Re: UESUGI - Way of the Sword and Bow
UESUGI ~ None Can Dispute the Dominance of Our Clan Spring 1586
Spring, 1585 Kenshin, with the promise of support from Lord Imagawa launched a final all out attack on Owari. His objective was to destroy the Shimazu army and kill the enemy Daimyo - we could not afford to allow him to escape with his army once again. Kenshin crossed the border into Owari province totally unnopposed, the Shimazu obviously thinking to stop us at the river once more. It was there we were to rendevous with our Allies, however our forward scouts found no sign of the promised support, only the full force of the Shimazu clan waiting across the river.
They were deployed directly between the two main bridges so as to easily defend against any effort Kenshin would make on either crossing. With no signs of previous battle to account for the disappearance of our allies, and scouts reporting no sign of another army for miles around Kenshin realised we had been betrayed by Lord Imagawa. My "ally" had obviously hedged his bets on the Shimazu destroying my army in Owari. This was confirmed when a detachment from Mino arrived informing Kenshin that a combined Shimazu and Imagawa force had taken the Mino garrison by surprise. With his route back home cut off and the only way to go being forward, Kenshin decided to go ahead with an immediate attack. To achieve this he divided his forces into two equal groups. The left flank commanded by him personally would be the main assault wing and comprised all the armies elite Warrior Monks and No-Dachi swordsmen, and was supported by half of the Archers and one unit of Yari Samurai. The other wing on the right flank was comprised of the remaining infantry, five units of Yari Samurai and the rest of the Archers. Kenshin started the attack on the right and ordered the spearmen across the bridge. Reacting as expected, Lord Shimazu committed a massive chunk of his army to defend on his left, our right. Seeing Lord Shimazu falling into his trap Kenshin ordered the left wing to advance across the left bridge, screened by another unit of spearmen. A small enemy detachment was able to react to this move on the left but was hit with a withering fire from the archers covering the crossing then torn to shreds by the Monks and Swordsmen.
The vast bulk of the Shimazu army was now caught in the middle of a classic pincer movement. A few enemy troops towards the rear of their formation were able to escape the coming destruction but the rest honourably stood their ground.
Realising the result was now a foregone conclusion, the Shimazu Lord attempted to extricate himself from the battle before Kenshin`s left and right wings completely encircled his army. Seeing their lord panicked, all sense of order disentegrated within the enemy ranks as they attempted to join him in flight.
My enemy, Lord Shimazu was unable to escape, his body being found on the field impaled like a pincushion. The remnants of his army were able to flee to the docks and take their ships back to Kyushu.
They no longer concern me, with no clear successor to lead the clan the senior Shimazu commanders will soon begin to sqauble amongst themselves. The only thing standing in my way to the Shogunate is the betrayer, Lord Imagawa..
Spring, 1586 We held off on the attack for a year, all the while refusing to meet a steady stream of Imagawa diplomats, desperate to sue for peace. Once the army had secured everything in Owari and I ordered Kenshin to move into Mikawa and evict the Imagawa army there.
The small enemy army was able to block Kenshin`s advance at a river crossing just inside the border. Not wishing to waste any time, my heir ordered an immediate attack across the bridge to brush aside the insignificant enemy force.
The Imagawa commander realised he would not be able to stop such a juggernaut and tried to retreat to his castle but was caught on the fly. He was able to mount a small delaying action so some of his troops could escape but he was soon killed, achieving only a small delay in Kenshins advance.
Whilst Kenshin was fighting in Mikawa, I personally led our army in Shinano in an attack upon Lord Imagawa in his heartland of Totomi.
It didn`t take long to find the Imagawa army. They deployed in a long line across from us along the route of my advance. The chosen battlefield was pretty flat with no features of any particular tactical importance. My enemy had obviously decided to resolve our encounter with a straight up fight to the death. Our armies were quite similar in composition though I could count on a large detachment of Heavy Cavalry. I deployed directly in front of the enemy line and ordered my Cavalry into an immediate charge on the enemy`s right flank.
With no cavalry of his own to counter mine, Lord Imagawa ordered his entire army to charge across the field, after loosing a volley from my archers, I too ordered the charge.
The resulting melee was vicious indeed, afterall, the Imagawa Samurai had resolved to die fighting, defending their homeland. In the end we had to kill every last one of them, Lord Imagawa himself being one of the last to fall. It was just a pity that their Lord could not of displayed the same kind of honour in life as his men showed going to their deaths.
With on one left to oppose me, it was not even necassary to march to Kyoto. The Emperor sent a herald to congratulate me on my victories over my enemies and to invite me to take up the post of Shogun. I humbly accepted, the destiny of Japan would now be guided by my hand.
Overview
Wahey! Apologies for the slow progress with this compared to the Oda campaign but work has been consuming most of my time recently. Anyways, I found Uesugi to actually be quite tough in the early stages but in the end a little easy compared to Oda which was a real challenge from start to finish.
Anyways, I hope you have all enjoyed this as much as my last cmapaign. Thanks for reading.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by patdj
Re: UESUGI - Way of the Sword and Bow
Re: UESUGI - Way of the Sword and Bow
Hopefully we will see each other in the Sengoku Jidai IH some time and you find some nostalgic moments to drop by at the Sword Dojo? 
.jpg "Dodge_272's Avatar")
) so i bought another one on ebay and when i got it it only worked on my labtop i played as the Green (I think Shimazu?) and purple(Hojo?) and unfortunatly my child was watching with a cup of water and kind of spilled all over my labtop so i only got a desktop. It seems like an very interesting game though, based on the internal strugglesbetween regional lords all vying for power in Japan, then the traders of Portugal, i think (if ive done my history) Spain, and England, but reading your little short journal intries has insprired to buy another labtop, i need to know something, but wasn't Oda Nobunaga the man who almost unified Japan but was killed by rebels then Hideyoshi succeded him and conquerd Japan?
Bookmarks