Aizuwakamatsu

Just before I set out for a couple of months of travel my son set up a game for us using his Japanese Boshin War era figures.

The scenario was based on one given in the 'Last Samurai Rebellion' supplement to 'The Men Who Would Be Kings' but with the setting and troops transposed back a decade to the Boshin War rather than the Satsuma Rebellion.  This article is just a brief commentary on the set up and action.  A full write up can be found here.

The action was fought on a 6' by 4' table, representing an area of no-man's land between a castle held by Aizu forces of the Northern Alliance and an Imperialist besieging force.  On this at the start were placed a unit of Aizu riflemen that had presumptuously issued out and promptly been pinned down by an isolated but alert detachment of Satsuma Infantry (During the Boshin War the Satsuma Domain was a major player in the alliance behind restoration of the Meiji Emperor's authority.  Only later did they rebel against the new dispensation.)  This was towards the Northern edge of the board.  To the south and separated from the first action by a bamboo grove, at the top of a low hill, lay a dead officer with a map.

The challenge for the Aizu forces were to rescue their pinned unit and to try to recover the map.  For the Imperialists, the tasks were to prevent the Aizu getting their men or the map off the table and, if possible, to get the map for themselves.  The Aizu had a larger but lower quality force.  Apart from the riflemen of the Vermillion Bird Corps already on the table, led by an arrogant officer, they had three more rifle units and a detachment of Shinsengumi swordsmen.  

Rolling for the leadership of each of the units in the rescue force, the Aizu player ended up with -

White Tiger Corps riflemen (issued with outdated weapons) commanded by 'A Bag of Nerves' who will test to see if he deserts his unit the first time it is pinned.

Black Tortoise Corps riflemen commanded by 'The Major-General's favourite nephew' - which allows them to improve one aspect of the unit.  The player chose to upgrade their rifles to modern weapons.

Azure Dragon Corps riflemen (outdated weapons), led by a 'Musketry Buff' - a trait that gave the unit no advantage as it already had firing as a free action, and

The Shinsengumi band, led by a 'Shirker' - so they could not initiate combat unless first attacked by an enemy.

Given the poor quality of leadership of most of the Aizu forces, things were not looking good for them from the start.

They would be facing off against the Satsuma infantry, who had outdated rifles but were led by 'A Fine Swordsman' who would give them advantage in melée, and three further rifle units.

Two of these were regular Chōshū infantry, both armed with modern rifles.  One was led by a 'Cad' - if forced to retreat they would flee double distance - the other by 'A bag of nerves', matching the Aizu White Tiger Corps.

The last Imperial unit, the Toza Infantry, were sharpshooters and led by 'A Sporting Umpire' - so would not fire on a pinned enemy if an unpinned target were available.

Each side could place the units not already on the table anywhere up to 12" in from their long edge.

Deploying to the left in the picture above, the Aizu commander placed the Shinsengumi in the foreground, ready to advance quickly to try to recover the map from the body of the dead officer. They were supported on their left by the men of the White Tiger Corps.  Beyond these, the men of the Black Tortoise Corps and Azure Dragon Corps were deployed to cover the Vermillion Bird Corps unit as it tried to extricate itself.  To the right, the Imperial troops were deployed in line close together, leaving the dead officer uncovered save by the rifles of the Toza unit at the end of the line.  The aim was to try and finish off the Vermillion Bird Corps quickly, then see what they could do about the rest.

The Aizu men moved first, advancing all along their line, except for the Azure Dragon Corps who fired on the Satsuma unit to good effect.  At long range their obsolete rifles needed 5s or 6s to hit and three hits to make one kill -

Two of the Satsuma men fell but the unit avoided the dreaded pinning effect while the Vermillion Bird unit failed to recover from the pin they were under.

The advance of the Aizu men gave the Imperial force a target rich environment and they made the most of it.

On the left, the Toza sharpshooters dropped three of the Shinsengumi and secured a pin, preventing them from picking up the map on the next turn.

On the right, the Satsuma men, despite their losses, fired a deadly volley against the Vermillion Bird Corps, killing three and inflicting another pin on them.  In the centre, one of the Chōshū units fired on the Azure Dragon men, killing two but inflicting no pin, while the other fired on the White Tiger Corps, killing only one but pinning them as well.  This left only the Black Tortoise Corps untouched.

Things did not get any better for the Aizu forces.  The Vermillion Birds routed, forcing tests on adjacent units, which led to the untouched Black Tortoise Corps failing and being pinned without having fired a shot!  Imperial marksmanship continued to be outstanding and all along the line Aizu men went down before the withering fire.  Although the Shinsengumi did manage to unpin themselves, their commander judged it unwise to make another attempt to recover the map without any fire support, so withdrew the unit as the rest of the army fled the field.  The Imperials had sufficient time to send the Toza infantry to recover the map and take it off the field before time ran out, giving them full points for the victory.

This was the most one sided game we have had with 'The Men Who Would be Kings' Rules.  Excellent dice rolls by the Imperials in their first round of firing left the Aizu men without much prospect and they finished themselves off with their own very poor rolls to recover at the start of the second turn.  Even with better rolls, it is hard to see how they could have prevailed.  I have not doubt that my opponent will be thinking carefully how to design a better scenario to play when I return to the field of battle.