Mark One Up for the Shogun!

My son and I took a game of 'The Men Who Would be Kings' to the monthly meeting of the Hong Kong Society of Wargames.  The setting was not the dusty hills of Afghanistan but the misty landscape of 1860's Japan as forces loyal to the Shogun clashed with men trying to secure the restoration of power to the Meiji Emperor.  The Imperialist forces fielded four detachments of riflemen, two armed with modern guns, two with older muzzle loaders.  They were backed by a detachment of cavalry and an Armstrong artillery piece.  Facing them, the Shogun's men also had four detachements of riflemen, similarly armed, though one of the two with modern guns was an irregular unit.  These were backed up with a Gatling gun (anachronistically but we had a nice model and it had not seen much action before in our games), a unit of Samurai spearmen and a detachment of the Shogun's fearsome secret police, the Shinsengumi.  They had no cavalry. 

The terrain for the battle had the Imperialists advancing from some lightly wooded foothills towards a small village flanked by bamboo groves.  Beyond this lay a stream, crossed by two bridges, one either side of the village.  The Shogun's men needed to advance across the stream from their edge of the table to get to grips with the enemy.

All troops started along the edge of the board and both forces saw a mixed start with some units racing forwards - noteably the Shinsengumi towards the village - while others failed to activate.

The second turn saw most men moving forward, with the Shinsengumi crossing the stream, two units of riflemen moving up beside them to their right - both armed with muzzle-loaders, so less of a threat than their general might have intended or the enemy took them to be.  On the other flank, both Shogunate rifle units reach the stream while the Gatling moved along the road towards the bridge.  Only the spearmen were lagging.  All the Imperial troops moved forward, sensing an advantage on their right where they could bring three rifle units supported by artillery against just two of the Shogun's units before their Gatling could come up.  On the left they were concerned by the speed of the enemy advance and the number of troops facing them, so their cavalry started to hang back, hoping the one rifle unit would create an opportunity for the cavalry to make a charge at an advantage.

The Imperialist rifles were over-confident and came too far forward to try to drive off the Shogun's riflemen who were taking a battering from the well served Armstrong gun.  The Shinsengumi siezed the opportunity and managed to charge out of the village and fall on the Imperialists before they could fire!

The riflemen were cut down with little loss to the Shinsengumi swordsmen, but revenge would be swift. Under close fire from the enemy gun and enfilading fire from cavalry carbines and rifles in the centre, the Shinsegumi were swept away.

On the left of the Shogunate line, two units with modern rifles were facing off against three Imperialist rifle units, but these failed to co-ordinate their attacks and were driven off one by one.

In a last roll of the dice, the Imperialist commander prepared his cavalry to charge, supported by his last remaining effective rifle unit and accurate fire from the Armstrong gun against the Shogun's rifles next to the village.

The charge was swift and deadly, the enemy rifle unit being reduced to a single officer and man

but the Shogun's spearmen were waiting in the village.  They made a devastating attack on the cavalry

then in the next turn followed up by charging the remaining Imperial riflemen to deadly effect.

Carried away with their success, they tried to charge the enemy battery, but failed to reach it and fell under a hail of cannister.

But the number was up for the Imperialists as their gunners were cut down by rifle fire from the Shogun's men closing in from both flanks.

The unit stat cards used in the game are not essential.  We made them as an aide for those watching the game - which we put on as an exhibition for a rule set not previously used in the club.  They were printed up beforehand with space left blank to write in the leadership ratings and officer characteristics that are diced for before the game starts.  In this game, the Shogunate force ended up being much better led.  Although one was rated an idiot - which meant that the enemy would move his troops if he rolled a 1 - three had neutral characteristics (2 bald, 1 ugly) while one was lucky and two were classed as 'Destined for Greatness', which indeed proved to be the case.  On the Imperial side, other than one who was the Major General's nephew (conferring an extra quality on his troops), the Cavalry commander was 'Brutal', giving poor leadership, one was already drunk before battle began and another took a bottle with him.  Small wonder that this was the most lopsided outcome we have had in one of our skirmish games!