The Battle of Sekida Pass

Background
The year is 1559. Takeda Shingen is looking to extend his territory and has marched north to the plain of Kawanakajima. His main objective is the capture of Katsurayama, the castle controlling the mountain pass leading into Echigo province, home of his archenemy Uesugi Kenshin.

Kenshin was hoping to avoid a major confrontation on the open ground south of the Saigawa river where the superb Takeda cavalry would be devastating. Following a week of skirmishing and skilful manoeuvring by both forces, Kenshin began to withdraw towards Sekida Pass, He was aware that his numerically superior enemy could outflank his position. Frustrated by his inability to entice Kenshin into open battle, Shingen crossed the Saigawa in pursuit.

As it was late in the day, Shingen decided to make camp for the night and continue pressing his wily opponent next day. In anticipation of an assault, Kenshin sent his entire cavalry force of over 1600 mounted samurai east under the cover of darkness. They were ordered to return the following day at the sound of battle and fall on the right flank of the enemy.

Map 1

The Game
This battle report is an account from a solo wargame played with my Daimyo samurai rules. The game was intended as a play-test for some new mechanisms I had been working on but the main reason was just to have fun! In Daimyo, units are organised into clans. Clans are activated in a sequence that is influenced by the initiative of the generals. For this game I used an optional card-driven system that adds uncertainty to solo battles. There is one card for each clan and general plus an "end of turn" card. The army with initiative may choose the first clan to be activated in a turn before any cards are drawn.

Although the scenario is fictitious, the events were typical of the many confrontations between the main protagonists. Their most famous engagement was the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima which has already been described in these pages by our editor. The deployment at the start of the game is shown in Map 1. Takeda Shingen, with the Saigawa to his rear, wanted to push forward immediately, to force the pass and take the castle of Katsurayama that lay beyond. Uesugi Kenshin decided to hold his position in the narrow pass to reduce the threat of the Takeda cavalry. He hoped to hold them long enough for his cavalry to surprise the Takeda by charging onto their right flank.

The Takeda clans A, B, H and Shingen's hatamoto (bodyguard) (E) each consisted of a single cavalry unit. The remaining Takeda contingents, clans C, D, F and G all had one spear armed ashigaru unit supported by a unit of samurai infantry to the rear. Naito (G) also had a unit of arquebusiers covering their front.

The Uesugi began the battle with only two clans (1 and 2) in addition to Kenshin's hatamoto of elite samurai infantry (3). Each clan had two units of ashigaru spearmen, one unit of samurai infantry and a unit of arquebusiers. The Uesugi cavalry (4 and 5) would begin dicing for arrival on turn 4.

The mountainous terrain either side of the pass was deemed impassable to all troops and the river fordable at all points although this, as events turned out, would not prove to be an issue.

Battle Begins
The game began much as expected with a general advance by the Takeda. The cavalry on both flanks pushed on ahead of the infantry, eager for glory. The Omari in particular made good ground and were soon threatening to charge the Irobe. This they did on turn 3 and the Irobe arquebusiers pulled back through their supporting spearmen without firing a shot. This was just a precursor of what was to follow. Obviously the reputation of Omari Torayasu preceded him! A further charge next turn by Torayasu caused widespread panic amongst all six Uesugi ashigaru units as they turned and fled in rout. This was mainly the result of three horrendous morale scores of 2, 3 and 2 (on 2d6) causing the first 3 units to rout. After this, the others seeing so many units routing, decided to follow suit. The samurai, of course, unperturbed by the actions of these lesser mortals, stood their ground.

The situation at the end of turn 4 looked extremely precarious for the Uesugi. Only three samurai units (including Kenshin's bodyguard) stood facing 13 units of the Takeda. Not quite the stubborn resistance I would have expected from Kenshin's boys. On another day, I may have ended the game there. But since I was playtesting a few things I decided to proceed. And anyway, there was still the surprise cavalry to consider.

Rain began to fall on turn 5 but that wasn't going to dampen the Omari spirits. They proceeded to attack the Irobe samurai who managed to hold their ground heroically. Elsewhere, the Takeda advanced slowly and methodically. It was as if everyone was transfixed by events on the Takeda left flank. Kenshin was praying for the timely arrival of his cavalry.

Turn 6 began and Kenshin's prayers were answered! Both Uesugi cavalry units swept onto the battlefield, driven forward by bloodlust at the sight of the exposed flanks of the Takeda infantry. This though, was not going to be Uesugi's day. The Naito and Nobushige infantry manoeuvred with perfect precision to meet this new threat. Meanwhile, the Irobe still battled on despite the death of clan commander Irobe Akinaga. To complete Kenshin's misery, only the Suda arquebusiers managed to rally from rout. The remaining five routing units were all dispersed along the mountain pass. Map 2 shows the situation at this point.

Map 2

There seemed to be a slight lull in events over the next few turns. The rain may have stopped but the Omari and Irobe continued their melee, both sides refusing to yield. Nobutatsu's cavalry finally charged the Suda samurai and such was the carnage that although the Suda recoiled, the cavalry were unable to follow up. The Uesugi cavalry, now facing a determined looking Takeda line, seemed almost reluctant to close. This hesitation allowed the Naito arquebusiers a few volleys causing considerable damage to the Samboji.

It was turn 11 before Norimasa charged the Nobushige and Naito ashigaru spearmen. The Nobushige were pushed back but support from their own samurai and the gallant efforts of the Naito rescued the situation for the Takeda. Perhaps it was the shame of losing men to ashigaru or seeing their fellow cavalrymen charging in that made the Samboji become frenzied. Whatever the reason, (it was actually a random event!) in they went. Unfortunately, the Naito again held on.

In the centre, the Suda managed to contact Nobutatsu and rout him - the only success for the Uesugi all day. It was too little, too late however. The Irobe were gradually giving ground allowing the cavalry of Kosaka Danjo to flood through the resulting gap to threaten Kenshin himself. At this point the game was over (the table being required for its more traditional domestic role). Map 3 shows the position at the end.

Map 3

Aftermath
The Uesugi failed to hold the pass and their flank attack fizzled out. The Takeda had achieved their objective and were deemed the winners. They would push through the pass and capture Katsurayama. Omari Torayasu was the hero of the day and he had the head of Irobe Akinaga to prove it.

The result was never in any real doubt after about turn 5 but I still had some hope for the flank attack. As events turned out, virtually every random event (card draws and dice rolls) seemed to favour the Takeda. I don't remember playing a game where this proved so one-sided. The sequence of morale tests which caused the Uesugi ashigaru collapse resulted in a change to the timing of morale tests as some units were testing two or more times per turn. Nothing could be done about the sheer bad dice rolls though. I intend trying this game again to see if the Uesugi can hold out or even throw the Takeda back across the Saigawa.

This article first appeared in Lone Warrior - Journal of The Solo Wargamers' Association