Masakado's Last Stand - AAR part4

 -Turn6

 The imperial punitive army stroke back. With fire it eliminated an encircled red unit and made some units retreat by melee. But Masakado was not going to switch to a defensive stance at all. 

 In this game, units of the initiative player have to attack all the adjacent units. Although the non-initiative player can't attack during a melee phase, he/she can make the opponent launch a disadvantageous attack, which can be practically considered as an "attack" by the non-initiative player. 

 The rebel army encircled one blue unit, forcing it to attack and be eliminated. Also on the left, the red commander Yoshitachi fired to put a blue unit in disordered status and eliminated it by melee. The momentum has not shifted to the imperial army yet.

-Turn7

 The blue commanders Hidesato and Sadamori fired at Masakado. If Masakado got disordered or "rout", the punitive player would attack him by melee in the hope of eliminating him, which would bring an immediate victory to the imperial army, but their arrows just made Masakado recoil. 

 While Masakado's army has suffered some losses, the punitive army has been bleeding a lot since the start of this battle. Its numerical superiority has now been lost, with the opponents retaining the powerful commanders Masakado and Yoshitachi. To restrain the actions of the still powerful enemy, the punitive force moved just one unit and ended the movement phase. Most of the Masakado's army couldn't engage in melee. 

-Turn8

 Last turn. The blue commanders, this time Tamenori and Sadamori, fired at Masakado once more but he remained intact. This turn again just one unit, the overall commander Sadamori, moved. Masakado, who lost the initiative, could do nothing. The overall commander of the imperial army Sadamori stood at the forefront of his troops and attacked a disordered red unit which was eliminated. 

 Finally, the battle has ended. Masakado got 23 victory points, the punitive force 36 points. The latter won. Masakado would be beheaded and the rebellion suppressed, but the samurai worriers in eastern Japan were never tamed by the government in Kyoto. Two and half centuries later, with their support Minamoto no Yoritomo founded the Kamakura shogunate there. 

Masakado's Last Stand - AAR part3

 -Turn4

 In this turn, the direction of the wind may change with a 33% probability, but it remained the same to let Masakado keep the initiative. 

 Masakado's army eliminated two encircled units by fire. In this game during a fire phase and a melee phase all the shootings of the initiative player are solved at first, and then come the shootings of the non-initiative player. Shooting can cause damage to the target or make it retreat, and encircled units can't retreat but are eliminated.

 Masakado's army kept its ferocious assault. Although one attack was repulsed, the red units charged into the enemy lines.

-Turn5

 In Turn5, a wind shift happens with a 67% probability, and it did! Now the imperial force was in a position upwind, their shooting range extended to 2 hexes, and they could fire before the enemy could. Having expected this, the punitive force had laid a trap in the previous turn. During the movement phase in Turn4, Hidesato, who had positioned on the left wing of the punitive force, shifted to the right so that when a Masakado unit advanced after a melee towards the overall commander of the blue army Taira no Sadamori, three blue commanders could rain a hail of fire on it in the coming turn. (BTW, Hidesato is said to have killed Masakado at the end of the battle.)

 Having seen the fierce rush of Yoshitachi in the previous turns, Masatame, another red commander, also thrust after a melee in Turn 4. But now, he was the prey of intensive fire from the commanders of the punitive force. The sky was darkened with arrows, and Masatame's retinue got totally panicked - the result of the fire was "rout status", and in this game the unit in a rout status is immediately eliminated when attacked by melee. 

 The overall commander of the punitive force, Sadamori, attacked the disordered retinue of Masatame in a close quarter and killed the enemy commander. 

 This was the start of the counterattack of the imperial punitive army. Attacked by melee, a red unit on the left was forced to retreat into the swamp and eliminated. Another red unit was encircled by advance after combat and eliminated.

Masakado's Last Stand - AAR part2

 -Turn1

 The assault of Masakado's elite force against the mass of the imperial government army has been mounted. The punitive force advanced one of its units to buy time. In this game, units adjacent to enemy ones are not allowed to move, which makes a weak unit able to momentarily stop the opponents.

 While the red units were advancing, the punitive force started to draw back, trying to save as many units as possible and to prepare for a counterattack. 

 But the withdrawal couldn't be conducted easily. As mentioned before, during a movement phase a player moves one unit at a time, like in chess, and the initiative player can end the phase whenever he/she likes. This means before the punitive force moves all its numerous units, the rebel who has the initiative can end the movement phase and start melee attacks. 

 Just after the blue force managed to withdraw its commanders and a few units, the red rebel started close-quarter combat and charged into the defence lines.

-Turn2

 The rebel army continued its all-out attack. Masakado himself led the main force on the left wing. Faced with formidable Masakado, who has the highest combat strength in the game, the blue force could provide little resistance. The head of the rebel army easily defeated the imperial troops, and the red units charged into Iwai Fort, a brown square on the map.

 The punitive army evacuated some units but backed by the tailwind, the attack of the rebel army was intense. One of the red commanders, Bunnya no Yoshitachi, who led the right wing, scattered two blue opponent units and advanced fiercely to catch the main force of the blue.

-Turn3

 On the left of the map, Yoshitachi pushed forward with some units, encircling one blue unit.

 Using delaying tactics, the punitive force advanced one unit to stop the main force of the red army, including Masakado and another commander Taira no Masatame.

 The red commander Yoshitachi was unstoppable. This time again, he dispersed blue units by melee combat on the left of the map. 

 The red army drove deeper into the defence lines of the blue army, but due to the blue unit sacrificed to buy time, the left wing of the rebel force, which included Masakado himself, was slowed down. In the meantime, a red detachment on the right of the map chased away a blue unit and approached the right wing of the punitive force.

 So far the imperial army has lost half of its units while the rebels remained intact...

Masakado's Last Stand - AAR part1

  In the centre of Tokyo where head offices of major corporations are located, surrounded by high-rise buildings there is a tiny grave called Shomonzuka (将門塚). It is said to be the final resting place of Taira no Masakado, a samurai warrior who led a rebellion against the emperor in the 10th century. Soon after he revolted in the Kanto region, including present Tokyo, Masakado, a man of valour, put a large part of Kanto under control with his mounted army. He even claimed the title of Shinno (New Emperor). 

 The central government in Kyoto sent a sizeable punitive force. It defeated Masakado and burned down his base, Iwai Fort. Faced with an enemy of 4,000 strengths, he only had 400 guards left. But the leader of the rebellion didn't give up.  Masakado executed a sophisticated manoeuvre near Iwai to lead his army, which consisted of mounted archers, to a position upwind and launched an attack with his skilled guards of high morale. A fierce battle ensued. Masakado was killed by an arrow at last, but the outcome of the battle had never been certain until the last moment.

 "Masakado's Last Stand" is a wargame included in the magazine "Bushi Life", Nr 4. This game stimulates the battle of Iwai with simple rules. Basically each turn consists of the phases of fire, movement and melee. During movement phases, the players take turns moving one unit at a time, like in chess.

(BTW this game is registered as "Masakado's Last Battle" in BGG.  I don't know it is the official English title or not (the original Japanese title is "Masakado Saigo no Tatakai"). Still, I just prefer "Last Stand", for he and his guards were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice in order to defend their cause, so determined that they would not surrender under any circumstances. ...sounds too dramatic?)

 The most notable point of this game is the rules regarding the initiative. The initiative player can shoot first with a longer range during the fire phase, decide how many units both players can move during the movement phase, and receives favourable column shits during the melee phase, in which only the initiative player conducts attacks. 

 During the first half of the game the north wind blows, which gives Masakado's army the initiative. But then the wind direction reverses to let the imperial punitive force have the initiative. This causes a dramatic shift, as you could easily imagine.

 The number of Masakado's units is much smaller than that of the punitive force, but for the latter it is not easy to make use of its numerical superiority; the battlefield is limited by the swamp on the left and the river on the right, and also stacking is not allowed. Although the punitive army units seem countless compared to Masakado's, more than half of them are untried ones, of which average combat strength is less than 1. Each side has 3 commanders, and Masakado's are more powerful.

 The game lasts for 8 turns, and at the end of the game, the player who has acquired more victory points than the other wins. Masakado gets VPs the same as the combat strength of the eliminated units, and 15 points for each eliminated commander. The punitive force receives 4 PVs for each eliminated Masakado unit, and 20 VPs for each commander. And if Masakado is eliminated, the punitive force player immediately achieves victory.

 Now Masakado's last stand begins...