The Kiyosu Push Continues West (And East)

This year’s campaign to unite feudal Japan was a two-day affair, running on Saturday and Monday. Attendance was steady, with players popping in for games on Saturday and/or on Monday, followed by a Semifinal and final.

In 2025, the tournament had four Swiss rounds. Any player with at least 3 wins qualified for the Single Elimination rounds, as well as enough players to fill out a complete bracket, in this case to 4 players. Two players emerged with 3-0 records, both opting to not play in the 4th round: Bob Wooster and Dennis Mishler, who played each other in last year’s Final. The other two Semifinalists each had two wins: Greg Zavacky (5th place last year) and newcomer, Bailey Burdett, who defeated Erin Weir to advance to the Semifinal.

Semifinal

For the Semifinal, Bailey was matched with Bob, while Greg was paired with Dennis. Bob was able to get an instant victory with a surprise forced march on Bailey early in their game. In the other game, Greg held the game close until week 3, when Dennis was able to get an instant victory after a daring charge by Greg into Kyoto, which was followed up by a counter charge by Dennis.

Final

For the 3rd year in a row, the final was between Bob Wooster and Dennis Mishler. Dennis won the right to bid first and offered 1 block to Bob in exchange for the right to play Tokugawa. Bob then countered with a bid of 2 blocks, which Dennis accepted.

• Bob is playing as the Tokugawa
• Dennis is playing as the Ishida (+2 blocks)

During week 1, Ishida won the initiative bid, choosing to go 2nd. The two sides consolidated their forces, with Tokugawa moving from Edo along the southern highway and the Date moving south toward Edo to reinforce the west. The Ishida took Miyazu to establish castle dominance, while also mustering 5! Kobayakawa blocks in Osaka.

At the start of week 2, Tokugawa chose to go first to consolidate his Tokugawa and Fukushima blocks at Okazaki (just south of the Fukushima mustering location) with 12 blocks. The 5 blocks at Kiyosu were a bit exposed to the larger Ishida forces at Gifu and Osaka. In response, Ishida consolidated his army (11 blocks) at Gifu along with one block at Iwamura – which had been moving west from Ueda since week 1. By the end of week 2, the opposing armies were bunkered at Okazaki and Gifu, 12 blocks in each. In the east, the Date had continued to move west to Edo and then moved along the northern highway towards Ueda, resulting in the Uesugi moving south 2 spaces, threatening Edo.

During week 3, Ishida won the bid, choosing to go second again. The first half of the week featured minor consolidations, with the Maeda also moving toward Ueda and the Ishida moving another block out to Gifu. In the second half of the week, the Tokugawa forces took control of Ueda by combining a mix of Maeda and Date troops in Ueda. Ishida lost a disc and the one remaining block, gaining another card. With the final movement of week 3, Ishida force marched 8 blocks from Gifu to Okazaki, attacking the Tokugawa host there. The battle was hard fought with both sides deploying cavalry or guns. At the end of the battle, the Ishida had dealt 61 impact from 6 cavalry, the Ukita Leader, and an Ukita 3 block. This resulted in 9 casualties for the Tokugawa – all of the deployed blocks, save for Tokugawa himself. Meanwhile, the Tokugawa forces (a mix of Tokugawa and Fukushima blocks) had dealt 44 impact through the use of two double cards, 2 guns, and 2 cavalry. The 6 Ishida casualties were the 6 cavalry that had charged into combat.

At the end of Week 3, Tokugawa and one block were in Hamamatsu, with the 3rd survivor of the Okazaki battle holding the castle, while the two Ishida survivors (Ukita Leader and Ukita 3 block) surrounded the Okazaki castle. However, Ishida also had 5 reinforcement blocks two spaces away, prepared to join the siege.

During week 4, Tokugawa won the initiative bid with a loyalty challenge and chose to go first, counter attacking the two Okazaki besiegers. Additionally, he mustered 3 blocks in Kiyosu, blocking any Ishida reinforcements from immediately attacking Tokugawa. In response, the Ishida conducted a total movement. This included an Uesugi forced march from the east through Edo into Hakone, killing the one defending block there. Additionally, a force of 6 Ishida blocks in Kyoto forced march to kill the 3 Fukushima blocks at Kiyosu. These 6 blocks were a mix of blocks from Gifu and other Ishida forces.

In response, during the week 4b movement phase, Tokugawa fell back to Numazu from Okazaki, leaving one block behind there. He also moved two of his Date blocks from the northern highway south through Kofu. At the same time, 3 new blocks were mustered in Edo, surrounding the small Uesugi force at Hakone. The Ishida followed up by moving their western host from Kiyosu to Okazaki, killing the sole block there, while the Uesugi made a desperate charge into Numazu, knowing that they were likely to lose. During the ensuing Numazu battle, the Tokugawa played a successful loyalty challenge, winning the battle 12-8, forcing the Uesugi back to Hakone.

During week 5, Tokugawa won the initiative with a Loyalty Challenge and decided to go first, consolidating his forces in Hakone. This group of 6 blocks successfully killed the two Uesugi defenders. Ishida, seeing that the Tokugawa chase is over, fortified in the west, bringing out 3 more Kobayakawa blocks and repositioning his troops. During the second movement, the Maeda army in the north (7 blocks) forced marched to Tsuruga to apply pressure. In response, Ishida took Anotsu in the southwest while also merging 9 blocks at Gifu (4 from Okazaki, 4 from Kyoto, and 1 already in Gifu).

During week 6, Tokugawa again won the initiative with a Loyalty Challenge, but this time decided to let the Ishida go first. The Ishida then forced marched from Gifu to Tsuruga with 8 blocks to deal with the Maeda threat. During the battle, the Ishida deployed 4 guns among their 8 blocks, resulting in 46 impact to the 28 impact of the Maeda force. This resulted in the loss of all 7 Maeda blocks, while 4 Ishida blocks remained in Tsuruga.

At the conclusion of this battle, the Tokugawa position had been greatly reduced, with the only substantial force being in the southeast. As a result, the Tokugawa resigned their position, resulting in a victory for the Ishida.

Congratulations to Dennis for his 3rd victory in a row, this time as Ishida.

Overall, the Ishida received very fortunate blocks during the initial reinforcements draw, allowing them to put together a strong initial force. Even so, the Tokugawa were close to winning the initial large battle in week 3 (61 impact to 44), deploying 9 blocks with a very strong impact. It is not common to see six cavalry fully deployed in week 3.

In the GM’s opinion, the Kiyosu Push remains an extremely strong opening for Tokugawa. The Ishida cannot allow for this consolidation at Kiyosu and often extending into Gifu. Thus, an early pushing back of the Tokugawa is essential, even if not sufficient to win the game immediately. Without access to quick reinforcement at Kiyosu, the Tokugawa cannot easily pressure the Ishida, allowing the Ishida time to consolidate in the west and giving them the ability to strike at any Eastern army that gets too close.

That’s it for 2025! Hopefully, we will see you in 2026!

In the meantime, for those who have not heard, there are some discussions about revising the Sekigahara game play a bit. I am optimistic that we can use the new variant in 2026 and that it may lead to different strategies and tactics!

Feel free to contact me at MishlerWBC@gmail.com with any questions about Sekigahara, possible variants to rebalance the game, or questions about strategy!