To play this campaign, you must have a copy of Samurai Swords (formerly Shogun) by Milton Bradley, and a copy of De Bellis Renationis by Wargames Research Group.
The board game "Samurai Swords" (formerly "Shogun") by Milton Bradley can be used as a convenient campaign game for the DBx series. While this scenario was designed and playtested for De Bellis Renationis (DBR), it is also possible to play it with De Bellis Antiquitatis (DBA) or De Bellis Multitudinis (DBM), with appropriate modifications to the troop types.
Army organization is driven by Samurai Swords, not by the DBR army lists. Each DBR army in this campaign will have at most one general, and 20 elements. If you really pour on the Ronin, you could have 38 total elements, but it would be surprising if any Samurai Swords player would ever be able to afford to put so many troops in one province, especially with only one general to control them all! In playtesting, we generally fielded armies of about 10 elements.
Each figure in Samurai Swords converts to one element of DBR troops.
| Daimyo | Ln(F), CinC | 250/200/100 | +3 vs all |
| Samurai Archer | Ln(F) | 250/200/100 | +3 vs all |
| Samurai Swordsman | Bd(O) | 150/100/50 (200 rd) | +5 ft, +3 mtd |
| Ashigaru Gunner | Sh(O) | 150/150/100 (200 rd) | +4 ft, +2 mtd, 200p |
| Ashigaru Spearman | Bd(I) | 150/100/50 (200 rd) | +5 ft, +3 mtd |
| Ronin | Bd(F) | 200/150/100 (250 rd) | +5 ft, +3 mtd |
Each player can deploy one element-width of Palisade (Fixed Obstacle) per Ashigaru he has on the table. A Palisade gives +1 to foot defending them, and -2 to mounted attacking them.
Summary of "Quick Kills"
The conversions are fairly straightforward, except for the Samurai Archer figures. While the Milton Bradley game asserts that there were still large numbers of Samurai bowmen, and does not include any mounted troops, the DBR army lists are pretty much the opposite: fairly large numbers of lance-armed cavalry (some bow-armed "Sipahi" style cavalry in older organizations) and very few massed bowmen. I have opted to follow the DBR lists, and therefore the "Samurai Archer" units in Samurai Swords become DBR Fast Lancers.
Unless you are playing with the optional siege rules (below), the only real changes to the Samurai Swords game is in Action 7: Wage War. In general, set up a DBR game by substituting one element per Samurai Swords figure, and when the DBR game ends, substitute back to Samurai Swords. There are no pursuit casualties or recovery of destroyed elements in this campaign.
If using weather, the first turn is Spring, and each new turn is the next season.
For any battle involving Daimyo on both sides, fight a DBR battle, unless BOTH players agree to fight the battle using the Samurai Swords dice-rolling technique.
For any battle involving only provincial troops on both sides, or with a Daimyo on only one side, resolve the battle Samurai Swords dice rolling, unless BOTH players agree to fight the battle in DBR. Warning: a small battle involving only Blades can literally take forever, since it is so hard for Blades to kill each other head-to-head.
If resolving an attack in DBR, deploy DBR elements on the table per the troop conversions section above. Ronin are revealed as they are deployed.
If a Ninja is to be used for Daimyo assasination, the assasination attempt (including revenge after a failure) must be conducted before the first move of the DBR game.
When fighting a battle with Samurai Swords dice rolling, use the Samurai Swords end-of-battle rule (attacker can call off, defender must fight to the death). When fighting a DBR battle, use the DBR end-of-battle rule (an army is beaten when its casualties reach or excede one-third).
In either case, the attacker can call off the battle at the beginning of his own turn (i.e. during his PIP roll for DBR, or just before rolling for combat in Samurai Swords) and remain in the province from which he attacked.
If a defender in a DBR battle is beaten, he must retreat to an adjacent friendly province.
If playing with DBR style endgame, the defeated side must retreat to an adjacent friendly province that can contain the retreating units. This means, for example, that a retreating Daimyo's army cannot retreat into an adjacent friendly province that contains another Daimyo. An army that cannot retreat is destroyed; however, if an army is forbidden to retreat due to overstacking, the player can dissolve the army and retreat as many survivors as can fit into any ONE adjacent friendly province.
If a defeated army retreats into a province occupied by another Daimyo, the defeated Daimyo commits seppuku due to the shame of such an ignominious defeat, and his army dissolves into provincial troops.
If there are too many provincial troops after the retreat and there is an army in the province being retreated to, the retreating player can immediately merge them into the army, but only as many as is required to comply with the limits.
If the defeated army retreats into a province that is itself under attack, resolve the retreat AFTER the other attack. If the province being retreated into is held by the defender, resolve the retreat normally; if the province is lost, it is no longer friendly and the force retreating to it is destroyed.
The DBR player has the option to declare "Banzai" during his PIP dicing. Declaring Banzai means that that player's army will only break at HALF casualties instead of one-third casualties, but a Banzai army cannot call off an attack or retreat. If defeated, it is totally destroyed. (This option is mainly attractive when retreat is impossible anyway.) If an army declares Banzai, the opponent's breakpoint is unaffected.
Note that a player cannot declare Banzai after his force has already reached the normal breakpoint.
Instead of the "first shot" rule in Samurai Swords, a DBR force that is conducting a Naval Invasion is under the following restrictions:
Terrain must include a Waterway covering the attacker's base edge. Attacker deploys within 600 paces the water's edge. After the attacker deploys, the defender deploys normally.
All attacking Samurai (including the Daimyo) must fight on foot as Bd(O).
If the attacker "calls off", any of his troops still on the table are destroyed. The attacker can, however, evacuate his troops onto boats. For each element that begins the turn touching the Waterway, one PIP is spent to evacuate that element. When the Daimyo evacuates, all subsequent moves (including evacuations) require an extra PIP, since the general is absent. Evacuated elements are not destroyed and therefore do not count toward breaking the army.
There are two ways to handle castles and fortresses: either by the straight Samurai Swords method (i.e., deploying extra Ashigaru Blade(I) for a Castle and extra Ronin Blade(F) for a fortress), or a siege rule. Personally, I prefer the siege rule, as it offers a little extra "spin" on the game by having reliefs, sorties, and so forth.
This alternate siege rule changes the pace of operations greatly; instead of fighting a normal battle with more defending troops, a siege instead can take two or more turns, during which time neither player fully controls the province.
For the purposes of this rule, the term "Fortification" refers to both "Castle" and "Fortress". Where the words "Castle" and "Fortress" are used, they refer specifically to those two levels of fortification.
A force inside a Castle can be attacked only by Siege Assault, and a force inside a Fortress cannot be attacked at all. However, a Fortress can be Reduced by siege, thereby becoming a Castle.
When a force attacks a province that contains a Fortification, the province owner declares which, if any, of his troops are committed to the field battle, and which are to shelter in the Fortification. Indicate this by leaving the field troops on the map, and by removing the sheltering troops to the province card.
The field battle (if any) is then fought; if the attacker is beaten or calls off the attack, the province remains in control of its owner; return the sheltering troops to the map. If, however, the defender is beaten, or if the defender sheltered all of his troops and thereby declined field battle, a siege may result. The siege begins in Wage War Step D: Final Movement, when the victorious player's troops move into the province. The besieging player and the besieged player now share control of the province. The besieging player controls the countryside and can enter, leave, pass through, and declare attacks from the province, and can hire Ronin there. The besieged force inside the Fortification (i.e., on the province card) cannot leave it, and cannot hire Ronin there. Neither player gains income from the province, and neither player can levy troops there.
Now that a Siege is in progress, the besieging force can Reduce a Fortress, or Assault a Castle. These operations can only be conducted from within the province that contains the Fortification.
During Wage War Phase B: Declare First Attacks, a player who is already conducting a siege can declare an attack on a Fortification from the province in which it is located. Then, during Phase C: Conduct Combat, he can either Reduce a Fortress to a Castle, or Assault a Castle (not both in the same turn for a given province; however, he can conduct more than one Reduction and/or Assault in the same turn in different provinces).
To Reduce a Fortress, simply remove the base from the Fortress. No casualties are inflicted on either side.
To Assault a Castle, resolve a battle with Samurai Swords dicing, with the "first shot bonus" going to the defender, as in a Naval Invasion. A successful assault will result in the besieging player taking ownership of the province and its Castle during Wage War Phase D: Final Movement.
Since a Reduction or Assault does not happen in the same turn as the initial field battle, there may be intervening player turns in which the owner of the Fortification (or a third player) may take action against the besieging force. An attack against the besieging force from the Fortification is a Sortie; an attack against the besieging force from outside the province is a Relief.
A Sortie is fought with Samurai Swords dicing (even if there are Daimyo involved). This is mainly due to the difficulty in setting up a realistic DBR battle for this situation, with the complications of castle layout, siegeworks, and so forth.
A Relief is fought as a normal field battle, using either Samurai Swords dicing or DBR, as appropriate.
As a result of a Sortie or Relief, the besieging force may be destroyed or driven out of the province. If so, then during Wage War Phase D: Final Movement, the player can return the sheltering troops from the province card to the map, and / or move troops into the province from adjacent provinces. This ends the siege and returns the province to full control of the owner.
If a player has the Ninja, he can attempt Treachery against one Fortification he is currently besieging.
During the Declare Initial Attacks step, the player controlling the Ninja can declare that the Ninja is attempting Treachery against a besieged Fortification. This attempt succeeds on a roll of 8 or less. If it fails, there is NO revenge attempt, but as a penalty, the attack against the Fortification does not occur at all that turn; a Fortress is not reduced, and a Castle is not Assaulted.
If the Treachery attempt succeeds, the besieging force gets to Assault a Fortress as if it were only a Castle. If the Treachery attempt is used on a Castle, then the Assaulting force gets the "first shot bonus" instead of the defenders.
Thus, Ninja Treachery reduces the casualties to the assaulting force by giving them a first shot; in addition, it allows a besieging player to take a Fortress intact without the delay of one turn to reduce it, and without having then to build the Castle back up to Fortress status.
Whether success or failure, the Ninja returns to the box after a Treachery attempt.
A besieged Daimyo can neither collect nor spend koku. Don't allow all of your Daimyo to get besieged at the same time!