1. Historical summary
The Russo-Japanese war of 1904 was fought as a result of the overlapping colonial designs by Russia and Japan in and around Korea and China. The first major land battle, the battle of Yalu, came about after the landing of Japanese troops in Korea and their march north towards Russian occupied Manchuria. The land campaign began with the outnumbered Russians attempting to delay the Japanese advance by holding the crossing point of the River Yalu.
The wargame explained here requires the player to take control of the Japanese side and overcome the automated Russian defence.
2. Map and set up
The map in figure 1 shows the area over which the battle of the Yalu was fought. The main features are the interlacing, low water, rivers channels and the rows of ridges along the riverbanks. The map has been divided into smaller battlefields, shown with named circles, and are connected with lines. To simplify the campaign, units were restricted to the circles and travel was only permitted along the lines joining the circles. The result is a network of potential battlefields linked by possible access routes. When opposing forces ended up in the same circle the terrain shown in that battlefield was replicated on the wargame table and the battle resolved with model figures.
The player is commanding the Japanese troops which consist of three divisions: the 2nd, 12th and Guard divisions. See figure 2 for the counters used to represent the half divisions (i.e. 2.1, 2.2, 12.1, 12.2, G1, G2). The Japanese may place a maximum of two counters on an empty circle but if they are attacking a circle occupied by the Russians they may only move one counter into the occupied circle. (This rule allows a realistic occupancy on an undisputed circle area and simulates the problems of getting troops to the front line when attacking over rugged terrain.) These half divisions are represented with 4 infantry battalions, 2 artillery batteries, a machine gun section and a cavalry regiment.
The initial set up for the Japanese troops on the 26th April 1904 are:
- Initial Japanese positions
- Division Location
2.1 & 2.2 Wiju
12.1 & 12.2 Chukyuri
G1 & G2 Korea
The Russian counters consist of: 10 infantry battalion counters (2 with artillery batteries and 1 with a machine gun section), 2 cavalry regiment counters and 4 dummy (blank) counters. These counters are turned face down and shuffled. Place the counters on the map circles shown:
- Initial Russian positions
- Number of counters Position
2 Frontline: Kanshi, Chuliecheng, Potetientzu, Chingkou.
3 Reserve: Makau, Hamatang.
2 Randomly placed in any of these positions
Russian front line positions are entrenched.
3. Game rules
Turns:
The day is split into 4 turns and the night into 2 turns so there are a total of 6 turns per move. An active unit (moving or fighting) is allocated a rest point each turn. An endurance move (forced march or prolonged action) occurs if the unit has 3 rest points and does an action. For each endurance move add two rest points. If a unit has 6 rest points or more it must rest unless it is in combat in which case it must retreat (gaining another rest point). If rest points exceed 10 then the unit disintegrates. Reduce rest points by one each turn the unit is stationary and not in combat.
Rest points dictate the level or morale, alertness, stamina and ammunition supplies that are available to the unit so this needs to be incorporated into the tabletop rules used to simulate the battles. Basically the more rest points a unit has the more deductions to fire, movement and morale.
Each Japanese counter (half a division) must have an order sheet (see figure 3) stating its objectives and recording its rest points. A maximum of one division is allowed in a circle and only half a division can be moved to attack an enemy occupied circle.
Movement:
Check the weather each day: D6=1 means bad weather.
Cavalry units can move 2 steps and infantry units 1 step.
Throw D6 per step (from one circle to another along a line) move attempted: If the score is 1 or less the unit may not move. However units forced to retreat move automatically.
- +/- to dice:
-1 for bad weather.
-1 for an endurance move.
-1 if moving into or out of a ‘bottleneck’: fords, bridges, passes, etc.
Victory points:
Japan must control a crossing point before 01 May ’04 to stand a chance of winning. At the end of the campaign add up the points from the table below. The Japanese need a positive score to claim a win or a score of 3 or over for a decisive victory. The Japanese aim is to envelope and destroy the Russians. The Russians aim to delay and maul the Japanese before escaping.
| Achievement | 26.04.04 | 27.04.04 | 28.04.04 | 29.04.04 | 30.04.04 | 01.05.04 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No Russian forces remaining. | +6 | +5 | +4 | +3 | +2 | +1 |
| Each Russian unit escaping through ‘Laochoutan’. | -1 | |||||
| For each Japanese unit destroyed. | -1 | |||||
4. Solo mechanisms
Russian Reaction:
Russian units start hidden i.e. reverse side up. Dice for situations after the Japanese move. All hidden Russian units are moved as infantry. No record of rest points are kept for Russian units as they are remaining in prepared positions or falling back on their lines of supply.
Counters are only flipped to reveal the unit if Japanese units are in the same circle as the Russians. Units recalled to the reserves or no longer in contact with the Japanese are reversed again and shuffled to conceal the decoy counters.
After the Japanese have made their map move the Russians dice for each Russian occupied circle to reveal their response.
Situations:
If the circles directly in front on the Russian front line contains no Japanese units:
- 2d6 = 11-12 Advance outpost set up with one unit
If Japanese move troops into a circle adjacent to Russians forces:
- 2d6 = 12 Russians attack utilising full reserves.
2d6 = 2-6 Outpost troops withdraw.
If the Japanese attack a Russian held circle:
- 2d6 = 12 receive 2 reserve units immediately.
2d6 = 9-11 receive 1 reserve unit immediately.
2d6 = 2-3 withdraw
If the Japanese were adjacent to Russian troops but withdraw this move:
- 2d6 = 12 Russians attack.
2d6 = 10-11 Russians attack utilising full reserves.
2d6 = 2-5 any reserve unit previously received is returned to the reserves.
If the Russians lose a battle they fall back one circle towards the exit circle of ‘Laochoutan’. If there are two possible circles they could occupy then dice to see which one is chosen. If the Russians have no free circle (i.e. unoccupied by the Japanese) to fall back to those forces will surrender.
5. My Campaign
My campaign started, early on the 26th April 1904, with a surprise night attack by the Russians on my positions at Wiju that was repulsed fairly quickly and did not unduly disrupt the manoeuvres for assaulting the Russian positions the next day.
Dawn of the 27th saw a Japanese attack all along the front, which had an easy success at Kanshi where the Russians had abandoned their position to strengthen the Chuliecheng position, and only light resistance at Potetientzu and Chingkou. However the reinforced and plucky garrison at Chuliecheng (who had attacked the Japanese the day before) repulsed the initial assault from across the river. Later in the day they were forced from their position after a fierce battle having been attacked from the flank the victors at Potetientzu. In the afternoon the Russian reserve at Makau launched a desperate attack in an attempt to retake Chingkou but this was easily repulsed. By the end of the day the Japanese were in possession of Laochoutan and were completely surrounding the remaining Russian troops at Hamatang. On the 28th the Russians surrendered.
The Japanese lost 4 units in these battles, had prevented any Russians escaping and had eliminated all resistance by the 28th April. Total victory points: +4 – 0 – 4 = 0: No victory for the Japanese. Why? Well the Japanese needed to minimise casualties. Russians troops would be arriving constantly during the war along the Siberian railway but the Japanese were limited to a fairly small army that needed to be conserved. If I had avoided the initial unsuccessful assault on Chuliecheng I may have considerably reduced my casualties. But then I did not know that the programmed responses would reinforce this position! Perhaps attacks in just a couple of areas would have been more successful but then I would risk missing easy victories like at Kanshi … c’est la guerre!
6. Resources
Books
The Russo-Japanese War 1904-1905 by Geoffrey Jukes from the Osprey Publishing ‘Essential History’ series is an excellent and brief introduction to the war including the main land and sea battles.
Rising Sun and Tumbling Bear by Richard Connaughton is a recently published long history of the war.
The Tide at Sunrise by Denis & Peggy Warner is another long history of the war but may be more difficult to find.
Figures
I used ‘Irregular Miniatures’ 15mm figures for my wargames. They have a small but adequate selection of suitable figures in their colonial range and they even offer suitable machine guns and gunners from other ranges. Other companies have suitable figures and you can often find ‘Boxer Rebellion’ figures or ‘WW1’ figures that are appropriate for the Russo-Japanese war.
Solo Russo-Japanese War
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