Okehazama 1560 reviewed

I have this game as part of the Six Angles collection, along with 3 others. Like them, there’s a full English translation. Like them, the translation looks like it was typed & zeroxed. The translation isn’t so great in this game; quite a few bits needed some careful figuring out. I have no way to tell whether that’s a translation problem or part of the original rules, mind you, so I’ll comment no more on it.

The contents include an 11”x17” map, a sheet of 89x½” counters, and the aforementioned rules.

The map, as usual for Japanese wargames in my limited experience, is very clear & readable, with little doubt as to terrain or markings. Colours are subdued, but contrast is good. This is an area-movement game, with the terrain, a fairly hilly/mountainous area with a river and some roads plus a couple of castles & some forts, overlaid by polygonal area boundaries, the lines being coded to represent movement costs. Dots= 1 MP, broken line=2, etc. The result is clearly a game map, and loses a bit aesthetically, but it’s very useable. Names are presented in both Japanese & English, but game information is all in English. All Japanese wargamers are clearly bilingual.

The counters are also printed in subdued, almost pastel colours, and, likewise, are very readable, although the troop silhouettes aren’t wonderfully clear. There are troop counters, with the usual attack-defence-movement values, leaders with their name (in Japanese & English – the Japanese characters are pretty small!) and movement rate, and LOTS of markers & chits. This is a chit draw game, and there are chits to draw for leaders, events, and the turn end. Additionally, there are various markers to note the capture of castles & forts, and some reminder markers for the game turn track to denote the continuation of some of the events.

So, how does it work? Like I mentioned, it’s a chit draw game. At the start of the game, leaders with their units are placed on pre-determined areas on the map. The most powerful of the Oda formations (the two sides are the Oda vs the Imagawa, by the way. I guess Imagawa owns the area, since he possesses two castles, but Oda has a few forts in place as well… I'm a bit vague on that point!) doesn’t enter until turn 3. At the start of the game, two end of turn markers, and 5 leader markers per side, plus a few event chits, are placed in the draw cup. Bigger formations have multiple draw chits, but only the first one counts – they’re simply more likely to be chosen early. Interestingly, not all the Imagawa units have a chance of activation every turn. The Imagawa player also has a set of leader activation chits which are one use – he can choose one to be added to the draw pool per turn. This is the only way some Imagawa units can activate! To add to this draw pool confusion, there are event markers, some of which are only available between certain turns, and all events are one-use. So, just setting up the draw takes a bit of thought! The turn continues chit by chit until the second end turn chit is drawn – that can be surprisingly quickly!

When a leader chit is drawn, the leader, and all his troops, can EITHER move or fight. Movement is typically 2-3 areas depending on costs and units. Since each unit can’t activate twice in one turn (except for certain events), there is typically a chance for the opposition to reinforce an attacked area, if the draw is kind to you. Events change this – the most common events are a set of similar ones where one of the Oda units ‘goes berserk’. This means the unit MUST attack the enemy if in the same area, or must move toward the enemy if not – and can make a normal activation later if their own chit is drawn. This can be suicidal if you've moved a unit into an area with a powerful enemy force to pin it in place! There are other events too, one has the largest Imagawa unit ‘resting’ for two turns (poor boys had been partying all night, apparently…), and there’s a thunderstorm, which the Oda make use of for some sneak raiding.

Now, this might make it seem like the Oda get all the advantages. They need it… Typical Oda units are less powerful in attack & defence than Imagawa. The combat procedure is pretty straightforward – add all attack factors of active units together, add 1 point per inactive allied troop in the same area, add 3 points if the leader is there; then add all the defending units defence factors together, plus 3 for one leader. There are adjustments for terrain & castles/forts. Note the defender advantage - only active attackers get their full values, whereas all defenders do.

The resolution is a little different. Instead of looking up the ratio on a CRT, 1d6 is added to each total, and the difference looked up on a simple table. Results include retreats, loss of one or two units, elimination of one side or the other, or, of course, no event. Retreating units are disrupted. The troops (not leaders) are inverted, and the counter backs have immobile values with no attacks and minimal defences. Units stacked with their own leader can recover at the end of a turn, but excepting an optional rule cannot recover without him. Units cannot (except by an optional rule) move out of an area with an enemy unit, although combat doesn’t seem to be mandatory, unless I’ve missed a rule, so you can wait for reinforcements!

Victory is judged by the elimination of leaders and possession of forts/castles, but in the games I’ve played it was blindingly obvious who’d won!

I’ve played three and a half games (the first one went very wrong and was abandoned). It’s a very quick, simple game. Very very quick if those end turn markers turn up early! The chit draw procedure can produce odd results, and get a bit confusing. One problem we encountered is, if weak units move in to an area with an enemy, but then don’t attack, that area becomes a reinforcement magnet – since units can’t both move & attack, and the combat results are pretty balanced, both sides will move extra units in hoping for an advantage, but being unable to start the fight before the opposition also reinforces. This spells disaster for Oda, as his troops are generally inferior… Generally, though, it’s an easy game, and simple to learn & play, barring the selection of chits for the upcoming turn. Counter density is pretty low, but then I usually kept troops with their leader in stacks – so there were some pretty crowded individual areas!

It’s a good little game, and I’ll be playing a bit more before I pack it away.