The Byeongja Horan Campaign from Manchu Perspective: Overview, Strategy, and Lessons Learned

[IramHunkarim]

Prelude

I just played the campaign as Qing Dynasty and learnt several things about both armies, of course from the Qing perspective. Written here are my musings about the campaign on how I played it and what happened. I decided against writing a specific battle for reasons specified bellow, and chose to write a somewhat general view of how the campaign went. I am confident that I have gained many interesting and useful information for our fellow players. This game is played on Bushô difficulty.

The Armies

One must pay attention that unlike the Japanese armies, both Qing and Joseon armies sport a huge amount of mixed units; these units functions as line infantry, put on center with decent offensive and defensive capability. Theoretically, there is a spectrum of these units, between the range-focused and melee-focused. On one end, there is the ranged+melee+light guns units. On the other end is the ranged+heavy weapons units. Mixed light gun units are the deadliest on ranged exchanges, where, if one gets too close, they activate both their light guns and muskets/bows. This can lead to casualties in the hundreds and a greater chance of disruption of moral fragmentations when several of these are focused against one unit. On the other end is the heavy weapons unit, in which they sacrifice their firepower for a greater melee ability. Now that we have covered the melee-ranged focus spectrum, we shall cover the damage-engagement range spectrum.

This spectrum ranges from units that prioritises damages to units that prioritises having a long engagement range. On the damage spectrum we have the musket+light gun units once again. I put these units here since, while they have a long range due to their light guns, light guns do minimal damage to units when not coupled with musket/ranged fire, and muskets only have a range of two tiles. On the other end of the spectrum, one has the bow units, which indeed has the longest engagement range out of the ranged units.

The Qing and Korean armies almost perfectly counter each other on two fronts; The Koreans with their cheap, massed infantry line can quickly overwhelm the numerically inferior Qing infantry. They also have heavy weapons units with 1:1 ratio of ranged and melee units, making them to be the best melee units in this campaign. However, they are lacking in cavalry, which can be a danger as the Qing army can swiftly overwhelm their flanks and thus force the Koreans to fight on multiple fronts.

The Stratagem

The campaign was a long one. The length is due to the Joseons simply having a numerically superior army, swarming the Qing invaders on every chance they have. Progress will be done at a snail's pace. Every province gained may be retaken the next turn simply due to one's army retreating. It is a slow campaign where progress is gained at a snail's pace. One must be a patient general, picking his fights carefully.

After talking about the campaign situation, we shall move on to the battles. As Qing one is faced against a numerically superior army. However, the Qing cavalry is superior in every way, and thus will be able to envelop the Korean army that comes our way. In this consideration, mountains and forests became the favoured fighting ground for Joseon, while plains and hills are more advantageous for the Qing forces. The best way for the Qing forces to win is to outflank and prevent the Joseon army to overwhelm the Qing infantry, which will often be inferior in number and sometimes quality, by overwhelming them first by engaging them in multiple fronts. Artillery may be brought, as I did, when the odds are not that bad, but I find them to be a liability when my infantry is greatly outnumbered as the good artillery requires a limber and moves very slowly, and when the infantry is overwhelmed the artillery is exposed to dispersion. While on closer range they may inflict substantial damage, the Manchu bannermen are more reliable in inflicting constant rate of kills compared to the somewhat erratic rate of kills artillery pieces have.

The battle usually proceeds in a very procedural fashion and it seems that there is little variation that could be made. The first phase would be the spreading out of the cavalry to both wings while the infantry either stays in its place or move to a more suitable position. I try to find a suitable terrain for the cavalry, which are not rough ground or forests. They will meet the Joseon cavalry, which will be inferior in both number and quality. As the Joseon flank is threatened they either divert some infantry to face the cavalry or continue on trying to meet the infantry. Their heavy weapons and spear+RG units may pose a challenge, but when they usually divert units to fight the cavalry, they are isolated enough that several bannermen can easily overwhelm them.

It is usually at this point, when the Joseon forces is employing his forces against the cavalry, that the infantry is going to clash as well. This is due to the delay provided by the Joseon cavalry, that, regardless of their inferiority, would usually hold the Qing cavalry long enough for the Joseon infantry to reach the Qing infantry line. This may or may not be good, as that means that they are engaged on multiple fronts and must divert their resources, which may save either the infantry or cavalry. In a case where the infantry has not yet reached the infantry, the cavalry will have to face slightly more Joseon infantry, but if they have, the cavalry is on a deadline to save the infantry from certain destruction. I have won battles where the infantry are almost completely decimated, and I won by the skin of my teeth because my cavalry are still generally healthy.

Sometimes, the flanking cavalry of both flanks does not arrive in time. This may happen due to environmental obstacles, such as a forest covering the flank of the enemy, necessitating one flank to make a large turn. This happened in the penultimate battle of the campaign, the one in which my infantry is almost completely destroyed. A forest blocked my right flank as the Joseon force used it to cover their infantry, and as the left, open flank was going well with my cavalry running down their infantry, my right flank took a much longer time to finally, engage the Joseon army in the rear. It was successful, but the infantry line was more or less gone by the time I defeated them.

Usually, as the Joseon army closed in for melee with the infantry, the battle at the Joseon flanks has begun. This is the phase in which player control is lessened as the overwhelming charge of the bannermen cavalry. As the cavalry continually break units, they will run deeper into the usually-tight Joseon formation, automatically charging another unit. In this situation I am confident enough to leave them auto-charging, even sometimes to the front of a unit's formation, as the momentum of the charge would at least ensure at worst an indecisive exchange. At this point the Joseon front line will be busy facing the Qing frontline, usually charging the Qing infantry and winning in melee exchange. This is a signal for the cavalry to mop up quickly, since even if it is only one line of infantry facing the infantry, their one line is usually more numerous than the Qing's line, and will overwhelm the Qing forces in a few turns with their superior melee infantry.

At this point more forces will be diverted to deal against the bannermen, the second and third line of the Joseon formation wheeling to the direction of the cavalry charge(s). As the bannermen finished pursuing the routing Joseon divisions, I try my best to wheel them towards the remaining enemy. In some cases where the charge went badly, the cavalry would run into an overlapping field of fire, in which little may be done if all cavalry are busy engaging. However, one need not fret, since as soon as other horsemen are freed up from engagements they can usually get rear and flank attacks. Herefrom, as we continued to destroy more of the Joseon backline, their frontline infantry is most likely wreaking havoc on our line. The best way to stop the total destruction of our infantry arm is to reach the 40% casualty ratio by routing as many of the second and third Joseon line as possible. Sometimes, I am too late. Sometimes, the breakdown in Joseon rear line enables some of my bannermen to help with some infantry melee engagements by rear or flank attacks, saving my infantry.


Thus, the Qing strategy has several key points: To use the maneouverability of the cavalry to attack the Joseon formation in multiple fronts, envelop the rear line and cause chaos, and kill enough for victory before friendly infantry becomes mush.

I hope that this may be a fruitful read for my friends and brothers, fellow players of Sengoku.

[SnuggleBunnies]

This spectrum ranges from units that prioritises damages to units that prioritises having a long engagement range. On the damage spectrum we have the musket+light gun units once again. I put these units here since, while they have a long range due to their light guns, light guns do minimal damage to units when not coupled with musket/ranged fire, and muskets only have a range of two tiles.

Thanks for the write up on this under appreciated gem of a game. A very pedantic note on this - those units have Matchlocks, which indeed have a range of two. Muskets have short range 2, long range 4, just like archers. Unlike Pike and Shot, Sengoku Jidai only has a single unit type armed with Musket - the Zheng Dynasty African Battalion, who are Superior, Unprotected Medium Foot - Musket.

[IramHunkarim]

This spectrum ranges from units that prioritises damages to units that prioritises having a long engagement range. On the damage spectrum we have the musket+light gun units once again. I put these units here since, while they have a long range due to their light guns, light guns do minimal damage to units when not coupled with musket/ranged fire, and muskets only have a range of two tiles.

Thanks for the write up on this under appreciated gem of a game. A very pedantic note on this - those units have Matchlocks, which indeed have a range of two. Muskets have short range 2, long range 4, just like archers. Unlike Pike and Shot, Sengoku Jidai only has a single unit type armed with Musket - the Zheng Dynasty African Battalion, who are Superior, Unprotected Medium Foot - Musket.

I see, I apologise for the mistake, although I can forgive myself for it since as you have said there is only one musket unit in the entire game. Indeed I really love this game, especially this campaign since the army is just a stark constrast against each other. I haven't played all the campaigns, though.