The sound of the Jetavana temple bells
echoes the impermanence of all things;
the colour of the sala flowers reveals the
truth that the prosperous must decline.
The proud do not endure,
they are like a dream on a spring night.
In the end the mighty fall,
they are like dust before the wind.
These famous and profound lines open the Tale of the Heike, one of the greatest works of Japanese literature and our primary source for the Genpei War of 1180-1185. This was a civil war between the two great warrior clans of the era, the Taira and the Minamoto (also known as the Heike and the Genji in their Chinese ideographic pronunciation), and involved the whole of the country and all stratas of Japanese society. It was an epoch defining event for Japanese history, bringing to an end the classical period of Heian culture and issuing in the age of the warrior elite.
The Genpei War is also a rich source of material for wargaming. This scenario pack is the result of a project to explore this war through the Commands & Colours system for the Samurai Battles game. This document contains new rules, terrain and units to cater for the unique tactical requirements of the Genpei War, and thirty scenarios covering the entire conflict.
This is a fan designed project and reflects my personal interpretation of the battles. There are many scenarios with very simple orders of battle but also a number that feature denser special rule sets than are traditional for the Commands & Colours games. Some are also somewhat unbalanced, reflecting the historical reality. All the rules and scenarios have been researched and playtested and work, and either side can win in every case. However, these are not official in any way and I would encourage players to try them as they are but also to alter them as they see fit for their own taste and play style (and to let me know the results!). This robust versatility is the great strength of the Commands & Colours system.
Another point to make is that unlike official game products, the scenarios are designed with purely chronological necessity in mind, not in a stepwise fashion of increasing complexity for introducing new rules. This means that some of the most challenging new rules, such as Stockades and Naval Warfare, appear first in scenarios with additional tactical and rules complexity. I would certainly recommend playing the scenarios in diachronic order to experience the narrative history of the war as a campaign but players may find an easier introduction to the new rules by playing some of the simpler later scenarios first. Two scenarios in particular have been designed as basic primers for the Stockade and Naval Warfare rules. These are GP19. Nuta’s Stronghold and GP20. Nishinomiya.
This document is self-contained as a stand-alone expansion, but there will be additional resources available. For Vassal players, there will be an extension featuring the new units and terrain and all thirty scenarios. For those interested in exploring the history of the war further, there will also be a supplement with additional material collated during the research and development for the project, including a bibliography, timeline, maps, biographies of the major personalities, a gazetter of minor personalities appearing in the scenarios, and extended historical and design notes for each battle.
For those wishing to print this document, it has been formatted so that the title page can be printed as a single-sided sheet and all following pages double-sided. This will result in each scenario appearing as a double page spread for easy referencing when setting up battles. Good fortune on the battlefield and enjoy!
Brent S., March 2016
Blue triangle
Move 1 (or 2 and no battle)
Close Combat 3 dice
Sohei Warriors in Battle reroll all H&F for additional results in close combat. The first H&F on an Inspired Leadership roll is still cancelled and does not trigger an additional roll.
When eliminated, the Sohei Warrior unit’s army loses 2 H&F tokens.
Blue triangle
Move 1 (or 2 and no battle)
Close Combat 3 dice (2 dice if they moved) (may not close combat at all if ordered by an Infantry Onslaught)
Ranged Attack – 2 dice at 2 or 3 hex range (1 die if they moved)
Sohei Archers in Battle reroll all H&F for additional results in ranged and close combat. The first H&F on an Inspired Leadership roll is still cancelled and does not trigger an additional roll.
When eliminated, the Sohei Archer unit’s army loses 2 H&F tokens.
The Sohei units are designed to represent the powerful militant arms of the great temples of the late Heian period that clashed with the Taira in the early phase of the Genpei War. While capable of success, players may find them limited in their tactical options and frequently outmatched by the stronger and more diverse Taira armies they face. This is intentional design, representing the ascendancy of samurai military tactics and combined arms forces over those of the monks. For players seeking more balanced battles, optional rules are provided in the relevant scenarios for replacing some Sohei units with red square samurai.
In a scenario in which naval combat is allowed, Ocean hexes are passable. See the Naval Warfare rules.
In scenarios where all hexes are Ocean hexes, there is no need to mark them with terrain tiles. In a scenario where Ocean and land need to be differentiated, players who own C&C:Ancients may use Shoreline tiles or the shoreline may be marked by River tiles.
This is a temporary fieldwork, which may represent portable wicker or wooden shields, abatis, trenches, moats or bamboo frameworks. They will cover only certain hexsides, as marked on the terrain tile.
Palisades are passable and do not obstruct line of site.
A unit on a Palisade hex ignores one sword and may ignore one flag result for any attack coming across a Palisade hexside.
An ordered unit adjacent to a Palisade hexside may attempt to destroy it. The player announces that he wishes to attack the Palisade rather than an enemy unit and rolls the unit's normal close combat dice. This may be increased by Leader Inspiration and Command or Dragon Card effects.
Any sword result will destroy and remove the Palisade tile. In the case of an attempted destruction of a Palisade tile, enemy units in the Palisade hex are not being targeted and therefore may not battle back.
Players owning C&C:Ancients or C&C:Napoleonics may use Rampart or Redoubt terrain tiles to represent Palisades.
This is a semi-permanent fortification constructed of earthworks, wooden or stone walls and towers.
Stockade hexes are passable and block line of site between non-stockade hexes.
An ordered unit must start the turn adjacent to a Stockade hex to enter it and must stop when entering it. Cavalry units and cavalry leaders may not enter a stockade hex.
A unit on a stockade hex may ignore 1 sword and 1 flag in combat.
A unit performs close combat into or out of a Stockade hex with a maximum of 2 dice.
Units on a non-Stockade hex perform ranged attacks into a Stockade hex with a maximum of 2 dice.
Units on a Stockade hex perform ranged attacks at their normal value.
All battle rolls may be modified by Leader Inspiration and Command or Dragon Card effects as normal.
A unit on a Stockade hex being targeted in close combat by a unit on a non-stockade hex may battle first (as if playing a First Strike card).
An ordered unit adjacent to a Stockade hex may attempt to destroy it. The player announces that he wishes to attack the Stockade rather than an enemy unit and rolls the unit’s normal full close combat dice (this is not reduced to 2 dice and may be modified by Leader Inspiration and Command or Dragon card effects). If the attacking unit rolls 2 or more Swords, the Stockade tile is destroyed and removed from play. Any unit on the Stockade hex at the time of its destruction loses 1 figure. In the case of an attempted destruction of a Stockade tile, enemy units in the Stockade hex are not being targeted and therefore may not battle back.
Players owning C&C:Ancients may use City Wall terrain tiles to represent Stockades.
An arrow tower tile may be built on a Palisade or Stockade and obeys all normal rules for its associated terrain type.
A Palisade Arrow Tower provides protection to the unit occupying it through all 6 hex sides.
An archer unit (Samurai, Sohei or Ashigaru) occupying an Arrow Tower may fire with its normal combat dice at 4 hex range.
Marsh hexes are passable and do not block line of sight.
A unit or leader entering a marsh hex must stop and may not move again that turn (including taking ground). A unit or lone leader leaving a Marsh hex may move only 1 hex and stop regardless of its normal movement allowance, and may not move again that turn (including taking ground). A unit which started its turn on a Marsh hex may take ground out of it on a successful close combat but may not take ground again that turn.
A unit entering a Marsh hex by ordered movement, retreat or taking ground must roll 1 die and loses 1 figure for a matching standard symbol (sword, flag and H&F results have no effect). A lone leader entering a Marsh hex must roll 1 die and is eliminated on a sword result (standard symbols, flags and H&F results have no effect).
Units close combat into and out of Marsh hexes with a maximum of 2 dice.
A unit on a marsh hex performs ranged combat at a maximum of 1 die.
Ranged combat targeting a unit on a marsh hex is unaffected.
In all cases, Leader Inspiration and Command or Dragon card effects may increase these die roll allowances.
Marsh hexes are considered water terrain (for the purpose of playing the Blue Dragon Dragon Card).
Players owning C&C:Ancients or C&C:Napoleonics may use Marsh terrain tiles from those games.
Units on Ocean hexes occupy boats and are considered naval units. While in reality each boat may accommodate multiple troop units, for game play purposes it is considered that each naval unit in a hex occupies its own individual boat.
Normal unit movement rates do not apply to units on ocean hexes. Any scenario with naval forces will have an abstracted direction of nett wind and tidal forces. This will be along one or more of the 6 axes of the board’s hexes and will be noted on the scenario map.
A moving naval unit will always be moving across one of the 3 hex sides with, or one of the 3 hex sides against, the wind/tide. An ordered naval unit may always move 1 hex in any direction (Exception – see Grappling). An ordered naval unit may move 2 hexes if its entire movement is with the wind/tide.
Exception: Any card effect which increases movement will override limitations imposed by wind/tide.
An eligible unit may take ground (water) in any direction regardless of the wind/tide.
In scenarios including both ocean and land terrain, ordered units may embark (move from a land to ocean hex) or disembark (move from an ocean to land hex). The unit must start its turn adjacent to the land/ocean hex it is moving to, may only move the 1 hex, which may not be increased by card effects, and may not battle on the turn it embarks/disembarks.
An embarking or disembarking armoured unit is vulnerable to attack. Lay the figures of an embarking or disembarking unit flat (alternatively, mark them in some other way, such as with a coin or token). Figures are stood upright at the beginning of the player’s next turn. While a unit is lying flat, it receives neither rank or cavalry resistance to swords rolled in close combat.
A disembarked unit functions in all other ways as a normal unit of its type. An embarked unit is subject to all naval rules.
Units may not take ground from ocean to land hexes, or from land to ocean hexes.
A unit which rolls one or more swords against an enemy naval unit in close combat may elect to allocate one of those sword die rolls as a grapple in lieu of causing a hit. The grappler may be another naval unit or a land unit on an adjacent shore hex. If the target unit would have status resistance to sword results from the attacker, a sword result may still be committed to a grapple, with any additional sword results counting as the first, second, etc., for purposes of causing hits on the target unit. If a unit would not normally hit on swords in close combat (Irregular Peasant Infantry) it may still apply a sword result to a grapple.
Place a marker between the hexes of grappled units. Both units, the grappler and the target, are now grappled. While grappled, units may not move but ordered units in the grappled hexes may still battle.
A grappled unit conducting close combat against its mutually grappled enemy may allocate one sword result to severing the grapple between them (with all the same rules that apply to the original grapple roll). Remove the grapple marker from between the hexes. Ungrappled units are immediately free to move.
All naval units roll 1 less die in close combat and ranged attacks. Attack dice may be increased by Leader Inspiration and Command or Dragon card effects.
A land-based unit on a shore hex rolls 1 less die in close combat against a naval unit in an adjacent ocean hex. Ranged attacks by land units against naval units are unaffected.
Naval units never receive a reduction in close combat or ranged attack dice due to naval movement (this applies to all ranged attack units, and close combat for Samurai Archers, Mounted Samurai Archers and Sohei Archers).
Naval units may always battle after moving their full naval movement allowance, even if they would normally be prohibited from doing so on land (this applies to 2 hex naval movement for Ashigaru Spearmen, Sohei Warriors and Sohei Archers).
Mounted naval units are dismounted. They retain their usual stats but do not receive cavalry resistance to sword results in close combat and do not receive bonus close combat after gaining ground without a leader attached. The appropriate cavalry figures are still used as they will function as the normal mounted unit if they disembark.
Naval units never retreat in response to flags rolled against them. Any flags which cannot be ignored are treated as hits (the samurai throw themselves into the sea to drown). Land units may not retreat onto adjacent ocean hexes.
At sea, naval leaders are all treated as infantry leaders, including the limitation of providing Leader Inspiration only to the unit to which they are attached. A cavalry leader still uses the appropriate cavalry leader figure as it will function as a normal cavalry leader if it disembarks.
Open ocean hexes are impassable to lone naval leaders.
Detached naval leaders may move 1 or 2 hexes when ordered, regardless of the direction of wind/tide or grappling status, as long as both hexes of movement contain friendly units (as the leader transfers from deck to deck of boats in his own fleet).
A retreating naval leader may retreat 1 to 2 hexes only so long as each of the retreat hexes contains a friendly unit (the leader retreats from deck to deck of boats in his own fleet). If there are only open ocean hexes or enemy units in retreat hexes, the leader must commit seppuku (this also applies to a leader on a shoreline land hex with only open ocean hexes behind it).
A naval Commander and bodyguard unit may be listed in the scenario notes, occupying a Command Ship. The Command Ship is designated by a Command Tent tile. A Command Ship follows all the usual rules for a Command Tent except that it may move as per the naval unit movement rules.
A Commander and bodyguard unit may disembark normally, at which point the Command Tent tile is moved to the shore hex and thereafter becomes a normal Command Tent (meaning it can no longer move on land). Likewise, a Commander and bodyguard unit may embark from a shore hex adjacent to an ocean hex, at which point the Command Tent tile becomes a Command Ship and is subject to naval rules.
Cards have the same functions that they do in normal play with the following exceptions:
• Infantry Onslaught – If an army has a mix of land and naval units in play, this card may be used to order either land units (in which case it functions as per its normal text) or naval units, not both. When used to order naval units, 4 adjacent naval units may move 2 hexes, even when moving against the wind/tide, and conduct close combat.
• Cavalry Charge – If a commander has a mix of land and naval units in play, this card may be used to order either land units (in which case it functions as per its normal text) or naval units, not both. If ordering 4 naval units, there is no effect on movement allowance but the units receive the +1 die in close combat.
• Serpent Command - ordered units are limited to 1 hex movement, as per the card text, regardless of the wind/tide.
The following Dragon Cards have slightly altered effects when played on naval units:
• Move as Wind, Katchu-Keiba Victor and Spirit of Haya-Ji may all increase naval movement as per their text. In this context, any reference to cavalry or infantry units on these cards should read “naval unit.”
Note that the naval rules mean that some Dragon cards will have enhanced power in naval battles (Red Dragon, Panic, Cowards, Strike Fear and Blue Dragon), simulating the perils of seaborne warfare.