UESUGI - Way of the Sword and Bow

[Wishazu]

UESUGI ~ Battle of Sagami

Summer, 1571 I went through with my plan to attack Sagami this summer and have been victorious in a major battle there. The hojo fought valiantly defending their homeland but we were too strong for them.



We were marching to destroy a small force we had been tracking for three days when we finally made contact with them at an ancient dried up riverbed. I formed my army up along the old watercourse with a mind to envelope the enemy and destroy them but the Hojo were one step ahead. A unit of Cavalry Archers attempted to leave the field but they were intercepted and destroyed by my Yari Cavalry, this would turn out to be part of the enemies ruse to draw me in.Just as my extreme right flank approached the top of the old riverbank hundreds of Hojo Samurai exploded out of the trees, it was an ambush!



My men held up briefly under this pressure, long enough for me to destroy the enemy force in the open and begin to roll up the Hojo`s right flank. At the same time the centre of my line gave way.



This was followed swiftly by my right flank. It was not going well It looked as if our venture was doomed.



Frantically I organised the troops I had remaining on the left and moved towards the enemy centre, I was going to kill the Hojo Taisho. Though most of my army was now fleeing the Hojo troops were now extremely disorganised and I was able to take advantage. The enemy Taisho realised this and called off the pursuit.



This was his first mistake he would not live long enough to make another. My right flank, now free from pursuit swiftly rallied, regrouped and hit the formerly victorious enemy warriors in the rear. It was a massacre.



This kicked off a chain reaction amongst the confused Hojo warriors and soon the entire army was in full retreat. I took what cavalry I had remaining and and rode as many of the enemy down as I could before returning to the army. One of my Hatamoto trampled the Hojo Taisho under the hooves of his mount.

Autumn, 1571 After sacking Sagami and burning everything to the ground I returned to Musahi to find Kenshin and his army waiting for me. Now we are ready for total war!

Overview
My first major battle of the campaign and it`s been a long time coming. It was almost a complete disaster too but Tomosada managed to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. In the middle of the map the new Oda regime has managed to expand very quickly. I am going to wait 1 turn before attacking Imagawa, I just want to see if Takeda will now attack Hojo.