From: Markus Stumptner Subject: [Consim-l] Okehazama 1560 replay X-BeenThere: consim-l@mailman.halisp.net Third game in the Six Angles collection. This one is an area movement game, using a chitpull system for play and a simple differential system for combat. Turns are one hour. An interesting twist is that the turn end is predicated on the appearance of two Turn Ends chits, so no force is guaranteed a move, but some forces have more than one chit and therefore a higher chance (although they cannot move multiple times per turn even if multiple chits turn up). A force whose chit is pulled can either move *or* attack, which means that if you move into an enemy's area, there is a chance he will be able to react before you get to attack (although once jointly in an area, you can only get out by retreating). Stacking is unlimited, despite the short turns, this is a low-operational game rather than a tactical one. The game depicts a surprise attack by Oda Nobunaga's forces on Imagawa Yoshimoto's troops near Ohdaka Castle; as a result most of Imagawa's forces tend to be less mobile (a number of his forces can have their chit placed in the cup only on a single turn). Presumably the clash between the main armies historically happened near the area named as Okehazama on the map; in my case I was only a few hundred meters off. The map shows three castles belonging to Imagawa, two of them besieged by minor formation under Oda's command; Oda seems to come onto the map to finish the job. Imagawa starts in the third castle, on the other side of the map, and the degree of his (crawling) progress towards Ohdaka Castle, the more distant one of the two others, is part of the victory conditions. 8:00 Not much happens at the outset, the two Turn End markers (following each other) are numbers 4 and 5. However, Imagawa has left his castle, keeping Asai Masabashi's troops there as a garrison. 9:00: Imagawa chooses a 'D' chit - hoping that Force D across the Kurozue River may be able to cross and knock out one of the forts or at least reinforce Narumi castle before Oda gets on the map. This fails - the chit doesn't turn up before the turn ends and so is wasted. However, on the other side of the river, Asahima Yosuyoshi's troops attack Fort Washizu and cause a step loss. I decided to take the leader (Oda Nobuhira, presumably an Oda Nobunaga relative) as a loss. Ironically, later in the turn his men go berserk (event C), leave the fort and attack the besiegers. They roll well but have to retreat and end up retrenching on a nearby hill and later into Fort Nakajima. Meanwhile Mazdaira Motoyasu (later known as Tokugawa Ieyasu) leads an assault on Fort Marune and takes it, eliminating the defenders. So, the siege of Ohdaka castle has essentially been relieved. 10:00: Imagawa plays his second 'D' chit (now almost useless anyway) and even that fails, as Oda's troops move first. Coming onto the map near Fort Tange, Oda moves to besiege Narumi Castle. If he leaves a force in Fort Zenshoji blocking the Kamakura-Ohkan Road, that means Imagawa will be held at bay and Oda can quickly proceed towards Ohdaka. Also, any of the forces in Fort Nakakima might conceivably be sent towards the Dengakuhazama swamp (one wonders if "Dengakuhazama" contains the word for "swamp" somewhere) to delay Imagawa at that road crossing. However, they don't end up moving this turn. Right afterwards, a thunderstorm happens (event G) and indeed Imagawa is the next to move, having his pace slowed down. The turn ends immediately after that. (Events B and D have also taken place but have essentially no effect - one force is eliminated, the other cannot reach an enemy.) Not sure what chit to use for Imagawa the next turn, we'll take the almost useless 'H' force. 11:00: This is the "Nobunaga Raids" turn (following the thunderstorm) and in fact Nobunaga is well placed to retake Fort Washizu if he moves quickly. But first, he uses the Kajikawa force to block the crossroads. Meanwhile, Motoyasu makes the obvious move and moves to reinforce the troops near Fort Washizu (strengthening the area to 21 points), just before Oda assaults Narumi Castle. (The strength of Oda's force would be 23 +1 for the swamp terrain near Fort Washizu, making battle in that area an iffy proposition). Mizuno's forces are pulled back into Fort Tange but cannot quite garrison Narumi which might be open to a counterstrike from Mazdaira if Oda now moves. Imagawa has to decide whether to go for Narumi or Ohdaka and decides on Ohdaka. However he then decides to rest. Bad luck for the Imagawa player... no movement out of that force until about 14:00. Oda is informed about these developmens by a courier detached from Kajikawa's force at Dengakuhazama, and decides to make use of this splendid opportunity. Unfortunately Kajikawa has decided the same and sends his force in an attack on Imagawa's camp. Despite the unready state of Imagawa's troops, they vastly outnumber Kajikawa's force (the attack goes in at -7) and after defeating its attack, decide that this is all they have to be concerned about. Kajikawa achieves nothing and ends up back at Dengakuhazama with little but his bodyguards. (The leader elimination rule is another of those funny instances where a leader is eliminated on a roll of 1-2 but you "add two to the dieroll" if it's a berserk leader attacking as in Kajikawa's case. Couldn't they simply say that these leaders are not subject to that dieroll?) As his allowed second move on the raid turn, Oda leaves part of his troops to act as garrison for Narumi Castle , crosses to Fort Nakajima, and marches towards Dengukuhazama. The slopes of Mt Taishigane are to his left; on the other side of the hill, about a kilometer away, Imagawa is resting near a little lake. Asahina Yosuyoshi's forces, relieved near Fort Washizu, move towards the river now that Oda is away. The turn ends on almost the last chit pulled. Noon: Asahina's troops are the first to move; he would be attacking at strength 9 against a strength 9 garrison in Narumi. But with Oda within range, he decides to stay where he is. Kajikawa rides back to Fort Nakajima. He passes Nobunaga's troops marching for the attack. The threat to Fort Washizu having passed for now, Mazdaira moves back to Fort Marune. The turn ends as Oda is arraying his troops for battle. 13:00: The troops in Fort Nakajima are activated but decide to remain where they are. Mizuno's troops leave Fort Tange and march to Narumi Castle - the threat to the castle is now over. Then a turn end marker and four useless Imagawa chits follow but the Oda side's irritation is rising - another turn end marker would mean his chance at surprise is over! Then a Oda marker comes up and Nobunaga, finally ready, sends his men into battle. At strength 21 facing Imagawa's troops (12 plus 2 for the hill) chances are good. However, the attack fizzles out (2 vs 4 rolled giving +5). A single Imagawa unit is eliminated, and now Imagawa's men are ready. On the next turn his attack strength will still only be 13 (against Oda's defense of 10+2) but his defense will be 20+1 (against Oda's 21). Oda will therefore be marginally advantaged by keeping up the attack. On the other hand, at this point, he is leading by 14 VPs (3-leader plus 5-castle plus 6 for Imagawa's distance from Ohdaka) over 3 (one leader plus two forts captured). Therefore slowing the pace of the game is to his advantage. For the next turn, Imagawa will choose the Asahina chit since he will be able to continue to move anyway. 14:00: Oda's turn comes but he decides to wait. A turn end marker comes next, but after that it's soon Imagawa's turn. The counterattack goes in at +1 and ends up with +2 (5 vs 4 rolled). Oda is forced to retreat and rather than move into defensible terrain, falls back on Dengakuhazama to slow Imagawa's advance. By now, there is not enough daylight left for Oda to march back and retake the forts, so Asahina, when his turn comes, spreads his garrison across the two forts to enable Mazdaira to become more mobile. Just then, Event 'E' happens and Sakum's unit leaves its post at Fort Zenshoji. Realising that not much can be done against the enemy right now he later joins the garrison of Fort Nakajima. Mazdaira moves closer towards the river but probably will not be able to do much before the end of the day. Finally, the turn (a long turn) ends. Imagawa chooses the 'F' chit for Miura Bingonokami's troops in Ohdaka Castle. 15:00: Oda is activated but decides to just sit. Imagawa follows him to Dengakuhazama. Mazdaira, now sure that Oda cannot reach him, goes for Fort Nakajima. The turn ends on the last chit. 16:00: Imagawa uses his last chit to improve his chance of moving first, not that it will make a difference, he is attacking out of pure spite. Mazdaira attacks first, 9 vs 7, and remains at +2 for a Defender retreat. Fort Nakajima is captured, all forts on this side of the Ohgi river have now been captured by Imagawa's forces. Oda comes next, on the attack he would go 19+1 vs 20, whereas Imagawa would go 13+1 vs 10. Clearly going at even chances is better, so he attacks. Unfortunately Imagawa has been waiting for this (2 vs 5) and the result is -3 (Attacker retreat), so Oda falls back to Mt Okehazama. Imagawa is next, and pursues. There are two other reasonable paths he could take but none would bring him closer to Ohdaka than this one. Darkness falls before further action can ensue. Imagawa points: 2 for lost leaders 3 for captured forts _ 5 Oda points: 3 for a lost leader 5 for Narumi Castle 4 for Imagawa's distance from Ohdaka Castle __ 14 _______________________________________________ Consim-l mailing list Consim-l@mailman.halisp.net http://mailman.halisp.net/mailman/listinfo/consim-l