Tuesday, May 12, 2015

The Book of Five Rings and Wargaming

By: Chad La Mons

This article is not so much a review of The Book of Five Rings, as it is an observation of its relevance to wargaming. Whether battling across a table-top or playing the latest strategic/tactical video-game, Miyamoto Musashi’s book will prove useful to all wargamers. The table below features four Classical Elements and their corresponding military aspects.

Element
Sample Strategies
Sample Tactics
Actions
Generalship
Fire
Blitzkrieg
Bayonet Charge
Attack
Popular support & Morale
Wind
Guerilla warfare
Creeping Barrage
Evade
Intelligence
Earth
Scorched Earth
Phalanx
Defend
Logistics
Water
Trench Warfare
Suppressive Fire
Countermoves
Coordination of forces

In campaigns, the four Classical Elements can also anticipate potential conflicts and unrest.

Element
Commonplace 
Governments
Abnormal Governments
Vocation/ Education
Causes of Strife
Fire                
Totalitarian
Fascism/Isolationism
Labor, Military
Lack of resources
Wind
Socialism
Anarchy/Libertarianism
Art, Writing
Economic failure
Earth
Republic
Oligarchy/Plutocracy
Business, Politics
Inequality
Water
Tribalism
Theocracy/Technocracy
Philosophy, Science
Ideological

Omitted from these tables is the last and most intriguing Element called “Void”, a state of transcendent skill and awareness concerning the four Elements. Any wargamer capable of achieving this state, would appear to others as being extremely lucky.

The Battle of Waterloo, 1815
Napoleon’s plan to weaken the British with artillery (wind) was thwarted by the Duke of Wellington ordering his men to fallback behind the cover of a hill (water). Misinterpreting the Duke’s maneuver as a retreat, the French launch a massive cavalry charge (fire), which is greeted by the British infantry arrayed in a series of defensive squares (earth).

In applying principles found within The Book of Five Rings, do not think of the Elements as being superior to each other. The Elements are ever flowing and changing, never static.

                                                         

                                                               


                                                                   

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