Battle Report - Samurai with Pike and Shotte, Cangames Trial Game

So finally got a chance to try out a game of Pike and Shotte using the Samurai rules PDF they have posted on their web page. But I didn't add in some of the stuff like duels and ect.. This is kind of similar to what I plan to do for cangames, but there will be some changes to the scenario and set ups, but same miniatures / terrain basically. I think I may want to go for a bigger table actually.

We played the game in 15mm scale, but I decided to just use the ranges suggested for 28mm straight up. I am still on the fence about this, may half them, or may not.

So anyway we basically had a battle with some Takeda forces attacking down a river to the plains between two towns, and the Tokugawa forces on the other side. I am using the stuff I had painted as Useugi for the Takeda, and the dial they are using have the wrong mon. My intention is to get new dials made, but can't paint a whole new army for every battle!

For interest here are the 2 army lists that we used:

So basically the Tokugawa have more better Ashigaru, and the Takeda have more better Cavalry. I just used the lists from the PDF but I think I will cut the special rules a bit, maybe have the basic Samurai just as tough fighters and brave, possibly get rid of the Hatamoto all together, or just give them Elite status extra but otherwise the same.

So on to the game, here we are after my first turn, I took the Takeda force.

I decided to have an infantry brigade and a cavalry brigade, the Tokugawa put their Samurai and some Ashigaru on the west of the river, and Ashigaru with pikes and guns on the east. So I decided it would be prudent for my cavalary to cross the ford and double up on the eastern division. Hoping to block them from cross the bridge until later.

The Tokugawa got some good command rolls and were able to bring most things up 3 moves, so a bit faster then I had hoped, and one of me cavalry units started taking some fire.

On my turn I advanced some Samurai archers to fire and defend the road, while Obu's Red Regiment crossed the ford. This was the high point basically when my 'plan' still seemed like a good idea.

The Tokugawa advanced all along the front and things became difficult. I think I lost one unit close to the river, and my Samurai foot unit which is being charged by the Tokugawa Hatamoto were driven back in disorder. But as long as I could punch through those guys I could split the line and it still seemed ok. But the Ashigaru gunners were now firing across the river so that quckly started to hurt as well.

On my turn I charged the enemy Hatamoto with my leading cavalry unit, but lost! My guys at the edge of the fancy town were holding out thou. I had some not so great command rolls so didn't get allot of moves. Also I am kind of jammed up into a meat grinder.

Things kind of continued this way for awhile, I fed a few units to the Hatamoto, and eventually got them to shaken. But casualties were starting to build up on both sides really.

At this point we both started pulling back some beat up units to try and rally a bit to stave off defeat.

This pike armed ashigaru had now crossed the river, and sent in a charge against my guys, sending a few more units off.

I had sent my Hatamoto unit off across the ford to relieve some pressure from the gunners, and try to get a few easy kills maybe. They broke one unit on the charge with no problems, but the Samurai archers drove them back in disorder.

At this point we decided to call the game, more then half of my units were broken or shattered, the Tokugawa were one away, but I never really had any unit the could break one of theirs. So I figure it's a minor victory for the Tokugawa force, they won but not decisively.

The main things I learned leading up to the con is that I probably want to go for a bigger table to accommodate 6 players, and obviously will have 3 commanders per side. Also seems a good idea to trim down the special rules a bit to make it a touch easier, perhaps a bit less terrain or at least spread out more. But it looks good so I want to use it hah.

Really like how Pike and Shotte worked out, seems perfect for this kind of a battle, the weird basing I ended up using (100x25mm), seemed good as well. Appreciate any thoughts/suggestions that people have.

My game for the convention is going to be loosely based on the battle of Mikatagahara.

Thanks;
Mike