Sunday, January 9, 2022

Second Battle of Azukizaka

With the Samurai armies deployed for battle and a framework in place to play Basic Impetvs 2.0 (BI2.0) on a hex grid, Peter and I sat down across the remote gaming table.  Peter's seat was in Australia.  My seat was situated in my game room in Washington State 8,400 miles away.

The battle up for a refight was the Second Battle of Azukizaka in 1548.  The force composition and initial deployments came from the Commands & Colors, Samurai Battles website at,

Second Battle of Azukizaka

with initial tabletop deployments as,

Initial deployments

A brief background on the battle comes from the link above.  It states,

In 1548 Oda Nobuhide led an army into Mikawa, his objective being the Matsudaira’s capital city of Okazaki. Matudaira’s young lord, Hirotada, turned to Imagawa for assistance and agreed to provide his only son as a hostage in return for help, but the child was abducted by the Oda in route. Imagawa Yashimoto still fulfilled the bargain and called on his uncle, monk-general Taigen Sessai, to march out to meet Nobuhide. Sessai set up an ambush of sorts and although the fighting was desperate, Nobuhide was defeated and thus avenged the earlier loss at the same sight some six years previously (Mark McG).
Peter chose to take command of the Oda Clan leaving me in ambush with the Imagawa Clan.  In the game photos, red dice denote current VBU for Imagawa units.  Blue dice denote current VBU for Oda units.  The small green die shows a unit's current Impetvs.

Let's see how the battle developed.
The two armies are arrayed for battle.
View from Oda left.
View from Oda right.
Sessai wastes no time in advancing toward Oda Nobuhide.
Oda advances on left while holding in the center and right.
Seeing an opening in the Imagawa line,
Nobuhide launches a cavalry charge into Imagawa Teppo.
Teppo fire as the horsemen approach but the cavalry come on.
Teppo rout in the face of the charge
as the Oda spear engage the Imagawa first line.
In the center, Imagawa foot are driven back after
 furious close combat with Oda Samurai.
On the Imagawa right, Sessai brings up Ashigaru spear
 to prevent an Oda flank attack.
Oda cavalry drive deep behind Imagawa lines in pursuit.
In the center, Oda spear see heavy
losses in counterattacks and are driven back.
Watching his right give away,
Sessai orders an advance in the center and left.
Imagawa strength on the left looms large against the Oda right.
Oda foot turn to face this new threat.
With pressure mounting against the Oda right,
the center wavers while repositioning to face this increasing threat.
Oda Ashigaru spear are falling back in disorder.  
Sessai sends his two Samurai cavalry
 crashing into the Oda right.
Oda spear in the center hold
while Oda Samurai repulse the Imagawa attack.
For now, the Oda line holds.
Casualties climb for both combatants.
While the Oda cavalry regroup,
the Ashigaru attack.
The Imagawa right and center collapses. 
While the Imagawa right and center disintegrate,
The Imagawa left, presses on.
With the Oda right in shambles,
 Sessai turns his attention to defeating the enemy army.
Sweeping around the enemy rear,
 Sessai attacks in great force.
After passing completely around the Oda rear,
 Sessai's Samurai cavalry lead the way in 
scattering
the Oda foot.
Imagawa cavalry catches the enemy in the rear.
With Imagawa cavalry in pursuit,
the clock runs out for Oda Nobuhide.
Oda Nobuhide concedes the field.
After almost three hours of play, the clock ran out for Oda Nobuhide.  The battle was closely contested throughout play and the outcome was in doubt until the final turn.  With Imagawa Sessai gaining the initiative on Turn 9, he could choose where to attack in order to push Oda Nobuhide over his army's breakpoint.  Had Nobuhide gained initiative on turn 9, the outcome may have been different and the tables turned.

Thanks to Peter for a very enjoyable gaming session.  Peter is a savvy player and picked up the rules quickly.  The initial run-out of the rules worked well even though I made mistakes in some adjudications.  At least these misadjudications were applied evenly to both.  After the game, I re-read the BI2.0 rules and jotted down a few more notes and amended my QRS.

While it has been a very long time since either my Japanese armies or BI have been out for a spin, it was an enjoyable ride.  Great fun, actually.  Round 2 of the Second Battle of Azukizaka is up on the slate for the Tuesday group game.  With rules refreshed in my mind, my adjudications should be less pitted with missteps.

After a second game, I will have a clearer picture of the success of my work on converting Basic Impetvs to a grid.

Expect to see more of these armies in 2022.  Well, at least as long as I can find willing opponents!

53 comments:

  1. Fine looking game Jonathan! Why BI do you not like C&C Samurai Battles?

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    1. Thanks, Mike!

      Why not Samurai Battles rather than BI?

      Well, you know I enjoy Samurai Battles very much and it produces an exciting and interesting game. It may edge out CCA as my favorite in the series.

      The difficulties with SB are several:
      1. I find games of SB take longer to play than either CCA or BI.
      2. SB requires special card decks (three of them).
      3. SB requires special dice.

      Not all players have access to the dice and cards. Drawing from a common and virtual card deck during remote play is complicated.

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  2. Great looking and reading game although it did seem to be a bit "untidy"! Chalk up another win to you too Jon - a good start to the gaming year so far!

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    1. Glad you enjoyed the presentation, Keith!

      For 'untidy' are you referring to the dice on the table? If so, I find showing unit stats on table help both the remote players and the umpire to assess status and regulate play. I could ask the players to keep rosters and I could do the same but every diversion away from focusing on the table carries an increased risk of error and game slow down.

      This victor could have gone either way. Really, I would declare this a draw.

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    2. No Jon, I was referring to the swirling nature of the battle, with units inter penetrating and getting around the rear of their opponents etc! Although aesthetically, chits, dice or tiddlywinks type markers don't look that great, I understand they are often necessary to keep track of unit status etc.

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    3. Thanks for clarifying, Keith. For me, simplification and visibility are important components in hosting a remote game. Maintaining only as many game artifacts on table as needed is good practice, I think. As GM, it helps me.

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  3. That's a great looking game and you really get a feel of a swirling, moving action from the photos. As always it's good for the action to be close right down to the wire. Looking forward to seeing these in action again:)

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    1. Steve, happy to see this presentation works for you! I would enjoy keeping these armies out in a regular rotation. We will see if this comes to pass.

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  4. Cracking looking game. Samurai armies always look spectacular. The grid system/Impetus is an interesting variation.

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    1. Thanks much, John! For remote play, I tend to think playing on a gridded surface is the way forward.

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  5. A good looking game and I love the figures.

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  6. Great report and armies with an interesting game scenario, Jonathan. Hex grid and bases look pretty cool. They suit online games the best way.

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    1. Much appreciated, Dmitry! I agree that playing on a grid suits remote gaming very well.

      Your recent BA game in Italy was sure a beauty.

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  7. Splendid stuff all very Kurosawa indeed.

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    1. Thanks, Phil! Perhaps you would enjoy another remote game in 2022?

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  8. A most enjoyable and absorbing game. Thank you. In one of those photos I appear to have my head in my hands. Lol. It must have been when my infamous spear unit retired and never redeemed itself.

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    1. Thanks, Peter! It was a real pleasure facing you across the table again. Great fun. The 'infamous' Ashigaru spear unit had tough luck. Better luck next time?

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    2. Looking forward to next time.

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  9. Excellent looking game Jonathan and good to hear Impetus is working out.

    Christopher

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    1. Thank you, Chrisopher! BI on a grid seemed to work from my perspective. Of course, more experimentation is needed.

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  10. Fantastic looking game. I'm partial to Impetus, nice to see it's readily adaptable.

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    1. Thanks! BI is readily adaptable to both play on a grid and via remotely. The game worked well, I thought. I expect more feedback after Tuesday's multi-player remote game.

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  11. Great looking game. Your work in showing remote gaming is some of the best. It comes from late night viewing, but I thought at first...those are d'd big dice...until I remembered that those armies are not in 28mm.

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    1. Joe, you are most kind and provide much encouragement. Thank you very much!

      Yes, the figures are 15mm and the dice are 16mm and 12mm. Remember these dice need to be seen by a remote player 8,400 miles away!

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    2. ...seen by a remote player 8400 miles away...
      ROFL

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  12. Spectacular samurai gaming, Jonathan! What great way to ring in the new year!

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  13. A very fluid game (more than I thought BI would give), that must have kept both players engaged throughout. It seem the scenario is rather nicely balanced.

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    1. I thought the scenario very good. As for balance, Imagawa have an edge in units (by one) and guaranteed first turn. On the Samurai Battles site, the eleven reported games show Imagawa winning 75% of the battles.

      I was heavily engaged throughout as umpire and figure mover. Peter seemed to enjoy the game too saying that the three-hour game passed very quickly. The time always flies by for me as host.

      BI gave a very good game in my eye. with rules more committed to memory, the next game should be even better.

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  14. Another hard-fought affair, and great to see your Samurai in action. They really do make for a colourful game.

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    1. Hard-fought, for sure. The result hung in balance until the very end. I really enjoyed seeing these armies back into the table.

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  15. Everyone else in the world “we can’t solve the problem of everyone having basically the same armor and we have a hard time telling who is who…”

    Japanese “have everyone wear a flag on their back. “

    And it does make some nice looking miniatures. 😀

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  16. Colorful and spectacular game, with gorgeous units...eye catching evrywhere!

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  17. I think its all been said so I'll just tap my desk and call "Hear hear".

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  18. Nice looking forces Jon, looking forward to a run out. I just know I would t have the energy to paint samurai armies. 👍

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    1. Thanks! You have plenty of energy. Look what you have done with your 10mm SYW.

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  19. A spectacular looking bash. Samurai troops are so colourful.

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  20. Excellent stuff! Really enjoy following the pics and watching the cavalry units sweep about the map, crashing in to the enemy, etc.

    Lot of dead warriors that day tho eh?

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  21. Great looking game Jonathan. Wonderful to see large samurai armies on a table. I acquired a few figures a while back but they are towards the back to my painting list/aspirations. As it's a period that I know precious little about (solely informed by 'Red Sun', haha!), I look forward to learning a bit more as you stage more games.
    Regards, James

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    1. Thank you, James! There will be more games with which to whet your appetite.

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