Scenario 3: Darkness and Deceit Part 1

Scenario 3: Darkness & Deceit Part 1.

Oda Nobunaga continued back to Kiyosu, leaving his brother Oda Nobuoki in charge of Haruhi. To the north east of the small town was a moat 8,open area,( reached by crossing over a small wooden bridge 7), on which stood a tower 4, a mill 1, a rice store 2 and small barracks 3. With a longer, main building 5 used by the local Dairyo (magistrate) and a shrine 6.

A hostile clan had hired a ninja strike on the town of Haruhi, either to kill or release Tadashi before he could spill the beans as to the identity of the hostile clan. The Ninja's consisted of the following:

A Ninja Hero to lead a single Ninja and 2 groups of Ninja. The groups were to attack the open area and delay or tie down the Oda forces to allow the Hero and lone Ninja the opportunity to scout the buildings and free or kill Tadashi.

 The Hero (7 points) & lone Ninja (2 points)on the left side of town.

 A Ninja group (3 points) in the centre of town.

The last Ninja group (3 points) on the right side of town.

On guard that evening were a single spearman (1 point) and a group of spearmen (2 points).

 

The group of spearmen stand guard on the far side of the bridge and the lone spearman is in front of the main building.

The rest of the Oda boys were as follows:

Samurai Hero (5 points), Oda Nobuoki, and his Devoted Samurai (4 points) in the main building. A Sergeant (2 points), a 2nd Spearman Group (2 points) and Tadashi in the Shrine. A Musketman Group (3 points) 1st floor of the tower. A Bowman Group (3 points) and a single Bowman (2 points) in the small barracks.

There was a lot of movement, most hidden so I will only post the end of turn shots for effect until the action heats up.

End of Turn 1:

The Ninja Hero and the 2 Ninja groups have moved towards the moat, whilst the lone Ninja has taken a more cautionary approach. None of the Oda troops moved or were aware of the Ninja.

Turn 2:

 The Ninja Hero has made it onto the roof of the Mill.

Right Ninja group have crossed the moat, centre Group have made it to the moat.  

Oda Nobuoki and his Devoted Samurai have left the main building (they rolled 5 swords!)

The Spearmen guarding the bridge went for a wonder so did the lone Bowman in the far distance.

Turn 3:

The Ninja Hero ran across the mill roof and took a flying leap across the gap onto the tower upper roof (test of agility as gap was just less than 3"). The Spearmen Group below were oblivious as to the dark shadow above. However the Bowmen group left the barracks for their patrol (another good role of swords).

                 Oda Nobuoki saw moving shadows through the light of the lantern and cried out 'NINJA!'                  (I house ruled that all Oda units could roll an additional die when making their AWARE tests.

First to react were the Musketmen in the tower. They tested to become aware, passed and fired at the lone Ninja who had moved across the mill roof. He took a light wound.

(I made the tower in 3 sections, base, first floor and roof. I decided for gaming purposes not to have the walls in place for 2 reasons, 1. the space is restricted and 2. for taking clearer pictures.)

Nobuoki and the Sergeant both charged the right Ninja group. Nobuoki missed and stepped back as the Sergeant also stepped back as the illusive ninja were hard to hit.

The Ninja Hero, taking advantage of the confusion gained access through a window into the first floor and attacked the Musketmen Group. But failed to strike.

Turn 4: Not to be out done the lone Ninja leaped the gap onto the mid tower roof.

The 2nd Ninja group crossed the moat and engaged the lone Spearman with shuriken causing a light wound!

The Ninja hero dispatched 1 of the musketmen in the tower but failed repeatedly to kill a 2nd. Here are the positions at the end of turn 4.

The Ninja strike force is poised across the board, keeping various Oda groups occupied whilst the assault on the tower continues. Will the Ninja find Tadashi there or are their efforts in vain? 

Part 2 to follow shortly.

Test of Honour Figures

So far the collection consists of the following:

The Villagers and Townspeople.

The Ronin.

The Ninja.

The Oda Clan. (More to come).

The few Bandits.(More to come)

2 Ikko-Ikki Monks and the Geisha (She's really a spy). (More Monks to come).

Scenario 3 Briefing: Darkness and Deceit.

Scenario 3: Darkness and Deceit.

1. Assemble your forces:

Attackers 15pts
Ninja Hero 
2 x Ninja  Group cards
1 x Ninja card
1 x Tadashi (prisoner random location:1 The Mill, 2 The Tower, 3 The main Building, 4 The Shrine)

Defenders 24pts
Samurai Hero
1 x Loyal Samurai
1 x Sergeant card
2 x Spear Group cards
1 x Bowmen Group card
1 x Musketmen Group card
1 x Bowmen Card
1 x Spearman card

2. The battle field:

Yellow circles represent position of the lanterns and the area of illumination.

3. Setting up House Rule:
Ninja attackers go first, can set up anywhere within 3" of the table edge on the village side of the moat. 

Defenders set up:
1 Spearman Group by the bridge (on patrol/guard). 
Single Spearman outside main building (on patrol/guard).
Samurai Hero, Samurai inside the main building.
1 Group inside tower.
1 Group and single Bowman inside building to rear of tower.
Sergeant, 1 Group, Tadashi in whatever building is randomly chosen.

Note it is night time so darkness rules are in play. Anyone within 3" of a lantern is visible, otherwise make a Test of Wits to spot a target. See the Darkness and Deceit booklet for full rules.

4. Solo House Rules for Attackers:
Use new solo house rule chart.

5. Ending the game:
The battle ends when either Tadashi is killed or Tadashi is rescued or all Ninja are killed. 

(Scenario 3 Solo game to follow)

Hangzhou August 15th 1937

August 15^th 1937 Hangzhou:

Col Kao Chi-Hang, Group Leader of 4^th Pursuit Group, had just taken over Hawk IIIc IV-1 and was soon airbourne with his wing man Lt Tan Won. They were after a flight of Japanese G3M2 bombers heading for Jianqiao Airfield north east of Hangzhou.

They spotted a lone G3M2 and headed off to intercept it.

Signalling his wingman to bank left, Kao banked right. They would divide the fire of the bomber.

The bomber crew had not spotted either Hawk and continued directly towards their target. Both Kao and Tan closed in and from above engaged the bomber.

The bomber took some damage but Tan took the brunt of the return fire as both upper turrets each engaged one of the Hawks. Passing by the bomber the turrets swung round and fired a burst at each Hawk.

Both Hawks reversed and sped after the slow bomber. The bomber banked right throwing off Kao’s Hawk by the turn.

Lt Tan Won pressed home the attack from above, whilst Kao turned to close.

Lt Tan Won again pressed home the advantage; neither turret was in range...yet.

Banking left the bomber caught Lt Tan Won, still closing, in his trap which allowed both turrets to engage. Kao was closing fast.

The bomber continued its turn to the left but both Hawks were now in range.

The stricken bomber plunged into the banks of the Qiantang River the crew having no chance to bail out.

Lt Tan Won just made it back to Jianqiao Airfield in his badly damaged Hawk (10 damage), Col Kao Chi-Hang landed shortly after with slightly less damage (3 damage).

What actually happened:

On 14 August 1937, the IJNAF Kanoya Kokutai dispatched nine Mitsubishi G3M1 Model 11 long-range bombers under the command of Lieutenant Commander Nitta to attack the Schien Chiao Airfield near Hangchou and nine under the command of Lieutenant Commander Asano to attack the Kwang-teh Airfield. The Japanese planes took off from Matsuyama Airfield in Taipei at 14:50 (local Japanese time), each carrying two 250kg bombs.

The raid was soon spotted by the Chinese and the Chinese intelligence reported that a number of Japanese bombers had taken-off from an airfield Taiwan, crossed the Formosa Strait and were heading north over Chekiang in the direction of Hangchou. At this time, Hangchou was only defended by a handful of Hawk IIIs flown by instructors from the Central Chinese Aviation Academy since reinforcements from Chou Chia-Kou hadn't been able to fly in due to bad weather. Colonel Kao had previously flown from Nanchang to Schien Chiao to await the 4th PG's Hawk III's, which were flying in from Chou Chia-Kou in the Honan Province and which was under his command. The three squadrons of the 4th PG encountered heavy weather en route, with heavy rain and low visibility. 

However barely had the warning been received when a number of Hawk IIIs from the 21st and 23rd Squadrons of the 4th PG landed. The newly arrived fighters were hurriedly re-fuelled but this was far from complete when the air alarm started due to the arrival of Lieutenant Commander Nitta's bombers. Colonel Kao rushed to his aircraft no. IV-1, which had just been landed by Captain Mao Ying-Chu. Ordering Mao to go get another aircraft, Kao jumped into IV-1 and, without waiting to be refueled, took off immediately. He joined up with Lieutenant Tan Won who had just spotted Nitta's flight (No.1 Shotai) of 3 G3Ms.

The Japanese came in at the low "attack" altitude of 500m, which made it easier for the Chinese to intercept them right after the take-off. The Japanese dropped their bombs on the airfield doing little damage. Tan opened fire on the No.3 G3M in Nitta's Shotai. However, the much more experienced Kao noted that Tan had opened fire from out of effective range. Kao then bore in himself and closed in also on the No.3 Japanese aircraft. He first silenced the two Japanese gunners and then closed in to 20m(!) firing steadily at the left engine. The wing tanks on the left wing caught fire and the G3M crashed burning near the town of Ban Shan near the airfield.

Kao then spotted the 3rd Shotai and attacked the No. 2 aircraft between Schien Chiao and Chien Tang River. Again, Kao bore in to close range firing at the fuselage and the left wing on the G3M, putting the left engine out of action. Kao’s engine was then hit by return fire forcing him to return to Schien Chiao.

Rising Sun, Falling Skies

Rising Sun, Falling Skies.

On 7^th July 1937, near the Lugouqiao Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge), outside Peking there was a border clash between the Japanese occupiers of Manchuria and the forces of the Kuomintang government, which soon escalated into full-scale war. The Japanese army (including air units) mobilised on 15^th July, on 28^th July Peking had fallen. On 30^th July Tientsin fell which was followed by Kalgan and other cities. So began the 2^nd Sino-Japanese War.

From the book of the same title this is an air campaign idea offering a rich choice of scenarios. Starting with the Sino-Japanese war and leading into the early Pacific War Campaign until mid 1943.

Using Wings of Glory rules with various aircraft miniatures available from different manufacturers I aim to show it is possible to fight an air campaign with limited resources to hand.  A fascinating period, much neglected, that can easily be adapted for solo and multi-player gaming.

For this (Solo) Campaign the Japanese and Chinese will start with the following:

Ryujo Air Group (RAG IJN) Japanese:

9 x A5M ‘Claude’

12 x D1A1 ‘Susie’

6 x B4Y ‘Jean’

Named pilots for missions for the above, plus supporting aircraft for bombing missions.

4^th Pursuit Group Chinese:

# HawkIIIc

# Fiat CR32

Named pilots for missions for the above, plus supporting aircraft for bombing missions.

Inspiration for the campaign:

Rising Sun, Falling Skies: Jeffrey R. Cox; Osprey

Sino-Japanese Air War: Hakan Gustavsson; Fonthill

Flying Tigers: 1942 WW2 film starring John Wayne

Novembers Workbench

Test of Honour is now 2 games into the Solo Campaign and I'm thinking what next?

So on the workbench for November will be:

1. A ninja strike force. (Up to 14 figures).
2. More villagers. (I have 20+ on the bench).
3. More men for Nobunaga. (9 figures on the bench).
4. Starting a 2nd and possibly a 3rd Clan, either Takeda or Mori. (All plastic from the ToH rule box).
5. Building a simple Japanese 3 level castle with surrounding wall.

Quite a lot to be going on with, plus I'll be adding more scenario's to be fought out and linking all the ToH rules into a quick sheet/consolidated list.

Looking ahead for ToH I have mounted,  monks, bandits and onna-bugeisha to complete. I am also thinking of adding in some of the 'fantasy' elements of Japanese myths and legends in the way of, Oni, Bakemono, Bakemono Sho, Dai Bakemono, Tengu, Ainu, Undead etc. Working out stats for these will be the hardest to ensure they fit in with the ToH world and don't dominate the game to much.

I am working on a creature (D&D firebelcher) as a fit in for the creature from the film 47 Ronin. (Keanu Reeves).

What do you think?