Samurai vs. Macedonians....
Posted: Fri Sep 18, 2009 4:24 am
Daimyo Honda Togashi looked out over the field of battle. No one knew were this
latest army of barbarians had come from, but here they were arayed in from on
him none the less. Honda had chosen his battlefield quite well. His left flank
was anchored by a pair of rice paddies, while on the right stood yet another
field and a deep gully. To the enemy's rear stood a small peasant village on a
hill. Aside from yet another rice paddy in the center of their line, the enemy
enjoyed little protection from the terrain.
On his left the Daiymo deployed three formations of mounted Samurai who had left
their retainers behind, while on the right of the army the seperately deployed
ashigaru formed into three small groups. The majority of Honda's noble Bushi
formed up with their retainers and servants in four large blocks in the center
of the army , three on line with a fourth forming a reserve. The gully on
Honda's right was defended by a group of archers who bolstered their defences
with heavy wooden mantlets. Ever the cautious soul, Honda had ordered the camp
followers to be issued with cheap yari and naginata. These would be confiscated
again after the conclusion of the fight.
The enemy army was of a type that the Daimyo had never seen before an indeed
many of their weapons and armour were designs that were completely unknown to
him. In front of his cavalry, the enemy had formed up his own armored horsemen,
once again in three blocks. Most of the enemy cavalry were armed with short
spears and large shields, but the enemy unit at the center of the line had
spears longer than any yari which they wielded with two hands. In the center of
the line two blocks of enemy spearmen trudged through the mud of the rice paddy.
These were armed with long spears similar to a yari and large shields. The main
battle line of the enemy was slightly off set from the center. The flanks of the
line were once again close ranks of spearmen, but the center held a very unusual
formation. This was an extremely deep and close packed block of infantry
weilding spears that looked to be three or four times the height of a man.
Honda wondered what was the use of such a clumsly looking weapon. Out in front
of the enemy army were four bands of unarmoured and poorly equipted men, two on
foot and two mounted, who's obvious purpose would be to attempt to delay the
advance of the Daimyo's forces.
Lord Honda looked out at the ranks of the enemy and noted that the majority
carried large bronze-faced shields. He was familar with such devices in the
hands of the Korean armies he had faced in the past. Only cowards would
encumber themselves with a device. Real warriors faced their enemies eye to eye
and did not hide behind a sheild. Honda sneered at the enemy and ordered a
general advance.
The entire Nippon army rumbled forward at a good pace. The bands of enemy
skirmishers advanced to meet his army. But after a few minutes, the enemy
realised that they could not hope to exchange shots with Honda's Bushi. Their
thrown light spears were greatly outranged by the Samurai yumi and what enemy
missles did find their mark did little damage to due to the heavy armour that
most of Honda's men wore. After this short exchange, the enemy skirmishers
turned and retired to the rear of the enemy battle line.
Honda's Bushi moved to extreme yumi range and began to loose volley after volley
into the enemy ranks. This did much visible damage to the enemy horsemen.
Within a few minutes their ranks began to fall into disorder. Sensing victory,
the Samurai cavalry drew their katanas and charged home. The melee that
followed was short and bloody and before long the two flanking enemy cavalry
units fled to the rear with Honda's men close behind. Sadly, the enemy cavalry
with the long spears were able to hold off the charge of the Samurai horse and
in fact managed to put them to flight.
In the center, the main line of Bushi saw the enemy line start to falter in
several places. By the time that the seperate units of retainers,who had lagged
slightly behind their betters during the advance, had come on line with the rest
of the army the enemy had been softened up enough to close with. Wielding
yaris, naginatas, and their katanas the infantry crashed into the enemy line.
Imediately the spear armed enemy foot began to falter. Their linen body armor
was no more protection from a skillfully swung katana than rice paper. After a
short fight most of the enemy line began to give way. Only the spearmen in the
center with the outlandishly long weapons manged to hold on for any length of
time. The length of these weapons and the dense nature of the formation made
closing to contact very difficult. But these men soon found themselves alone in
the fight as their fellows to either flank melted away in a bloody rout.
With the majority of their cavalry gone and most of the good infantry fleeing,
the whole enemy army began a disaroganized rout during which the majority of
them were cut down. Honda's losses had been extremely light in exhange for a
decisive victory.
That evening the noble Daimyo sat with his closest retainers and sipped a cup of
sake as he viewed the execution of the enemy warriors who had foolishly
permitted themselves to be captured. Most of the invading force had been
slaughtered and the survivors would hunted be through the surounding hills
until they were all acounted for. Viewing the severed head of the barbarian
commander, Honda still had to wonder who these men were and from what place they
had come. No matter. Honda's men had done good work this day and yet another
barabrian invasion of the Japanese islands had come to a bad end.
--------------------------
A player from the local group and I played the first game with my new Japanese army this evening.
He used his Alexander Macedonian army. If I recall correctly he had two units
of foot skirmishers one with bow and one with javelins. He also had a unit of
lance light horse and one javelin armed. On his right he had two units of
superior greek horse and one lance armed companion unit. In the center he had
to medium foot hypastus units with offensice spear and on the left two hoplite
units and a large pike block.
My army consisted of three units of bow/sword superior cavalry, four units of
armoured medium foot with heavy weapon and bow*, three units of protected medium
foot retainers with offensive spear, an armoured archer unit, and a crappy armed
lady camp guard unit to round out the points.
The result was a very one sided 12-2 win for the Samurai.
A few observations:
-Despite most of it being bow*, this army can put out alot of missle fire.
Granted Bob obliged me with some pretty poor moral rolls, but I was able to
shoot many of units to disruption before charging home.
-Protected hoplites get cut to peices by armoured heavy weapon wielding samurai.
This is even worse if they go into the fight already disrupted by shooting.
That's just a bad match up.
-Pikes on the other hand if they can weather the shooting do pretty good, being
even in both impact and melee. But when the units on both their flanks melt
away, their narrow front means they are in huge trouble.
-Skirmishers really are not much use against lines of armoured foot who can put
out just as much fire as they can. Sitting in front of them and tyring to slow
their advance will only lead to their being shot to peices.
Admittedly Bob had some pretty horrible luck in his moral and death rolls, but
to be honest this was a bad match up for his army. His hoplites in particular
suffered badly. I shudder to think how this would have went had he brought his
knight army instead.
All in all, I'm very happy with my Samurai. They turned out pretty and I
enjoyed how they played. The guys at the club will be seeing this army again
very soon!
latest army of barbarians had come from, but here they were arayed in from on
him none the less. Honda had chosen his battlefield quite well. His left flank
was anchored by a pair of rice paddies, while on the right stood yet another
field and a deep gully. To the enemy's rear stood a small peasant village on a
hill. Aside from yet another rice paddy in the center of their line, the enemy
enjoyed little protection from the terrain.
On his left the Daiymo deployed three formations of mounted Samurai who had left
their retainers behind, while on the right of the army the seperately deployed
ashigaru formed into three small groups. The majority of Honda's noble Bushi
formed up with their retainers and servants in four large blocks in the center
of the army , three on line with a fourth forming a reserve. The gully on
Honda's right was defended by a group of archers who bolstered their defences
with heavy wooden mantlets. Ever the cautious soul, Honda had ordered the camp
followers to be issued with cheap yari and naginata. These would be confiscated
again after the conclusion of the fight.
The enemy army was of a type that the Daimyo had never seen before an indeed
many of their weapons and armour were designs that were completely unknown to
him. In front of his cavalry, the enemy had formed up his own armored horsemen,
once again in three blocks. Most of the enemy cavalry were armed with short
spears and large shields, but the enemy unit at the center of the line had
spears longer than any yari which they wielded with two hands. In the center of
the line two blocks of enemy spearmen trudged through the mud of the rice paddy.
These were armed with long spears similar to a yari and large shields. The main
battle line of the enemy was slightly off set from the center. The flanks of the
line were once again close ranks of spearmen, but the center held a very unusual
formation. This was an extremely deep and close packed block of infantry
weilding spears that looked to be three or four times the height of a man.
Honda wondered what was the use of such a clumsly looking weapon. Out in front
of the enemy army were four bands of unarmoured and poorly equipted men, two on
foot and two mounted, who's obvious purpose would be to attempt to delay the
advance of the Daimyo's forces.
Lord Honda looked out at the ranks of the enemy and noted that the majority
carried large bronze-faced shields. He was familar with such devices in the
hands of the Korean armies he had faced in the past. Only cowards would
encumber themselves with a device. Real warriors faced their enemies eye to eye
and did not hide behind a sheild. Honda sneered at the enemy and ordered a
general advance.
The entire Nippon army rumbled forward at a good pace. The bands of enemy
skirmishers advanced to meet his army. But after a few minutes, the enemy
realised that they could not hope to exchange shots with Honda's Bushi. Their
thrown light spears were greatly outranged by the Samurai yumi and what enemy
missles did find their mark did little damage to due to the heavy armour that
most of Honda's men wore. After this short exchange, the enemy skirmishers
turned and retired to the rear of the enemy battle line.
Honda's Bushi moved to extreme yumi range and began to loose volley after volley
into the enemy ranks. This did much visible damage to the enemy horsemen.
Within a few minutes their ranks began to fall into disorder. Sensing victory,
the Samurai cavalry drew their katanas and charged home. The melee that
followed was short and bloody and before long the two flanking enemy cavalry
units fled to the rear with Honda's men close behind. Sadly, the enemy cavalry
with the long spears were able to hold off the charge of the Samurai horse and
in fact managed to put them to flight.
In the center, the main line of Bushi saw the enemy line start to falter in
several places. By the time that the seperate units of retainers,who had lagged
slightly behind their betters during the advance, had come on line with the rest
of the army the enemy had been softened up enough to close with. Wielding
yaris, naginatas, and their katanas the infantry crashed into the enemy line.
Imediately the spear armed enemy foot began to falter. Their linen body armor
was no more protection from a skillfully swung katana than rice paper. After a
short fight most of the enemy line began to give way. Only the spearmen in the
center with the outlandishly long weapons manged to hold on for any length of
time. The length of these weapons and the dense nature of the formation made
closing to contact very difficult. But these men soon found themselves alone in
the fight as their fellows to either flank melted away in a bloody rout.
With the majority of their cavalry gone and most of the good infantry fleeing,
the whole enemy army began a disaroganized rout during which the majority of
them were cut down. Honda's losses had been extremely light in exhange for a
decisive victory.
That evening the noble Daimyo sat with his closest retainers and sipped a cup of
sake as he viewed the execution of the enemy warriors who had foolishly
permitted themselves to be captured. Most of the invading force had been
slaughtered and the survivors would hunted be through the surounding hills
until they were all acounted for. Viewing the severed head of the barbarian
commander, Honda still had to wonder who these men were and from what place they
had come. No matter. Honda's men had done good work this day and yet another
barabrian invasion of the Japanese islands had come to a bad end.
--------------------------
A player from the local group and I played the first game with my new Japanese army this evening.
He used his Alexander Macedonian army. If I recall correctly he had two units
of foot skirmishers one with bow and one with javelins. He also had a unit of
lance light horse and one javelin armed. On his right he had two units of
superior greek horse and one lance armed companion unit. In the center he had
to medium foot hypastus units with offensice spear and on the left two hoplite
units and a large pike block.
My army consisted of three units of bow/sword superior cavalry, four units of
armoured medium foot with heavy weapon and bow*, three units of protected medium
foot retainers with offensive spear, an armoured archer unit, and a crappy armed
lady camp guard unit to round out the points.
The result was a very one sided 12-2 win for the Samurai.
A few observations:
-Despite most of it being bow*, this army can put out alot of missle fire.
Granted Bob obliged me with some pretty poor moral rolls, but I was able to
shoot many of units to disruption before charging home.
-Protected hoplites get cut to peices by armoured heavy weapon wielding samurai.
This is even worse if they go into the fight already disrupted by shooting.
That's just a bad match up.
-Pikes on the other hand if they can weather the shooting do pretty good, being
even in both impact and melee. But when the units on both their flanks melt
away, their narrow front means they are in huge trouble.
-Skirmishers really are not much use against lines of armoured foot who can put
out just as much fire as they can. Sitting in front of them and tyring to slow
their advance will only lead to their being shot to peices.
Admittedly Bob had some pretty horrible luck in his moral and death rolls, but
to be honest this was a bad match up for his army. His hoplites in particular
suffered badly. I shudder to think how this would have went had he brought his
knight army instead.
All in all, I'm very happy with my Samurai. They turned out pretty and I
enjoyed how they played. The guys at the club will be seeing this army again
very soon!