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.😂