9. Weather With weather playing an important part in many samurai battles such as the snow-covered battlefield of Mikata-Ga-Hara, 1572 or the thunderstorm during Okehazama, 1560, it only seems right to let the weather have some influence on our battles. When not playing a scenario or campaign game, roll 1d6 on the Weather chart before the first turn to determine the season. At the start of the game assume the weather is fine but roll 2d6 on the weather chart at the beginning of each turn to see if there is a change, before rolling for initiative. Weather Season Spring/Autumn Summer Winter Die Roll 1-3 4-5 6 2-8 Fine Fine Fine 9 Fine Fine Light Rain 10 Light Rain Fine Fog 11 Fog Light Rain Heavy Rain 12 Heavy Rain Thunderstorm Snowing If there is a change in the weather, consult the weather effect table to determine the effects on the battle. At the beginning of each subsequent turn, roll 1d6 (-1 from die in Winter) to see if the poor weather clears. On a roll of 3 or less the poor weather persists – roll again next turn. A result of 4+ means that the weather is once again fine. Weather Effect on Visibility Effect on Movement Effect on Combat Fine None None None Light Rain None None Firing : Arquebus -1 Heavy Rain 30cm All moves –3cm Firing : Bows -1, Arquebus -2 Thunderstorm 25cm As Heavy Rain but no artillery movement except to rotate Firing : Bows -2, No Arquebus Melee : No charge bonus Snowing 20cm All moves halved. No artillery movement except to rotate Firing : Bows -1, Arquebus -2 Melee : No charge bonus Fog 10cm None (but note command radius = 10cm) None (but range limited to 10cm) 10. Winning and Losing At the end of each turn, check for Victory. It is often obvious who has won, or is about to win, a battle. However, here is a simple definition for one-off games. A side loses the battle when it has lost more than 1/3 of its units, but ignoring peasants and counting hatamoto as 2 units and headquarters as 3 units. Although not directly affecting the outcome, the player who killed the most enemy leaders through challenges can boast about his great deeds in the pub afterwards! Daimyo Samurai Wargames Rules 1550-1615 Introduction Sequence of Play Movement Disorder Morale Firing Melee Artillery Weather and Winning Back to Table of Contents -- Lone Warrior # 144 Back to Lone Warrior List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by Solo Wargamers Association. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com