A Sharp Lesson

Satsuma Invincibles

For the regular Tuesday night fight we were had a full foursome as Tim had just got back from Japan.  He was immediately transported back to 1860s Japan to help defend a village against a threatening Imperialist column.  We used the Sharp Practice rules with a modified 'Seek and Destroy' scenario.  Under this an attacking force had to advance and achieve a number of objectives before it can be driven off by the later arriving defender.  The defenders do not know what the objectives for the attacker are and do not know when their own men are going to arrive.

The attackers, Imperial troops commanded by Gareth - with advice from the Umpire, Jeremy - had three units.  First were two sections of Regular Satsuma Infantry, led by a Status III officer and armed with breach-loading rifles.  Second were three sections of Allied regular infantry, armed with muzzle-loading rifles, led by a Status II officer and Status I sergeant.  Last was a single section of Kiheitai light infantry with breach-loaders and a Status I officer.  

The defending Northern Alliance forces, when they arrived, would have a Status III officer leading 3 sections of regulars armed with muzzle-loading rifles, a Status II officer leading 3 sections of regular musketeers, a Status I officer leading a section of Yugekitai light infantry and another Status I officer commanding a Gatling Gun.  This would operate on special rules, jamming if 3 or more 1's were rolled on firing, but allowing the player to choose how many dice to roll with each burst of fire - up to 12 maximum.  Tim and I divided this force between us.  He took the Riflemen and the Gatling, I took the musketeers and light infantry.

Terrain set up before troops arrive.  The Imperial forces will enter by the road on the top right while the Northern Alliance troops will enter at the top left.  A crowded terrain with few open fields of fire.  As well as the troops, random characters will be placed in the village who will react when things happen near them.

After several rounds of drawing activation cards, the whole Imperial force has entered the field.  The Allied rifles are in column on the right, Satsuma rifles in line in the wood with light infantry in front of them.

Meanwhile, the defenders were still rolling to try to come onto the table.  Each time the first officer's activation card was drawn they could roll two dice.  They needed to get 14 points to be able to start activating units.  In several draws the tiffin card came up before the first officer's card, ending the turn, and, even after he got two rolls he had scored only 12 points.

Despite the absence of defenders, the Imperial troops made a cautious approach - constrained by poor dice rolls.  When the Light Infantry advanced, a string of 3 successive command card draws forced them to roll for an event.  The result was that their water bottles were empty, leaving them thirsty and with reduced movement for the rest of the game!

Finally the defenders managed to bring some men on, their musketeers occupying a convenient wood while the Gatling gun moved behind them towards a central position. 

Even better, on the next turn the defender's light infantry arrived and moved in front of the Musketeers while the rifles arrived and deployed in line facing towards the Imperial allies who had been advancing along the edge of the village.

But the two leading sections of the allied infantry ducked into a lane between the houses while the third moved to the rear of the house on the right.  They stopped and started rolling for task completion.  What were they doing?

The Yugekitai light infantry was able to fire on the front of the group in the lane.

A couple of men were killed and a point of shock inflicted.  Not a very good return for the valuable first volley.

Then it became apparent what the dastardly Imperials were doing.  They were setting fire to the village houses.

The Northern Alliance had a good turn, establishing the Gatling in firing position on their right and moving forward all other units.  In the distance, Imperial light infantry have reached the low house at the top centre while the end of the Satsuma line can be seen appearing round the edge of the tall house on the left.

The Yugekitai were able to advance again and fire directly into the alley, but only inflicted a couple of points of shock.  A bank of smoke would obscure further fire, reducing its effect.

Despite fire from the Northern riflemen now hitting the Imperial allies by the tall house, they managed to complete their task and set it on fire as well.  The Imperial light infantry were rolling well but had not yet set fire to their house.  Crucially, the Satsuma unit while taking two bursts of fire from the Gatling gun lost no men and took only two points of shock, shared between the two sections.

The Satsuma reply to the Gatling was devastating, killing two of the crew and inflicting 8 points of shock.  As this was double the number of remaining crew, they fled, dropping the Alliance morale tally from 10 to 8.

In a brave attempt to reduce the effect of the Satsuma rifles, the Yugekitai ran forwards to fire on them but failed to do more than inflict one point of shock.  The rifles had already fired on the musketeers so could not immediately respond.  The puff of smoke from the house on the right suggested that the Imperial light troops had succeeded in setting it on fire but their hopes were dashed when a succession of three command cards again forced them to roll for an event.  This required the reverse of their previous action, putting out the fire and forcing them to start the task again.

In the next round of card draws, the Satsuma card came up before the Yugekitai.  Seven hits were inflicted on the seven man unit and the saving rolls were terrible.  With a 6 needed to kill and a 5 to cause shock, three kills were made.  To rub in the damage, the officer had to make a saving throw and, with a 1, was hit.  The injury was only a light wound but it left the unit with little potential for action.

An excellent task roll in the next turn allowed the Imperial light troops to set fire to their house again and the fire held this time.  The Satsuma men fired on the Yugekitai again, killing the officer properly this time and causing the survivors to fall back, losing the Northern Alliance another 2 morale points.  While the allied riflemen had been taking losses from their enemy counterparts as they retreated, the casualties were never enough to force an uncontrolled flight.

At this point the Imperial commander declared that he had completed his objective for a minor victory - destroying 3 houses : 5 would have given a crushing victory - and we ended the affray.  Gareth had had a choice of objectives between burning things down, foraging for supplies or tapping the locals for information and had opted for the most cathartic activity.

In the wash up, the umpire and scenario setter pointed out that both sides could have made their lives a lot easier if wehad brought troops on in column along the roads as we could have moved into position much more quickly - given the poor starting rolls by the Northern Alliance, the Imperials might have been able to burn down the whole village before the defenders appeared!  For the Northern Alliance, a column advance by the musketeers would have been the only way of getting it into close enough range of the enemy to make its firing effective.  That said, the crowded village gave both sides tactical problems and opportunities.  The critical difference was the terrible Satsuma rifle unit, always rolling high on its shooting and low on its saving rolls, single handedly destroying two Northern Alliance units and doing damage to a third while losing not a single man of its own.  Medals all round for them!