Mori, the Road to Kaga, take 2 (1550)

[caravel]

Very nice TWD, you are in a very strong position and a hefty treasury (even the peasants must be growing fat?). It looks like you removed Oda at the right time. I also note that Shimazu's garrison in Bungo has swelled somewhat.

[TWD]

Thank you, Asai.

You are right about Shimazu ; I should send shinobis in both Hizen and Bungo to see what troops he has and how he fares against the rebels. I anticipate he got stuck against Hizen's defenses, though.
Right as well about Oda... That is why I replayed the battle for Iga (speeding the capture of Owari by a year, maybe... or maybe not, I don't know :) I feared my losses would delay me too much, in any case) : Takeda is just starting to fall. If Mori came into the position I'm at some 4-5 years later, then there would be a unified opposition and the campaign would prove much harder. Hojo/Uesugi must have a lot of troops in their core provinces but as long as they don't control much land, there is no real danger.
The "Road to Kaga" in the title is all about that rush eastwards, although in this campaign 2 years were devoted to the capture of Shikoku (and I think it was worth it ; Oda has been so passive in the early game).

Regarding the peasants, haha ! I doubt they will grow fat ! It is scaringly easy to spend money !

[TWD]

Round 9, to winter 1558.
Military objectives for this round are the conquest of Echizen and Kaga.
We also want to reform the alliance with Imagawa and get some more (military) infrastructure.

Echizen : 630 men under a 3 stars general. 4 SA, 4 Yari Cav, 2 HA, 2WM and 2YS. That is a dreadful army.
Kaga : 420 men under a 0 stars general. 6 WM and a SA. Much less impressive but requires to be handled with care.
Mori could try to conquer those the fair way : fortifying Wakasa and Mino heavily and overwhelming Echizen, suffering plenty of losses, reinforcing then invading Kaga and facing yet again a promoted general...
Or Mori could try to be sneaky, leaving Mino only lightly defended to bait the rebels into it, so that they split their forces. Yes, we'll go that way.

From now on, I won't mention the military moves behind the frontlines. Suffice to say that 3/4 of what is trained goes to the front and the rest goes either to Iyo, Owari or Aki.
Shinobis try to cover the whole territory (1 shinobi per province) and, when I'll have a surplus, I'll mention it.

Winter 1557.
The budget nears 10.000 kokus... We should get some farms in Oda's territory, upgrade our current training centers and... we can afford 1-2 more castles.
Oh ! Our lowest loyalty is 130% : taxes are raised to punitive.

Build orders and trainings :
Omi and Ise start an improved farmland, Kii goes for a superior farmland and Bitchu for a Legendary farmland (1350).
Yamashiro starts a Fortress and Aki a Citadel (2250).
Harima starts an Archery dojo (400) and a Castle is started in Wakasa (250 ; and later a port to move troops from Yamashiro).
Tosa, Bizen and Yamashiro train troops at full capacity ; Aki goes for 1 emissary and 3 Yari Cavalry (3900)
--> 8150/9982 kokus. We'll stop here for now. We will have 1832 spare kokus to spend.

Troop movements :
Lord Mori remains with 450 men in Owari. Maybe next season he will assault the castle, since there are no ranged troops, there. But Lord Oda has a 60 units hatamoto... eek.
Meanwhile, Wakasa is 600 men strong under the lead of our 4 stars general.

The lone YA in Mino fakes an attack against Echizen.
Shinobis are sent to Hizen (now Shimazu) and Bungo to gain some intelligence.

Spring 1558.
Lots of troop movements in the east, as you can see in this screenshot (after we retreated from Echizen :



Takeda has lost Hida, he has taken Shinano back and the rebels split their forces ! Great news !!
Our shinobi in Bungo was caught, though. Maybe there's a fort, there.

Troop movements :
Lord Mori attempts the assault of Owari's castle. He has 5 SA units, after all... And those archers are much needed in the north.
Near 600 men in Wakasa invade Echizen.
Meanwhile we move some small stuff around : The YA in Mino fakes an attack against Hida and a few troops in Omi reinforce Mino.
Our emissary in Aki heads for Totomi, in hope to find lord Imagawa.



Summer 1558.
The rebels in Echizen retreated. There really didn't remain a lot of them (most are in Hida). 230 remained in Kaga. Takeda invaded there but, fortunately, chose to retreat. 543 rebels are massed in Hida so our YA retreats wisely into the woods of Mino !
The assault of Owari's castle proved pretty easy. We lost some 15 YA.
So Oda is no longer and... Lord Imagawa appears to be in Totomi, perfect !
The Mori clan has a new heir matured... a 2 stars YA from Tosa, eek. The two other heirs are a 2 stars SA and a 3 stars SA... Maybe I should use them more.

Build orders and trainings :
The archery dojo in Harima and the castle in Wakasa are complete.
We start a port in Wakasa (750) and ask for 2SA in Harima (600).
We get 375 kokus for burning the spear dojo and palace in Ise, so that we can start a Large castle in Harima (500) and order 2 YA from Owari (200).
2050/2207 kokus available. 157 kokus remain available.

Troop movements :
Now is a good time to reinforce Mino. It is Lord Mori who is gifted with that task.
Anyways, all troops in Echizen invade Kaga. We lack SA, but so do they !!
Finally, the 3 stars heir and some 260 men invade Hida. Maybe they will retreat, that will depend on the rebels' moves.

Our emissary proposes the alliance to Imagawa.

Autumn 1558 :
Takeda joins in the fight for Kaga. As a consequence, the rebels retreat into the castle. I didn't hope it would be so easy to capture this province. We pillage 200 kokus.
Our forces retreat from Hida. We are 267 vs 346 (elite) rebels.
Imagawa rejected our alliance proposal. Hmm...
A shinobi of ours was caught by Shimazu. He is done conquering his island. Does he hold Nagato ?

Build orders and trainings :
We burn the border forts and watchtowers in Omi to gain 300 kokus.
An Archery dojo is started in Mino.
--> 400/457 kokus.

Troop movements :
Our emissary asks again for an alliance with Imagawa. Who knows ?
Lord Mori invades Hida with 500 loyal men.

As you can see below, Takeda holds Noto. Uesugi still has control over Echigo, though. If Mori can conquer Etchu next season, then Echigo will fall to his hands !



Winter 1558 :
The rebels in Hida retreated but, unfortunately for them, Uesugi conquered Etchu, depriving them from any province to go to. That is very nice to us, since, had it been Takeda who conquered Etchu, we'd have been forced to declare war onto him.
The castle in Kaga will fall soon (it lost 1/3 of its men). There was an earthquake, there, so we don't get income from the province but, fortunately, no building was damaged. Only a Buddhist temple remains in Kaga, but it is a Famous one (meaning honour 2 WM).
Our troops are massed on the eastern borders and ready to strike.
In the west, Shimazu holds Nagato. There are very few buffers between us, now, but Iyo is already being reinforced with archers from Harima.

The new treasury is 11.000 kokus.



--> Incoming next year, the war with Uesugi !
Troops : 500 in each of Hida and Kaga, 300 in each of Echizen and Mino. 400 in Owari. 480 in Aki. 540 in Iyo.

[TWD]

I'm unlikely to have time to play another round for some 10-15 days, so here's a second round for today. I'm also a bit frustrated there weren't many interesting battles in the last round (although Takeda made some nice moves... which served Mori more than him, but... well... that couldn't be helped, I suppose).

So here is :
Round 10, to winter 1559.
In this round, we want to crush Uesugi. Mori has 1000 men stationned at his borders, including his 5 stars Daymio and a 4 stars general. Reinforcements are very close and of good quality (we're done fighting with Ashigarus alone).
This round really should be the round that explains all the others. Why didn't we push to the east, not even invading Suo ? Why did we focus on kokus so much ? Why did we get Bizen first, leaving all provinces bordering Aki to the rebels ? Well, that was for this round to happen.
Note I'm a poor field commander, although I hope I do a sensible use of the strategic map. I've tried to rush to this position but a better player could do so much faster.
When Mori holds the Owari-Kaga line, he can claim Shinano any day he wants. If Hojo is the threat, he'll aim for Musashi. If it is Uesugi, it will be Echigo. That is a great position for map control.
Once again : the reason for this campaign is this round. I believe most Mori/Shimazu campaigns are all about "when you get past Oda, you're facing the Hojo/Uesugi hordes and the game is very tough". Mori and Shimazu income potential are overlooked, I believe, so are their map control potential.

Let it roll !

Winter 1558.
Time to make a budget.
Build orders and trainings :
We'll start queueing farms in Echizen, Tamba, Kii, Ise and Omi (1750).
We leave 1550 kokus available for Yamashiro, Harima and Aki (Buddhist temple, Archery dojo and Horse dojo).
A large castle is queued in Mino (500) and a famous swordsmith is started in Owari.
Finally, Watchtowers are started in Iyo (200) : we need to know what Shimazu is doing in Bungo. Also, a castle is started in Tajima to double our Shinobi production.

In the troops departments :
Owari, Tosa, Yamashiro, Bizen and Harima work at full capacity (3900). Aki starts 4 Yari Cav (2000).
--> 10.750/11.004 kokus.

Troop movements :
All 1000 men from Kaga and Hida invade Etchu under Lord Mori's command. Uesugi will retreat in Echigo, right, but we will conquer Echigo no matter what.
Troops from Echizen and Mino move into Kaga and Hida. Meanwhile, Mino is lightly reinforced (240).

Spring 1559.
Hmm... a bad thing happened.
Uesugi retreated from Etchu, which is alright, but Takeda invaded Echigo and now holds the bridge while Uesugi has a few men trapped in the castle. Maybe it isn't appropriate anymore to consider the Takeda as our ally. He has a 650 men army, more than half of it being cavalry... eek. (yes, most conveniently, Etchu has watchtowers.) His army in Shinano isn't very impressive (340), nor is that in Noto (330). Hmm... We will wait for one season. If it seems Takeda will take Echigo, we will declare war on him. Takeda, after all, is a very valuable ally and the war against Uesugi would be much easier if he could help Mori.
In other news, Bungo now has a port.

Build orders :
Yamashiro starts a Tranquil Garden (250), I forgot that was a requirement for the Buddhist temple...
We're now running at a deficit, unless we pillage something.

Troop movements :
Just strenghtening a bit the borders.

Summer 1559.
Good news : Uesugi took Echigo back. He has around a 1000 men there.
Shimazu has taken Suo and shipped troops into Aki (declaring war !) but retreated without a fight.
Our watchtowers are done in Iyo... 1100 men of a well balanced army are massed in Bungo, against our 720 in Iyo, but more are coming.
Build orders and trainings :
A WM is trained in Kaga. Yet increasing our deficit...

Troop movements :
A shinobi from Aki sneaks into Suo : we want to know what Shimazu has, there.
Lord Mori leads 1100 men into Echigo. We hope for the assistance of Takeda.



Autumn 1559 :
Takeda came ! Which is more, Uesugi Kenshin left the province and went into Mutsu (Kozuke also is a Uesugi province), which will make the fight much easier. Doesn't he know that once Mori holds Echigo he will never let it go ?



We attacked under a very heavy rain, which fits Takeda's cavalry much more than Samurai archers. Takeda made a great job at sending his cavalry accross the bridge and drawing the ennemy fire... Meanwhile, our archers supported him. When Takeda's general started to flee, our Daymio took command over the assault but all resistance was already broken. It was just a matter of mopping up.



We pillaged some 125 kokus. Not enough to make up for our deficit.

In other news, Hojo retreated from Kozuke. That explains Uesugi's weird move : Hojo has finally made his move and is at war against both Uesugi and Takeda. May I say this fits perfectly our ambitions ?

Incredible : Uesugi, who appeared so strong just one season ago is now finished : He has 260 men (mostly SA) trapped in the castle of Echigo, 420 men in Kozuke, which is a fair army size and his Daymio is in Mutsu, leading 240 men. What about Dewa ? Dewa... as in... Dewa, the richest province of all Japan. Well, 30 rebels hold it, under the command of a honour -1 general. What happenned around here ?

In the west, Shimazu nears 1300 men in Bungo and has a 400 men army in Suo, led by his daymio and including a heir (mostly naginata cav and SA).

The port in Wakasa is finally complete. This will ease a lot our troop movements.

Build orders and trainings :
The YA in Tosa is cancelled. And the Legendary horse dojo isn't started in Aki. That is the cost of our deficit.

Troop movements :
We send 200 men take control over Dewa.
3 stars heir and 260 men from Etchu take command in Echigo.



In the west, Aki is reinforced heavily.

Winter 1559.

Lord Uesugi protected himself the province of Kozuke. Lord Mori being outnumbered, he called off his attack.
Meanwhile, both Dewa and Mutsu were conquered without a fight. 450 kokus were pillaged in Mutsu.

An average harvest brought our treasury to 12.500 kokus.





Lord Mori has control over 32 provinces amongst the 60 that Japan counts. Victory is enabled for the control of 40 provinces (I believe I stated this before ; I don't enjoy mopping up). Closing in.

[Gregoshi]

This last few turns have been very interesting. Well done TWD.