This battle report is an account from a solo wargame played with my Daimyo samurai rules. The game was intended as a play-test for some new mechanisms I had been working on but the main reason was just to have fun! In Daimyo, units are organised into clans. Clans are activated in a sequence that is influenced by the initiative of the generals. For this game I used an optional card-driven system that adds uncertainty to solo battles. There is one card for each clan and general plus an “end of turn” card. The army with initiative may choose the first clan to be activated in a turn before any cards are drawn.
Although the scenario is fictitious, the events were typical of the many confrontations between the main protagonists. Their most famous engagement was the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima which has already been described in these pages by our editor. The deployment at the start of the game is shown in Map 1. Takeda Shingen, with the Saigawa to his rear, wanted to push forward immediately, to force the pass and take the castle of Katsurayama that lay beyond. Uesugi Kenshin decided to hold his position in the narrow pass to reduce the threat of the Takeda cavalry. He hoped to hold them long enough for his cavalry to surprise the Takeda by charging onto their right flank.
Takeda
A Omari Torayasu
B Kosaka Danjo
C Baba
D Sanada
E Shingen (with hatamoto)
F Nobushige
G Naito
H Nobutatsu
Uesugi
1 Irobe
2 Suda
3 Kenshin (with foot hatamoto)
4 Samboji (off map)
5 Norimasa (off map)
The Takeda clans A, B, H and Shingen’s hatamoto (bodyguard) (E) each consisted of a single cavalry unit. The remaining Takeda contingents, clans C, D, F and G all had one spear armed ashigaru unit supported by a unit of samurai infantry to the rear. Naito (G) also had a unit of arquebusiers covering their front.
The Uesugi began the battle with only two clans (1 and 2) in addition to Kenshin’s hatamoto of elite samurai infantry (3). Each clan had two units of ashigaru spearmen, one unit of samurai infantry and a unit of arquebusiers. The Uesugi cavalry (4 and 5) would begin dicing for arrival on turn 4.
The mountainous terrain either side of the pass was deemed impassable to all troops and the river fordable at all points although this, as events turned out, would not prove to be an issue.
Battle of Sekida Pass Feudal Japan Wargame Battle Report
Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 143
Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues
Back to MagWeb Magazine List
© Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association.
This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com