by Paul LaFontaine, 17 May 2026
Four players participated in this scenario. We played the battle of Sekigahara, a historic confrontation during the Japanese Shogunate. Players Seabass and Tiberghien commanded the Western Army, Dr. Truth and Lewis++ commanded the Eastern Army.
All players and the umpires had physical sets at their locations and the umpire reports were pointers via Discord allowing players to keep the situation on their own maps.
Seabass and Tiberghien were able to reverse the historical outcome and pull out a victory.
One difference we allowed from the historical is that we did not include the defection of a large portion of the Western Army! This was decisive in the historical outcome, but would have made for lopsided numbers and not much of a contest. In our scenario the Western Army stayed intact, and prevailed.
The Problem
The Western Army is outnumbered, and their problem is timing and needing to isolate a portion of the enemy and defeat them in detail. There is a river to navigate, and speed is essential. The Eastern Army has superior numbers and must bring all forces into the fight to ensure they have the strength to hold the field.
Western (Blue) Briefing
The period is early Modern, and the contesting forces consist of mounted knights, dismounted knights, men-at-arms (spearman) and musketeers. The blocks are broken out:
Infantry block – approximately 2500 men we will call a “regiment” that can be either men at arms or dismounted knights.
Cavalry block – 2000 mounted knights in a “regiment” with strong combat power, they can drive infantry off
Artillery block – NOT proper cannon, but musketeers in a battalion of 2,500 whose aim is poor but the volume of fire can cause casualties at a distance one block away from themselves without incurring any damage
Your OOB:
most images can click to enlarge
The unit marked “1” are men-at-arms, the unit marked “2” are dismounted knights. They do not fight together or mix, and will be kept separate on the battlefield.
The Battle Area:
All rivers are fordable though they slow forces that cross them. Treat them as obstacles to slow movement. Defending at a river confers advantage.
You are marching in from the west and have reports of large columns immediately north of Kleindorf.
MISSION: Your force is smaller than the enemy in total army size. The mix of forces is similar so there is no arm that has a significant advantage or disadvantage. This battle is for domination of the region. The winner will be king.
East (Red) Briefing
The period is early Modern, and the contesting forces consist of mounted knights, dismounted knights, men-at-arms (spearman) and musketeers. The blocks are broken out:
Infantry block – approximately 2500 men we will call a “regiment” that can be either men at arms or dismounted knights.
Cavalry block – 2000 mounted knights in a “regiment” with strong combat power, they can drive infantry off
Artillery block – NOT proper cannon, but musketeers in a battalion of 2,500 whose aim is poor but the volume of fire can cause casualties at a distance one block away from themselves without incurring any damage
Your OOB:
The unit marked “1” are men-at-arms, the unit marked “2” are dismounted knights. They do not fight together or mix, and will be kept separate on the battlefield.
The Battle Area:
All rivers are fordable though they slow forces that cross them. Treat them as obstacles to slow movement. Defending at a river confers advantage.
You are marching in from the east and have reports of large columns west and northwest of Steinhafen.
MISSION: You outnumber the enemy in total army size. The mix of forces is similar so there is no arm that has a significant advantage. This battle is for domination of the region. The winner will be king.
Turn 1
At 10:00 AM, Seabass & Tiberghien hope to move in two wings and immediately defeat a portion of the enemy force through local superiority. They see speed as essential. Dr. Truth & Lewis++ try to move their mounted samurai into a flank position to wreak havoc and they expect their dismounted samurai to hold longer against enemy men at arms.
This is another of a series of Kriegsspiel AARs very similar to the events in our Wargame HQ at the Origins Game Fair. You can find the original article here.
Seabass commands all of the Western samurai in the north (1), both mounted and dismounted. In this scenario, the “armor” symbols on pieces represent the dismounted, armored samurai. In the south, Tiberghien concentrates the spearmen and musketeers at Steinhafen (2). Lewis++ positions the dismounted Eastern samurai on a northern axis (3) and the mounted samurai on a southern axis (4). His reasoning was that the samurai formations, mounted and dismounted, would provide a more capable and resilient first contact force for the army. Dr. Truth organizes the spearmen and musketeers into two formations (5) and aligns them for a westward march. Both armies are advancing directly toward one another, making immediate contact and engagement highly likely.
Turn 2
At 11:00AM, the Eastern dismounted samurai and Tiberghien’s spearmen come into contact (1). The Eastern samurai are in column and have to react. The Western force is already formed up in defensive posture with musketeer support, so the fact that they are more lightly armored spearmen is offset by their preparations and the ranged fire assistance. Seabass marches east (2), hoping to get the road to try to find the enemy’s flank. The mounted knights under Lewis++ cross the river in the south (3), and Dr. Truth continues to march his two wings (4) westward to engage.
Turn 3
It is now 1200PM. Seabass, upon hearing that contact has developed to his south, makes a critical decision and pivots his samurai southward (1) marching them through the woods. The terrain will inevitably disorder the formation to some degree, but he correctly assesses that the developing fight in the south is the decisive point and requires reinforcement.
Tiberghien extends his line (2) in an effort to locate and turn the flank of the Eastern dismounted samurai while continuing to pressure them. Now attacked on three sides, they are cut off from their leadership and struggling to organize in the woods. Dr. Truth, now aware that the battle has been joined, advances his formations forward (3) and soon makes contact with the mounted samurai in the north. Meanwhile, Lewis++ marches north toward Steinhafen (4) seeking a flank opportunity and can now clearly observe the enemy formations positioned across the river.
Turn 4
At 1:00PM, Seabass presses the attack (1). The Eastern dismounted samurai have absorbed enough punishment to disorganize them and begin falling back from the engagement. Lewis++ launches the mounted samurai in a direct attack against the rear of the Western musketeers (2). The musketeers opposed by Dr. Truth’s musketeers (3) are now assaulted from two directions. The combined effect brings them to the breaking point.
All forces are now engaged, and the Western Army has the advantage in the north, the Eastern Army in the south. The outcome is on a knife edge.
Turn 5
It is now 2:00PM. Because the forest has disorganized the mounted samurai and slowed their advance on the eastern end of the line (1), the Eastern spearmen manage to hold for now, supported closely by their musketeers. However, the Western dismounted samurai now begin striking into Dr. Truth’s second wing (2) and possess a clear tactical advantage in the fighting. Under mounting pressure, the spearmen and musketeers on the left wing began to break apart.
In the south, Lewis++ achieves greater success. His mounted samurai clear the opposing musketeers and shatter the southern portion of Tiberghien’s wing, forcing a retreat northward (3). The Eastern mounted samurai consolidate after having successfully (4) driven the Western musketeers from the field.
Turn 6 – END OF SCENARIO
The scenario ends at 3:00PM. Though exhausted from the fighting, Seabass’s samurai remain combat capable and continue to hold the field (1). Tiberghien’s spearmen have retreated from the battlefield (2) and are no longer capable of offensive action. The remnants of Dr. Truth’s spearmen-based formations also withdraw, and the musketeers left without protection (3), are forced to retreat. Lewis++’s mounted samurai remain an effective fighting force (4), and he orders them into a screening role to protect the withdrawal and reorganization of his allies.
With neither Eastern formation capable of renewing the attack, the battle came to an end. The Western army retains control of the field and secures an ahistorical victory.
Historical Outcome
The battle opened in dense fog on the morning of October 21, 1600, after the Eastern Army’s advance guard stumbled into Western Army by accident. Both sides initially panicked and withdrew, but the encounter revealed each army’s position and the engagement was joined shortly after, with recent Japanese historical research placing the start closer to 10:00 AM.
The Eastern Army opened with Ii Naomasa leading 3,600 crimson-armored samurai, known as Ii’s Red Devils, against the Western Army center. The battle quickly reached deadlock, described by a contemporary witness as armies pushing against each other while gunfire and arrows filled the air.
The Western Army’s collapse originated from multiple simultaneous failures. The front weakened progressively because its ranks were filled with inexperienced ronin mercenaries, the result of an earlier internal clan insurrection that had driven away senior samurai vassals. Despite outnumbering the enemy forces, Western troops broke under sustained pressure from better-trained and more disciplined opponents.
The decisive blow came from Kobayakawa Hideaki, who changed sides and used his 15,000-man force to strike his former colleagues in the Western Army from behind. Correspondence between Hideaki and Eastern Army commanders before the battle suggests the defection was arranged in advance. Some researchers argue that the Eastern Army commander’s decision to move to Sekigahara was itself driven by prior knowledge of Hideaki’s betrayal.
Regardless of timing, Hideaki’s attack overwhelmed the Western Army’s position. Four additional Western commanders, Wakisaka, Ogawa, Akaza, and Kutsuki, also defected, all having secretly concluded agreements several days before the battle. The collapse of the Western right flank left the entire position exposed and the Western forces began retreating.
The Mōri clan’s failure to engage was equally consequential. Mōri Terumoto, commanding substantial forces at Osaka Castle, never entered the battle. His vassal Kikkawa Hiroie actively sabotaged Western Army efforts, stationing his own troops to physically block Mōri Hidemoto from advancing to relieve Mitsunari, and similarly preventing Chōsokabe Morichika’s contingent from engaging Tokugawa forces. Hiroie then quietly negotiated the clan’s surrender directly with Ieyasu, though the Mōri domains were substantially reduced afterward regardless.
Large forces from both sides never reached the battlefield at all. Tokugawa Hidetada’s 38,000 soldiers were tied down besieging Sanada Masayuki at Ueda Castle. Fifteen thousand Western Army troops were held at the Siege of Tanabe by a mere 500 Hosokawa defenders, many of the besieging force reportedly reluctant to press the attack out of respect for the Hosokawa name. Tachibana Muneshige’s contingent was similarly detained at the Siege of Ōtsu and arrived too late.
The entire engagement at Sekigahara lasted approximately two hours, confirmed by a letter Ieyasu himself wrote to Date Masamune on the day of the battle.
Conclusion
This was an enjoyable and relatively short session that worked out particularly well because one of the participants needed to leave early. The commanders cooperated with the shortened timeline by moving aggressively into contact. Under normal conditions, a game involving maneuver and reconnaissance before engagement will often last around nine turns, or roughly an hour and a half of game play. When commanders instead drive their formations directly into battle, the pace accelerates significantly and games tend to conclude in the six- to seven-turn range.
Both sides demonstrated intelligent planning that reflected a clear understanding of their respective strengths and weaknesses. The western army under Seabass and Tiberghien recognized the necessity of rapid action to overwhelm a subside of the enemy force before a more deliberate deployment could occur, and their operational plan reflected this. Lewis++ and Dr. Truth likewise developed a sound concept centered on cavalry maneuver against the flank, and this nearly proved decisive in shaping the battlefield. The principal drawback in their execution was the early commitment of the dismounted samurai into the initial fighting. Their premature engagement exhausted the formation and removed it from effective action more quickly than would likely have occurred had it been retained as a reserve force for the later stages of the battle.
The game being used is Battle Decisions: Kriegsspiel from Catastrophe Games.
One aspect that worked exceptionally well was disguising the fact that the scenario was set during Japan’s Shogunate period. The forces were presented in deliberately neutral terms as regiments of musketeers, pikemen, and cavalry opposing samurai spearmen alongside mixed archer and harquebusier formations. None of the players recognized the historical setting during play, and the reveal at the end became a genuine source of amusement when they realized they had been fighting a battle grounded in the Japanese Shogunate era.
We ran 6 turns in 60 minutes, which is 10 minutes per turn. This is a good turn length. The amount of combat in this game was exceptionally high, and as a result the turn lengths expanded to roughly ten minutes each. Much of this came from the volume of calculations required for damage and morale resolution, particularly because nearly every unit on the field was heavily engaged at the same time. The density of combat slowed adjudication considerably and highlighted an important subject for future refinement: developing faster methods for tracking combat damage and morale effects after battle resolution. Streamlining that process would likely reduce administrative delay while preserving the intensity and decision quality that made the session effective.
These sessions function as active playtests, and in each game I enter with a specific mechanic or process that I intend to evaluate. In this case, the focus was testing the use of cards rather than dice to determine combat outcomes. The standard rules use 2D6, which provides an effective probability distribution for combat resolution. For this experiment, I created a deck of 36 outcome cards designed to mathematically replicate the same distribution curve produced by rolling 2D6. The deck was reshuffled every two or three turns to keep the probability spread closer to the statistical behavior of repeated dice rolls.
The results were mixed. The cards were somewhat faster in the immediate sense because they removed the need to mentally total dice during combat resolution. However, this advantage was offset by the physical handling requirements of managing, drawing, and reshuffling a 36-card deck. In practice, the administrative friction largely canceled out the arithmetic savings. As a result, the cards did not produce a meaningful increase in speed or functionality over the existing dice system. My conclusion is therefore a no-go for battle cards in future versions of the game. Nevertheless, the test was valuable because it produced concrete data on how card-based combat resolution affects tempo and administrative workload. Based on the observed turn lengths, the cards do not significantly shorten the overall adjudication process.
Thanks to Lewis++, Dr. Truth, Seabass and Tiberghien for playing. Come join us and learn more about decisions from history. We’ll see you out there.
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