting positions with my planned opening moves in solid red arrows, and counter attacks in dotted red arrows. The original photo is from Jon's briefing pack. 

So, did the plan work?

Battle Report

Following a general advance by Jon's Tokugawa forces, I stuck to my plan and launched an attack with the Osaka left flank. The results were mixed. A Samurai unit was driven back after a bloody clash, but this opened the way for an Ashigaru unit to charge forward. They destroyed an enemy unit and successfully pursued twice before becoming isolated behind the enemy line, at which point they were swiftly cut down by the Tokugawa cavalry. 

Meanwhile, on my right flank, my lone cavalry unit continued its slow redeployment towards the centre.

The Tokugawa army advances and Osaka launches an attack from its left flank.

A unit of Teppo near the right-hand tombs inflicted damage on its Tokugawa counterpart, only to be charged and destroyed by Jon's second cavalry unit.

The Tokugawa army mops up the Osaka attacks.

After the initial charges on my left flank, Jon successfully reorganised his army and resumed an ordered advance. In the centre, I formed a defensive line. While Tokugawa's cavalry completed their destruction of my Samurai on the left flank. From that point on, my only real option there was to harass nearby enemy units with my archers positioned near the left-hand tomb.

A controlled retirement by Osaka units while archers harassed the enemy on the left flank. 

I was feeling a little bit apprehensive at this point in the game with my left flank all but lost. Although my right flank was still intact and my cavalry were yet to be committed.

Having initially fallen back, my right flank finally saw an opportunity to launch a counterattack (my only opportunity to attack). A unit of foot Samurai charged and destroyed one enemy unit and then drove back an Ashigaru unit. Unfortunately they were unable to follow up and finish the job. In the centre the Tokugawa continued to advance forcing back some of my units.

Tokugawa forces push forward in the centre and on their right flank with their cavalry.

My centre was now the focus and after initially giving ground they charged, lead by the cavalry, they forced back the Tokugawa line. Although one of my Ashigaru units was forced to retreat during the fighting. On the right, the foot Samurai charged again, this time destroying the remaining Tokugawa unit on that flank. 

The Tokugawa cavalry, having pursued so aggressively after destroying my Samurai, found themselves isolated and unable to influence the battle while they regrouped and turned back towards the fighting.

Tokugawa cavalry continue their pursuit, while the Osaka centre and right flank attack.

Sensing an opportunity, my centre attacked once more. This second assault destroyed another Ashigaru unit and drove back the remaining Tokugawa cavalry. These accumulated losses were enough to break the Tokugawa army's resolve, handing victory to the Osaka forces.

A final charge by the remaining Osaka units breaks the Tokugawa army resolve.

After game thoughts...

As much as I would like to say that everything went to plan, fortune certainly played its part in Osaka's victory. I won the initiative more often than Jon, allowing me to launch several timely counterattacks. Just as importantly, there were at least three occasions during the game when I rolled exceptionally well, resulting in Tokugawa units being either destroyed or badly mauled. By contrast, I cannot recall Jon enjoying the same run of good fortune. While the plan gave me opportunities, fate and the dice undoubtedly smiled on the Osaka army this time.

Here is a short poem of the battle. I did seek assistance from ChatGPT to help write this...

Beside the silent ancient tombs,

Where honour is echoed in the bones,

Banners met in clash and cry,

As arrows and smoke darkened the sky.

The battle swayed from hope to fear,

Each charge drew victory ever near.

The Tokugawa's strength gave way,

As Osaka seized the closing day.

The tombs looked on, unmoved by fame,

They cared not who would win the game.

For dust returns to dust once more—

Yet honour lives through battle's lore.

Next…

My next post will be a battle report from my Battle of Britain campaign. I opted to write about this game first as I have more notes on the Battle of Britain game to help me recall the events.

Remote game report and some board game fun

A few face-to-face board games and a remote wargame over the past week has meant I done very well on the gaming side of the hobby.

I will start with the remote game against Jon from Palouse Wargaming Journal. The scenario was the Battle of Domyoji, 1615, focusing on the fighting among the tombs between the Osaka and Tokugawa armies. I chose to command the Tokugawa army for no particular reason other than the tabletop photograph in Jon's briefing notes was taken from the Tokugawa side of the table, making it much easier to orient myself.

A photograph from Jon's briefing notes. The layout is based upon a scenario from Samurai Battles game.

For the game we used Jon's modified version of the Basic Impetus rules, which have been adapted for the Sengoku period and played on a hex grid. I had played these rules with Jon a couple of years ago and remembered two key things about the rules:

1. Turning (or pivoting) units is a very slow business and also causes unit disruption.
2. Charges can have dramatic consequences. A defeated unit that retires can be pursued, and if it is forced to retreat two hexes (representing a rout), it turns to face away from the victorious unit, leaving it in a very vulnerable position (especially with point 1).

Victory points would be awarded for controlling a tomb area without enemy units nearby, while each army also had an army break point—12 for Osaka and 15 for Tokugawa. Points were lost for any destroyed units, killed leaders, and successful enemy pursuits. In addition, after Turn 8 the Osaka army could score victory points by exiting units from its own table edge. This meant the Tokugawa army had little choice but to close with the enemy quickly and prevent Osaka from slipping away.

Battle Report

With the need to engage the Osaka army quickly, the Tokugawa line pushed forward on both flanks during the opening turn, advancing around both tombs in an attempt to bring the enemy to battle early before they could begin withdrawing.

Turn 1 - The Tokugawa army advances.

The second turn began exceptionally well for the Tokugawa army. On the left flank, Masamune led a determined assault that, with his cavalry, routed the opposing units through a series of successful combats and pursuits. In the process, the Osaka commander Kitigawa was killed. This all dealt a significant blow to the enemy resolve. Off the back of this success, the Tokugawa cavalry moved around the tombs and woodland to threaten the rear of the Osaka army.

Elsewhere, however, the battle proved far more problematic. The centre and right continued their advance but made little headway. The Osaka forces responded with a series of well-timed counter-attacks that left many of the Tokugawa centre and right flank units scattered as they were forced to retire.

Turn 2 - The Tokugawa centre and right flank are under pressure.

By the third turn, the victorious left flank was regrouping and manoeuvring into position for a flank attack. Meanwhile, the situation in the centre and on the right had become increasingly desperate as more units retired or fled. As the units attempted to rally, Tadamasa led his samurai cavalry in a charge to slow the Osaka advance. The attack inflicted some welcome damage on the enemy, but the cavalry were soon met and checked by the Osaka samurai cavalry.

Turn 3 - Cavalry to the rescue.

Turn four proved decisive. The Tokugawa left flank continued its advance, increasing the threat on the Osaka flank. When an Osaka cavalry charge was repulsed, Tadamasa immediately launched a successful pursuit. The cumulative losses finally pushed the Osaka army beyond its break point, shattering its resolve and bringing the battle to a close and a Tokugawa victory.

Turn 4 - A decisive pursuit cause the Osaka army to break.

Game Summary

The game took around two hours to finish and was most enjoyable to play. Even though the game only had four turns, the turns are broken up by drawing different coloured dice to randomly determine the order of activation of the battle groups (Sonae).

Victory points were awarded for controlling the tomb hexes. In the end, each side held one tomb, so these points effectively cancelled each other out, leaving the result to be decided by losses inflicted on the opposing army.

The cavalry proved to be the decisive throughout the battle. The Tokugawa horse dominated the left flank early on, creating the opportunity to threaten the Osaka rear. Later, Tadamasa's timely charges in the centre helped stabilise a collapsing centre and right flank. Without Tadamasa's successful attacks, Jon's counter-attack could easily have routed several more Tokugawa units and swung the battle in Osaka's favour.

Thank you to Jon for hosting a fun and exciting game. We hope to play this battle again, this time switching sides.

Board Games

A week earlier, my daughter visited for a day of gaming, and we managed to fit in three different board games. We started with the co-operative game Zombicide, where, despite being chased by the undead, our entire team managed to get all their objectives and escape alive.

Setting up Zombicide game.

I have painted up all the figures that come with the game.

Our second game was another co-operative game called The Captain is Dead. This is becoming one of our favourites. In the game you play as the crew of a spaceship under attack by aliens. The objective is to repair the ship's critical systems and get the ship's drive back online before being overwhelmed by aliens and failing systems. We played two games, with one victory and one defeat.

This game was a Christmas Present.

There is quite a lot to set up in the game.

We finished the day with a game of Space Hulk. I was commanding the Space Marines and I  unfortunately failed to complete the mission. I really should get around to painting the miniatures that come with the game.

Space Hulk game in progress.

A wonderful day spent with my daughter. My next post will cover my painting progress on the Zulu and British infantry units.

Battle of Sekigahara Boardgame

To take a break from my mech campaign, I decided to try something different and purchased a print-and-play game from Wargame Vault. This was my first time picking up one of these games, and with limited wargaming options on hand until we move into our house, I figured it was worth trying one out.

The game I chose was “Battle of Sekigahara Game” by The Historical Game Company and Blue Panther LLC. I was intrigued by this game because uses event cards to determine the number of moves and attacks each player can make during their turn, along with special events that affect play. The events can range from combat or movement benefits, to major shifts in the battle like an allied clan switching sides.

The rules are straightforward and fit easily onto four pages. The only thing that tripped me up in my first game was remembering the defensive fire phase, where the opponent can shoot with missile units (arquebus and bow) right after movement and before the combat phase. I found the card mechanics with their events work well when playing solo adding a level of uncertainty.

A recent print and play purchase

After purchasing and downloading the game, the next step was printing. Since I don’t have access to a printer and needing the map on A3 paper (approximately 11 x 17 inches) I decided to go with an online printing service. The process proved to be quite simple: I just uploaded the rules, counters, cards, and map, and for each selected the paper size and quality. For example I had the map printed on their highest quality paper so it will be more durable. The printing arrived two business days later, not long to wait.

Once the printouts arrived, I glued the counters onto card stock using a glue stick, then lined up and stuck on the counter backs. Finally once the glue was fully dry I cut them out. As for the cards, they came on one sheet of paper with the faces on one side and the backs on the other which all lined up nicely. These I covered with clear contact plastic, front and back, before cutting them out. This gave the cards some extra thickness along with durability. There are no pictures of this process as it is quite tricky putting the contact plastic on, one mistake and it all turns to custard.

The printed front and back of the counters are glued to a piece of card and cut out.

The completed cards. The printed cards came on one sheet of paper with the faces on one side and the backs on the other which all lined up nicely. These were covered with clear contact plastic, then cut out.

So far, I have managed to play one game, where the Eastern Army under Tokugawa Ieyasu quickly defeated the Western Army under Ishida Mitsunari. Although the game ended up being a one-sided affair, probably due to my erratic tactics, I will definitely be playing some more games in over the next few weeks as a change from my mech games. One feature of the game I liked is each army has two clans on their flanks that are unreliable and may switch allegiances during the game, as directed by the event cards.

The game setup ready to play.

End of the game with an Eastern Army win.

Looking ahead I am curious if parts of the game’s rules might be adapted for my samurai tabletop games. Something I would like to try once the house is finally set up. The ship with our goods has left Melbourne and with travel and customs it is looking like it we will be in around mid-December, which feels like it’s still a ways off. Although things are progressing, yesterday I was preparing and undercoating the room where I will be setting up my table and models.

Remote Samurai Game

A day or so ago, I had the pleasure of hosting and playing a remote samurai game with Jon from Palouse Wargaming Journal. It had been quite some time since my last remote game, as other non-wargaming activities had been keeping me busy.

Early stages of the game

My remote gaming setup is quite basic, consisting of a mobile phone running the remote meeting and a camera attached to an extendable tripod. Generally, this works well since I limit the tabletop playable area to either 5x4 feet or 4x4 feet. This setup allows the tripod and mobile phone to cover the entire table from a set position, giving the remote player a good view. 

For the samurai game, I used a 6x4 foot area, which required occasionally moving the tripod so Jon, the remote player, could see all the action. As the game progressed and the armies closed in, the need to reposition the tripod was less. However, the tripod is not always stable when the mobile is extended up quite high to get more of a top down view, and there were a couple of times where the tripod toppled over, causing Jon to experience a virtual "face-plant" on the tabletop. Despite these hiccups, the larger table was manageable.

A cheap tripod and mobile are used for hosting remote games.

The game takes place during the Sengoku period, featuring a clash between two hypothetical clans. The Shinku (Crimson) clan had been relentlessly besieging a castle allied with the Ao (Blue) clan. In response, the Ao clan dispatched a relief force, which has secretly marched overnight and used the early morning fog to surprise the Shinku forces. As the fog lifted, both armies found themselves face to face, ready for battle.

The order of battle:

Shinku (Crimson) clan

• 1 x Mounted Samurai (Hotomoto) with Daimyo
• 2 x Foot Samurai units
• 4 x Ashigaru units
• 3 x Tsukai-ban
• 1 x Command tent

Ao (Blue) clan

• 1 x Mounted Samurai (Hotomoto) with Daimyo
• 1 x Mounted Samurai unit
• 2 x Foot Samurai units
• 4 x Ashigaru units
• 2 x Tsukai-ban

While the Ao clan outnumbers the Shinku clan, the overnight march left them poorly organised for battle. This disarray is reflected in their having fewer Tsukai-ban (messengers) and no command tent, resulting in a reduced chance of their units rolling for multiple actions when activated. Additionally, the absence of a command tent means their Tsukai-ban cannot be reassigned to other units.

Deployment

The Shinku clan must deploy all their units within the red zone. The Ao clan will deploy after the Shinku clan and can place units anywhere in the blue zone.

Map of the tabletop showing deployment zones.

Game Length and Turn Order

The Ao clan player always goes first in each turn. The game lasts until one army is reduced to two units.

Victory Conditions

Reduce the opposing army to two or less units.

Game Report

The Ao clan positioned their samurai on each flank, with their Ashigaru in the center and their mounted samurai and Hatamoto held in reserve behind the centre. The Shinku forces, on the other hand, formed two battle lines placed their Ashigaru in the front line and kept their all their samurai and Hatamoto units in a reserve line.

Opening moves of the battle with Ao samurai units advancing on the flanks.

Battle Report

The battle commenced with the Ashigaru units of both armies advancing towards each other. They were soon engaged in an exchange of arquebus fire. While the Ao samurai on the flanks advanced, entering the wooded area on their right and the hills on their left. 

Despite effective shooting by the Shinku forces, the Ao samurai on the flanks proved to be a real handful and threat. Their aggressive advances had disrupted the Shinku battle lines, forcing them on the defensive and causing one of their units to rout.

The Shinku are forced to retreat from the woods.

As the battle progressed, the Ao attack intensified, putting significant pressure on the Shinku army. In response, the Shinku forces advanced their samurai and Hatamoto units to counter the threat from the Ao flanks. Their Ashigaru in the centre continued to performed well, successfully routing part of the Ao centre. This forced the Ao clan to advance their mounted samurai and Hatamoto earlier than planned to maintain pressure on the Shinku centre.

The Shinku respond to the Ao samurai attack from the hill.

The Ao Hatomoto are engaged early plugging the gap in the centre.

The Shinku army having endured the Ao army’s attack, and despite suffering significant casualties, began a counter attack led by their Ashigaru. The Ao army having exhausted its strike force of samurai from their earlier assaults, were forced onto the defensive, and were eventually forced to retire from the field of battle.

A turning point in the battle as the Shinku forces reorganise to counter attack.

The Ao army having been reduced to two units retires from the field of battle.

Summary

Congratulations to Jon for his hard-fought win. The Shinku army did initially struggle with the Ao flank attacks by their samurai units, but were able to withstand them. In the centre their Ashigaru were effective, guided by the Tsukai-ban, and they wore down the Ao units with their shooting. This meant the Ao Ashigaru failed to inflict sufficient damage with their shooting for their mounted samurai and Hatamoto to launch an effective assault in the centre. A most enjoyable game.

For the game, we used my home-brew samurai rules. There are a few areas of wording I need to clarify and tidy up for my next game. The activations and use of Tsukai-ban seemed to function as the rules intended. Alas, there were no personal challenges during the game. I suspect we both forgot about that rule.