3rd October - Fall of Port Arthur

No matter how much you rub your chin, we won't win this...

The siege is all but over!  After sucessfully storming the New Town, General Nogi has recieved the surrender of the garrison now commanded by General Maximov.  The defenders have lain down their arms.  The bloody siege is done, and Port Arthur is in the hands of the victorious Japanese Imperial Army.

We fought a 2mm game to determine how long the Russians could hold on for - not long, as it turned out.  After three turns the defences collapsed and most of the defenders fell back towards the town.  However, with a cunning but risky flank march, the Japanese managed to seize the town with a bloodless coup de main.  We then fought a quick 28mm Trench Raiders game to decide what happened to the dramatis personae when the Russian HQ was overrun!

An announcement

Morning everyone!  I think we're all aware of the situation so far, I just thought I'd put up a quick message to keep us all in the loop.

Since the fall of 203 Metre Hill, the Japanese have cemented their position.  Digging in on the hilltops, they have rebuild most of the forts destroyed in the attack on 14th September.  Worse for the Russians, their heavy siege artillery is now putting some highly destructive plunging fire onto the ships in the harbour, doing immense strategic damage to the Russian position in the Far East.

The besiegers cannot be far away from victory, but the Emperor grows impatient and orders Nogi to force a quick end to the bloody battle...

We have a further land battle to fight, which involves the Japanese trying to take the town itself by storm, and a naval one too as the Russian fleet tries to escape Togo's blockade.  Given that everyone is rather busy at the moment, these two climactic battles might have to wait for a week or two, so I'm going to make a start on the book.  This is the calling notice for you to send any diaries, notes or scribblings for inclusion in the book (Paul, I already have yours - thanks!)

Anyway, I shall keep you updated!

14th September - Attack on 203-Metre Hill

Hello everyone!  First off, apologies for the delay in getting this up.  Due to the scale of this week's battles, coupled with real life for all the participants, have meant that this game turn has taken the best part of three weeks.  Given the momentity of the events, I think we'll need that long to digest and plan!  The full write up, and your usual end-of-turn reports will follow early next week.

The campaign has taken a decisive turn in favour of the Japanese now.  In reality, once 203-Metre Hill fell, the Russians were on the road to surrender.  Interestingly, the first real effort to take the hill in reality fell on 20th September, and the Japanese suffered 6,000 casualties.  In our game, the assault happened just six days earlier and suffered only 500 more casualties.

General Nogi orders an assault on the hill.  Fushimi's Division detonates two mines and launches a full divisional frontal assault on the heavily-fortified Russian positions.  A counterattack by the Tamirsky regiment leads to it being all but annihilated, although it successfully disrupts the Japanese second wave.  A dawn banzai charge is repulsed - with General Fushimi shot down at the head of his men - but the Russians begin to withdraw anyway shortly after, since heavy siege artillery makes their position untenable.  The bloodied Japanese cautiously follow up into the ruins of the position.

30th August - Torpedo Attack on Port Arthur

Hi everyone, and welcome to the first of two Battle Reports, from what has been an extremely busy week in the campaign.  First, Admiral Togo elected to launch a destroyer attack on the Russian ships in Port Arthur, followed a few days later by the detonation of a mine under the Chu-Kuan fort and a full frontal assault!

The Japanese were trying to sneak into the harbour at night and sink some more Russian capital ships.  Most importantly, I have my game mats now, so no more games on bath towels.
 

2nd September - Attack on the Chu-Kuan Fort

Battle Report 2 of 2!  After weeks of patient sapping and tunneling, at 3AM on the 2nd September, the Japanese detonate a huge mine underneath Chu-Kuan Fortress, garrisoned by the Port Arthur Frontier Corps.  Before the dust and soil has settled, a ferocious banzai erupts from the trenches and an entire Japanese division rises up to assault the shattered defenders.

 

19th August 1904 - Battle of the Tiger Peninsular

Evening everyone - welcome to the write up for the very dramatic Japanese attempt to seal the harbour with blockships.  It was a fantastic game, and a good chance for a landlubber such as myself to stretch my sea-legs.

The Japanese were attempting to sink a blockship in the harbour entrance and seal in the Russian fleet.  They had three capital ships on hand - Misaka (Togo's flagship), Shikishima and Fuji.  Accompanying them was a small flotilla of torpedo boats and three destroyers.

All the Russians had ready to meet the threat were the shore batteries of the Tiger Peninsular and the Burya (a fictional ship based on the Aurora).  The Retvizan successfully passed its ready roll, but wouldn't be in game for a number of turns.

Admiral Tojo Personal Log - 14th August 1904

Flagship Mikasa, Yellow Sea

Most heartening news from Admiral Kamimura by wireless.  This morning he intercepted Bezobrazov’s Cruiser Squadron at dawn off Ulsan.  Our 4 armoured cruisers outmatched the Russian 3 and inflicted far greater damage than they took.  The Rurik was sunk and while the remaining two escaped to Vladivostok with heavy damage, they will be hard pressed to make repairs in the limited facilities available there.

I am most satisfied by this outcome.  It effectively negates the danger of further Russian raids upon our shipping lanes and the threat of the Port Arthur and Vladivostok squadrons combining.  I can now turn all my focus upon neutralising the last Russian capital ships in the Far East.

Flag of Truce

On August 16th General Nogi sent an Officer under a flag of truce to the fortress, offering General Stoessel 'honourable terms' if he would surrender. The proposal was signed jointly by Nogi and Togo: "Our Army has almost completed it arrangements for a general assault which will begin very soon.  Once this attack is launched, the fate of Port Arthur will be settled"  To avoid a useless effusion of blood, we propose the evacuation of non-combatants and a surrender which will otherwise be imposed by force."

 

Admiral Togo, Georges Blond, 1961, p 192

Admiral Togo and General Nogi together with their Staff Officers during the Siege of Port Arthur.

13th August 1904 - Raid on the Shi-Shihung Gap

Afternoon all!  This is the battle report for our first tabletop engagement, the Guards Brigade's raid on the Shi-Shihung Gap.  You should shortly have a full email update for Week 2 with additional details and the week's slides.  Enjoy!

The level of work required for the updates is a bit overwhelming, so I've streamlined some things as you'll see.  I hope this is okay!

The Russians try to break through to the Japanese rear - skirting round the fortified town of Shi-Shihung.  They are stopped by timely Japanese reenforcements pouring in from the surrounding areas, but manage to inflict heavy casualties.  Of note was the courage of Colonel von Hartmann, who personally led the assault on a machine-gun bunker!

Artillery and machine gun fire was actually not very effective.  The battle took place at night, and so most of the casualties came from close combat.  The Russians were very good at assaulting defended positions, helped by the dispersed Japanese defenders.  The Japanese struggled to bring their strength to bear at first but within five turns had enough men on the field to force a hasty retreat.

Admiral Togo's Personal Log 1st August

Mikasa, 1904

1st August 1904

Flagship Mikasa, Eastern Sea

The opening gambits of this war have progressed well.  Our opening attack on Port Arthur in February, followed by the sinking of the Varyag and Korietz at Chemulpo, and the successful mining of the Battleship Petropavlovsk, have opened the way to realise the strategy of Imperial Naval Staff in full.  It is now up to me to ensure it is brought to fruition.

We have wrested the command of the sea from the Russian eastern Fleet and have them bottled up in Vladivostok and Port Arthur.  With my more modern fleet between them, I must ensure that they remained divided – unable to reinforce one another or challenge me in a general engagement.  By keeping supplies and reinforcements out of Port Arthur I will also hasten the Victory of General Nogi’s 3rd Army investing that place.  Periodic bombardments, such as that conducted on 23 June, will also assist keeping the Tsar’s forces opposing him imbalanced.

Vice Admiral Vitgeft has commanded the Russian squadron in Port Arthur since Admiral Makarov’s death in combat aboard Petropavlovsk on 13 April.  After his abortive attempt to sortie from Port Arthur on 23 June he has shown little inclination to seek battle, perhaps seeking to preserve his fleet in being while awaiting reinforcements.  Intelligence reports that Admiral Vitgeft was honourably wounded in the action of 23 Jun.  If true, he may perhaps regain his fighting spirit as his health returns in the coming weeks. Unfortunately, my efforts to bottle him up inside the harbour using block ships have yet to significantly hamper the enemy’s freedom of action.  I must maintain my close blockade to prevent any reinforcement from the cruiser force Vladivostok and keep the pressure upon him to remain in harbour.

But the war at sea has not gone entirely with us.  A Russian cruiser force has staged dramatic raids into Tsushima Strait, sinking merchant ships and troop transports to drown over a thousand soldiers from the 10th Division on passage to the front.  Fortunately, Rear Admiral Bezobrazov’s aggressive nature seems to be a rare commodity amongst the Russian fleet.  Nonetheless, I have had to dispatch Rear Admiral Kamimura’s 2nd Squadron to contain, and if possibleneutralise, the threat that Bezobrazonv poses. Kamimura’s ships are sorely needed here if I am to maintain a constant blockade in the coming months.  

The summer weather has been kind thus far, but winter gales and ice will tell sorely upon us and our ships.  We must finish the remnants of the Russian naval force here in the east before reinforcements can be dispatched to their aid from the Baltic or Black Sea Fleets.  Time is marching against us but we will not be found wanting or disappoint His Imperial Majesty.  The eyes of the world are upon Japan and our Rising Sun battle flags.

“Illustration of the Great Naval Battle at the Harbor Entrance to Port Arthur in the Russo-Japanese War”
by Rosetsu, February 1904 [2000.073] Sharf Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston

Introducing the Armies

Hi guys - this is a preview of a post I'll be putting up on Palladian Guard in the next few weeks.  It'll help familiarise everyone with their armies, and for Paul hopefully you'll get a better idea of how the 2mm games are structured.

The Japanese forces.  You'll notice they're not labelled - since Paul has a whole division, these models have to be nondescript enough to stand in for any Japanese unit.  To that end they have a generic command stand and five battalions.  Each battalion consists of three companies and a battalion commander stand.  The reinforcement stands represent columns of troops forming up, and will be used as 'spawn points' if the Japanese have more than five battalions.

Japanese machine guns and artillery.

Japanese reinforcement columns.

A Japanese infantry battalion - you can see how effective the new khaki camouflage is!

The Russians.  They have slightly bigger companies, and four battalions to each regiment.  They have more machine guns than the Japanese, but much less artillery.

A Russian battalion.

Russian reinforcement column, next to the regimental commander and machine gun sections.

Some of the trench network...

Hope that whets your appetite!

Let the Games Begin!

I'm officially opening the Battle of Port Arthur!  Whenever people are ready we can start issuing orders.  I'll shortly email out a campaign pack which should include:

• A PowerPoint document with an editable map.  This is for planning purposes, and you will also need to send a slide back each week with your moves annotated on it (it doesn't quite fit on the screen, but that doesn't matter)
• A Word document with the rules

 Beyond that, it's all in flux somewhat as this is our first Supercampaign where the players are spread out all over the globe.  Patience will probably be required, since we can probably do a maximum of one game per week - so there may be quiet periods of a couple of weeks if people are away or busy.

Any questions, please post here, but we'll get started with Turn One whenever people are ready.

Campaign Turn Structure

Stage One: Japanese team…

• Roll for Will of the Emperor (1)
• If not, select Siege Stance (1) 
• Allocate construction, draw on map (2)
• Allocate and roll for tunnels (3)
• Roll for weather (4)
• Decide if any land missions are to be launched (5)
• Decide if a torpedo attack is to be launched on Port Arthur (6)

Update A: Send email to Russian team with…

• Siege Stance for this week
• Copy of the map – dated and with all constructions annotated (including partials)
• Weather for this week
• Any land missions for this week
• If a torpedo attack is being launched

Stage Two: Russians then…

• Secretly allocate ships to Harbour Defence or Fire Support (6)
• Allocate construction, draw on map (2)
• Unfinished in one colour
• Finished in another
• Fight land battles (5)
• Either auto-resolve if Guards Brigade are not involved
• Or fight tabletop game if they are
• Fight a BF1900 game (if a torpedo attack has been launched) (6)
• May roll to make a Sally (if a torpedo attack has not been launched) (6)
• Fight a BF1900 game for the sally

Update B: Russians send email to Japanese team with…

• Casualty figures from the battle
• Results of a torpedo attack
• Results of any Sallies 
• Copy of the map – dated and with all constructions annotated (including partials)

Stage 3: Both sides

• Calculate Combat Effectiveness (7)
• Subtract any Manpower they have lost and note any results (8)
• Roll any pressure dice (10)

Campaign Setup Update

Morning everyone!  Another busy week at work has finished, so I thought I'd post a quick update of how things are progressing.  First off thanks to Paul for his tireless reseach.  I'm currently reading The Fleet That Had To Die and Human Bullets for a 'feel' of the period, both of which are proving very useful.

Rules

After chatting with Paul, I thought the best thing to do would be for each of the 'team captains' to double hat as the individual brigade commander and the overall strategic commander.

So Paul will make the general moves for General Nogi, and the moves and battles will be randomised.  But also you can play General Oseko's Divison and those games will be played on the tabletop.

I think that'll be the best balance between tracking the overall state of the campaign and giving it a realistic focus on 203 Meter Hill.  Thoughts?

Models

The 2mm figures from Irregular have arrived, and these are the Russians:

 

To give you an idea of the scale, each base is a company, each row is a battalion and each 4x4 group is a regiment.  The two regiments make up the Guards Brigade.

For the Japanese, they only have three battalions to the regiment and their companies are slightly smaller.  Paul, you'll have two brigades in total (although only models for one - since there will only ever be one on the table at a time.  You'll have the luxury of being able to rotate regiments through!)

You can also see some of the ships in the background.  I have a few paddle steamers, armed yachts and auxiliary vessels to make things a bit more interesting.

Tabletop Games

I'm working on a system of 'subordinate orders'.  These are pre-game orders which Paul can give so the Japanese won't quite be NPCs, you can specify casualty thresholds, artillery priorities, primary and secondary objectives etc and I'll do my best to implement them on your behalf as a sort of umpire.  Ollie and KB will of course be fully occupied leading their regiments!

Siege Rules

After sharing the draft rules with you chaps, I think they're nearly there.  The basic structure is done, so everyone still has chance to familiarise themselves with the rules before the campaign starts.  They are still very much unfinished, so please send suggestions in and I'll incorporate them.

Next Steps

I hope to start the campaign at the beginning of May.  I'm in the middle of moving bases so I'd like to hold off until that's done, but it should give me enough time to base all those lovely models.

General Count Nogi Maresuke reporting!

Gentlemen,

Firstly and most importantly, thank you indeed for allowing me to participate in your latest Supercampaign.  I have been watching your previous iterations on Ed's blog and been very impressed at how you take the projects to the next level.  So to have the chance to be involved is great.

Its also pretty neat that my commanding His Imperial Majesty's Japanese Forces allow you guys all to plan and play cooperatively.  That will make an enjoyable change I'm sure.

So this is one of my alter egos: General Count Nogi Maresuke, Commander of the Japanese Third Army.  Born the son of a Samurai, he was a veteran of the Satsuma Rebellion (upon which the movie The Last Samurai is loosely based) and a Brigade Commander during the 1894 First Sino-Japanese War which saw him capture Port Arthur in a single day.  Can he capture the city a second time?

General Nogi - he has a beard and I have a beard.  The resemblance is uncanny really

Historically, the Japanese Third Army comprised 3 Divisions of Infantry so I'm not sure Ed how you might whittle it down to limit the scope of the campaign and just focus upon one particular section.  It make work better if I play the part of one of Nogi's subordinate Divisional Commander perhaps.  I'll leave that up to you.

My other Japanese alter-ego will be as a senior Officer of the Imperial Japanese Navy and I must admit that as a serving Naval Officer I am looking forward to fleshing that character out soon!

Bansai!

Japanese Propaganda from their Victory at Port Arthur

Welcome to Port Arthur!

Welcome to the Port Arthur campaign!  This blog, very helpfully suggested by Paul, will serve as a general admin area and discussion zone until the Port Arthur campaign gets properly under way. 

Once we start, the game will be administered from here.  Paul will post the Japanese moves, then we'll post with the results of the games, and a few pictures as well.

Just to keep everyone in the loop:

• Rules:  The rules are written in draft, and everyone should have seen a copy.  Please reply here with any comments you have, or aspects you want to incorporate.
• 2mm Models:  These are currently in the post from Irregular Miniatures.
• Ship Models:  I don't currently have enough to replicate every last ship at Port Arthur, but if people don't mind a few stand-ins we can get by.

Please post freely and reply on here - it isn't a 'normal' blog, more of a fancy chat room.  Many thanks go to Paul for his enthusiasm in getting involved and very helpful advice in setting up.