Season's Greetings

Before holiday festivities divert and interrupt our normal hobby activities, I wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  With space in the library cleared, the tree is up and trimmed.  One week before Christmas is still too early to place all of the gifts under the tree so the space surrounding the tree is a bit barren.  

With two weeks remaining in 2024, there still remains plenty of time to paint a few more figures and play one more game or two before closing out the books on 2024.  The gaming table saw another Azukizaka replay on Tuesday with at least one more game on the horizon.

Battle of Azukizaka

While we saw a light snowfall on Monday dropping enough to warrant shoveling, chances to see a White Christmas are low.  In a weak La Niña winter, the Pacific Northwest often sees wetter yet colder conditions.  This Christmas, forecasts suggest a wet and mild Christmas but not a white Christmas.  Looks like plenty of rain for the holiday.  Perfect weather for a few meaningful painting sessions in the early morning quiet.

FPW Prussian Artillery

While November ticked over with 108 total painted figures for an assortment of projects, midway through December sees that good progress continuing. That continued progress includes working toward a year-end goal of fielding a FPW Prussian infantry division.  With three of the four required infantry regiments completed earlier, I added in the four divisional batteries to break up the painting of countless Prussian infantry.

So, out from the desk today are four Prussian batteries.  Artillerymen are from Lancashire Games and the guns are Freikorps 15s.  Left to paint and muster out are a battalion of Jaegers and the fourth infantry regiment.  Since there are no mounted troops yet in The Lead Pile, attached cavalry and command will have to come later.  Hopefully some of the required mounted arm will be in-house in early 2025.  Still need to decide on which figures to use for the mounted contingents and then place an order.  Right now, Old Glory cavalry from 19th Century Miniatures seems the most likely source. 

Although temperatures have been hovering near freezing for an extended period, new snow this morning gave way to warming to just above freezing.  With a narrow window of above freezing temperatures and daylight, several batches of completed figures were given a spray coat of matte varnish.  Next, those figures will move on to basing.  A quick count shows 81 figures in this latest batch and December is not half over.  I expect to see a slow down as the holidays approach.

Work begins on the next installment of the Great Wargaming Survey analysis.  I often try to set aside part of Friday for this study and yesterday was no different.  What is under investigation?  Several of the new questions in the 2024 survey asked about boardgaming, computer gaming, and the extent to which those two different modes of wargaming fit in with miniatures gaming.  Respondents were asked if they participate in boardgaming or computer gaming and the relative mix between figure gaming and the other two.  Hopefully, something interesting drops out from this analysis. 

Stay tuned.  For now, back to the painting desk.

The Quick and the Dead

Game #3 in the continuing series of the Battle of First Azukizaka played out yesterday.  What happened to Game #2?  Well, that is a report for another time.  Since I was one of the two players in Game #2, I am still pondering how to put a positive spin on the whole affair.  

For Game #3, what was expected to be a four-player battle reduced to a three-player contest when one of the participants was unable to attend at last minute.  No worries! We forged ahead.   Players for the game were:

• Chris (Horse and Musket Gaming)
• Alan (Duchy of Tradgardland)
• Doug (A Lead Odyssey)

Chris (Imagawa Right, red dice) and Alan (Imagawa Left, green dice) split command of the Imagawa Army while Doug commanded the Oda Army (black and blue dice) alone.  With Game #3 seeing a reduction in player numbers from Game #1, the number of commands was reduced to two per army.

Battlefield and commands.

With commands assigned, let the game begin!

As the battle opens, Doug advances the Oda Left Wing cautiously toward the enemy.  Wasting no time, Chris disorders a body of enemy Ashigaru with musketry and then sends a body of Ashigaru spear out of the woods to attack the enemy to his front.  Unfortunately for Chris, his attack at even odds is thrown back with loss.  Doug pursues but cannot reach the enemy.

Imagawa attack repulsed!

Seeing his unexpected success of driving off Chris' attack on the left and sensing his left is secure for now, Doug gets aggressive on his right.  With his longbowmen keeping those central enemy longbowmen at bay, Doug thrusts in the adjoining Ashigaru into another body of Imagawa archers.  Suffering heavy losses, Alan's archers retreat behind the curtain provided by his Imagawa cavalry.  Alan's retreating Ashigaru longbowmen disorder Imagawa horse archers as they fall back.  Doug wastes little time in following up in pursuit.  Pursuit sees success and the Oda spear smack into the now disordered enemy horse archers.  Even with support from Alan's heavy cavalry to the right, the horse archers retire in disorder.  In sympathy, the heavy cavalry turn about and race toward their own command tent.  A HUGE hole has opened up in the Imagawa Center! 

Oda Ashigaru spear attack,
driving the enemy back.

In pursuit, enemy horse are contacted and driven off!

Imagawa Center is bending!

Doug is not finished in his attacks against the enemy right just yet.  As Oda Teppo rain volleys into Imagawa foot Samurai, spearmen on the extreme right attack along the ridgeline.  In protracted melee, both bodies of spear are ground down. In these desperate clashes, the fighting strength of Alan's Ashigaru spearmen are eroding at a faster rate than are Doug's.  Miraculously, Doug's body of spear is finally repulsed.  The end of Alan's line holds!

Battle for control of the high ground.

The reprieve for Alan is brief and buys little time.  A second Ashigaru spear springs forth from the Oda battle line hitting Alan's Samurai archers.  The archers do not hold their ground and retire to the rear.  Again, Doug pursues!  Again, the enemy is contacted.  Again, Alan's archers are compelled to retire.  Much to Doug's disappointment, his Ashigaru spearmen do not pursue.  The Imagawa Left is wavering from the pressure.  Will it hold?  

Oda Ashigaru attack...

driving back the enemy before them.

Doug is not finished causing mayhem on the Imagawa Left.  Leading his foot Samurai forward, one of the Oda generals attacks a body of enemy foot Samurai also well-led.  The two bodies of samurai fight furiously over several rounds of combat.  The Imagawa Samurai finally gain the upper hand in this hot contest.  Oda Samurai are forced back.  Imagawa Samurai do not pursue.  With their front now clear of friendly troops, Oda Teppo blast the surviving Imagawa Samurai to bits.  The Imagawa wing commander falls in these volleys.    

Two bodies of Samurai clash in heavy fighting.

Watching enemy Samurai to its right vanish, Oda spearmen attack the wavering line of enemy archers.  Under such pressure, the archers retreat at full speed.  The spearmen follow on in pursuit but cannot catch the fleeing enemy.

Imagawa archers in full retreat!

Seeing that its front is no longer blocked by enemy Ashigaru spear, Alan's horse archers charge into the enemy Samurai loosing arrows on the way in.  Against a weakening enemy, the horse archers prevail and Doug's Samurai are ready to run.  Wanting to reinvigorate his warriors, the Oda general commits Seppuku.  Witnessing this act of selflessness and honor, the Samurai rally and immediately counterattack the enemy.  These acts of bravery prove futile and the Oda Samurai retreat.  Alan's horsemen pursue up onto the high ground scattering the enemy to the four winds.

Death of an Oda General.

With all of the action against the Imagawa Left, is the opposite wing silent?  No!

Redoubling his efforts from the first failed attack against the Oda Left, Chris brings up two bodies of Ashigaru spear through the woods.  Their sight is set on attacking the now isolated enemy Ashigaru.  Even with odds in his favor, Chris' attack meets the same fate as the first.  His Ashigaru retreat through the woods in search of safety.  There is no safety to be found.  Doug pursues cutting down Chris' warriors as they attempt escape.  To compound the disaster unfolding on the Imagawa Right, a second body of Oda spear moves up to dispatch what remains of Chris' Teppo.  The Imagawa Army appears to be teetering on the brink of collapse. 

Chris attacks...

and pursues.

With destruction all around and the enemy penetrating deep in pursuit, Chris turns a body of Ashigaru to face the enemy.  Unforeseen is that another body of enemy spearmen are in position to fall upon his now exposed flank.  Doug senses opportunity and strikes! Not surprisingly, Chris spearmen never saw what hit them.  When the enemy crashes into the exposed flank, the Imagawa Ashigaru crumble.  This battle is over!

Flank attack!

My, oh my!  What a complete victory.  With the Army Breakpoint Clock showing six points remaining for Oda when the Imagawa Army broke, major victory to Doug and his Oda Army.  Congratulations, Doug, for a battle well-fought.  For Chris and Alan, their Imagawa Army was shattered in this battle.  If there is any doubt, scrutinize the tally from the Butcher's Bill.  

The battle's end.

Butcher's Bill

Tuesday's action witnessed a much different game and result from the previous two battles.  Doug's aggressiveness put the Imagawa Army on the back foot early.  Chris and Alan never could right this sinking vessel.  They fought hard and valiantly but they went down with their ship.

As umpire and Chief Figure Mover, this action offered an interesting exercise in game play, tactics, decisions, and fate.  The whole engagement was over in under 90 minutes.  After seeing tendencies and favors of the Dice Gods develop over several games, I think it best to place Chris and Alan on opposite sides!

Great job guys and very fun game!  Thank you.  

More Sumerians and a Bit of Shopping

Close upon the heels of last week's Sumerian reinforcements (see Sumerian Reinforcements), a similarly sized batch of Sumerian javelinmen departs from the painting desk.  This dozen light infantry is split between a four-figure stand of skirmishers and an eight-figure stand of light infantry.  Figures are, again, from Newline Designs.

While attention at the painting desk has turned toward projects not Sumerian, I did dig out a pack of two dozen Akkadian spearmen to prep for pushing into the painting queue.  First, though, more FPW Prussians are on deck as is a return to the SYW/WAS project.  Time at the workbench has actually increased over the last two weeks and progress is being made on the painting front.  I may reach 900 figures painted by year-end.  We will see.

While figure purchases have remained very much at a minimum this year, recent sales on books and games have dented the wallet slighty.

Helion recently offered a Black Friday sale with 25% discounts and free shipping to the USA.  An offer I could not refuse!  The two books shown above are part of the order.

In similar sales and preorder releases, the following games dropped into my mailbox of late:

I know, these annual holiday sales can be so difficult to resist.  While 19th Century Miniatures always holds a Christmas sale on 15mm Old Glory figures, I am resisting in order to keep my 2024 Figures Purchased tally in check.  Since the sale runs through 04 January, I can place an order in the New Year after the counter resets.

On the gaming front, one more First Battle of Azukizaka is on deck for a Tuesday game.

Battle of Azukizaka, 1542

Another day, another Samurai battle!  After having fought through several iterations of the 1572 Mikata Ga Hara Samurai battle, the collection remains out on table for another series of games.  This time, we focus on the 1542 Battle of Azukizaka.  As in one of the previous Samurai battles, Postie's Rejects take to the field but with a different complement of players.  For Monday's game, the Oda Army (Lee and Dan) take on the Imagawa Army (Ray and Colin).  Army compositions are similar so this may offer a good contest of wills.  The two armies are arrayed for battle as shown in the battlefield photo below:

Army deployments

For commands, Lee commands the Oda Center and Right while Dan commands the Oda Left.  Opposite the Oda Army, Ray commands the Imagawa Right while Colin takes up command of the Imagawa Left.

Imagawa Battle Line

Oda Battle Line

Imagawa Right

Let's get straight to the action!

Imagawa Command Tent

Both armies advance toward the other, neither ready or willing to strike first.  The silent maneuvers forward are broken when Yoshimoto (Ray) launches an attack into the enemy's Left.  With Ashigaru spear colliding into the woods in which the Oda spearmen stand, Ray pushes the enemy out from the woods driving them back into another patch of woods.  Ray pursues, catching the retiring spearmen.  Even with support from Samurai foot to their left, the wavering Oda spearmen continue to retire in the face of the enemy.  The Samurai have seen enough and they head for the rear!  Dan's first taste of combat does not go well!  

Ray attacks...

driving the enemy back in pursuit!

Ray is not finished in his carefully planned attack.  A second body of spearmen emerge from the woods and advance away from the Imagawa battle line.  The target of this charge is the now isolated Oda spearmen who watched as the Ashigaru to their right were driven off moments before by Ray's Ashigaru.  Likely shocked by the sudden collapse of support to the right, Dan's spear falls back in retreat.  Again, Ray pursues.  Again, Ray's spearmen catch the retiring enemy and force them back once more.  Casualties are heavy and Dan's command is tattered almost before the battle begins!  Oh, the humanity!  

Ray follows up with another attack into the Oda line!
The enemy is driven back!

The Oda Left is in shambles.

With his left virtually gone in one quick attack, Nobuhide (Lee) must make a decision.  How to salvage such an unexpected outcome?  

With his Left gone, Oda faces off against
 the remainder of the enemy army. 

Lee ponders this question too long.  Ray strikes!  After disordering the enemy with archery, Ray sends his foot Samurai forward against the enemy archers holding the left end of the Oda Center battle line.  The archers withstand the first attack and fight on in an extended melee.  Finally, the Samurai are too much and the archers are sent packing to the rear.  The Samurai are content to let the defeated archers slip away.  Seizing this respite, Lee counterattacks with his mounted heavy Samurai.  Lee's cavalry hit the enemy with such force that the Imagawa foot waver but hold on.  In the continuing close fighting, Ray's foot Samurai are sent running toward the rear!  Unfortunately for Lee, his mounted Samurai do not have the stomach to pursue.    

Ray attacks before Lee can act.

Oda archers hold on for a while...

but finally have seen enough and break.

Lee counterattacks with cavalry! 

Trying to bring his heavy Samurai cavalry into play, Colin brings his cavalry up onto the high ground on the left in an attempt to turn Lee's Right.  His first attack against Lee's spear is repulsed with heavy losses.  Before Colin can right this ship, Lee pushes forward with a body of Samurai foot and destroys the remnants of Colin's horsemen despite support from an Imagawa body of foot Samurai.  With the enemy in retreat before him, Lee fails to pursue.      

Oda Samurai attack to drive off the enemy!

Lee's attacks are not finished yet!  Having breached the enemy Left, Lee attacks the end of the Imagawa line in an effort to roll up the enemy flank one unit at a time.  While no pursuit seems the order of the day for Lee, at least one unit manages to pursue into a fleeing body of Samurai archers.  Unsurprisingly, the Imagawa bowmen are quickly dispatched having been caught in flight! 

Imagawa recoil...

as Oda spearmen pursue!

For Lee and Dan, the battle seems to be turning in Oda's favor.  The Imagawa Left is torn apart.  With destruction on both flanks, it is no surprise that the Army Breakpoint Clocks for both armies now hover near zero.  The next unit lost will likely spell defeat.  For Lee and the Oda Army, defeat comes quickly.  Ray is able to pick off a weakened body of archers stationed in the woods on the left.  The Oda Army collapses.  This battle is over!

The End!

Victory to Ray, Colin, and the Imagawa Army for forcing the Oda Army to break first!  That is the good news.  The bad news is that with such a small differential, the battle is ultimately classed as a draw.

Both armies fought hard in a seesaw battle for supremacy.  This battle, like so many more before, came down to the wire.  While Ray got off to a quick start by battering Dan on the Oda Left, Lee came back with a vengeance on the right to even the score.  At the end, both armies teetered upon defeat as their breakpoint clocks counted down toward zero.  Before Ray's final battlefield success, the clocks showed 2-1 in favor of Imagawa.  Cannot get much closer a fight than that!  While the Dead Pile favors the Imagawa Army, a number of Imagawa units were down to their last VBU point and were on the verge of routing.

Dead Pile

Again, great fun in a fast and furious game.  The game lasted less than two hours.  The result could have tipped either way, easily, especially if Lee could have seen success on one or two pursuits.  Thanks, guys, for a very fun and entertaining outing. 

As a postscript, Lee sent along his post-game thoughts.

[Lee] Once again defeated by fickle dice 😆. Poor Dan's collapsed on our left flank was dramatic and almost complete. Although I eventually managed to do the same to Colin facing my right flank, it was not as easy. Three or four attacks should have resulted in Pursuits but stalled instead, ultimately costing us the game. Both sides were on on the verge of breaking by the last turn with just two points in it when the Oda army broke.. I'm happy to cling to this being a technical draw despite Rays protestations to the contrary.😂