Battle of Wada (Bushi Life #5) AAR part1

  At the end of the 12th century, around the time when Saladin and Richard the Lionheart fought for Jerusalem in the Holy Land, the first shogunate was established in Kamakura 鎌倉 in eastern Japan. Soon after the sudden death of the first shogun, Minamoto no Yoritomo 源頼朝, struggles among the major power holders ensued, and the Hōjō 北条 clan rose to become shikken 執権 (regent) to the shogun, effectively ruling the Bakufu 幕府, the military government. Provoked by the de facto ruler, Hōjō Yoshitoki 北条義時, another powerful clan, the Wada 和田, rebelled. A fierce battle broke out in the city of Kamakura in 1213, known as the Wada Gassen 和田合戦.

  The game Battle of Wada, featured in Issue 5 of the magazine Bushi Life, simulates this urban clash. To win, the Wada, the blue ones, should capture politically important figure(s) including Hojo Yoshitoki, but the defending Bakufu, the red ones, naturally places such individuals deep behind the front lines, making it difficult for the rebels to reach them. Even if they can't achieve this objective, the Wada can still win by eliminating Bakfu units and occupying key areas, which are indicated with a red square on the map. Most of those areas are under Bakufu control at the start of the game. This forces the Wada to attack aggressively regardless of casualties.

 Although outnumbered, the Wada boast of their strong units. In melee, each side selects a vanguard unit from the engaged stack. The vanguard’s combat strength is combined with the number of supporting units in the stack to calculate the total melee strength, so while the vanguard does not solely determine the result, a strong vanguard can provide a significant advantage. Along with Asahina Yoshihide 朝比奈義秀, who has the highest combat strength in the game at 5, the Wada possess two units with a strength of 4. By contrast, the Bakufu have only one 4-strength unit.

 The Bakufu, however, can rely on superior firepower. As for shooting in this game, the combat strength of units doesn't matter, but only the number of units does. Since the Bakufu owns nine more units than the Wada, the former has an upper hand in ranged fights. The shooting phase comes before the movement & melee one, and units which suffered damage by shooting can't move nor attack. This allows the Bakufu to thin out the charging Wada forces before the latter engages melee. The Bakufu also benefit from the defensive terrain. The areas containing buildings and marked with a red square provide a defensive bonus in both shooting and melee, and as the Wada advances deeper into the city, these defensive effects get higher. 

 Now, the question remains: can the furious Wada overthrow the Hōjō clan? We will see.