4° BATTLE OF KANAWAKAJIMA

Player written historical scenarios for the Field of Glory gaming system.

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sergiomonteleone
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4° BATTLE OF KANAWAKAJIMA

Post by sergiomonteleone »

Completed the Battle of Granicus, I’m working on refighting the Fourth Battle of Kanawakajima 1561 AD. Considering sources available, in particularly relative to Osprey Campaign, as there were few arquebusiers (more or less 300 by 38.000 soldiers) it can be possible to make this battle using FOG and LATE HEIAN TO MUROMACHI JAPANESE of Empires of Dragons.
Certainly I will post a battle report.

Sergio
Last edited by sergiomonteleone on Mon Feb 24, 2014 1:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
timmy1
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Post by timmy1 »

Sergio

Good luck. I agree you can do it. However you might want to wait for FoGR and present it for both flavours.
sergiomonteleone
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Post by sergiomonteleone »

timmy1 wrote:Sergio

Good luck. I agree you can do it. However you might want to wait for FoGR and present it for both flavours.
You are right, but I'm not a FOGR beta tester (I'm a FOGN beta tester but unfortunately I don't have a lot of free time).
In any case regarding FOGR there is another Samurai battle more interesting (considering high number of arquebusiers): the Battle of Sekighara.
Certainly I will try to refight both of the battles with FOGR.
Sergio
timmy1
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Post by timmy1 »

Sergio, while Sekigahara is a very interesting affair, the most interesting to me is Mikatagahara but you could not do that with FoGAM.
irondog068
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Post by irondog068 »

the changes are simple if you want to rn that battle.
1) make 1/2 the cavalry spear/sword instead of bow/sword.
2) make the separate Ashigaru with bow to crossbow (to represent teppo)
3) You could make 1/2 the Samurai with Retainers as MF/Arm/Sup/Undrilled/BW*/HW the other 1/2 MF/Prot/Avg/undrilled/BW*/hw
4)make the mandatory Ashigaru all armed with offensive spear.
5) make at least 8 stands of Samurai mandatory.

This should give a good show of the transition form Naganata to Yari. Plus the coming of the gun, Teppo.
My list has:
1x4 Samurai cav (should have Yari but people would whine)
2x6 Samurai with Yari
3x6 Ashigaru with Yari
4 to 5 Samurai with Retainers (Bw*/HW guys)
0 to 1 Ashigaru with yumi
About 1/2 my army are Yari armed. This is what I am taking to a tournament with the date of 1540. A full two years before the Portuguese brought the matchlock to Japan. And a full 40 years into the "Age of Country at War" to allow me to put on all those Sashimos. And I only drilled into my finger 3 times :oops: But they do look cool
15mm: Swiss, Spartans, Late Republic Romans, EIR Romans, and can you believe it Samurai. 800 points
28mm: Late Republic Romans 650 points
28mm: Samurai 800 points
sergiomonteleone
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Re:

Post by sergiomonteleone »

Hi there,
yesterday with some friends we made the 4° battle of Kanawakajima.
As soon as possible I will post the battle report.
Sergio
sergiomonteleone
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Re: Re:

Post by sergiomonteleone »

During the Exibition “Milano Wargame 2014” with my dear friend Guglielmo we made the scenario “4th Battle of Kanawakajima”:

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SOURCES

We used the following sources, in particularly to make the army lists:

• Osprey - Campaign “Kawanakajima 1553-64”;
• Osprey – Warrior “Samurai 1550-1600”;
• Wikipedia, see website http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battles_of_Kawanakajima;
• Youtube – Battle reenactment, see website: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVex1bKF0y8;
• Battle reenact, see website: http://vidyas-space.blogspot.it/2008/05 ... -tale.html;
• Kawanakajima Old Battlefield, see website http://markun.cs.shinshu-u.ac.jp/nagano ... dex-e.html;
• The Samurai Archives Japanese History Page, see website http://www.samurai-archives.com;
• Lot of phots, see website: http://images.google.it/images?hl=it&q= ... CCgQsAQwAw.
sergiomonteleone
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Re: Re:

Post by sergiomonteleone »

HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION

The battles of Kawanakajima were fought in the Sengoku Period of Japan between Takeda Shingen of Kai Province and Uesugi Kenshin of Echigo Province in the plain of Kawanakajima, in the north of Shinano Province.
The location is in the southern part of the present-day city of Nagano.
The Sengoku period or Warring States period in Japanese history was a time of social upheaval, political intrigue, and nearly constant military conflict that lasted roughly from the middle of the 15th century to the beginning of the 17th century.
The name "Sengoku" was adopted by Japanese historians in reference to the Warring States period in Chinese history which preceded the unification of China.
Likewise, the Sengoku period in Japan would eventually lead to the unification of political power under the Tokugawa shogunate.

The five major battles took place in 1553, 1555, 1557, 1561 and 1564.
The best known and severest among them, “4th Battle of Kanawakajima”, was fought on September 10, 1561.

The battles started after Shingen conquered Shinano Province, expelling Murakami Yoshiharu and Ogasawara Nagatoki, who subsequently turned to Kenshin for help.

The fourth battle resulted in greater casualties for both sides, as a percentage of total forces, than any other battle in the Sengoku Period, and is one of the most tactically interesting battles of the period as well. In September of 1561, Uesugi Kenshin left his Kasugayama fortress with 18,000 warriors, determined to destroy Takeda Shingen. He left some of his forces at Zenkoji, but took up a position on Saijoyama, a mountain to the west of, and looking down upon, Shingen's Kaizu castle. To Kenshin's unknowing, the Kaizu castle contained no more than 150 samurai, and their followers, and he had taken them completely by surprise. However, the general in command of the castle, Kosaka Danjo Masanobu, through a system of signal fires, informed his lord, in Tsutsujigasaki fortress, 130 km away in Kōfu, of Kenshin's move.

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Shingen left Kōfu with 16,000 men, acquiring 4,000 more as he traveled through Shinano Province, approaching Kawanakajima on the west bank of the Chikumagawa (Chikuma River), keeping the river between him and Saijoyama. Neither army made a move, knowing that victory would require the essential element of surprise. Shingen was thus allowed into his fortress at Kaizu along with his gun-bugyō (army commissioner), Yamamoto Kansuke. At such a present time, Kansuke formed a strategy that he believed would prove of effect against Kenshin.

“Operation Woodpecker” Kōsaka Danjo Masanobu left Kaizu with 12.000 men, advancing up Saijoyama under cover of night, intending to drive Kenshin's army down to the plain where Takeda Shingen would be waiting with 8,000 men in kakuyoku, or "crane's wing", formation. However, whether via spies in Kaizu or scouts looking down from Saijoyama, Kenshin guessed Shingen's intentions, and led his own men down to the plain. Kenshin descended from Saijoyama by its western flanks. Instead of fleeing Kosaka's dawn attack, Uesugi Kenshin's army crept down the mountain, quietly using bits of cloth to deaden the noise of the horse's hooves. With the beginning of dawn, Shingen's men found Kenshin's army ready to charge at them—as opposed to fleeing from the mountain, as expected.

Image

Uesugi's forces attacked in waves, in a "Kuruma Gakari" formation, in which every unit is replaced by another as it becomes weary or destroyed. Leading the Uesugi vangaurd was one of Uesugi's Twenty-Eight Generals, Kakizaki Kageie. Kakizaki's unit of mounted samurai clashed into Takeda Nobushige's unit, resulting in the unfortunate loss of Nobushige. While the Kakuyoku formation held surprisingly well, the Takeda commanders eventually fell, one by one. Seeing that his pincer plan had failed, Yamamoto Kansuke charged alone into the mass of Uesugi samurai, suffering upwards of 80 bullet wounds before retiring to a nearby hill and committing seppuku.

Eventually, the Uesugi forces reached the Takeda command post, and one of the most famous single combats in Japanese history ensued. Uesugi Kenshin himself burst into the headquarters, attacking Takeda Shingen who, unprepared for such an event, parried with his signalling fan as best as he could, and held Kenshin off long enough for one of his retainers, Hara Osumi-no-Kami, to spear Kenshin's mount and drive him off.

The Takeda main body held firm, despite fierce rotating attacks by the Uesugi. Obu Saburohei fought back against Kakizaki's samurai. Anayama Nobukumi destroyed Shibata of Echigo, and forced the Uesugi main force back to the Chikumigawa.

Meanwhile, Kosaka's stealth force reached the top of Saijoyama and, finding the Uesugi position deserted, hurried down the mountain to the ford, taking the same path they had expected the fleeing Uesugi to take. After desperate fighting, they punched their way through the 1.000 Uesugi warriors defending the ford (under the command of Uesugi general, Amakazu Kagemochi), and pressed on to aid Takeda's main force. The Kosaka force then attacked the retreating Uesugi from the rear. Takeda Shingen's many great generals, including his younger brother Takeda Nobushige and great uncle Murozumi Torasada were killed in the field.

In the end, the Uesugi army suffered around 3000 losses, while the Takeda had about 4000 casualties. The chronicles seem to indicate that the Takeda made no effort to stop the Uesugi from retreating after the battle, burning the encampment at Saijoyama, returning to Zenkoji, and then to Echigo Province.
sergiomonteleone
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Re: Re:

Post by sergiomonteleone »

OPPOSING ARMIES and ARMY LISTS

From the military perspective, if one source appears militarily plausible, and the others wildly improbable, a wargamer might do better to plump for the plausible one, even if it looks less likely from an historiographical point of view.

Osprey - Campaign “Kawanakajima 1553-64” is a very good source, even if there aren’t the detailed army compositions.

For that reason we considered Takeda Shingen Army:
- Horsemen 9.121 (armed with spear as primary weapon);
- Followers accompanying on foot (every horsemen would have been accompanied by 2 followers) 18.242;
- Ashigaru in the hatamoto shoyakunin: 884;
- Other ashigaru 5.489;
Total 33.736.

We found a very similar arrangement and system of classification among Uesugi Kenshin’s army.

Scale of figures: 15mm

On the basis of the following considerations:
- 220 men per element of Mounted and Footmen;
- Takeda Army involved in the battle: 12.000 soldiers in the “Operation Woodpecker”, 8.000 soldiers leaded by Takeda himself;
- Uesugi Army involved in the battle: 10.000 soldiers leaded by Uesugi himself, 1.000 defending Amenomiya Ford, 2.000 defending baggage train (but without participating in the battle so deployed only for the Exibition);
- rounding-up/ down if necessary the number of bases per BG using “LATE HEIAN TO MUROMACHI JAPANESE” of Empires of Dragons,
we developed the following Army Lists:

TAKEDA SHINGEN, miniatures from Eureka and Essex (1.102 points)

CENTRE
- C-in-C TAKEDA: IC
- Sub-commander Yamamoto: TC
- 3 BG’s of Detached bushi (Horsemen) (4 bases per BG): Cv, armoured, superior, undrilled, light spear, swordmen
- 3 BG’s of Detached followers (6 bases per BG): MF, protected, average, undrilled, offensive spearmen, spearmen
- 1 BG Bushi and followers (Other ashigaru) (8 bases per BG): MF, armoured, average, undrilled, bow*, heavy weapon, heavy weapon.

OPERATION WOODPEACKER
- Sub-commander KOSAKA: FC
- Sub-commander: TC
- 4 BG’s of Detached bushi (Horsemen) (4 bases per BG): Cv, armoured, superior, undrilled, light spear, swordmen
- 4 BG’s of Detached followers (6 bases per BG): MF, protected, average, undrilled, offensive spearmen, spearmen
- 1 BG of Bushi and followers (Other ashigaru) (8 bases per BG): MF, armoured, average, undrilled, bow*, heavy weapon, heavy weapon.

UESUGI KENSHIN, miniatures from Old Glory and Essex (823 points)

CENTRE
- C-in-C UESUGI: IC
- Sub-commander HONJO: FC
- Sub-commander KAKIZAKI: TC
- 4 BG’s of Detached bushi (Horsemen) (4 bases per BG): Cv, armoured, superior, undrilled, light spear, swordmen
- 4 BG’s of Detached followers (6 bases per BG): MF, protected, average, undrilled, offensive spearmen, spearmen
- 1 BG Bushi and followers (Other ashigaru) (8 bases per BG): MF, armoured, average, undrilled, bow*, heavy weapon, heavy weapon.

AMENOMIYA FORD
- Sub-commander AMAKASU: TC
- 1 BG of Detached followers (6 bases per BG): MF, protected, average, undrilled, offensive spearmen, spearmen.

BAGGAGE TRAIN
- Sub-commander NAOE: TC
- 1 BG of Detached followers (6 bases per BG): MF, protected, average, undrilled, offensive spearmen, spearmen.
sergiomonteleone
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Re: Re:

Post by sergiomonteleone »

BATTLEFIELD and DEPLOYMENT

Osprey - Campaign “Kawanakajima 1553-64” is a very good source for reconstructing the battlefield.

Each of the five battles was only one stage in a series of complex campaigns involving deep penetrative raids into enemy territory and the capture of castles. The secret to understand the Kanawakajima campaigns therefore lies in the relationship between the plain and the highlands around it, because Kanawakajima is an island of flat land among towering mountains.
The approach to Kanawakajima from the south consists essentially of one river valley (Chikumagawa river, considered impassable except for some fords, like Amenomiya Ford and Hirose Ford considered uneven).

Image

On the basis of Takeda Army point of view (red army in the above figure):
- all mountains behind Uesugi Army were considered Steep Hill (“Chausuyama”);
- mountain on the left wing (“Operation Woodpecker) was considered Rough Hill (“Saijosan”), the same regarding mountains behind Takeda Army;
- close to Saijosan there was Kaizu Castle;
- on the right side of the table there was Saigawa river, area not involved by the battle;
- at the foot of Chausuyama there was a road to Zenkoji.

We used a table of 1,8x1,2 m.

The Centre of TAKEDA Army was deployed in the middle of the plain close to Hirose Ford of Chikumagawa.

Image

The contingent of troops of Operation Woodpecker started at the top of Saijosan.

Image

Takeda baggage train was deployed only for the Exbition on the top of the hill behind Takeda Centre.

Image

Regarding Kaizu Castle we used a model from DOYUSHA, very cheap and already built (scale 1:350). This is the Himeji Castle.

Image

If someone is interested in the following sites you can find many photos and information relative to Kaizu castle:
- http://www.japanese-castle-explorer.com ... Matsushiro;
- http://www.jcastle.info/castle/profile/ ... iro-Castle.

The Centre of UESUGI Army was deployed in the middle of the plain close to the foot of Chausuyama.

Image

Contingent leaded by AMAKASU defended Amenomiya Ford.

Image

Uesugi baggage train was deployed along the road to to Zenkoji.

Image

Uesugi camp was placed close to a village only for the Exbition on the right wing of Uesugi Centre.

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