Hojo ~ Verge of Disaster

[Thermal]

Difficulty - expert, Hojo - 1530
(First time I've ever played on expert, and i get the feeling I'll fail )


I am Hojo Ujitsuna, My rule has been uneventful, and my peoples are suppressed in the province of Sagami, my hostile neighbours provinces have done much to weaken from petty rebellion, and my nation is ready to strike, Hojo Ujiyasu, my son will come of age to command soon, and i don't want him to take up the forces of an army that is too weak to expand and prosper, and will inevitably crumble, my son has such prowess with the sword and spear, like a man already, i hope he can bring the Hojo together on my deathbed. To stop our noble legacy from coming to an outright end.



The Takeda, arrogant on there horses, will not be around to threaten our lands any longer, and the "wise" Uesugi know of war all the same, my targets are clear, amongst the disarray and rebellion, It is a fight to kill or be killed, and presently, my future could be either.

[Wishazu]

I look forward to seeing how this develops. Good Luck.

P.S I rekon an all out attack against the Takeda will reap marvelous dividends.

[Thermal]

Like a blossom in the spring, i wait for the right moment to unravel, before settling in the Autumn.
And Uesugi were wise enough to guard there defensive province well, after Takeda closes in on the last rebel province in my site, a gap of weakness emerges, and his armies are spread across two fronts, and so the battle of Kai began, I myself lead the assault in the hope my experience will encourage my men to fight well against the horsemen the Takeda field.




As i arrive at the mountainous province there is no sound, no movement at all, the day is rainy and clouds swallow the sky, I feel that I will be fighting soon.

Amongst the terrain ahead a huge hill could be seen and on it Horsemen and spearmen, My army of Yari Ashigaru and Archery would not fair well with this height dis-advantage and as my army got nearer it was evident that rows of samurai Archers were lining up, imminent to firing.

I was forced to double march to the left of the Takeda hill, i had to use Kai to my advantage even as an attacker. Both clans now on a hilly terrain, i deploy my own archers, but i notice something peculiar, as my slightly more numerous troops advanced the Takeda fled off of there hill, allowing my archers to fire from an advantaged height. He might well of committed seppuku for the generals stupidity, but my error was in underestimating my enemy as my opponents archers were being decimated his Yari cavarly were running as tremendous speed toward my archers, and an air of alert surrounded me, my Yari Ashigaru collided with the Yari cavarly, had I have left it one second later my archers would have took terrible causalities.



Despite this, the battle was swift and the Takada ran off of the field to join there master, now stranded on Izu, the Takeda shogun must have been angered by the display of his cowardly soldiers.

Me and my army strolled through the mountains of Kai endlessly and found that it was now ours for the taking, but a siege was still to come, the plan very much is to starve them into submission, even after the battle, the Takeda shogun made no attempt to break the siege, he clearly must have thought his troops didn't deserve any help.



War with Takeda was more consequential than initially assumed, with my newfound alliance with the Imagawa broke the same season through mine and the Takeda conflict, to enable alliances and avoid being targeted from all sides, it is essential to drive Takeda from Izu, and with such a profitless province, it would probably be in such a way that wouldn't require me to meet the Takeda Shogun at the field....

Firstly i sent my new embassy to try and resolve our differences





Reports show this attempt wasn't entirely successful, so sabatoge soon followed





After the rebellion, the Takeda have nerve enough to ask for a ceasefire, but, on the assumption my embassy was pig ignorant i shamelessly accepted, in the hope the rebellion will drive him off, and that our peace will allow relations with Imagawa to improve.

The siege in Kai ended and the province gave me much income, building a spear dojo there is top priority now.

By the end of the year, i am surprised to find that i am the richest of all clans, strange particularly because i have but a mere 700 koku in my coffers, my son will be ready to fight soon, and I look set to do well with Kai secured, i would think the next few years may be uneventful now, who knows?


(wishazu - looks like i took your advice without even realizing )

[Drisos]

Ah, nice start! Takeda is dead meat!

Don't worry about the Expert-level. It's not that hard. (as you're finding out)
A spear dojo already in Kai? That's really early. I tend to concentrate on economical structures first, because 1 regions training 1 unit each turn is usually (more than) enough for the first few years.

Good luck!

[Thermal]

Thanks alot I'll build farming after, i guess 2 places for building aren't needed yet, besides, the training facilities on sagami get the morale bonus from a palace, kai's troops my be less reliable, so yes silly choice when i think about it like that!

Hopefully i can take shinano, but then i'll get tons of rebels attacking me, taking musashi could be hard with a river, and he has a powerful general stationed there, izu is worthless, besides im neutral with takeda now, im not attacking the imagawa because i want peace with them, and sugara is also worthless, so there are only 2 options from here realistically.

Also, i often by drill dojo's but how effective are they? do they increase the rate that my troops morale recovers on the field? always nice to know if i'm wasting my money or not

[Drisos]

Hey there.

I'd say, go for Musashi anyway. If you want to hold Shinano you'll need a large stack. And Shinano is not that godly that it's worth the effort, I think. I say, head in to Musashi, and after that conquer some more of the territory that Hojo start's with in the 'Sengoku Jidai Campaign'. It will provide a massive amount of cash. Wipe out Uesugi soon as possible, because he too has good options for conquering rich lands and might become a real threat. Peace with the Imagawa is ok I guess, and Izu is indeed pretty useless. However, when you have Musashi you might as well conquer it. I don't recall properly, but I think Izu is better defenable than Sagami. So you could leave Sagami since it would border only your lands, and you'd have a defense line of Izu & Kai... sounds ok.

Cya!

[Sasaki Kojiro]

There seems to be a campaign story renaissance in the dojo of late

[Emperor of Graal]

Awesome!
I don't have STW myself but this AAR
has actually inspired me to get it.
Apparently its better than MTW because it has clips when you assassinate etc...

[Thermal]

Winter. 1550.

This was a brilliant year. And it started with the invasion of Hitachi. The east had to be mine now and Uesugi's gradually failing army was the only strong obstacle in my way.

Hitachi was rebel land for several years. Newly conquered by the Uesugi. But there feeble garrison was no match for my army of elites, making Uesugi pull back and stand his ground on his only province still standing. Mutsu.



Mutsu is a massive province, filled with hills and flats. The land is prosperous and beautiful. Perfect for defending, even better for its income. This province was the ultimate goal. Before I die I promised myself I would eliminate the cunning Uesugi. I've even grown to love cutting my way through a helpless crowd of peasants, to ride on my steed with such speed and momentum that the wind almost burns my face. The thrill of riding a steed into battle, an unpredictable one at that, has always given me a sense of superiority, even though I am no better than my fellow men.

I've always wondered why people support me and cherish me so favorably for it wasn't skill that got me here today, but luck. My descendants had ensured that I would have a prestigious position even if I was decidedly a pathetic whelp. That nobility can outclass skill has always eluded me. And as the march into Mutsu began, I began to see perhaps that it was skill too.

After all, I had, over my reign conquered almost half of Japan, always fought with my troops and made sure they were happy. Is this why they respect me, or is it because I'm the off-spawn of a legend? It is apparent to me that any man can be good when they've received nothing but great luck throughout there life. Perhaps this is all a facade then, that's been placed on noble foundations. Maybe the afterlife will answer my questions...

...Time to leave the dream, I told myself as we approached an especially jagged and tall hill. Encrusted with pure white snow. And some dots in the background. It soon dawned on me that the dots were archers. As the Uesugi bows all raised into the air, signaling a volley of death was to arrive.

I broke away from the pack, not even leaving time to give orders, my fellow horsemen frantically attempting to keep up with the thunderously fast steed I possessed, yet another luxury I possessed. Our cavalry charged the archers before they could release a second volley. They knew there fate was decided. As we approached the isolated archers with no mercy and plenty of temper.



With there demise, we joined up with the main force, only to see an open battlefield had emerged, with Uesugi's dayimo taking the charge on my troops! My careless command had left my men disorganized, but certainly not unprepared. The fight, which was on a slanted hill was heating up quite rapidly. Now was a good time to join the conflict.



I charged through the enemy lines like a knife through butter. There whole line had been severed at parts and I made short work of many of my foes only too ambitious archers.

As I went backward to withdraw however, the enemy Daiymo followed me into the lair of my fighters when, even more surprisingly, my bodyguard had completely dispersed. It was just me and him, a battle to the death for the best to win.





































I won.



His shoulders less broad than mine and his height quite tall, he was a target on his steed as I slashed at the Uesugi's leader with great agility, whilst he lazily thrusted his custom made scimitar against me head on, where I avoided his predictable moves with much discontent to himself. It was a strike to the heart that finished his life. And this uproar certainly had the desired effect on the rest of his army. Furthermore, my reinforcements had arrived, any doubt we may have had soon dispersed before the end of the day had come. I soon realized that the Daiymo's death meant only one thing...




Mutsu was ours and Uesugi was yet another hopeful clan etched into history. Victory never tasted so good! And it was with that, that a bombshell had struck, Lord Oda had attacked Lord Shimazu, suicidal perhaps? All I have to do now was remove Imagawa from the east before Oda is destroyed, provided my forces stay in line, our chances of Conquering Japan look hopeful. But presently hangs in the balance. Though my troops are superior, my first doubts creep in, after all Lord Shimazu must train good troops himself to be conquering at such a frightful rate.



My plan had to be put into action. I am sure many battles will occur soon, I don't know, I can just...sense it....