War of Imperial Succession - The Grand Duchy Invades...

The commander of Ursaminor's 3rd Column, General Ulf Eriksson, was not one as a rule to wait upon events. The town before him was occupied by the enemy; cast out they must be. Upon arrival before its north face, 3rd Column at once deployed: the uhlans and artillery upon the ridge beside the north road; Norrbotten infantry astride the road itself.
 

The commander of Podolia Infantry in the town was not slow to respond to the arrival of hostile forces. The infantry marched in line out of the town to face the Ursaminor infantry. Having the greater numbers (32-24 in the firing line), the M'yasma infantry were confident of an easy victory. To be sure, they got considerably the better of the firefight - 9 Ursaminor figures laid low to just the 5 from M'yasma (the shooting was very good from both sides).  But the infantry of both refused to buckle under the heavy losses. What led to the infantry firefight being broken off were events elsewhere.

Uhlan vs Cossack

The M'yasma light horse proved reluctant to try conclusions with the uhlans on the ridge. Partly they were discouraged by the slope - partly by the artillery rapidly deploying beside the Ursaminor horse. Their practice was immediately on target, the cossacks lost 3 of their figures. That was enough for the uhlans.  Down the slope they came, fell upon the cossacks, and into a wild melee. The uhlans got the better of the close quarter fight, too, but at a heavy cost. 

The fearsome fighting between such small forces might well have led to both breaking off and fleeing north and south. The dice you see are the morale, or reaction, rolls: Cossacks and Norrbotten infantry rolling '1's, Podolia Infantry a '2' and the uhlans '4'. My first thought was that at least two units would flee, one fall back, and the uhlans might go one way or the other. I had forgotten my own rule set! Low rolls, I (re)discovered are what you want for reaction - and the three lowest scores meant the units remained unfazed by their losses. It transpired that the uhlans - just - were also in good heart. 

All the same, General Eriksson pulled back his horse and foot, and redirected his gunfire upon Podolia infantry. Rather than wheel to take on the guns at short range, the M'yasma infantry, still quite in hand, in good order fell back upon the town. The embattled cavalry were also inclined to call it quits, the uhlans returning to the elevated ground, the cossacks to the river side of the east road.

The decision by Podolia infantry not to carry on the fight was possibly due to the arrival of the Ursaminor 4th Column - a regiment of dragoons, the Vastmanland Infantry regiment and the battalion of Jonkoping Jager. As they advanced deployed into the field, Butyrski Infantry were still filing through the streets of Hardbitten town, before deploying into line along the west face. 

The long range fire fight that soon developed as Butyrski deployed was more equal than the earlier had been, with the jager in skirmish order, advancing along the river bank adding their popping musketry to the Vastmanland heavier volleys.  This was to cause Marshal Bychovski some concern - enough to alter his river crossing programme and bring across the cavalry in order to vacate the south bank west of the town for his own light infantry. 

Before the 1st Jager were in any position to lend help, Butyrski Infantry were just barely holding on against the combined firepower of the two enemy units. They had also to concern themselves about the Kronoberg Dragoons off to the north flank of their immediate adversaries. The loss of the colonel, felled by a musket ball, decided the regiment upon a withdrawal into the town, where at least they would have the cover of the houses and walls, and would be safe from the enemy dragoons.

All this while, the Ursaminor artillery pounded the Podolia infantry, which had pulled back into the town and were lining the north face.

Meanwhile, the M'yasma troops were still pouring across the bridge, through the town and out along the east road. No threat had yet developed along that way. The hope was that before any such development, enough force could be gathered betimes that the column to the north might be swept aside. As it transpired, this was not to be. 

When the M'yasma jager deployed along the far bank of the river, their Ursaminor counterparts very soon disengaged from their firefight with Butyrski, which unit had withdrawn into the cover of the town. To keep up the pressure, Vastmanland infantry formed into an assault column and flung themselves upon the suburb of the town that projected itself like a bastion along the west road. Though this sector was peopled by the Butyrski grenadier company, they failed to stop the importunate Ursaminorians breaking into the place and putting most of them to the sword.  

It was not quite enough. Though getting much the better of the encounter, the Ursaminor infantry were unable to push further into the town, and, as the enemy remained unbroken and still full of fight, deemed it meet that they withdraw from the place. That pretty much ended matters - at least for the time being - in this sector of the field. 

This left the eastern flank of the field. Immediately upon emerging from the town's eastern exit, Galicia infantry deployed in line to face the ridgeline. Behind them the Chevalier Garde were marching to take up a position upon their right flank. Such a development seemed promising, but was spoiled by the discovery of  more Ursaminor troops - two infantry regiments - marching up and alongside the road.

Malakhov Cossacks having recovered from their earlier encounter, was at once dispatched to engage the enemy on the road. There the way passing through a forest formed a defile, and awkward place for the cavalry to fight. Not a simple matter for infantry, either, but the lead company were grenadiers. Emptying many a saddle before contact, they deprived more mounts of their riders in the close quarter scramble. The cossacks soon routed away with losses heavy enough to put paid to anything that might be further expected of them in this battle. The grenadiers of Sodermanland Infantry lost hardly a man (i.e. zero figures).

For their part, the Uppsala Uhlans hoped at least to match their morning's partial success and charged the approaching Galicia infantry. The latter had already taken some loss from the Ursaminor artillery. How the M'yasma troops wished their own guns across the river, but they had been deployed on the south bank to cover the low lying ground between the town and the outlying farm along the east road. They never did find a satisfactory target.

But the Galicia troops had no need of their artillery. Calmly awaiting their assailants, they delivered a blistering volley, before sending the uhlan remnants back up the hill.

So far it had not been a good day for the cavalry when facing foot. So what might have been expected from the charge of the elite Chevalier Garde against the Ostergotland Infantry lined up between the forest and the marsh? It was a disaster. Even firing at a longer than desirable range, the accurate Ursaminor shooting staggered the cuirassiers - 4 figures lost.  In the melee the horsemen inflicted 5 'hits', but took 9(!). Resolved into casualties: 4 infantry to 6 cavalry. It seemed the Ursaminor foot were taking extreme umbrage at M'yasma's invasion! Faced with such a lashing, the Chevalier Garde incontinently fled towards the town.  

The Chavalier Garde charging to their ... 

That put a term to the battle. The invaders felt themselves unable to break out - certainly not to north and west, and, from the east, the two newly arrived Ursaminor infantry regiments, fresh from victories over M'yasma's cavalry, seemed unlikely to be overcome by Galicia and Ekatarinberg even though the latter had not yet seen action. They were still filing through the town.

Bit neither could the Ursaminor army quite break in and expel the invaders once and for all. The action slithered to an impasse whilst the survivors collected their dead and wounded and rallied the stragglers.

Although both sides, as is usual, claimed the victory - M'yasma claimed the capture of the town; Ursaminor to have halted the enemy advance beyond it - probably the latter had more cause to celebrate. Ursaminor had lost 41 figures overall; M'yasma 57 - and that included two colonels (Butyrski and Podolia).  In my campaigns, the side that keeps the field get back immediately half their losses as stragglers returning to the colours; the side that abandons the field get back one-third, the 'missing' sixth going to prisoners of war in the hands of the enemy.

Neither side had given way, so both sides recovered half their losses - 29 M'yasma, 21 Ursaminor. So total losses were 28 M'yasma and 20 Ursaminor figures. If we take 1 figure to 20 men, M'yasma lost 560, Ursaminor 400.

So: a deadlock at Hardbitten border town. Both sides, then, awaited with considerable trepidation the outcome of the encounter between the Ursaminor Field Marshal's own column and that of General Glupiev...

To be continued...

War of the Imperial Succession - Grand Duke Constantine's Ambition.

The news had yet to arrive at Herzogstvogorod of Altmark-Uberheim's discomfiture at the hands of Hessen-Rohr, when The Grand Duke Constantine sent forth his armies towards his northern borders. Long had he coveted the lands on the far side of the Unstroll River, which stream separated his realm from the Principality of Ursaminor. The increasing tensions and disturbances throughout the whole middle of Europeia seemed to offer a propitious moment to make good upon his ambition.

Invasions - or attempted invasions - by Altmark-
Uberheim and the Grand Duchy.

Princess Ursula had but recently succeeded to the crown of Ursaminor, following the demise of Ursus Ursussson, the IXth of that name - not long before the Empress Harmonica had succeeded Violoncello VI.  The breaks in dynastic tradition - two females assuming the rule over two powers that made up a large proportion of Europeia - rather encouraged the less scrupulous rulers such as Constantine and King Draco of Altmark-Uberheim to think about personal and national aggrandisement at the expense of the recently bereaved realms.

M'yasma columns on the march.

King Draco was the first to set his forces in motion - a powerful army directed towards Hessen-Rohr. This invasion (see here) was less to acquire territory from the Markgravate, than to discourage the Markgraf himself from contemplating any mischief against his kingdom once its attention was drawn elsewhere. The invasion met with a severe check: a victory of sorts perhaps, but the mauling his army had endured at once put a term upon that enterprise. It would take time to rebuild his forces: Draco had to hope that perhaps the Markgraf's army was in worse case.  

Malakhov Cossacks (Airfix hussar figures with
lances added).

The Grand Duke Constantine was scarcely behindhand in sending forth his hosts. A small disturbance in one of the border towns on the Ursaminor side of the river Unstroll the Grand Duchy chose to construe as symptomatic of a more general unrest. The confusion of the transfer of rule to one supposedly ill-qualified by her youth - on top of being a 'her' - meant a breakdown of order, so ran the self-interested narrative. Such constituted an existential threat to M'yasma, was the story related by Constantine's unblinking ambassadors, should that unrest spill over into its border regions.

It was not long before a diplomatic note was being carried forward to Bjornburg to the effect that the Grand Duke had ordered troops - horse, foot and guns - at once to enter Ursaminor and restore order. Of course, the Grand Duke expected some recompense for this selfless action. A reasonable price, so ran the note of hand, was to transfer title of the disturbed borderlands unto the Grand Duchy's rule. Naturally, the Ursaminor government dispatched a swift negative response, and began to mobilise its own army. As the Ursaminor Army was not as large as the Grand Duke's, they also sent off an appeal to Schnitzel for Imperial aid.

Grand Duke Constantine organised two columns, ordered them to seize and secure passages across the River Unstroll, take the border town of Hardbitten, and push on to stake out a chunk of territory to be included within the Grand Duchy's expanded borders - oh, and to put down any and all unrest, of course. To take the town seemed to require the more sizeable column, under the command of the aggressively minded Marshal Bychovski ...

Butyrski Infantry crossing the border river
bridge into the town. Marshal Bychovski 
watches on.

The columns comprised:

Grand Duchy of M'yasma

Main body: Marshal Boroslav Bychovski

Butyrski Infantry - 36 figures
Podolia Infantry - 36 figures
Galicia Infantry - 36 figures
Ekaterinburg Infantry - 36 figures
1st Jager - 21 figures
Chevalier Garde - 19 figures
Malakhov Cossacks - 19 figures
A Battery, 1st Artillery - 9 figures, 2 guns.

Totals: 165 foot, 38 horse, 9 gunners - 212 plus 2 guns.

Detached Corps: General Ivan Glupiev
Tver Infantry - 36 figures
Apsheron Infantry - 36 figures
Ingermanland Dragoons - 19 figures
Pavlograd Hussars - 19 figures
B Battery, 1st Artillery - 9 figures, 2 guns

Totals: 72 foot, 38 horse, 9 gunners - 119 plus 2 guns. 

The Line infantry regiments comprised an HQ of 4 figures, a grenadier company of 8, and three line companies, also of 8 figures.
The cavalry comprised an HQ of 3 figures, and two squadrons of 8 figures each.
The gun battery comprised commander, two sections of a gun and  4 gunners, and a reserve of 2 gunners.

Total Invasion force: 237 foot, 76 horse, 18 gunners - 331 plus 4 guns.

To meet the challenge - news of M'yasma's mobilisation having reached Bjornburg betimes - the Ursaminor War Ministry in their turn set in motion the necessary counter-measures. The whole strength of the regular army was divided into four columns, the main one of which marched upon the likeliest crossing point of the Unstroll River, well upstream of the main border town of Hardbitten. The other three formed a species of cordon centred upon the town itself. When word reached the headquarters of General Ulf Eriksson, commanding the central of these three columns, he at once despatched messengers calling for a concentration before the town. They were just too late to prevent its occupation by Grand Duchy infantry....

The forces available to Ursaminor to meet the invasion were;

Principality of Ursaminor:

1st (Main) Column: Field Marshall Lars Slaggahand:
Livgarden Grenadiers - 28 figures
Tavastehus Infantry - 28 figures
Stalhandske Infantry - 28 fgures
Rikswacht te Paard Cuirassiers - 15 figures
Kopparberg Hussars - 15 figures
Artillery - 9 figures, 2 guns

2nd Column: 
Ostergotland Infantry - 28 figures
Sodermanland Infantry - 28 figures

3rd Column: General Ulf Eriksson
Norrbotten Infantry - 28 figures
Uppsala Uhlans - 15 figures
Artillery - 9 figures, 2 guns

4th Column: 
Vastmanland Infantry - 28 figures
Jonkoping Jager - 21 figures
Kronoberg Dragoons - 15 figures

Total Ursaminor army:
217 foot, 60 horse, 18 gunners - 295 with 4 guns.

The organisation of the Ursaminor Army was similar to that of the Grand Duchy, but with 6-figure companies and squadrons instead of the eight. Given the exact same number of units on both sides in this encounter, the Ursaminor army was considerably weaker than their adversaries.

This action was based - very loosely - upon Scenario 18 'River Crossing' from the C.S. Grant book Scenarios for Wargamers. Having pushed one infantry and a cossack unit across the river and into the town, the remainder of the M'yasma army's 'Main Body' had yet to cross the river.  For this action, I decided against using boats, and allowed there was a single bridge by which a route column might make the crossing. Even then, it would be quite a while before the whole force would be gathered upon the north side of the river.

As the M'yasma advance guard emerged from the north face of the town, a column of Ursaminor troops - horse, foot and guns - could be observed approaching from the north. This was the Ursaminor '3rd Column' under the direct command of General Eriksson.  The other two columns were on their way, their arival being determined by dice rolls.  A single D6 die roll determined the move number of arrival, deployment just in from their respective table edge constituting their first move.

This was the upshot:

4th Column arrived from the west on Move 2

2nd Column arrived from the east on Move 6.

Meanwhile, 1st Column was never going to involve themselves with this action.  They had their own battle to fight...

Opening clashes...

To be continued: River Crossing: Battle of Hardbitten.

Sengoku Wars... Azukizaka 1542

Battle of Azukizaka, 1542

 

This particular battle seemed to me good for a good and proper playtest of the Portable Sengoku Wars (PSW) rule set 'as she was wrote'. But... not... quite. I still wanted the Army HQs to be static pavilions.  But otherwise, there was to be but one 'general' only. I won't go into the historical background, but summarise the action, with particular comments upon the activation of units. The diagram was taken from the Zvezda Art of Tactic  scenario, translated onto my Memoir '44 battle board.

The armies were fairly evenly matched and very similar, though not exactly the same. For the purposes of PSW, archer and arquebusier ashigaru were conflated into arquebusiers (ashigaru tepo), and all samurai units were capable of shooting. 

Purple Army wins the first initiative
dice roll...

The forces were:

Clan Yoshimoto (Purple):
1 Commander (Yashimoto) and HQ in pavilion (elite) : 4SP*
2 Mounted Samurai (units) (average) @ 3SP = 6SP
2 Foot Samurai (elite) @ 4SP = 8SP
4 Ashigaru Yari (average) @ 3SP = 12SP
4 Ashigaru Tepo (average) @ 2SP = 8SP

13 units, 38 SP 
Exhausted on losing 13SP, rout on losing 19SP

Yoahimoto Cavalry and HQ in the 
distance.  The latter is indicated by the 
white fan-like flag.

Clan Nobuhide (Red):
1 Commander (Nobuhide) and HQ in pavilion (elite): 4SP*
2 Mounted Samurai (average) @ 3SP = 6SP
2 Foot Samurai (elite) @ 4SP = 8SP
5 Ashigaru Yari (average) @ 3SP = 15SP
3 Ashigaru Tepo (average) @ 2SP = 6 SP

13 units, 39SP
Exhausted on losing 13SP, rout on losing 20SP

*the HQ SPs are associated with the Daimyo's immediate bodyguard and entourage, not the commander  himself. That august personage lends the weight of his leadership to this elite unit, and lives and dies by it. Neither may move, nor may they initiate a close combat. 

Nobuhide cavalry and HQ 'pavilion'.
The latter is represented by the seated
diamyo, the parasol, and the spearmen.

What I wanted to do was to examine closely the workings of the activation system with just one overall commander in each army. With 13 units the side, divided by 6, we get 2D6 plus 1 for the commanders. Three D6 dice rolled for activation, the scores divided by two.

First blood to Yoshimoto: a Red ashigaru tepo
bites the dust.

Yoshimoto (Purple) won the first turn initiative, and then rolled 3D6 for activation. The scores were 4,1,1. Summed and then divided by 2, yielded just 3 units activated. Purple contented himself with some indifferent arquebus fire and a small local attack, although a Red tepo figure was knocked over on their left wing. Nobuhide's activation roll was no more impressive: again just 3 activations, with not a lot achieved. Three activations from thirteen units, ain't exactly clobbering time!

The beginning of Red assault upon the Purple 
right wing.

Things improved subsequently, with activation rolls yielding 5 and 6 units getting into the action, but it would have taken a roll of 14 with three dice (e.g. 4,5,5, or 3,5,6) to activate 7 units - only barely more than half the army. During this battle such a score was never achieved. Not to be wondered at: the probability of scoring 14+ with 3 D6 dice is a whisker less than rolling a 6 on a single D6 die.

General view

Henceforth, Nobuhide tended to focus on his left flank, where he had a superiority of force, even when his ashigaru tepo unit there was destroyed. Whenever the Red activation rolls exceeded 3, he set things in motion on the opposite flank, a unit of ashiguru yari marching along the 'long ridge' to outflank the Purple line. The opportunity for a cavalry charge against an isolated unit of arquebusiers was, of course, not lightly to be passed up.  

Big melee in the centre

For 'his' part, Yoshimoto seemed more interested in smashing through Nobuhide's centre, aiming for the latter's HQ pavilion. A considerable battle developed in that sector, which gradually sucked in the cavalry of both sides. Although the Purples got rather the better of the cavalry fight (Reds lost 2SPs to 0) overall honours remained fairly even. Yoshimoto's army never even got close to Nobuhide's pavilion.

Red crushes the Purple right wing.

The Red's push on the left yielded dividends, the entire Purple wing being pushed back, shedding dead and wounded all the way, until driven altogether from the field (the 3 units there, 8SPs, were completely destroyed). This success came at some cost, of course. Along with the 2SPs of the arquebusiers, the Reds lost 3SP from the ashigaru yari as well. The intervention by a unit of Yoshimoto's foot samurai was too late to turn the battle.

Mutual exhaustion, losses nearly equal.

The loss of three units of course brought the Purple Army's activation dice down to two, with consequent difficulty in putting any weight into its manoeuvres and attacks. This advantage the Red army sought to make good with attacks in the centre. The attempted flank attack by one of the cavalry units against mounted enemies led to disaster. Although causing an SP loss to Purple, the Red horsemen took 2SP loss in the subsequent fight, destroying the unit. This was enough to bring the Red activation dice down to two.

By this time, the Purple army had been reduced by losses to below its exhaustion point. In trying to hustle the enemy from the field, the Red army also fell below its exhaustion point (13SP lost). The battle sputtered to a close, the outcome indecisive.

* * *

It felt to me frustratingly difficult to get much action going in this battle. At no time was even as much as half the army able to move, shoot or engage in close combat. But why am I complaining? Am I complaining? I'm not sure! That is the way Memoir '44 often plays, and I have no problem with that!

I still like my addition of sub-generals, though, to Antoine Bourguilleau's activation procedure. In addition to the overall Army commander, one might be allowed 1 sub-general for every whole multiple of 6 units in the army. The number of activation dice is equal to

• 1 for every whole multiple of 6 units (another way of expressing the 'book' method);
• +1 for the Army commander;
• +1 for every sub-general.
  

In the previous battle, the Red army had 18 units.  It was allowed 1 army commander, plus 18/6 = 3 sub-commanders.  So the number of activation dice was 3+1+3 = 7, the scores being halved for unit activation.

What would be the statistical expectation of the number of units of this army activated in any given turn?  The expected score with 7 dice is 24.5.  Then the expected activation is half that, that is to say 12 units - two-thirds of the army.  Note that, the moment this army lost a unit, its activation dice gets reduced to 6 - the expected unit activations reduced to 10 or 11. The activation dice go as much for command and control as for the size of the army. I should mention that, as in my suggested scheme of things a general lives and dies with his unit, the loss of a general implies an immediate loss of an activation die, and the loss of the unit as well might imply the loss of yet another activation die.

For mine, what appeals is that you get enough uncertainty to satisfy that criterion for solo games.  In fact you get quite a spread of possibilities.  It is possible, however remotely, that in a given turn the whole army might be activated; but also possible that you might get to move just 3 or 4 units.  You can develop large scale attacks and manoeuvres, but there is always a chance that a poor activation roll will bring it all to nought. 

This notion will come in for more play tests in due course.  

Sengoku Wars - Battle of Mikatagahara (2)

Both armies on the start lines - Takeda (Red)  in 
'fish scale' formation.

Heavily outnumbered as his army was, Tokugawa Ieyasu elected to get in his attack first, a course of action that his adversary, Takeda Shingen, not only welcomed, but had by his formation sought to encourage. That is to say, instead of rolling for the initiative in the first turn, Tokugawa (ORANGE) went first. Thereafter, for each turn a die was rolled for each army, and the high score went first.  If it could be said that the first mover in each turn held the initiative, one might argue that Ieyasu never lost it. However, in the end, numbers told. 

Tokugawa Ieyasu's early attacks gain ground

All the same, the early exchanges went well and truly in favour of the Tokugawa army, with fearful execution amongst Takeda's ashigaru tepo. The Orange right wing commander, Sadai Todakatsu, waded into the Red left wing, and even broke through the first line. The battle quickly became genral all along the line.  With 13 units and 3 generals, Orange got 5 activation dice, and was rolling high even at that - 11 (eleven!) units being activated for the first turn.  In response, with 7 activation dice, Red barely matched those numbers, this out of 18 units.

Takeda's horse counter-attacks seal off the centre

The Orange army did well for the whole day, but the Reds were soon counterattacking strongly as their extra numbers of activation dice started to tell. Two of the Red tactical units charged into the gap widening in the centre, and Sadai Todakatsu found himself under heavy attack by several samurai units, two commanded by Takeda's generals. Practically surrounded, Sadai expired with his trapped command. Whenever a unit with a general in command took a hit, I didn't attempt to transfer this to the general - but rather took it that the general shared his fate with the unit as a whole. This seemed to me a simple method. The result, of course, meant an immediate reduction in activation dice. The loss of the general took one off, and the loss of a unit might well bring the number down one more. Three activation dice only!

Takeda strongly counter-attacks Tokugawa's right

Of course, the Reds were having to undergo similar hazards. An early loss of an Ashigaru arquebusier unit lost them at once an activation die (number of units reduced from 18  to 17), and the loss in the midst of seesaw fighting on the Orange right of the Takeda adherent, Naito Masutoyo, brought the dice down to 5.  

Tokugawa's lines being edged back...

In the early fighting, Tokugawa's army established a lead over Takeda in strength points destroyed, a margin that was never really narrowed, let alone closed. Even so, the Orange army reached its exhaustion point soon enough, and began to break off the action. in an attempt to bring Tokugawa to the point of routing, Takeda possibly overpressed his advantage. Though crumbling, the Orange line continued to take out SPs until finally Takeda forebore further assaults.  

... and begins to crumble

Even the outstanding activation roll (see picture) was not enough to tip Tokugawa's men over the edge into a panic rout. Not even close. The attempts to cut off  Tokugawa's left wing samurai unit were twice frustrated.

Attempt to cut off Tokugawa's left wing fails 
(but look at that activation score: 22/2=11 units can 
do something!)

Even so, this was an undoubted victory for Takeda Shingen, even though he lost 18SPs against 14. Tokugawa's quick early attack was quickly held, and then his army was gradually edged back with increasing rapidity until he was persuaded to break off the action.

Having reached their own exhaustion point,
Takeda's army calls of the pursuit.

On the whole, I was reasonably pleased with my modification  - extra dice for extra generals - of the  original system of unit activation. Actually, it probably isn't even a modification - the original rules don't actually prescribe a single command figure for a given army. OK, then, how many generals?  I'm thinking that in addition to the overall army commander, a sub-commander might be added for every whole multiple of 6 units in the army. With 18 units, Takeda got 3 sub-commanders; with 13, Tokugawa Ieyasu got 2.  

Next time.  A battle with just one commander each.

Sengoku Wars - Battle of Mikata-Ga-Hara

 

Set up for Battle of Mikatagahara.  The flagged units are those 
commanded directly by generals.  The parasol is where 
Takeda Shingen has set up his pavilion.

Diagram of battle set-up.  The 'fish-scale'
formation may be just discernable...

Lacking much in the way of motivation, lately, I thought I'd try something fairly easy to set up - another Sengoku action.  The previous one was related here:

This action was based upon the 1572 battle of Mikatagahara, between the two redoubtable foes Takeda Shingen and Tokugawa Ieyasu.

After having neutralized, by securing alliances with, his rivals to the east, and awaiting the snows to close off the mountain passes to his great northern enemy, Uesugi Kenshin, the formidable Takeda Shingen led a 30,000-strong army south from his own capital, Kofu, into Totomi province from whence he aimed to march on Kyoto. His advance was to be opposed by the local warlord, Tokugawa Ieyasu. Heavily outnumbered as his own army was, Ieyasu overrode the advices offered him by representatives from his ally, Oda Nobunaga, as well as some of his own retainers, and chose to oppose Takeda's passage through his territories. For his part, Takeda actually hoped to avoid any direct clash with Ieyasu. That hope was to be denied him.

Encountering Ieyasu's army at Mikatagahara, a high plain in Totomi, Takeda drew up his army in a 'fish scale' formation - one that combined the virtues of defensibility and aggression - in the hope of inducing his outnumbered adversary to attack. In this, Takeda got his wish.

As can be seen from the pictures, this action was set up on my Memoir '44 game board, using Shogun game pieces, and Zvezda figures. A few trees representing small woodland areas added to the 3D look of the thing.  Those Shogun game pieces are really very nice figures in their own right.

I adapted the game set-up from the Zvezda Art of Tactic Samurai Warriors scenario. The SW game board as slightly narrower along the battle front but deeper by a couple of grid rows.  The game was played under the Antoine Bourguilleau 'Sengoku' rule set found in the Portable Pike & Shot Wargame book.  

Command and control:

Planning to play test an idea about command and control, I did not use the 'Heroes' or 'Co-located Generals' rules. The generals being fixed to particular units, they survived, or otherwise, with their units. That is to say, if their unit was wiped out, the general went with it. This was to have certain implications in respect of command and control.

Although M. Bourguilleau's army lists included just one general (army commander), it seemed to me that the rule set offered room for more than one. I have also been concerned that his method of unit activation would lead to rather 'piecemeal' sorts of battles: in general, less than half the army doing anything. This concern I found particularly acute given that close combat is not - and can not be - mandatory between enemies in adjacent grid areas. Now, it is possible, of course, that battles of the Sengoku wars tended to develop the way the rule set seemed to me to indicate.

At any rate, methought this could be mitigated by having several commanders. I notice in reading accounts of the Sengoku wars that they are replete with personalities, including sub-commanding retainers or allies of some central figure such as Takeda Shingen and Uesugi Kenshin. The Samurai Warriors scenario having so many commanders, I reduced these to four on the Takeda side, and three on the Ieyasu. The units directly under their command may be seen in the leading picture and the hex-map.

Early attacks by Ieyasu's army

There was one other idea I had in mind: a special Army Commander's unit.  We'll come back to this.

Recap of unit activation:

Following artillery fire (there being none in this game), both sides roll a die for initiative. In this battle I had Ieyasu's army (Orange) lead off, as they opened the ball by attacking.  Subsequently the sides both rolled, high roll going first.  As it happened - Ieyasu 'won' every such roll in this action!

Then whose move it was went through the following procedure to determine how many units could be activated.  Let's go through Ieyasu's first turn by way of example.

1.  Ieyasu's army comprised 13 units (I'll draw up the lists later on).  This number is divided by 6, the quotient truncated, to yield a base line of 2 x D6 to be rolled.

2. A further D6 is added for an 'extant' general.  There being 3 such worthies at the outset, we now have 5xD6 to be rolled.

3.  I rolled these 5, the total to be divided by 2 and, again, the quotient truncated to a whole number.

4. The count is, of course, repeated turn by turn, so, as losses of units and generals mount, the fewer will be the dice activated.  This got quite noticeable as the battle ran its course.

Ieyasu's quick strike did some execution among 
Takeda's hand gunners - one such unit being 
destroyed early on...

It so happened that Ieyasu rolled huge in its first turn 5 dice, something like 6,5,4,4,4 - a total of 23. Divide by 2 to get 11. Eleven units moved out of thirteen! The army made good use of that, got tore in, and did a fair amount of damage. Out of 18 units (18/6 +4 generals - 7D6), from memory Takeda's army activated 10 or 11 in its own turn - slightly below average, as we will see.  

It is not a bad idea to work out what might have been the expected  mean activation scores for the two armies in their first turn:

Ieyasu: 5D6/2 = ((7/2)x5)/2 = 35/4 => 8 units out of 13.
Takeda: 7D6/2 = ((7/2)x7)/2 = 49/4 => 12 units out of 18.
It seemed to me that activating two-thirds of the army in a given move meant you could do a fairish bit, whilst retaining a level of uncertainty desirable for solo war games.

Late in the action, with Ieyasu hard pressed (having lost a general and several units, and reached his 'exhaustion point'), his army rolled a 9, and was able to activate just 4 units. Not a great roll when trying to break off an action!

(By way of comparison, suppose Ieyasu had only the 'per book' 3D6 to roll, and rolled 6,5,4 a total of 15.  That would have reduced to 7 units activated out of 13 - a little over half the army.  I think I like having the extra generals!)

Army Lists for the Battle of Mikatagahara:

Red Army:
6 Foot Samurai units @ 4SP (Elite) = 24SP
3 Ashigaru Tepo units @ 2SP (Average) = 6SP
5 Ashigaru Yari units @ 3SP (Average) = 15SP
3 Mounted Samurai units @ 3SP (Average) = 9SP
1 Commander's Pavilion (Takeda Shingen) and bodyguard unit @ 4SP (Elite) = 4SP*
3 Sub-generals, each attached to a foot samurai unit.

Totals:
18 units, 58 strength points
Exhaustion Point -20SP, Rout Point -29SP

The commander's pavilion (or 'tent') was the 'special unit' I had in mind. I see this as a static unit that can fight, but does not move.  It still adds, however, to the number of units counted for activation purposes.

Takeda Shingen in his 'pavilion' (the parasol)
overseeing a mounted counter-attack. I'm thinking 
Of making a special pavilion stand - the Zvezda 
model being far too large for this board.

Orange Army:
4 Foot Samurai units @ 4SP (Elite) = 16SP
3 Ashigaru Tepo units @ 2SP (Average) = 6SP

4 Ashigaru Yari units @ 3SP (Average) = 12SP
2 Mounted Samurai units @ 3SP (Average) = 6SP
1 Commander (Tokugawa Ieyasu) with foot samurai unit.
2 subgenerals, each attached to a foot samurai unit.

Totals: 
13 units, 40 strength points
Exhaustion point -14SP, Rout Point -20SP  

Losses: 8 Red and 5 Orange (each representing a SP)
 - but the latter much heavier among the samurai.