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

[Thermal]

Thanks for the advice drisos, and yes, lots of campaigns been done at the moment, good to bring shogun back into the lime-like

[zyxophoj]

Poor Takeda... the rebels might even finish him off for you!

[patdj]

Yay, another one. :) Nicely written, nicely done! See what happens to Takedas if they are not led by zyxo.


I'll enjoy reading it.

[Thermal]

Poor Takeda... the rebels might even finish him off for you!

Hehe, thats what you get for destroying hojo on your campaign

thanks for the interest patdj, much appreciated! These are school days now so i won't write too much in detail, but at the weekend i should spare alot more time for it.

[Adam99]

I think you've really gotta go for Musashi, it'll be harder to take the longer you let Uesugi get dug in there, and sooner or later your going to be fighting him anyway, better to do it sooner before he gobbles up the rebels/ ronin and gets too strong. taking the Kanto will bring in the koku. I usually take Izu at some point around that time as well if its still available. Largely before Imagawa gets any ideas.

[ReluctantSamurai]

Seriously...you've been bold so far, and it's working! Don't stop now.

I concur with the others.....go for Musashi now before Uesugi gets dug in deeper than an Alabama tick

[Thermal]

I realize i must tread carefully now, early success can be ruined by later disaster, and so i use my spies to create more havoc than ever before, dishonorable perhaps, but needless deaths when simple subterfuge is the all that is needed is a waste of good men.
My spies are so numerous and so efficient, the Takeda shogunate will be plagued for his lifetime with local peasantry who hate his rule with a godlike passion...



They were freed a few seasons later, within this time I declined an offered alliance from the Uesugi, and accepted one from Oda and Shimazu clans, any potential allies will be invaluble when surrounded by these rebel scumbags.



Imagawa must have control of Aki now, he will likely be the strongest of all factions soon...

And after the Takeda's fall, i realize that i must face the men i gathered in order to restore Izu and defend my border efficiently....and my son came of age that same year, fate perhaps? that he be tested straight away, this battle held great things for my Son. And his report only encourages me to believe hes a general even worthier than of myself.

'Izu was a hilly and small region, the day was so windy that i was blinded at certain parts of the day, the weather fine until the battle, when a menacing grim coveted over the horizon.

My Father, my Leader generously sent me his best spearmen and archers to fight alongside me, the peasantry we faced were organized groups of archers and levies, but they were strong enough to destroy the Mighty Takeda warlord, and so nerves began to attack me, as much as i hate to confess. Finally upon going up one hill, by a cluster of trees the enemy were sighted, unprepared were both sides, as i marched my army frantically into cover while my opponent fired confused shots in an attempt to attack us in our weakest position, something they did with minor success, 7 of the best Samurai spearmen fell to the ground, i felt so responsible, so guilty, i knew of them not, yet under my command did they die, i assembled my archers on higher ground with rampant anger, and soon a missile war began.



My archers were superior, i cannot lie and say it was me, but them who saved the day, the rebels were in disarray for most of the fight, and there hesitation and constant reforming lessened there firepower and increased my own mens confidence, that i secretly stole from them upon the battles beginning. Soon so few enemies existed that i myself charged the spear men into the last of my enemies levies, they had us running around Izu for so long that we were all exhausted and sceptic, but eventually, the day was finished, and for the first time i killed a man today, it didn't bother me i felt nothing as a skewered some old ashigaru on my spear, nothing but the sweet smell of success with each and every blow we inflicted.



After what must have been the longer part of the day, the result was clear, and i had earned Izu in the name of my Father and for the Hojo's honour!'




With this superb result, re-building soon began and a peaceful few seasons went ahead, but as the nearby Uesugi grew stronger, i eventually used sabotage against them too....
Musashi with a colossal good quality army, a fine commander and a river crossing would be suicidal on any battlefield, only my incite of rebellion has not had the desired effect, but merely aid the rebels even more, my situation is strong now, but without movement soon, it could turn dire.



There retreat, unless it provokes Uesugi to attack, is not desirable....

I may have to consolidate with my son on this one, and my personal advisors, among this court, what do you think? I am turning into an old man now and a second opinion is always welcome when in my Clans interest.

[patdj]

When I played the Hôjô I was rather lucky because my foes crushed themselves, leaving me a rather plain path to advance. My route was 1. Suruga, 2. Musashi, 3. Shinano. I did this with 3 major armies, if I recall right, but I am sure that I did not have such a strong Imagawa against me, I think Oda kicked him badly rather early, while Uesugi had it on with 2 times reemerging Takeda and half his provinces in rebellion. I would move to Uesugis backland with Shinobi to force him split his main battle forces.

[Thermal]

Good idea patdj

also what i forgot to include was that i went to attack musashi, but on the same turn he moved a bigger army in there, and called of the attack, i couldn't of won.

[Thermal]

Just so everyone knows, i'm still very much doing this campiagn but finishing the next section on the weekend when i have more time and less aches!

[Wishazu]

Looking forward to the update mate. :)

[Thermal]

The seemingly eternal, dull seasons grated against my desire to conquer, but a wise and patient man I must be, conquering Shinano will plague me with rebellion and assaults, Suruga Is defended viciously yet evidently worth little and Musashi is quite possibly the most heavily guarded area in Japan at the moment in both land features and army....

After a whole year of nothing but setting down crops I needed to find something to do, something I would enjoy and something that would benefit our nation as a whole, a project, a challenge, a.....



Buddhist Temple. What better way to motivate my peoples and train superior warriors than to build such a fine building? Work went ahead straight away with barely a second of hesitation, I myself lead the construction team, adding my own personal designs to make this thee great temple of Japan, with only the location of the shogunate being any contest for it.

I forgot about war for a year or two, and saw that the magnificent temple was built, in just 5 seasons the paradise had been evoked, located on one of the only Sagami hills, by a lake and some large huts crowded around, the interior of my Temple was engraved with golden Letters and proverbs, pristine bamboo as pillars with an Obsidian roof that could fit half of Japan under it!

And it was while there, when training my first enthusiastic monks the art of warfare that I remembered about the spies that had been sent to Uesugi's inner provinces, and my reports indicated they were being weakened considerably, I came back to reality at last, not before another of my shinobi, telling me the Imagawa have recently conquered Shinano and are even weaker!



War brought out the worst in me, yet i felt a duty to engrave a legendary legacy for my peoples. But in the end while pleading it was best for our clan, i met my own wants and attacked the weaker Imagawa, those who were friends not so long ago and left the Uesugi alone simply through numbers, I didn't want any long winded fight and I could at least hope this would spell the end of all wars outright.

But then, I failed my peoples again, i couldn't face the Imagawa shogun in battle, I had betrayed him, we both knew it, and while we outnumbered him secretly I wanted my men to lose just as a way to comfort myself, pathetically in the knowledge that he had gotten his revenge.

But he retreated and Suruga was ours The commander sent me this letter;
'Lord Imagawa rode down the musky hills as a lone rider and eyed my units of spearmen with eloquent curiosity then finally shouted out.
'Where is your master?'
I failed to reply, I didn't know the answer
'If he wants this territory, then he can have it, there is no way we can fight an army like this, you must quadruple are numbers, so have your land this day coward'
With that he flew against the wind on his stallion and merged into the sunset. And by orders we did exactly that, Suruga was indeed ours, no traps or ambush, nothing.'




Now I was more depressed than ever, and just when i was ready to go over the edge my son helped me like no other could, he told me he would help me train the monks and then lead them to battle himself, his experience a necessity and his motivation an inspiration and fulfilled his promise he did. Before we knew it Warrior monks and samurai Archery were embedded into every border of our territory, ready to strike like a tiger in long grass upon sighting an injured deer. Totomi Fell again without a fight, as Imagawa pushed up through Uesugi Rebels in an attempt to migrate from trouble, they clearly didn't want war and I let my cruel demeanor take advantage of that, taking and pillaging Shinano, and still he refused to fight.

Upon taking Shinano, this vast and mountainous province Kozuke was now incredibly vulnerable, with Shinano secure my son advised me that removing garrisons from Sagami and Kai was now much more feesible with less potential enemies, and I knew already that my greed and cowardice would lead me to Kozuke, compensating one dis honorable victory with another couldn't be more immoral, but upon arrival Victory was one thing my troops knew was unachievable.



The day was beautiful, if pathetic fallacy is to take place in life then we were sure to do well, but we were not favoured, as the first Uesugi flag was sighted masses of rebels were too, my shinobi were now so effective they ruined my best laid plans, even worse I left my bodyguard at Kai, to arrogant to bring them and so I guided the Archers through the Kozuke passes, the Rebellion lay still and now that victory was out of the question, so was letting Uesugi keep there province, and letting the rebels rule over this territory was now even more preferable than letting the Uesugi have it and expand any further.

I faced a military genius it would seem, as my men were quaking after approaching the Uesugi and there barking commander, but we were puzzled, only the commanders spearmen were on the field, reports suggested more and i took this into account in diversity as there was cover nearby. Before even realizing it my men were charging into his men half-heartedly, few men there may have been, but even with the use of a wedged charge to the rear, his spearmen inflicted brutal casualties to my disheartened soldiers.



It was only when the commander fled that the rest of his army emerged, they were red in anger, with hate cascading from there faces. And this ruined there abilities, his archery charged into my spearmen but to no avail that they did so.



After there defeat, the rebellion began to move back, and without even realizing we had won the battle, All of my worries suddenly went away as i felt that God helped us, and that we were chosen to lead japan to an era of peace and prosperity!



It was hard to take in the deaths we suffered, but the dead will be remembered as great men and there bodies to be sent back to Sagami for burial by the temple.

After the battle I pillaged Kozuke with my men, and then withdrew, while the heroic blood ran through me, while the God's favored me running the risk of spreading my forces to thin was too high.



And for what was an uneventful time, recently My clan has expanded marvelously. And I'm proud my peoples have stood by an old fool like me, when I could have lead them to there deathbeds.

[patdj]

Nice moves. But now you need Musashi, urgently.

[Wishazu]

Well done so far, I too reccomend you take Musashi, leave a small garrison in Shinano and use everything else there and from Kai and Sagami to attack.

[zyxophoj]

Nice moves. But now you need Musashi, urgently.

..and Mikawa too. Mikawa-Shinano-Musashi would be much easier to defend than the current border.

[Thermal]

I know getting musashi is vital, but i hate bridge battles, it decimates any tactics and even with more men i usually fail, uesugi has masses of archers and YS, now ive got monks there is some hope though.

[patdj]

What works good for me is to let a disposable infantry unit pull the enemy onto the bridge (usually happens on 3/4 of the way. You might take many archer fire, but if you draw back carefully their infantry (usually a lot more than yours) gets engaged and takes heavy losses of your AND friendly fire, too. Just reinforce them if they strugle or give too much ground.

Another tactic is what Wishazu frequently does: charging with your Daimyo over the bridge (they will not get you) and pull half of his army towards their flank. Then you have a temporary majority and can charge into the back of the defenders. Watch out for time management.

I usually like bridge battle as defender as well as attacker. You can ften trick the AI which is not in position do to some annoying manouevres messing up your whole plan.

[Wishazu]

uesugi has masses of archers and YS

Fortune favours the bold!

[Thermal]

What works good for me is to let a disposable infantry unit pull the enemy onto the bridge (usually happens on 3/4 of the way. You might take many archer fire, but if you draw back carefully their infantry (usually a lot more than yours) gets engaged and takes heavy losses of your AND friendly fire, too. Just reinforce them if they strugle or give too much ground.

I already tried this on previous campaigns, sending YA in loose formation forward, but to get in range of his inf before mine die or rout i have to get close (else his inf will return to there defensive positions) that means while my archers fire at his inf, his missile troops will desecrate mine.

[Adam99]

Grab Musashi! The tactics suggested by the others work really well.

[Thermal]

Next season after the recruitment of yet more monks and spearmen, the invasion on Musashi began, it had been prosponed for far too long as it was through my cowardice, and now I felt well enough to capture this crucial place, with Uesugi's reclaim of Kozuke, Musashi would put him back into a disadvantage even more as Musashi wields vast income aswell as recruitment stations. My shinobi incited yet more rebellion on the day of battle, for them to retreat yet again, however though fighting on a fearsomely defendable province we did have a large numerical advantage. I and my son realized that Kai and Sagami would need almost no garrision with Musashi securly ours and so we were ready to fight with reckless abandon.



Upon arrival In Musashi the enemy were already in position to fight, they knew of our attack. There was a varying degree of rain, which may serve useful against Uesugi's wall of Archers....



And upon seeing this horde of Marksmen I was truely worried, any attempt at crossing the bridge would be fatal, while victory seemed likely either way I didn't want one with large casualities, and so noble and brave soldiers they were, some spearmen volunteered to move forward, in the knowledge they would get a heroes funeral. These men inticed Uesugi's sparsely populated Infantry forward in range of my bowmen, and with no Infantry Uesugi would be vunerable to cavarly attack. Unfortunately my attempt to distract there infantry was only mildly successful.



Soon a stalemate began, with this tactic being used continuously until Uesugi reacted to my provoking no longer, and brute force was the only way forward, my Yari cavarly stormed into enemy archers but I underestimated the force of infantry still left in Uesugi's ranks, and so my cavarly lost several of there unit in the process. Had my noble monks not been on the field this battle would have been very close, however there superiority in hand to hand combat soon freed us into easy picking against archers. I saw all on the front line as my heavy cavarly skewered some of the Archery on there silver glazed swords, now anything but silver but more a bloody burgundy, resistance was high however as I felt many a minor blow deflect against my breastplate, the Uesugi Shogun was fighting a battle he knew he wouldn't win yet his motivation won my respect in boundless proportions.



But ironically eventually the Shogun himself turned to cowardice and ran off of the field, and so a victory was achieved without casualities being ridiculously high, though I cannot help but feel responsible for poorly using my Yari Cavarly on the field of battle when cavarly stables are so rare in my homelands.



With this newfound victory my financial advisors informed me of high increases in income and Kai and Sagami were securely content even without garrison, knowing the borders of Totomi, Shinano and Musashi were guarded fiercely. I felt at some point I was ignoring other clans successes to, ignorance is bliss they say as Oda unsuspectingly moved an experienced commander into Mikawa along with troops in Mino, furthermore Imagawa moved many troops into Echigo, I realized an attack from either clan could be imminent, even though Oda not so long ago claimed they were friends to our peoples. With this in mind peace with the Uesugi had been decided by myself personally as a priority, but my embassy was killed, and so it seemed that realtions were not going to improve, and that my embassy's truely were tactless. After careful deliberation my final target was Shimosa, it didn't border or offend Uesugi any further also having a small garrison and a reasonable income from farming and so a battle commenced.

I sent my captain to the battle and this is his report on the days events. 'Shimosa was so calm and tranquil at the time we invaded, but soon darkened. The rebellion we faced consisted of poor and experienced spearmen alike with some archers, a fear when fighting on bridges. Immediately I found my cavarly archers to be frustratingly rebellious, newly trained, but the horses were wild and there owners were still getting to grips with there thirsty animals, a frontal assualt with my monks began as my archery had let me down and this seemed to scare my Rebel foe into retreating...



Which shocked us all the more when they stopped and charged into my monks, when they were all in a rather unorganized formation and vunerable to attack, after a disappointing loss of my monks the Yari spearmen engaged and the rebels retreated again, all so clever for such an inexperienced general. A chase began yet this was his failure as my spearmen caught the running rebels and killed the whole back row of these scumbags, the turning point in the battle had just been performed.



Shimosa was took with minimal casualities, though unfortunately most belonged to the monks I had foolishly thrown into battle first and so I expected loyalty to be the next war in this province....'





Expansion was pleasing as year by year, region by region I was becoming the strongest nation, however distant spies told me there was another distant clan even stronger, the Shimazu, these people were unheard of to me yet already they seemed to be future enemies with there escalated power, from this report we can only hope the Takeda-Imagawa lands are enough to bar the expansion of this clan for a while at least.



With finances booming and military strong, expansion into Oda's lands will border the Shimazu off before they can get over half of japan and the advantage that would come with it, western expansion seems to be more logical than eastern if I am to threaten my only real threat.

[Wishazu]

Excellent progress mate. You have a nice, rich set of provinces to build up. I would focus on building 1 or 2 powerful armies then focus your attention one at a time on your neighbours.

[caravel]

I notice that you also posted this AAR over at the TWC. It was well received there also. Interesting that some had never seen STW before...