At The Height Of Battle - Imjin War Naval Game Refresher

Just wrapped up a great refresher game of the "At The Height Of Battle" Imjin War naval rules. I hadn't played it in a few years, and totally forgot the rules. Thanks to a couple of buddies, who never played it before, but had read up on the rules, the game turned out really well. I scaled down the number of ships, but we still think we had too many for a first time play. One of my other buddies couldn't make it due to a last minute family issue, so one player ran the entire Japanese fleet against two players (me being one) running the Koreans. Suffice to say, the rules are good and should work out well with 6 players at next month's Drumbeat South game day in Chehalis. Although missile fire does have its place, the game really centers on boarding actions - which includes firing with light artillery from both attacker and defender during the attack. 

Each turn consists of 6 phases - 3 Japanese, and 3 Korean activation cards drawn randomly.

The Japanese fleet advances towards two squadrons of Korean ships, which include large and small turtle ships. I'll plan to reduce the number of turtle ships per squadron - as they are quite difficult to inflict damage upon.

The Japanese fleet with two squadrons split by the small island.

The white pompoms indicate heavy artillery fire - which can only be used once per turn. They're removed at the start of the player's phase in the next turn.

We only used tape measures for the 12" heavy artillery ranges. Otherwise, the turning sticks have inch markers, and the most any ship can move is 5". Light artillery is limited to 3".

The red cards indicate crew casualty. Light artillery can only inflict crew casualty, but once it does it reduces that crew's hand to hand by half.

On the painting table, I'm working on the second Battalia Starter Army box. Thanks again for stopping by, and hope you all are doing well.

Enfilade 2025 - Siege of Ulsan

Well folks I'm finally making a post again. Apologies for being away so long, but I mentioned a while back of having to deal with some major issues with our home. We're still not finished with the problem, but getting there. Anyway, I hosted my Imjin War- Siege of Ulsan game twice yesterday. Both games went very well. Much better than the play test earlier last month. The besieging Ming and Koreans were able to scale the Japanese fortress walls and fight their way onto the ramparts with several units. They even managed to break down the main gate in both games. However, they were held off by the defending Japanese inside. I used a modified version of Hail Caesar, and homebrew rules for the scaling ladders and assaulting the main gate. The Japanese relief force met stiff resistance from the Korean right, and weren't able to provide direct support to the defenders.  Here are some pictures from both games. 

I also managed to get into two great games with old buddies. This morning's session I Bruce Meyer's (Company B) Archeologists v. Zombie Terracotta warriors game.  And I the afternoon, Kevin Smyth's One Hour Skirmish Moro vs. US game.

My buddy also gifted me back my old Warhammer Empire core troops which he bought from me almost a decade ago. He said only wanted me to paint a 54mm Prussian figure in memory of an ancestor of his for him. 

Still have tonight and tomorrow morning. I'm in another game hosted by Kevin tomorrow - Shrewsbury,  LionRampant. Again, apologies for being away so long, but I should be back in swing soon. 

Siege of Ulsan - Imjin War Playtest

I was finally able to get a playtest in for the Siege of Ulsan game at today's gameday down in Olympia. There were 5 players - 3 for the attacking/besieging Ming, and 2 players for the Japanese - one inside the fortress and one bringing on relief forces opposite the Ming. The Osprey book below was the inspiration and reference material for the fortress (wajo).

As this was a only playtest, and on 6x5' table, I left off most of the Korean forces, as well as some of the Japanese troops. 

The rules were a modified version of Hail Caesar - which was used before for a Siege of Haenju game (Japanese besieging Koreans during the Imjin War). It worked well, but there are a few things that will be modified for the game being hosted at Enfilade next month. During today's game, it was found that the simplified break test results used were a bit too brutal - basically a lot of units (including supporting units) were being destroyed by failed tests. We also found a good way to have units use the scaling ladders once laid against the fortress walls. If a unit on the ladder is killed off by the defenders, nearby units with enough movement can use the same ladder. The ladder rules have one move needed to reach the wall, another to have it raised, and a final move to climb/mount it for combat. 

Below are pictures taken during the game, in no particular order. We played over 10 turns, as the rules played pretty fast. I did mod the activation a bit by allowing players to move one unit a single move on a failed activation.

Above: Ming foot reaching the walls, with heavy infantry bringing up ladders. We did a quick mod to the rules to have defenders not being able to shoot at enemy below them within 3" of the wall - too vertical of an angle for missile fire.

Above: A unit of Korean heavy infantry reaching the walls with their ladder raised.

Above: A view inside the fortress with Ming infantry having defeated a unit of Japanese arquebusiers and occupying a section of the wall. Samurai below them later moved up and destroyed the Ming. However, we called this a spritual victory for the Ming for getting inside the fortress.

Above: Another view of Ming using scaling ladders to enter the fortress. This game only used 3 ladders, but for there will be several more for the game at Enfilade.

Above: Japanese relief forces coming on. They were allowed to bring half of their forces onto the table at Turn 2, and the rest in subsequent turns.

Above: About Turn 2 or 3.

Above: Ming heavy cavalry advancing to meet the Japanese relief forces.

Above: Samurai and ashigaru sally forth out from out of the fortress to assist their relief forces.

Above: Kato Kiyomasa inside of the fortress.

Above: Ashiguru manning the battlements.

Above: A view of the battlefield from the side the Ming entered the table.

We called the game as a  close Japanese victory since the Ming weren't able to overcome the defenders inside. However, the Ming were able destroy several of the Japanese relief forces and ultimately halt their advance. Otherwise, it was a very good playtest and the few mods will be made and should be good for the convention next month. 

Siege of Ulsan - Initial Table Set-up

Seeing some of my buddies games already being playtested for our convention in May, I was inspired (shamed) into setting up the table for the game I'm hosting there. This is the first time I've set up the Japanese fortress walls for the scenario, and may change it around, but it seems like a good location as I plan to have Japanese relief forces come on the opposite side of the table later in the game.

Right now, I just threw on all the units just to see how they'd fit. I think I'll have the foot units with 12 figures each, and the mounted a little smaller in units of 5 or 6 each.

Plan to use a modified/simplified version of Hail Caesar for most of the game. The assaulting and scaling of the fortress will be some kind of easy house rules. Again, still need to play test the game.

The fortress walls are manned by missile troops. According to historians, Kato Kiyomasa, the commander of the fortress during the siege, gave highest priority to the matchlock troops. While others were starving, he ensured they received enough rations. For the record, the siege was in the dead of winter - and quite harsh.

A playtest will need to be scheduled.

Scaling Ladders for the Siege of Ulsan

Of course, these could be used other scenarios too. Picked these 3D printed resin scaling ladders up from ebay. They're very nicely sized, however, the ladder steps are too close together to put figures onto them directly.

They look better than the balsa wood ones I scratch-builed earlier. Wanted to up the look of my game for the convention after seeing some of the other ones folks will be hosting.

The ladders on the carts are moveable, and I used brass rods for axels to allow the wheels to spin.

Still need to playtest the game, but these ladders should be it for actual terrain and figures.

Ming Chinese Command Stand (North Star And TAG Figures)

Needing a command stand for the Ming contingent for the Imjin War project, ordered a pack of North Star Ming "Buntai". The mounted guy and the two halberdiers are from this pack, which also includes another halberdier and two bowmen. The guy with the animal skin cap and large axe is a TAG figure - listed as a Sui Dynasty figure. The Sui were several hundredyears earlier than the Ming, but he looked too cool not to add to the stand.

They were blocked painted, followed by Minwax staining, and then a few highlights added afterwards.

The Sui axeman has more traditional lamellar armor. The North Star guys seem to be in mail, which wasn't very common. I was thinking of grinding the mail down and using Green Stuff for lamellar or scale, but decided it wasn't worth the effort - as well as chance of making it even worse.

The helmets are pretty accurate for what Ming supposedly wore at the time; however, I wish the mounted guy had a helmet a bit more fancy.

So much for now - have some Old Glory Janissaries with muskets in the painting queue, but not in any rush to paint them at the moment. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and for your earlier well-wishes. Hope you all are doing great!

TAG Song Mounted Archers

Took a little break from the Heian TAG samurai to finish up a Ming cavalry unit for the Imjin War project. Just three more TAG figures - which are actually Song cavalry, but look close enough to Ming heavy cavalry. The funny thing is when I placed the order for these I only added the Heian/Gempei War figures to up the order for free shipping - not realizing then that I would revisit the period in earnest. Now the Imjin War project has sort of taken a backseat to it.

The unit now has 12-figures, but I may run them in 6-figure units.

Thanks for visiting and hope you all are doing well!

Perry Joseon Armored Spearmen With Shields

Painted their shields to complete these figures. These are the last from the most-recent Perry order of Korean and Samurai figures. 

The figures themselves were painted a few days ago. The lion heads on the shields were painted similarly to the ones on the earlier round shields carried by swordsmen.

They remind me of Persian Immortals by the way they're armed and armored.

Not sure how they'll be deployed in a game - maybe as bodyguards for commanders, or for separate artillery.

Still awaiting a few TAG Song cavalry, but will attempt to scratch-build some Japaneses fortress/wajo stone walls next. Thanks for stopping by and hope you all are doing well and enjoying the weather.