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PON The Boshin War (short AAR)

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Yeah, actually the events more or less spawn the historical troops although I have to admit I was expecting all Northern provinces to become pro-Shogun. I think a player who wants to have a pristine, almost historical, fight should not produce anything until the Boshin war.

However, this is an alternate reality and in our MP the world is a much more cutthroat place to be. Japan simply followed the world developments in the scale it could. :)

It's not over yet, though. Although technically by getting Edo the Boshin war is almost over, I want to see the Ezo Republic formed!
 
Yes, the Republic of Ezo was a last stand of Shogunate loyalists even after Tokugawa Yoshinobu formally surrendered. Diehard rebels you can call them.

Late June 1868

Pursuing Daimyo Matsudaira Katamori has caught up with Yoshinobu forcing him yet another battle which the latter could not possibly win. The heroic samurai cavalry charge under Katamori himself was enough to make the last of the Tokugawas understand there is no chance of winning and retreat to Edo. The naval units bombarded their lines as they left.

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Yoshinobu is now trapped in Edo, the remnant of his forces surrounded by Imperialist troops closing in from all regions. All local lords have activated their samurai retainers and we're resting for the final assault to the Shogunate's capital. Shimazu Tadayoshi, a Daimyo from the Satsuma han is commanded to assist Katamori immediately. Last month we also saw the creation of a new medal for the veterans and heroes of the Imperial Restoration under Saigo Takamori.

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Okubo Tochimichi needs more funds to finance the war effort. He has demanded the expansion of the "Imperial Gold" mine in friendly California to produce more of the valuable resource.

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In game terms: Ships go back to ports. All units are surrounding Edo. Small garrisons active (ROE all out attack) to engage even if other units are resting. Gold mine in Sacramento upgraded to pit.
 
Thank you so much, loki100. Coming from an AGEOD veteran such as yourself is the best possible compliment. :)

Early July 1868

Yoshinobu is surely a man that won't let go. As the imperialist armies march to take positions around Edo, he tried a swift attack to seize the ships that were being built in Yokohama. The battle with the local lord's retainers there was fierceful, but we managed to prevail. After the battles of Nagoya and Toyama and the lift of the siege in Niigata, the Shogunate forces are in retreat, making only desperate attempts to retake initiative. But the clock is ticking against Tokugawa.

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The Boshin War will soon be over. With the seizure of the Shogunate's palace at Edo the Emperor's sovereign rule will be undisputed and an official enthronement ceremony can take place, sending envoys to all chancelleries around the world. A new Nippon will be possible, a nation with the ability to stand equal to Western and Asian countries alike. The population and elite of Japan desire to be the protagonists of this new era! There is also another small rebel enclave in the North of Hokkaido, but the first among the emperor's counselors, Toshimichi, desires to let be as a temporary buffer state to let the disgruntled samurais live a peaceful life without disrupting the rest of the nation...

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In game terms: Due to our game settings, the AI seems to know where to strike almost always, taking opportunities when they arise. This is great. Takachika was closing in to Yokohama from Nagoya but Yoshinobu managed to have a battle with the "standing garrison" (the local lord's levies) before retreating. Now all my Generals are inactive but we are in place. An attempt to seize Edo will probably commence by the end of July.
 
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Late July 1868

Mori Takachika, the overall commander of the Imperialist operations is not making up his mind if there is urgency to immediately attack Edo or not. He is is afraid of the repercussions, including the loss of innocent life in one of the most populous regions of Japan. It is the Emperor's wishes to be swift and deadly, but sparing those who will willingly yield to the new Meiji regime. Japan has many outside enemies, the Russians on the North, the Prussians on Ryukyu... we need to keep our forces ready in case these countries decide Japan is to be a Western colony of theirs as well.

The Daimyo of Shimazu, the 28-year old Tadayoshi (the nominal head of the Shimazu clan, although real power lies to his father Hisamitsu in Kagoshima and probably Saigo Takamori has more direct influence to the politicians in the Emperor's entourage) is given instructions to make a probe attack to gauge the real fighting skill of Yoshinobu's last forces.

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In game terms: Tadayoshi moves with a cavalry division against the Tokugawa in Edo using "probe" rules of engagement.
 
Looking at that last screenshot, it appears that the deck is heavily stacked against the Shogunate rebels. The hold Edo... And not really anything else. Meanwhile, the countryside is awash in loyalist Imperial troops. This can't last much longer.
 
Very interesting to see Japan at a later stage. With this civil war nearly in the bag you must be looking forward to moving Japan onto the world stage?

I have been reading some of the multiplayer threads it looks like PON really comes alive in this format.
 
Early August 1868

Edo has fallen! The troops of Shimazu Daimyo Tadayoshi enter triumphantly in Edo as the Bakufu supporters and commoners provide no resistance to the Imperial-clad soldiers and their banners. This is a tremendous day for our nation as this means that the last serious stronghold of the Shogunal forces and capital of their resistance is no more. The Tokugawas have been ousted by their own palace which now is being taken care of by imperial officials who count the various assets. Yoshinobu took flight and his troops escaped into the mountainous region of Nagano, fighting with our forces (as we had given orders to all local lords to engage their retainers in case rebels intruded) with some limited success, but becoming even more weak in the process.

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Our Generals, including the overall commander of the Imperial Armed Forces, Takachika, and old Shogunate faithful who saw early the infeasibility of the Bakufu resistance, Katamori, are giving them a chase trying to force them to an end battle, killing or capturing Yoshinobu and his last men.

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In game terms: There was no battle in Edo as there was no resistance. The active Generals are giving a chase to Yoshinobu, Takachika even making a bigger cycle (using Shift + mouse click) to make sure he chases the Shogunal forces wherever they may retreat. All local garrisons on the field and in offensive mode so they can engage in case an intruder comes. I wanted to simulate the high alert of all my forces to the renegade Tokugawa rebels in mainland Honshu. High raise to National Morale (109) as Edo is liberated.
 
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Late August 1868

Imperial Field Marshal has managed to pinpoint the Tokugawa rebels hiding in the mountains and gave them a limited fight before they escaped once more in Toyama.

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There is no hope for Yoshinobu and his ringleaders anymore, as the loyal Japanese population is betraying their every move. Toyama's imperial retainers in garrison duty found the vestiges of their irreducible supporters and destroyed them, going from house to house, as no local farmer wanted to provide cover for them. This is an old Takeda domain after all!

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Mori Takachika finishes the last Bakufu defensive artillery concentration as Yoshinobu and his men flee to unknown destination, leaving all their supplies behind. They may be dead, although no bodies have been found...

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The Tokugawa Shogunate is de jure no more. Celebrations for the official enthronement ceremony for our Emperor have started in Kyoto.

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Our standing imperial forces and their commanders have been summoned to the capital of our nation to swear their complete allegiance to the our Lord.

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In game terms: The Boshin War is technically (game-wise) over, as all objective regions have been taken. However, I have left Hokkaido out of the equation (although it is barely defended by one samurai unit) as it is a prerequisite for the Ezo Republic event to fire later. The imperial restoration is complete with the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Meiji. To simulate the units and their commanders paying their respects to the Emperor, I will be moving them all there as I need to create more balanced new stacks anyway. Mori Takachika has been congratulated for his successes, further raising his seniority although already the CiC among Japanese Generals. His "Good Innovative" ability was rather useful as long as Takamori wasn't a 3-star himself and it helps the other 2-star Generals. The enemy's supply cart has been captured when the last shogunate fighting unit was destroyed. The whereabouts of Yoshinobu and his gang unknown. All other garrisons are standing down and move back to their respective cities.
 
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Powloon said:
Very interesting to see Japan at a later stage. With this civil war nearly in the bag you must be looking forward to moving Japan onto the world stage?

I have been reading some of the multiplayer threads it looks like PON really comes alive in this format.
Click to expand...

I will cover the events up to the total defeat of the last rebel forces (meaning the fall of Ezo Republic, if I succeed :p) but in case anyone wants to try to do it better than me here's the save. Make sure you have v1.03 installed. The password is "emperor". Have fun... :D

View attachment Boshin War.zip

PS. I also have a save just before the American Civil War erupted (on 1859, still with Buchanan!) in our multiplayer game, meaning something like AACW in PON terms! If you care about it as well, here you go. With v1.03 you can also switch to the Confederates and continue from there. If the map feels messy, it's because all these saves come from our 24-nation MP game, which anyone can join by the way. One turn per day up to 2015... compatible with real life and other games. ;)
 
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Thanks! By the way, the Charter Oath.



By this oath, we set up as our aim the establishment of the national wealth on a broad basis and the framing of a constitution and laws.

1. Deliberative assemblies shall be widely established and all matters decided by open discussion.
2. All classes, high and low, shall be united in vigorously carrying out the administration of affairs of state.
3. The common people, no less than the civil and military officials, shall all be allowed to pursue their own calling so that there may be no discontent.
4. Evil customs of the past shall be broken off and everything based upon the just laws of Nature.
5. Knowledge shall be sought throughout the world so as to strengthen the foundation of imperial rule.
 
You have won - not that the outcome was truly in doubt. But congratulations, nonetheless. No foreign intervention, it seems, which is good news for you. I liked your strategy for catching the last rebellious units - must require an awful lot of units, though, so I guess it's not suited for every situation.

Regarding the Ezo Republic: will it give any in-game benefit when you allow it to form (and presumably then crush it), or is that mere roleplaying on your side?
 
Let's say more roleplaying. I said that earlier when I implied the Emperor and Toshimichi desired to leave a "buffer zone" for disgruntled Samurais in Northern Hokkaido to live peacefully. If, however, they try to rebel (as they probably will), I will crush them... This thread has still some events to show and I will obviously update you regarding the regional foreign policy.
 
September 1868

This month was relatively quite after celebrating the final defeat of the Tokugawa Shogunate and the dispersion of their forces. We need to take into account the foreign situation at the moment... the Russians, Prussians, and Dutch are fighting it out with the British, the Americans against the Chinese. These are the major nations that influence Japan at the moment. We never understood what Prussia ever wanted from the Ryukyuan Kingdom but they have sent forces, subdued the king, and declared it a protectorate. Although we protested and convinced the world of our stake, the Prussians forced their hand. Nonetheless, now that the Boshin War is over we decide to get things back going by restarting commercial ties with the locals.

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The Russian forces in the Kuriles chain have been thinned as the Russians seem to have committed most of their troops elsewhere. We decided to declare the local island lords vassals of the Empire of Japan to secure their allegiance and convince the world community that the islands and the Southern part of Karafuto island (Sakhalin) are ours. We also started prosecution of the non-complying locals there.

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In game terms: We had said in our multiplayer game to give some colonial options to Japan once the Boshin War was over, instead of waiting for the Formosa expedition (1874). The Russians have an interest for Kuriles (positive SOI), but the Prussians definitely cannot take advantage of Ryukyu... so they probably want it as a simple naval base for their Asian operations. I don't know what to do with them yet. Japan still settles on making its tax levels more "Western", renovating its armed forces, and deciding how to better build its industry.


These are the limited colonial actions we gave to Japan. In our MP we play with severely limited colonial actions as the pace was already very fast.
Code: 
SelectFaction = $CMN
SelectRegion = $Edo
StartEvent = Updated Colonial Actions for Japan|1|1|NULL|NULL|$Edo|NULL
Actions
  SelectFaction = $JAP
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdExploreParty;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdProspection;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdPacify;-1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdProsecute;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdRetaliate;-1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdGunboatDiplomacy;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdChiefBribing;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdChiefTreaty;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdMerchants;2
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdTradepost;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdOutpost;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdRoad;1
  ChgRgnDecisionFP = $rgdVassal;1
EndEvent
 
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