Decisions...

[caravel]

This is my Takeda (Hard/Huge Units/Starting 1530) campaign so far:

I had inherited Hizen, Totomi and Suruga from Imagawa when he passed on during a battle where he joined me as ally - he left no heirs. Hojo I managed to finally defeat on the third attempt. He was holed up in Sagami. Since this time Uesugi has been my staunch ally. After accepting the Portuguese and Christianity I have been zealously converting provinces and building churches everywhere (not my usual style).

After years of Shimazu launching attacks on Hizen I decided to remove him from the equation altogether. Abandoning Aki province due to constant attacks by the Ronin and needing the men elsewhere I gambled on taking on Shimazu for the control of Kyushu and Shikoku.

My armies are mostly made up of Yari Samurai, Samurai Archers, Teppo units, Cavarly Archers and Yari Cavalry. So taking on Shimazu's No Dachis was no easy task. Despite this his last province, Tosa, has only just fallen. A large Ronin force partly consisting of Monks erupted out of Awa into Sanuki the following season and defeated my garrison there. This forced me to redirect the army that I was moving through Iyo bound for Awa to retake Sanuki which is now under siege.


With Shimazu off my back, my possible next move will be against my ally the Uesugi. While such treachery goes against the grain somewhat, the Uesugi have become far too strong in Shinano, and if left unchecked will become a massive problem later (the heavy cav production is pretty much full on). The Oda (also in Omi and Iga provinces) are weaker with the Ronin hindering their expansion so can be safely left alone for now.

Alternatively I could take on the Oda and cut off the Uesugi's further expansion, then consolidate the rest of the provinces in the south west and take on Uesugi in a final showdown. This route feels far too predictable though.

[Martok]

Yeah, I think I would move against Uesugi and seize Shinano as (reasonably) soon as possible. Otherwise they'll become too much of a threat to you, especially when you know it's only a matter of time before they'd backstab you as well.

[caravel]

Well I'm daring to think of a two pronged assault into Musashi and Shinano, this will seal off Totomi, Suruga, Kai and Sagami and leave me with only three provinces to defend in the region, Shinano of course needing the largest as it is not easy to defend.

[patdj]

If Uesugi kept expanding, it will cost a big deal of time to fight him down later. Once he has infrastructure and cash flow he'll get annoying. I would take Shinano and Musashi quickly in one attempt. Then you have a three-province-border that is perfectly defendable.

[caravel]

Indeed, I plan to hit Uesugi next. I will post some screenshots and an update later.

-Edit: I should probably mention that I use the troop and projectile stats provided by Puzz3D that aim to restore the balance and feel of earlier STW versions. Definitely makes for more challenging battles.

[Drisos]

Conquering Musashi and Shinano now is indeed a VERY good idea. Your line of defence will be brilliant. Don't be too shy with your troops though because of this.. if the way into Uesugi's lands is clear, go for it. It should give you so much money that you could finish the rest of the campaign in no time.

[caravel]

Conquering Musashi and Shinano now is indeed a VERY good idea. Your line of defence will be brilliant. Don't be too shy with your troops though because of this.. if the way into Uesugi's lands is clear, go for it. It should give you so much money that you could finish the rest of the campaign in no time.

I shall be planning my next moves on the way home from work.

[gollum]

Nice campaign - you took your time and that is paying off now - the Shimazu and Uesugi wars were/will be rewarding. Interesting development. Better fight the Uesugi now - they ll hit you where it hurts if you go after Oda first. Also they have easily defensible borders and you dont. Better fix that sooner than later.

Just finished an Oda and Takeda campaigns in Sengoku in v1.12 - the Oda was slow, interesting and rewarding - got permission from Emperor Kami-No-Go-O to found the Shogunate at 1585 with a climactic showdown against the defying Imagawa that was holed up in Kyushu. Epic confrontations took place in Bungo and Buzen - the Imagawa counterattacked once the Oda entered Kyushu with stacks full of Soheis that were well trained (plus one honor), well armed (legendary weapons) and well motivated (legendary morale).

In one of these engagements (that passed into legend) during light snowfall, Shibata Katsuie s force of archers gunners 1 Yari cavalry, Naginatas and Yari Samurai beat off the first wave of assault that took place from ordinary units (Yari samurai and Samurai Archers). However after this the Soheis came in and things looked bleaked - yet correct timing in engaging the melee units, teppo support fire, the use of a the gentle available slope, and commitment of the archers as reserves saved the day - the monks were pushed back and then chased all the way to the hills.

The final battle that sealed the fate of Imagawa and their last Daimyo took place in Hyugo - Oda Nobunaga (daimyo) rank 5 against Tokugawa Ieyasu (daimyo) rank 6. A memorable battle for the ferocity that it was fought from both sides - it took the last reserves of Nobunagas troops to win since Ieyasu survived the loss of the main bitter engagement and his reinforcements poured in in great numbers. He was finally forced to retreat in the castle only to sally next year in which battle Nobunaga comfortably defeated him (due to his poor force) and personally took his head - a token of evidence (as well as warning) for Kami-No-Go-O in Kyoto that the time to issue his invitation had come.

The Takeda one was somewhat less enjoyable since for some reason, i played full speed (thats what years of seeing Shimazu/Mori multiple stacks does to you i guess) and finished by 1563 - all Daimyos other than Mori lost their lives in battles against Takeda - i didnt target them just happened (lord Mori was forced to commit sepukku by Shimazu Takahisa). I was left to clean up the rebels.

An incredible battle took place though in taking Shinano from Yoshimoto-Ko (Imagawa). Takeda Harunobu (rank 6) as taisho led the attack in rainy weather with bright patches of a force comprised of about 10 yari samurai and 4 yari cavalry units. Imagawa had about 4 yari samurai his hatamoto and the rest samurai archers (full stack).

It was a difficult and epic assault, that was meant to be timed with the intensity of the rain to minimise casualties from arrow fire - however the rain subsided sooner than expected and the Imagawa archers took a heavy toll in the first wave of yari units that were attempting to climb the steep slope - the first team of yari samurai routed and the second started to waver and then Imagawa archers did a critical mistake; they came out of position to shoot at the second team of yeari samurai and turned their backs in the woods at the side edge of the map were the yari cavalry was hiding, waiting to strike. Takeda Harunobu (the Buddhist name of which was to be Shingen) took the opportunity and the famed Takeda cavalry emerged through the rain and hit the archers in the back collapsing Imagawa s right flank. The Takeda Yari samurai of team one rallied and resumed their ascent on the now undefended left slope while the second team continued their ascent on the right slope. Once the Yari samurai climbed the slopes a bitter melee ensued - Yoshimoto-ko and his army were flanked and cut down losing the battle their life and the bid for the Shogunate - *Thats at least one point of view*

!it burnsus!

[caravel]

The latest: Awa finally taken, moved into Suo, nothing much else to report in these parts.


Shinano proved to be a bloodbath, as much for my forces as for Uesugi's. I deployed about 3000 decidedly average troops in total, facing Uesugi's YS general and his 1800 super upgraded and high valour killers. They start off camped on a hill near to the edge of the map with 3 units of heavy cavalry, 2 units of Monks and about 4 units of No Dachi as well as other assorted units. I adopted a ploy of sending cavalry archer units around to their right flank to draw out the heavy cavalry into the valley below, when they took the bait I had my Teppo open fire into the ravine then charged 6 units of Yari down to meet them. The result was unbelievable Jedi comeback as the HC began to gain ground on the Yaris and the enemy's No Dachi and Monks closed in. I had no choice but to commit my main force of 4 No Dachi and 1 Kensai to outflank the attackers. Eventually the tide of the battle went against me and my Teppo general (yes I seem to have a thing with these in this campaign for some reason) routed. The result was the destruction of my army though also the cream of the AI's starting line up. Then the reinforcements came on.

The enemy having pursued my men to the map edge now faced my reinforcements. Positioning the 4 fresh units of Samurai Archers and 1 unit of Teppo around the ridges (but not camped at the edges) I managed to get in a lot of volleys in at the enemy No Dachi and HC as they advanced, but I wasn't hopeful. It was then after a few volleys from the Teppo that the enemy morale surprisingly fell apart however and the chain rout ensued. Charging down the enemy with the last battered unit of Yari cavalry I had. I had to move my army to the other side of the map again to rout the last two HC units and some bits of No Dachi and Monks (reinforcements) and it was all over. I think I lost about 1900 men and killed about 1300 of the enemy - so not the greatest victory ever but a tactical one nonetheless, which has hurt Uesugi much more than Takeda.

Musashi went very differently. This turned out to be quite a well executed bridge assault. I began by setting up the infantry unit formations to roughly the bridge width, placed the 2 archers and 1 Cavalry Archers where they could get a shot and then marched the only two YS units I had available in first. Once they began to cross the bridge the enemy Naginta Cavalry engaged them. It was at this point that that the Yari Cavalry and the Daimyo, in held formation, crossed the bridge and broke left. I ordered the 3 units of No Dachi and Kensai No. 2 (No. 2 as in the one in Shinano being no 1 (RIP)) across breaking right. Once they had broken through the melee which the YS were busy holding back, I was about to set them on the enemies flanks, but realised that the 4 valour YS had done their jobs well. Their only job was to mop up the rout and join the cav in hunting down the archers.

The next season, Moving all available units into the newly captured provinces and sieging and assaulting both, Uesugis large force in Mino did not retaliate as I had expected. The next season after further fortifying those provinces with fresh troops and beginning rebuilding, Uesugi struck Oda in Owari and lost reducing the Mino force to the three smaller stacks you see now. So it seems my luck is in for now.

Kozuke and Shimotzuke were raids with the destruction of the Geisha house in the former being my only bit of razing, before pulling out. The enemy left them ungarrisoned.

[Martok]

Nicely done, mate.

So now that you've secured the Mikawa-Shinano-Musashi defensive line, are you going to sit back and fortify? Or will you move further east into Uesugi territory? Or are you planning to unite your northern and southern lands and engage Oda?

[patdj]

Congrats! Nice one!

It is, btw, good that yu started a campain report. I'll have a lot of uni stuff to do, so my next campain is not even planned.

I would propose moving east. Uesugis forces seem very little there. By taking Etchigo or even Etchu you could still hold a strong border line against him and grab all the land that is east of you. Requires some more troop potential, but now you "optimized" your borderline you will probably have it in a couple of turns.
I wouldn't give to much on uniting the provinces as long as they are defendable with a small number of pro-defense provinces and there are enough harbours. I would let Oda and Uesugi bite each others head off as long as they want, while you keep snatching Uesugis land build armies. :)

[caravel]

Etchigo is exactly the next move I had planned patdj

This will drive a wedge between Uesugi's forces and allow me to concentrate on taking all of the north eastern provinces. It will also leave the rest of Uesugi's forces to continue fighting it out with Oda as my Kyushu based forces slowly move towards them at their leisure...

-Edit: Nothing more to report so far, I've been busy yesterday so haven't been able to continue as yet.

[caravel]

The situation so far. Several battles later and the situation is very different. Uesugi is now isolated in Hida with Oda attacking nearly every season but losing. It is perhaps now time from me to rejoin my old ally and wipe Oda from the map...

[patdj]

Wow! You really acquired some land.

Yay, I would ally to Uesugi and approach Oda from the West. Can you buy rebels in STW? Can't remember ... If yes, I would just buy the rebel army that is in your way and let them run into the Oda forces, doing as much damage as possible. This will speed things up a bit. Meantime, with some luck, Oda and Uesugi bite each others head off. Or run into some expensive defense battles with your garrisons.

[caravel]

Yes patdj, buying the rebels is a great idea, I really hadn't even thought about it.

I also think approaching from the west is the best idea. This will leave the eastern border as it is, which is quite strong, and strengthen western border also giving me the opportunity to bribe the rebels. The only province I might take in the eastern side is Kaga.

[caravel]

And so that's it. The last few provinces fell quite easily. Uesugi was defeated in the next two seasons by Oda, I was too late to break the siege. Then as I closed the net on Oda he began sending many more Ninjas my way, killing one of my heirs and that Geisha I had hanging around. I autresolved a bit towards the end as it was pretty obvious what the outcome would be, but I did fight most of the battles including Owari, where I somehow turned up to a bridge assault with no YS or Naginta units. It went well however, partly due to the fact that it was a dual bridge map, but then I didn't take much advantage of this except for sending two units of Cavarly Archers across the second bridge with the main force assaulting the first.

So on to the next campaign.

[Mystic]

nice. man i miss doing campaigns. time to fire up the old total war machine :)

[Sasaki Kojiro]

So much koku!

Funny, I never ended up fighting on both ends with the takeda or imagawa.

[caravel]

nice. man i miss doing campaigns. time to fire up the old total war machine :)

So much koku!

The Churches + Cathedral and all of the ports bring in a stupid amount of income. I didn't really need it all and had the taxes on normal from about 1585 onwards.

Funny, I never ended up fighting on both ends with the takeda or imagawa.

Neither do I usually, but in this case gaining Imagawa's lands made a big difference. I did end up losing Aki to the persistent Ronin but then I began developing and expanding from Hizen.

[Drisos]

Wow! You must be richer than Bill Gates.


All in all: Nice write-up! Nice campaign.

[caravel]

106000 koku is indeed a lot, luckily I like rice...

Anyway I've just started a Mori/Hard/Huge Units/1550 campaign and I might give up on it. I'm holding from Nagato to Hoki/Bitchu and my income is quite steady. I can train heavy cavalry and Monks already so I could go to the west and remove Shimazu or head east and take on the rebels and Oda. It seems rather Linear, so I may give up and start an Imagawa campaign instead, or go back to the "Sengoku Jidai" original campaign.

[seireikhaan]

Hmm... Never actually played STW, so I have a question- Is inheriting land(such as in the early part of this campaign) more common in STW in comparison to MTW?

[caravel]

Hmm... Never actually played STW, so I have a question- Is inheriting land(such as in the early part of this campaign) more common in STW in comparison to MTW?

In my experience no, though others may have different experiences of this. In MTW I've only inherited lands from an ally twice, in STW once. And that is in years of playing. In MTW princesses are a factor in this, also it seems to me that low taxes play a part.

[patdj]

Hm, I NEVER inherited land in MTW in years of playing, in STW once in my first campain, approx. 2 months ago.

Congrats to your victory, Caraveloto. Seems like we're favourizing the same tactics.

[caravel]

This is my Mori campaign so far:

Branching out from Aki to neighbouring Suo, Iwami and Nagato first and stationing a garrison lead by an heir in Nagato to keep an eye on Shmazu.


From this point I have concentrated on moving eastwards. Though I am uncertain as to how far to progress. It may be an idea to hold off Shimazu instead of taking his provinces and let him spill through Shikoku into the Oda held provinces to give them something else to worry about. I do like the idea of taking the northern Shimazu provinces however, especially Hizen.

[patdj]

Looks auspicious.

Me would spare Shimazu as long as he is strong enough to seriously defend himself. If he gets careless you could whipe him out of northern Kyushu in one big offense without taking much losses. Meantime you can let him expand over Shikoku to let him run in whatever dwells there. Still you should take into account that with the velocity you are moving east you will own western Honshu faster than Shimazu takes over Shikoku, so it will probably anyway be you who is dwelling there.

Good luck!

[gollum]

I d blitz the Hakata plain (Hizen, Chikugo, Chikuzen, Buzen) and push the Shimazu in the highlands - finally crushing them in Osumi and Satsuma. Predictable but optimal - no back stabbing after that is possible. I am allergic in fighting the Shimazu in Nagato/Buzen and all the more in Iyo/Sanuki in Shikoku.

Dear me, its been a while.

!it burnsus!

[Wishazu]

Well done with the Takeda mate. I say defo continue with Mori. I personally cant ever quit a campaign untill I`m wiped out or victorious.

[caravel]

The situation so far:

Takeda has been at war with Oda and lost... Two seasons later he had reappeared and been wiped out again.

Oda has now made contact with my clan after conquering Wakasa, Tamba and Kawachi. He is also in Tosa, and Awa so it may be only a matter of time before he either goes to war with Shimazu or both of these clans could go to war with me. From what I've seen of his forces so far he may be spread thin (I'm not a big user or emissaries to spy on my rivals I just take it as it comes so I can't be sure of this).

Shimazu has not yet developed significantly so now is probably the time to continue carving a path to Hizen. All other clans are quiet, only fighting the rebels - for now.

I am going to hold the eastern border as long as possible. The high ranking Oda General and Heir Toyotomi Hideyoshi is in that region so if any offensives does occur it could be a fierce battle. Yamana Yoshiyori is stationed in Harima with 600 mainly defensive troops, so if Oda decides to make a move we will be ready. 80 year old Motonari is in Tajima with 544 men but badly needs reinforcing with a few units of Naginta or YS. Mori Terumoto is ready to take his place (as the general there not as Daimyo) should Motonari pass on.

In the west, in Buzen, Mori Yoshinari (Motonari's heir) waits with 600 men at his command, including 240 Warrior Monks of Aki.

The Portuguese arrived and were duly turned away - the proud Mori have little use for such toys.

[gollum]

Hmm, looks like its time to get Kawachi to me... in which case a few teppo wouldnt hurt; hows Lord Mori s latin?

Benedictis Dio Omnipotentis In nomine Padri e Fili e Spiritus Sancti... Amen

!it burnsus!