Any game in which you represent real life dudes that collected the heads of the Mofos they killed to be rewarded for at a presentation at the end of a battle is......... The period is filled with larger than life personalities, brilliant tactics and acts of insanity. Plus I work for the Japs and have been over to see some of the places.
Be warned there will be some nerd raging happening
For clearity, I am not a Black Powder or Hail Caesar fan. I love Warmaster Ancients. BP & HC run the fundamental Warmaster rules engine. BP & HC dumb down the combat mechanic too far. And the orders phase. And moral. BP & HC are ok for a Con game where ease and speed of play are part of the goal to engage players. It lacks depth and creates unreal scenarios in which ruin a historical refight.
Wars of the Samurai. Or more specific one war, The Sengoku Era 1450-1600ish.
Many argue over the start date and the end date, for this it doesn't really matter. The book focuses on the 3 unifiers of Japan. Which is fine, but does not stick to the theme. A page in the Takeda worship states. Quickly followed by Kenshin. Others are sprinkled in. Warlord could have just gone with the unifiers and had an excellent book. Then follow up with Takeda and friends and another the Onin war. Anyone interested would gobble them up. It is a missed opportunity at 40 a book.
I am one of the Takeda fanboys. His statue sit in front of the train station in Kofu center. It is where we stay outside of Toyoko in Kai providence. This is where my interest developed in the period. I ran around his castle every morning. And 90% of my samurai nerd rage boils from the Takeda Cavalry myths.
Historical Problems
1,) Wars of the Samurai continue to propagate the idea of Samurai Shock Cavalry. This is established and stuck in western minds. As we cannot get it out of our head that Cavalry was used in another way. The Japanese horse at the time was too small. It was bearly big enough to support an armored warrior. The armored warrior nearing 40% of the horses weight. The horse could trot but never charge. Shock Cavalry requires the weight of the animal to punch through. These horses lacked that weight.
The Takeda used the horse and mounted warriors in a way in which you and me can understand today as mechanized Infantry. The Takeda's mountain horses were fast enough to rapidly redeploy elite troops. No other clan had this capability.
2.) Wars of the Samurai continue to propagate the volley fire. Warlord uses the term "serialized fire." The has been proven over and over to be bullshit. Yet it keeps popping up.
3.) Kenshin
and Takeda 5 battles are related. There is no explanation of why the 5 were fought or the objectives. The first four being a resource
driven event. With the 5th having an actual battle and being the famous war fan event.
4.) The Samurai governmental organizational structure is feudal. It is not and never was. There is enough printed about this misconception that Warlord should have been able to sidestep it. I see it as laziness and a disrespect of their customer base.
5.) Bushido is a modern concept. Whatever it was originally has been polluted during the World Wars for the Imperial Army. And that is what is described here.
Wicked Cool Stuff
Page 7, Vassal Obligations. This little bit of information is hard to come by. It is available if you can read Japanese and you have access to an extensive library. I have heard reference to this information but never seen it. Of course Warlord doe snot foot note or state the source.
Miyagi Shirobei no jo'sholding valued at 285 kammon had to supply, 7 mounted samurai, 28 ashigaru, 2 teppo, 17 spearmen, 1 archer, and 8 others. A total of 58 men.
Page 17, Is a map of the providences during the time. I had to get mine from a co-work in the factory in Osaka.
Page 50, Dubious Loyalty rule. This one is awesome. The Samurai were not as honorable as you think. They would take money for service and not show up, or not fight. They would change sides, could be bought, and would hang back avoiding the fight. They would then show up to collect rewards for battles they were not present for.
Page 58 army construction limits are very fitting to what is known. The combination of mixed units within a Sonae is how they were organized. The lesser retainers were against loaning out there Ashigaru and peasents as more powerful retainers would use them up and save their own. Remember they needed these individuals to farmer after the campaign was over.
Army rules
There are some very good ones that could be translated for Warmaster. All Samurai armies are basically the same. Other than restriction of available units how do you represent differences between Clans.
The Mori getting Flank March and Marauders is awesome.
The Imagawa getting Crack and Drilled for points
Hojo getting drilled
Shimazu Cavalry getting +1 shooting and sharpshooters
Uesugi getting drilled monks, and +1 on first order
Takeda ferocious change, Terrifying charge, first fire for teppo
Oda drilled, tough fighters, teppo first fire and sharpshooter
Tokugawa Stubborn, tough fighters and drilled
Dubious Loyalty rule. For a reduction in unit cost one can take this rule. At least one unit must have it. When a order is failed, you roll a die to determine if they stay loyal. I have changed what is in the book to represent the Bullshit these individuals actually did.
0-3 nothing happen, 1/2 move or roll for blunder
4-5 advance up to 3 moves stopping outside of engage range and take no action
6-7 No action taken this turn
8-9 Make two moves toward nearest enemy and change sides
10-11 Change sides in place.
12 They leave the field
Scenarios
Battles starts on page 70 and go to page 119. This in my opinion is the value in the book. If for nothing else this is what you want the book for.
THE MOUNTAIN
Bought = 88 + an army
Sold = 138 + 2 armies, 12 terrain
Painted = 109
28mm = 42
20mm = 0
15mm = 0
10mm = 0
Epic = 9
Terrain bought = 41
Terrain painted = 31
Printed Terrain = 27
Minis Printed = 0
Games
Played = 5
Games hosted = 0
Bought = 739, 2 armies
Sold = 553, 29 detachments, 7 armies, box set
Painted = 556
