Impression: Sengoku Jidai: Shadow of the Shogun

As a casual gamer, most turn-based strategy games that I've played are essentially JRPG at heart: Strong storyline, large cast of memorable characters, and awesome ultimate moves that let a single man (usually main character) to turn the tide of battle...or rearrange entire landscape. This kind of turn-based strategy games naturally revolve around pitting a few but very strong units (your main character and his sidekicks) against large number of inferior units (enemy mooks). More hardcore-ish games such as Fire Emblem series (permanent character death!) or even harder ones like Battle of Wesnoth already give me headache.

Enter Sengoku Jidai: Shadow of the Shogun.

Awesome!

Having so used to games that give you complete control on every unit, level advantages and plot armours, a heavily rule-based game that tries to simulate historical battles as realistic as possible and let you and your opponent fight on (more or less) equal terms can feel extremely hard. I play mostly skirmish and, aside from a couple lucky victories, mostly end up with me on the losing side.

But great fun I've had.

And I especially loved the almost perfect blend of very awesome music, ukiyo-e art style, ink brush calligraphic characters and East Asian seal button interface.

Sengoku Jidai: Shadow of the Shogun is definitely a must-have for wargame enthusiasts and lovers of East Asian history. Anyone interested can grab it here or from Steam.

Opinion on various factions in game

(Revisited and updated on March 16, 2021 to reflect my current understanding of East Asian warfare.)

As befitting the nature of this blog, I will not delve too deep into the gameplay and mechanical aspects of the game, but rather spell out my impression on different factions, especially the Chinese ones in the game. I will still discuss a little bit about the game itself later on though.

I was drawn into this video game because I get to play as Ming (just look at the title of this blog), although I end up playing as Jurchens most of the time. In general, the developers really have done a good job keeping all sides balanced while maintaining a relatively high degree of historical accuracy.

Ming Chinese

I am overall impressed with the developer's decision to make a shooty Ming army, as that's how I imagine Ming Chinese fought historically (modus operandi of Ming army: Shoot'em, shoot some more. Blast with cannons and rockets when enemy get closer. Engage close combat and mopping-up. Avoid pursuing too far.) Then again, I do think there's still room for improvements:

• Ming faction as a whole should do better in close combat. Getting slaughtered by samurai in close combat is understandable (however debatable), but they should be able to fight ashigaru on more or less equal footing at the very least. Seeing Ming troops losing to non-warrior monk Joseon infantry in close combat simply defile belief.
• All Ming units, both on foot and mounted, should come in mixed battalions with access to ranged weaponry including bow, handgun, matchlock, salvo (to represent rocket), and regimental guns.
• Single capability units should be limited to smaller "specialist detachment".
• All Ming cavalry should be armoured or well-armoured, as well as of average, superior or elite quality. They should also make up the majority of Imjin War lists and Northern Army lists. 
• No heavy European cannons in pre-1620 lists. Come to think of it, I am fine with only one type of artillery unit (medium artillery). Ming army has more than enough light artillery in the form of attached regimental guns anyway.
• Similar to regular Ming units, tribal auxiliaries should also come in mixed battalions, except they use crossbow and javelins instead of bow and matchlock.
• I would like to see a Wokou-era list that emphasises on unarmoured infantry, tribal auxiliaries, and Qi's army (i.e. Mandarin Duck Formation), as well as a historically accurate Ming Northern Army list with war carts, cavalry, mounted infantry, and dragoons.
• I would also like to see various Southern Ming/Ming remnant factions being represented.

Jurchen

"...for such is the quickness and nimbleness of the Tartars (in which they excel all Nations, and idn which also they place their chief art) that in a trice, they either prevail in their Designs, or retire: and the little skill the Chineses had in the use of Musquets, was no small hinderance to this War."
— Martino Martini, in his book Bellum Tartaricum.

Jurchen is my favourite faction in the game (cavalry are tons of fun!), yet it is also the least fleshed out faction. Current Jurchen just feels like a recolored Mongol to me, but this is understandable though, as very few researches had been done on early Jurchen/Manchu history. Since I don't usually discuss about Qing military history in my blog, I will take this chance to write something about them.

The biggest difference between Jurchens and Mongols was that Jurchens were NOT nomads. Jurchen people were sedentary or semi-agricultural people living in hilly and forested area, and their lifestyle naturally lend to very different military composition and tactics than the Mongols. Despite horseback archery being their best known trait, Jurchen warriors were equally deadly in close combat and on foot (as mounted infantry). Their expertise in foot combat was one of the reasons they were able to tear down Ming wagon forts and defeat them whilst the Mongols were hard-pressed to do so.

One particular feature of early Jurchen army is that they were very well-armoured. Almost the entire Jurchen army was armoured, and a significant portion used bardings and wore multiple armours at the same time. Jurchen troops utilised their war carts offensively, not just in siege but also in field battle, to counter Ming wagon forts and field fortifications.

In game terms, Jurchen faction should be a hybrid of (original) Japanese and Ming Chinese, featuring heavy emphasis on armour, shock tactic and close combat like the Japanese, but with mixed units like the Chinese. In a sense, Jurchen/Manchu should be the overpowered faction of this game. After all, they managed to roll over a militarily improved Joseon Dynasty, TWICE, with only half the troops mobilised by Japan during Imjin War, and in a much shorter time span (not to mention they also gave Ming one hell of a beating).

• I want my Sanggiyan Bayara (lit. 'White-armoured guards') elite cavalry. Seeing my generals and their guards slaughtered by mounted samurai feels utterly ridiculous, since historically Japan had the worst cavalry out of all involved factions.
• Jurchen cavalry should be well-armoured cavalry of superior or above quality with light lancers, swordsmen, and bow. They should no longer evade charge.
• Jurchen (mounted) infantry should be armoured or well-armoured, with 25% spearmen, 25% heavy weapon, 50% swordsmen, and 50% bow.
• Jurchen army should have access to offensive war cart unit that acts as damage sponge.
• Skirmisher cavalry should be renamed Khorchin Mongol auxiliaries.

Qing

The portrayal of Qing army is generally fine, although the lack of spearmen bothers me. Historically, Qing army gradually became lighter armoured as time went on. By eighteenth century, they already ditched most of the heavy armours of their Jurchen predecessors, although some bannermen still wore light mail shirts or two-piece brigandines to battle. They also switched to Western-style cannons and had their own names for different cannons.

• Depending on the period, a Qing army list can consist of armoured cavalry and mounted close combat infantry supported by Han Chinese artillerymen, or masses of unarmoured horse archers and matchlockmen (and a few spearmen) with even more cannons.
• Remove all Chinese cannons and replace them with equivalent European-style cannons.
• I would like to see the famous Tiger of War being represented.

Mongol

The game divides the Mongol faction into Western Mongol and Eastern Mongol, although I don't see many differences between the two. Mongol army lists are okay for the most part, if a little uninspiring. Historically, Mongols during this period actually received a lot of influence from the Chinese, to the extend that they actively adopted Ming-style armours and equipment such as San Yan Chong (三眼銃) and Chinese cannons.

• Compared to Ming Chinese, a Mongol list should have lower ratio of armoured cavalry, higher ratio of superior quality cavalry, and no infantry.
• All Mongol units should be made cheaper to reflect the superior mobility of steppe nomads and their ability to concentrate larger number of troops for any given battle.
• I would like to see a "militarised" Mongol list with higher ratio of armoured cavalry, cavalry armed with both bow and handgun, and some mounted infantry with regimental guns.
• A Dzungar Khanate list that has flintlock-armed cavalry, dragoons, musketeers, and camel cannons can open up highly unusual army composition and playstyle to the otherwise bland faction.

Japan

Since Sengoku Jidai: Shadow of the Shogun is a primarily a Japan-focused game, Japanese army lists in the game are fairly detailed and highly accurate. There are no outright unhistorical unit such as katana-wielding samurai or female samurai in this game (unlike certain other Total War game).

I do, however, have serious issue with Japanese cavalry. Japan is the only faction in game with access to all-superior and elite cavalry, all of them armoured. This put the faction above not only Chinese and Koreans, but Mongols and Jurchens in cavalry warfare!

Historically, mounted samurai made up as little as 5% of the army's combatants, and even armies with higher numbers of mounted samurai rarely went above 15%. Moreover, many mounted samurai took up commanding roles, and those that actively engaged in combat usually fought together with their foot retainers, or formed the mounted element of a larger, mixed formation. Only a very minuscule number of mounted samurai actually fought as true cavalry, and these were usually formed on an ad-hoc basis. As such, Japan was seriously lacking in the experience of large scale cavalry tactics and warfare. 

• The basic unit of Japan faction should be sonae, a mixed battalion that can do a little bit of everything. 
• Single capability units should be limited to smaller "specialist detachment".
• Nerf mounted samurai, no so much in their quality, but in their numbers. Mounted samurai should come in significantly smaller units (50~300 men per unit, in contrast to Ming cavalry that can go as high as 1,000~3,000 men in a single unit), and there should be fewer of them. 

Wokou

I will only touch a little on Wokou, as more detailed information about them can be found here.

• A Wokou list should be made up of massed of unarmoured warriors and mobs of varying qualities, supported by small numbers of superior quality crack troops (i.e. rōnin).
• Wokou units should be small in size (i.e. fewer troops in a single unit), but cheap enough that the player can field a lot of them.

Joseon Korean

Despite Ming and Joseon being close ally during this time period, my knowledge regarding Joseon military is fairly limited, since I can't read Korean at all. Generally speaking, Joseon army during the onset of Imjin War was extremely weak, so much so that it simply crumbled before the might of Japanese warriors without putting up much of a fight, losing seven out of eight Korean provinces in mere months. Nevertheless, at least a portion of Joseon army was retrained by officers of Ming Southern Army during the interbellum of Imjin War, and took on a more Chinese characteristic afterwards.

• Considering the abysmal performance of Joseon army durin the Imjin War, I find the notion that Joseon troops overpowering Ming troops in close combat difficult to swallow.
• Joseon regulars should be of raw to average quality across the board, but come in fairly large unit size.
• Righteous army infantry should be represented by superior quality warriors with no noteworthy combat capabilities to better reflect their high motivation/determination but poor training and organisation.
• Joseon cavalry (especially cavalry from Hamgyong Province) should be comparable to Ming cavalry in quality, but with poorer equipment and less access to handgun.
• Joseon army should only have access to light artillery in the form of jincheonroe bombard and/or hwacha. 

These opinions will probably completely overturn current game balance. I was probably asking for too much.

Other Tidbits

• While I understand the current game rule is based on Pike and Shot, which is itself based on Field of Glory tabletop wargaming system, I do wish for more control of my unit, especially during the melee phase and automated pursue. Even a simple "rally" option from nearby general (with a leadership based success rate) can give me much more sense of control.
• Option to toggle off reactive shooting for unit in hiding.
• As archery still played a major role in warfare in this part of the world, I think a clearer distinction between different types of bow (just like Field of Glory: Renaissance did with arquebus and musket) can make the game much more interesting. Generally speaking, Ming, Mongol and Joseon bows have longer range and consistent damage (even more so if we take Pyeonjeon into consideration), whereas Manchu and Japanese bows have shorter range, but extremely powerful up close.
• Both Japanese and Mongol/Jurchen horses are said to be very adaptable to rough terrain, perhaps this should be reflected in game.
• I hope the game simulates enfilade fire with archers and crossbowmen, instead of just artillery.
• Equivalent of Honjin or camp for other factions, preferably something that other unit may "park" inside. 
• Native names for Jurchen and Mongol units. Manchu units can keep their Chinese names though.
• Weather effect that affect gameplay, such as heavy downpour or strong wind.

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