Historical Background
Sakai Tadatsugu, a senior general under Tokugawa leyasu, proposed a detoured surprise attack against the Takeda siege forces at Nagashino Castle. He explained that this would both alleviate the siege and cut off the retreat path of Takeda's main forces, because at this moment they had their backs against Nagashino Castle. Oda Nobunaga approved of his strategy and sent his own general Kanamori Nagachika to assist him. Their force of 4,000 composed mostly of Tokugawa's elite archers and Oda's arquebusiers. Sakai and Kanamori avoided Takeda's main forces by going around Mt. Funatsukiyama.
On the morning of May 21st, they arrived at the south of the mountain fort Tobigasuyama, a major strategic point surrounded by four other satellite forts which the Takeda relied on to pressure Nagashino. The Takeda forces at the forts were taken by surprise and suffered severe losses. Although the four other satellite forts and some siege forces attempted to come to aid in Fort Tobigasuyama's defense, they were all simultaneously attacked by the Alliance forces. Eventually all five forts fell and almost every single Takeda officer was killed in action, including Kawakubo Nobuzane (Takeda Shingen's half-brother). The Nagashino defenders then seized the opportunity and charged out of the castle, effectively ending the siege.
Sakai Tadatsugu's successful raid on Fort Tobigasuyama was devastating to the Takeda and left Katsuyori with very few options at Shitaraqahara.
The stage is set, the battle lines are drawn, and you are in command. Can you change history?
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| 15 | 9 |
Takeda Army
1* Command Cards
1 Dragon Cards
0* H&F Tokens
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| 4 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
Oda-Tokugawa Army
5 Command Cards
2 Dragon Cards
4 H&F Tokens
Move First
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| 3 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 |
Victory
6 Banners
• The Oda-Tokugawa player gains one temporary Victory Banner as long as he has majority control of Fort Tobigasuyama (more units on hill hexes than opponent) and one for Fort Nakayama. The Takeda Player gains no Victory Banners for having units on these two locations.
Special Rules
►Takeda's reduced command cards and tokens represent shock from Sakai's surprise attack. For a total of three times per game, the Takeda player may spend 2 H&F tokens at the beginning of his turn to draw a command card (note the special timing of this action).
Yuki's Post-Battle Notes and Trivia
• Sakai Tadatsugu (r64V0 had played a major role serving the Tokugawa faction throughout most of the Sengoku period. He was one of the more "senior" officers, being 16 years older than his lord Tokugawa Ieyasu himself. He is always listed as the first one in any sort of Tokugawa samurai ranking, be it the "Four Heavenly Kings" or the "Sixteen Sage Generals" , though he certainly is underrepresented in popular culture. Compared to his fellow "Heavenly Kings" with unique and established physical portrayals such as Honda Tadakatsu (4A,Ifla) and Ii Naomasa (4011M) , he sure is far less instantly recognizable. Nevertheless, his extensive service record should still speak for itself.
• According to Jouzan Kitan (IM*20), an anthology of anecdotes published in the Edo Era, Oda Nobunaga became furious when Sakai Tadatsugu proposed his plan for the surprise attack on Tobigasuyama. He scolded him very harshly for resorting to unnecessary trickery. However, after the meeting was adjourned, he called Tadatsugu back into his camp for a secret meeting, where he approved of his strategy and ordered him to carry out his plan immediately. The reason Nobunaga faked his rage was that he suspected Takeda spies could have been present in the general meeting and did not want Tadatsugu risk failing his brilliant plan.
• In the battle of Mikatagahara, Tokugawa Ieyasu' s worst defeat in his life, Sakai Tadatsugu remained composed during the retreat. He personally struck a taiko (Japanese drum) so that the panicked soldiers could be calmed and find the gathering point. This both offered the routing soldiers a sense of direction and alarmed the pursuing Takeda army for potential trickery. This is known as "Sakai' s Taiko" (6)+0)Chk) and was later adapted into kabuki theater.
Scenario Notes
• Fort Tobigasuyama actually had 4 satellite forts. I did not zoom out the map to fit all 5 into a single scenario because I thought having 5 strategic objectives might be too grindy and tedious. Therefore, I chose Tobigasuyama and Nakayama as the two representative objectives. Battles occurring at the other 3 forts are considered to be happening off-map.
• Another reason for the choice is that the remains of these two forts still stand today in Aichi, and you can certainly pay them a visit if you' re in the neighborhood.
• Many Takeda officers commanding the Nagashino siege force were slaughtered. One of the more famous ones was Saegusa Moritomo (EWM), the foot leader in the scenario 01.
Because he was guarding a fort further north, we have to assume that he was defeated off-map. The cavalry unit in the upper right corner can either represent him and his fleeing riders(I didn' t make him into a leader due to scenario balance), or his panicked soldiers retreating to Tobigasuyama after he was slain. I will leave the interpretation up to you.