Historical Background
Shibata Katsuie ordered Sakuma Morimasa to retreat after the initial victories at Ooiwayama and Iwasakiyama, noting that his troops could easily become isolated once Hideyoshi’s reinforcements arrive. Morimasa, however, believed that the momentum of victory should be utilized to take over Fort Shizugatake, securing full control in the region south of Lake Yogo. Kuwayama Shigeharu, who led the defenders in Fort Shizugatake, could not withstand Morimasa’s relentless attack and ordered his men to retreat. Unfortunately, things did not go so smoothly for the Oni Genba. Hideyoshi’s ally and former peer Niwa Nagahide had commanded his navy on Lake Biwa southwest of Shizugatake to prevent Shibata’s westward advancement. At this point he made the decision to abandon his previous mission and ordered an emergency landing at Iinoura Harbor, meeting the retreating allies head on. After combining forces with Kuwayama’s men, Niwa Nagahide led a counterattack that deterred Sakuma Morimasa from fort Shizugatake. After Hideyoshi’s main forces arrived, the Shibata forces became even more outnumbered and were decisively defeated. They retreated northward hoping to regroup with Maeda Toshiie. At the same time, Hideyoshi’s brother Hidenaga rallied the retreating Takayama Ukon army from Iwasakiyama and advanced towards Shibata Katsuie’s main camp along the eastern side of Lake Yogo. If Morimasa could not stop Hideyoshi now, it would put the Shibata main camp at great risk for a pincer attack.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. Can you change history?
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Shibata Army
4 Command Cards
2 Dragon Cards
2 H&F Tokens
Move First
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| 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 |
Hashiba Army
5 Command Cards
2 Dragon Cards
2 H&F Tokens
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| 3 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
Victory
7 Banners
Special Rules
►Oni-Genba’s Rampage: When a unit attached to Sakuma Morimasa does close combat, tokens are not gained from token dice results. Instead, for each token symbol rolled, apply a flag to each adjacent enemy unit (not just the unit being attacked). Enemy player may choose the flag/retreat application order. This special action is not performed in battle backs by Sakuma’s attached unit.
►Lake Yogo is impassible (river hexes mark the boundaries).
Source:
https://sengokubattles.blogspot.com/2021/07/battle-of-shizugatake-1583-part-2.html
Yuki's Post-Battle Notes and Trivia
Sakuma Morimasa( ? ? ? ? ? ) was the progeny of high ranking families in the Oda faction. His father was the brother of the famous Sakuma Noburnori ( ? ? ? ? ? ) and his mother was the sister of Shibata Katsuie ( ? ? ? ? ) . He was particularly close with his maternal uncle Katsuie and when Katsuie and Hideyoshi became enemies after Nobunaga' s death, Morimasa was his uncle' s greatest ally l Morimasa was a fierce warrior feared by many, including Hideyoshi himself. He earned the nickname "Oni-genba" (? ? ? ) for his battle prowess. It was a nickname that fuses the word oni (demon/devil) with "genba" which is short for genbaryou, Morimasa' s court title. Genbaryou technically was a post responsible for ? s ? Sakuma Morimasa at Shizugatake accommodating monks and foreign emissaries, but in the time of sengoku the central government was dysfunctional so this was no more than a nominal title of honor.
l Morimasa followed his uncle Katsuie when Katsuie was given by Nobunaga the territories in the Hokuriku region and aided him in the establishment of the Hokuriku Legion and in various battles against neighboring forces.
l Morimasa was rather successful in the initial assault in the Battle of Shizugatake but he unfortunately was unable to defeat Hideyoshi. Nevertheless, Hideyoshi held him in high regard and tried his best to get Morimasa to surrender and join him. There is a famous exchange between Hideyoshi and Morimasa after the battle when Morimasa was captured.
Morimasa begged Hideyoshi to execute him, stating that "If I were left alive and meet you again, I will definitely kill you. Please execute me" 'Hideyoshi therefore stopped trying
to convince him and offered him a chance of seppuku. However, Morimasa felt that Hideyoshi won fair and square and he would much rather be executed fittingly (in his mind) as a prisoner of war. He said to Hideyoshi "If possible, I would like to be tied up and paraded around Kyoto, that way you can also show the world your accomplishments".Upon hearing this, Hideyoshi gifted Morimasa a pair of kosode (decorative sleeves) for the parade. However, Morimasa did not like the flowery pattern of the kosode. He said "Garments for the road to death should be similar to those for the road to battle, flashy and extravagant". Hideyoshi praised him for not forgetting his warrior spirit even in death, and prepared flashier kosode.
l During the parade, Hideyoshi offered Morimasa a dagger several times for seppuku because he felt that Morimasa' s death request was too cruel. Morimasa refused and calmly marched to his own decapitation as the fitting end he had wished for as a defeated warrior.