Battle of Wada (Bushi Life #5) AAR part5

-Turn 7

 The Wada restored their forces to full readiness. While the Bakufu had conducted a successful volley in the previous turn, it was the Wada’s turn to deliver effective fire. A Bakufu stack positioned just behind the Wada line had four units flipped, and the central, strongest Bakufu force had three rendered fatigued.

 With two intact and powerful stacks at their disposal, the Wada faced a choice: strike the center or attack the weakened stack behind their line. An assault on the center could defeat the Bakufu troops there, but the enemy would likely retreat into a heavily fortified area, and the attacking stack would be exposed to fire without cover. Seeking to maximize attrition, the Wada targeted the vulnerable red troops instead.

 One Wada stack overran a vulnerable Bakufu formation, routing two and eliminating the other two. Meanwhile, the second Wada stack crossed the street to engage another Bakufu stack. Although only slightly superior to the defender, the attack succeeded, destroying one Bakufu unit. With these actions, the total Bakufu losses rose to 15.

-Turn 8

 The final turn began with the Wada at full strength, while the Bakufu recovered all but one of their fatigued units. Once again, the Wada opened with devastating fire. The Bakufu’s central formation saw four of its units rendered immobile.

 As previously noted, the Wada score from both eliminated units and control of key areas, wheares the Bakufu score only from area control. Keeping this in mind, a Wada stack crossed the main street from the right and hurled itself at a full Bakufu contingent entrenched in a fortified zone. The assault was effectively sacrificial. The blue troops suffered heavy casualties, but they fought stubbornly enough to leave the victorious Bakufu stack completely fatigued and unable to move, which was precisely what the Wada intended.

 This proved the final major engagement of the urban battle. Afterwards, both sides dispatched small detachments to seize as many locations as they could before the game ended. To close the contest, the Wada’s famed pair, Asahina and Yoshimori, struck down a fatigued Bakufu unit, wiping it out.

 With this, the bitter struggle came to a close. The Wada earned 10 points from area control and 15 from enemy losses, while the Bakufu finished with 13 points. The Wada’s strategy of fixing the Bakufu in place during the early stage and inflicting steady attrition, rather than prioritizing the capture of high-value figures, paid off.

 The rebellion thus succeeded. The Hōjō clan was toppled, and turmoil among the ruling houses persisted. Historically, the Kamakura shogunate endured for a century and a half, but without the stabilizing power of the Hōjō, its fate in this alternate history would have been very different.

Battle of Wada (Bushi Life #5) AAR part4

 -Turn 4

 From this turn, both sides faced limits on how many fatigued units they could restore. Each army was unable to recover two of its units. The exchange of arrows inflicted additional damage on both forces. Despite taking fire, the main Bakufu force on the central street remained fully operational, while the powerful Wada stack to its left had two units flipped to their fatigued side.

 The Wada continued their advance, while the Bakufu fell back in an effort to form a more solid defensive line. On the right flank, a red unit that had been fatigued by arrow fire was abandoned during the withdrawal and was promptly destroyed by the pursuing Wada troops. Bakufu casualties now totaled 11. The Wada also brought forward two fresh units to bolster their strongest stack.

 The Bakufu, however, were not merely retreating. After the Wada’s elite leaders pressed ahead, two fatigued blue units with a combat strength of zero were left behind. From the far left, a Bakufu force swept in and struck these exposed units, wiping them out.

-Turn 5

 All fatigued units from both armies recovered this turn, except for one Bakufu unit that remained in the rout box. The Bakufu’s volley against the most advanced — and most powerful — Wada stack was exceptionally effective, flipping every blue unit in that formation.

 On the right side of the main street, an intact Wada stack crossed over and drove off the red units positioned behind the Wada main force. However, this proved to be the Wada’s only offensive action of the turn. With three turns remaining in the game, the Wada focused on regrouping and preparing for their final assaults.

-Turn 6

 Although both armies now suffered from limited recovery capacity, they still managed to refresh all fatigued units.

 After an exchange of arrows that inflicted light casualties on each side, the Wada renewed their advance. To the left of the main street, they had assembled two powerful formations.  The leading stack, commanded by Asashina and Yoshimori, struck at the Bakufu’s far-left position. Thanks to advantageous terrain, the Bakufu held on stubbornly. The melee dragged on for four rounds before the defenders finally fell back. The Wada emerged victorious but exhausted.

 The retreating red troops, all fatigued, were in danger of being eliminated by an immediate follow-up attack from the second blue stack. However, at this critical moment the Bakufu played the Minamoto no Sanetomo 源実朝 marker. 

 This marker restores Bakufu units more effectively than the Oe marker used earlier. Sanetomo, the third shogun of the Kamakura shogunate only in name with real authority in the hands of the Hōjō, revitalized the red troops, who counterattacked and destroyed the isolated blue unit operating behind their lines.

 Given the Bakufu’s rejuvenated condition and their own restricted recovery options, the Wada chose not to press the attack further. Instead, they regrouped once more, preparing to stake everything on the final two turns.

Battle of Wada (Bushi Life #5) AAR part3

 -Turn 2

 At the beginning of each turn except for Turn1, the recovery phase occurs. In the early turns there is no limit on the number of fatigued units each player can recover, but as the game progresses, the number gradually decreases, with the Wada’s recovery allowance reduced more than the Bakufu’s.

 All the fatigued units of both sides recovered, and then an exchange of fire took place. Both sides suffered some damage, while Doi of the Wada, on the right, successfully made all four units of the Bakufu in front of him fatigued. That stack could have been easy prey for Doi if engaged in melee, but the Bakufu used a special marker, Oe no Hiromoto 大江広元, to rally the damaged units. The Bakufu has three markers representing political figures, each with a special effect that can be used once per game. Oe rallied the red army, yet Doi still charged the fully recovered red stack and forced it to retreat.

 

 Needing manpower to cope with the Wada’s penetration in the center, the Bakufu pulled two units from the front area, leaving three fatigued, unmovable units behind. The Wada assaulted this remaining red contingent, eliminating two units and forcing one to retreat. However, the surviving unit was immediately attacked by another blue unit and eliminated.

 The strongest Wada stack, containing Asahina and Yoshimori in the center street, swung left and forced three Bakufu units to retreat. The Wada then reinforced this formidable stack with two additional units, bringing it up to the stacking limit of five.

 Although pressed hard by the Wada, the Bakufu found an opportunity to counterattack. On the main street, after Asahina and Yoshimori charged to the left, two fatigued Wada units remained. The Bakufu assaulted them and destroyed both.

-Turn 3

 Both sides recovered their fatigued troops at the start of the turn.

 In the shooting phase, the entire Wada force was positioned in defensive terrain, reducing the impact of Bakufu fire. In contrast, the Bakufu’s main force, the one that had counterattacked in the previous turn, remained exposed on the main street. Three units from that strong red stack became unable to move by fire.

 The Wada’s leading stack advanced with four units, as one had been fatigued by Bakufu fire. The defending red units resisted stubbornly in an attempt to wear down the attackers, but were ultimately forced to retreat, with one unit routing and another eliminated. Seeing the Wada break into their defensive line, the Bakufu stack on the left withdrew.

 At this moment, a single blue unit slipped past the powerful Wada stack, which had room for one more unit under the stacking limit, and emerged onto the main street behind the Bakufu force that had counterattacked earlier. The trapped red units stroke back while leaving behind their three immobile comrades. Those vulnerable red contingents on the street were quickly overwhelmed by the Wada, resulting in all three units being eliminated.

 The Wada earn victory points equal to the combat strength of eliminated Bakufu units. Their total now reached 9. 

Battle of Wada (Bushi Life #5) AAR part2

 -Turn 1

 The Wada clan rose in rebellion and stormed Kamakura. The battle started with exchanging fire on the left front. In the shooting phase, each player selects one stack and fires into an adjacent area in alternating turns, with the Wada shooting first. The Wada managed to disorder three Bakufu units (flipping them), while the Bakufu made two enemy units unmovable.

 Then came the move & melee phase. As in the shooting one, each player moves one stack at a time. Each stack has three movement points, and entering an area occupied by the enemy to engage in melee costs two points. As a result, the game features limited maneuvering and frequent head-on clashes. Stacking is limited to five units per area at all times, preventing a stack from launching an attack by moving through a friendly stack that already occupies the space.

 From the left side of the main street, the blue stack led by Doi Yoshikiyo 土居義清 crossed the street and attacked an intact Bakufu stack. Doi, a powerful leader with a combat strength of 4, drove the enemy back, causing two of its units rout.

 Doi attacked the intact red stack, but there had been a damaged Bakufu garrison in front of him, already weakened by the earlier shooting, which he could have attacked under more favorable conditions. However, the Wada strategy was to pin down as many Bakufu units as possible to prevent them from falling back and forming a defensive line in stronger terrain to the rear. In this game, units that suffer damage are flipped to their fatigued side and cannot move. Units that retreat after melee also become fatigued. For this reason, the Wada chose to attack the intact four-unit red stack so that it also would be unable to withdraw further.

 In the centre, the formidable Wada stack advanced directly up the street and charged the Bakufu forces. This stack, led by Asahina, includes Wada Yoshimori 和田義盛, the leader of the rebellion. In melee, Yoshimori has a special ability that allows him to contribute an additional 1 point as a supporting unit. This makes the already strong Asahina-led stack even more powerful, and the red army had no choice but to retreat.

 In melee, if combat lasts more than one round, all units on the winning side also become fatigued. To exploit this rule, three undamaged blue units on the left wing attacked a Bakufu stack that had already taken fire damage. Although the Bakufu, benefiting from defensive terrain, repelled the attack, the blue forces fought stubbornly. As a result, the remaining red unit that had not yet been fatigued was also flipped.    

 While the Wada pressed forward relentlessly, the defending Bakufu attempted to pull back as many units as possible to establish a defensive line, with reserves hurrying forward to bolster the front.

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.