Historical Background
In September of 1570, Oda Nobunaga was engaged in his Settsu campaign at Noda and Fukushima castles. Azai Nagamasa and Asakura Yoshikage seized the opportunity and attempted to reclaim their territorial losses from the Battle of Anegawa earlier this year. When the Alliance army neared Usayama Castle, the defenders led by Nobunaga’s retainer Mori Yoshinari and Nobunaga’s brother Nobuharu decided that the best strategy was to intercept the Alliance army outside the castle. They were outnumbered 1000 to 30,000 but Yoshinari was determined to sacrifice himself to buy Nobunaga enough time to make his return before the Alliance could penetrate deep into Oda home territory. Yoshinari and Nobuharu fought valiantly and was able to hold off the Alliance advances for four days. The monks of Enryakuji then joined the fray after receiving an invitation to help the Alliance from Abbot Kennyo of Ishiyama Honganji on behalf of Azai and Asakura. Being exhausted and completely surrounded, Yoshinari finally fell. However, his last stand allowed enough time for Nobunaga to return, forcing the Alliance to abort their southern expedition.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. Can you change history?
 |
 |
| 9 | 11 |
Alliance Army
5 Command Cards
2 Dragon Cards
2 H&F Tokens
Move First
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 10 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
Oda Army
6 Command Cards
3 Dragon Cards
6 H&F Tokens
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
Victory
8 Banners
Special Rules
►It is recommended to remove the Ninja Assassin Dragon card for scenarios in this series. Vassal note: The card has been set side on the Decks board (Alt+D), to re-include it, discard and reshuffle the deck.
►Alliance Medium (blue triangle) units are marked as "Monks". See rules below regarding these.
►At the end of each Alliance turn in which the Alliance player played an “Order One Unit” card, he may place a full-strength unit of his choice on any available Alliance baseline hexes.
►Optional Special Rule: Distinguish Mori Yoshinari's attached cavalry from the others to represent Mori's last stand. Enemies close combat against this unit is capped at 2 dice at baseline. Can be increased by other means (like inspiration).
Special Unit:
Enryakuji Monks were an armed organization that served the monastery at Enryakuji, Mt. Hiei. They had played important roles throughout Japanese religious-political history. At the time of this scenario, they allied themselves with the anti-Oda alliance spearheaded by the Azai and the Asakura.
Class: Medium (therefore medium armor).
Movement: 1 hex and may battle.
Close combat: 3 dice.
Range combat: none.
May ignore 1 flag.
May self-inspire: Spend 1 token to add 1 to close combat dice regardless of whether there is a leader attached. Follow inspiration rules from the base game. (Reminder: this kind of modifications occur after terrain modifications, therefore a Monk defending a hill can roll 4 dice when self-inspired, making them tough on hills).
Cards and effects that refer to "ashigaru" don't apply to Monks. Cards that refer to "medium" (blue triangle) do.
Source: https://sengokubattles.blogspot.com/2021/08/battle-of-usayama-castle-1570-with-new.html
Yuki's Post-Battle Notes and Trivia
• Mori Yoshinari (0TqA) and Oda Nobunaga share a special bond. Although Yoshinari' s early life was not documented in great detail, we do know that he was one of the first retainers Nobunaga could call his own, meaning that he was not an old retainer he "inherited" from his father (such as Shibata Katsuie and Sakuma Nobumori).
• Yoshinari participated in all major battles in Nobunaga' s early career, including battles of Owari unification, Okehazama and conquest of Mino. In each battle he was noted for his resilience and valor. He was also a great inspiration to his subordinates. Even after his death in the battle depicted in this scenario, the remaining defenders at Usayama Castle preserved his legacy by defending the castle to the death for four more days until September 24th, after which Oda Nobunaga' s main forces returned and relieved the siege.
These defenders numbering at most 100 or so caused more than 1000 casualties against the Alliance.
• The participation of the Enryakuji monks in the battle of Usayama Castle had an important historical significance. As you may know, Nobunaga eventually conducted a brutal massacre at Mt. Hiei and burned Enryakuji to the ground while destroying many historical relics.
Although this historical event is seldom looked upon with favor, the Battle of Usayama Castle and Nobunaga' s relationship with Yoshinari can perhaps shed some light on his seemingly extremist behaviors. As much as Nobunaga detested the Azai and the Asakura for their attack, he likely hated the Enryaku monks more and blamed Yoshinari' s death on their participation in the battle.
• During Nobunaga' s punitive campaign against Mt. Hiei, one temple called Joujuraikouji on the mountain was noticeably spared in this atrocity, because after the battle of Usayama Castle, the abbot of the temple decided to take Mori Yoshinari's corpse and gave him a proper burial (see photo). One can deduce that the reason Nobunaga was so vengeful against the sacred Buddhist site was that he never got over Yoshinari' s death.
• Yoshinari' s sons were also favored by Oda Nobunaga. Mori Nagayoshi(OPA), or the "Oni-Musashi( AAX)" , later became a prominent military figure known for his battle prowess and explosive temper. Another son Mori Nagasada (AR t), often called Mori Ranmaru (AMA), became the personal guard and secretary of Nobunaga. He died defending Nobunaga at Honnouji. Ranmaru frequently makes appearances in popular culture, often appearing next to Nobunaga wherever he goes. He is often depicted as an extraordinarily handsome
young man.