Sengoku - The Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima

Possibly one of the most famous rivalries that developed during the Sengoku - the Warring States - period of Japanese history was that between two acquisitively ambitious leaders: Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. From his home 'province' of Kai, Shengen had been campaigning northwards to take over the large, strategic province of Shinano. North of Shinano, lay the province of Echigo. Its daimyo, Kenshin, the Dragon of Echigo as he was known, had been campaigning southward into the territory of the Hojo clan.

Opening phase: the fog has lifted, and Takeda's vanguard
sees hordes of Kenshin's army approaching fast.

Determined once and for all to bring Kenshin to a decisive battle, Shingen marched north into the valley of Kawanakajima, which, if conquered, would point the way into the heart of Echigo. The local diamyo, in their distress, appealed to Kenshin for help, help that Kenshin was eager to provide. The armies met close by the Chikuma River, but then ensued a period of waiting for the other to make a move...

The occasion for this project began with Andrew Barclay's invitation for a couple of Commands & Colours Samurai Battles down at the club. A win each over two games: honours shared. But I think we got a few things wrong. I certainly discovered afterwards that during the second game I might have ditched two useless 'Dragon Cards', each for two  'Honour & Fortune' tokens. On the other hand, I could not complain  of the two occasions in that game in which a decisive stroke I had attempted were kiboshed by Andy's playing a Dragon Card to turn aside the blow. He won that one...

At any rate, Andy suggested I hang on to his C&CSB set, that I might familiarise myself with the whole game system. But of course, I wasn't going to pass up the chance to try out some battles with my own Samurai figures, using the Portable Wargames system. There being five scenarios arising from the Fourth Battle of Kawanakajima, that seemed to be a suitable project.

I think it appropriate, though, to sketch an overall map of the situation, that the scenarios may be placed in some kind of context. 

Kenshin on Mount Saigo and Shingen around Kaizu Castle facing off, the latter seems to have been about to call the whole campaign off, when one of his most trusted commanders suggested an operation that would spring a surprise, drive Kenshin off his mountain and across the Chikuma River, and into the force Shingen would have waiting in the plain.  'Operation Woodpecker' he called this plan.

Somehow getting wind of the move as a fog descended over the valley, Kenshin abandoned the mountain, crossed the river and marched northwards, towards where Shingen was waiting. Apart from a small rearguard covering the river crossings, Kenshin took his whole army, and was about to attack Shingen's 8000-strong blocking force with perhaps 12-13,000 of his own... (It is not clear whether Kenshin anticipated meeting any of Takeda's troops in the plain, or that he might have been as surprised as Shingen himself when the fog lifted...)

Takeda Nobushiga takes the fight to the enemy

Takeda Nobushiga, Shingen's younger brother, and commanding the vanguard of Shingen's force, was shocked as the fog lifted to find the whole army of Uesugi Kenshin bearing down on him. Shingen had adopted a 'Crane's Wing' formation, in which the leading ranks comprised missile troops - ashigaru bowmen and arquebusiers - protected by spearmen. Heavier troops, including the samurai, formed wings echelonned back on both flanks. In response to the sudden opening of the curtain of fog, Kenshin adopted a 'WindingWheel' formation. This, to my mind, has a look of a column uncoiling to a flank, to form a left wing 'en potence' and an oblique order forming to the centre and right. Quite whether this was planned ahead of time, or was a decision hastily formed in the face of the sudden appearance of the enemy, is hard to determine.

An approximation of the Uesugi 'Winding Wheel' 
versus the Takeda 'Crane Wing' formation as usually depicted.
The latter's vanguard would have comprised a considerable
proportion of  bow and arquebus armed troops.

Before continuing with the battle narrative, let us look at Nobushiga's command, and the leading Uesugi forces they are facing.

Takeda Army Vanguard:

1 unit Samurai Yari (spears) = 4SP
1 unit Samurai Yumi (bows) =4SP
5 units Ashigaru Yari @3SP = 15SP
3 units Ashigaru Yumi @2SP = 6SP

1 unit Ashigaru Tepo (shot) = 2SP
Commander Takeda Nobushiga in the middle of the front rank ashigaru
1 subordinate commander with the Samurai Yari in the left rear group.

Totals: 11 units and 2 commanders. Activation Dice: 3 
Strength Points: 31, exhaustion point -11; rout point, -16.

Uesugi opens the ball, and will you look at that activation roll!
Halved to 7, that's 7 units out of 11 can do something. 

Uesugi Army Vanguard:

2 unit Mounted Samurai Yari @3SP = 6SP
2 units Foot Samurai Yari @4SP = 8SP
5 units Ashigaru Yari @3SP = 15SP
2 units Ashigaru Yumi @2SP = 4SP
Commanders:
Horotsuna (foot)  and Kageie (mounted)

Totals: 11 units and 2 commanders. Activation Dice: 3
Strength Points: 33, exhaustion point -11; rout point, -17.

In these battles, I allowed activation dice for all the commanders, plus each whole multiple of 6 units. On reflection I ought to have allocated activation dice for the commanders only. For the rest, I followed the Portable Sengoku Wargames conventions....

For his part, Takeda Nobushiga in his turn took the fight to his enemy, in (I guess) true samurai fashion. Perhaps it were better had he pulled back his front line towards his rearward groups of Samurai, for it was to become plain as time went by the Samurai weren't coming to him.

The upshot was that in the close quarter fighting that ensued, Nobushiga met an honourable demise, fighting with his ashigaru bodyguard against foot and mounted samurai. The loss of one of their two commanders deprived the Takeda army of an activation die. So, down to two dice, what did they do? 

Rolled 6-5 - eleven halved to 5. Five units could do something! Badly depleted as they were they might have pulled back, but the temptation with firearm troops is to let them stand to blaze away in their own turn without immediate reply. Battered as they were, they were handing out a few licks of their own.

That '4' behind the ashigaru tepo unit has been 
knocked - it should read '2'.

Apart from the loss of their commander, that leading line had lost nine SP out of the seventeen they began with. The whole line was buckling as it was pushed back. Surely the collapse had to come before the rearward Takeda samurai were engaged?

Hereabouts, the embattled ashigaru were proving amazingly resilient, being driven back rather than killed off. One ashigaru yumi unit had been eliminated very early in the action; the rest were hanging on by a thread.

So far, the Uesugi activation rolls had been very respectable, and all but two units had, one way or another, inserted themselves into the action. The army could still draw on 3 activation dice - having lost no units nor commanders. And then they rolled this...

Uesugi 'win' the initiative this turn - and promptly
roll trip-ones on the activation dice. 

What's half of three, truncated? One. One unit could be activated. One might imagine the chagrin of the local commander upon finding the bulk of command taking a five-minute tea break!  Especially as his adversaries had the cheek to roll double-six on their next activation roll!

But, for Takeda's army, it was all to no avail. Held by a unit each of ashigaru yari and tepo, the Takeda centre was driven in and overrun, as the Uesugi split the enemy into two blocks. As they enveloped the inner flank of the Takeda right wing, and bore down upon the left, the remnants at last broke and fled. Having lost 16 out of their original 31 Strength Points, Takeda's leading line had reached their 'rout point'.

There was no immediate pursuit: the victorious first line of Uesugi's army were exhausted by the hard fighting they had undergone. Thirteen SPs they had lost - two in that last turn. But such was the virtue of the 'Winding Wheel' formation, that Uesugi had fresh troops to feed in to exploit on the Takeda's second line.

... To be continued...