Hojo...

[Gregoshi]

Ten years of peace! Nice, refreshing move Asai. You are indeed enlightened.

I eagerly await your next steps.

[caravel]

Ten years of peace! Nice, refreshing move Asai. You are indeed enlightened.

Thanks Gregoshi-san,

I'm not sure how others play, but I move through a campaign in "surges". I tend to to expand all at once in several directions, taking key provinces and securing choke points. After this I have those troops "dig in" and then invest heavily in infrastructure for several years before moving again.

I had a small army of 3 x Naginta Cavalry, 1x Yari Cavalry and 2x Nodachi led by a 0 star taisho. During peace time I sent that small army thinning out the ronin to good effect. He's now a 3 start Taisho (In Etchu). The method in the madness behind this strange army composition is simple - they're killers not conquerors. They still managed to win every battle however, even when outnumbered and faced with YS and monks. The Nodachi I used, to keep any YS busy, while the Naginta cavalry took care of everything else. YC as reserves to pursue routers.

In Mino, the Oda had already suffered one rebellion (Oda is Christian as well) which they had easily put down. I simply seized the advantage and dropped my Shinobi in there... the result after a further two seasons of revolts was the reappearance of Imagawa, now Tokugawa, with Ieyasu himself.

I now have some interesting choices. The game was getting a bit sparse of actual clans so the appearance of Tokugawa has made things interesting. Most of the map is still ronin. Shimazu are expanding into Honshu and Shikoku, so this could turn into a Hojo Vs Shimazu 50/50 scenario which would be boring. Anyway...

The way I see it I can either lift the siege for Oda (my ally) and try to keep them in the game, in the process going all out against the Tokugawa, or I can betray the Oda clan, invade Owari and watch them fall apart?

[TWD]

I'm not sure how others play, but I move through a campaign in "surges". I tend to to expand all at once in several directions, taking key provinces and securing choke points. After this I have those troops "dig in" and then invest heavily in infrastructure for several years before moving again.

Usually, I dream about games heavy on infrastructure but can't seem to play any other way than rush type strategies.
I wish I had the patience to develop peacefully in Shogun, though. Your campaign looks very enjoyable :) It is very nice that Imagawa "revived". It is a pity that clans in the 1530 campaign start so weak they die to the rebels.

The bad point about rush strategies in Shogun is that, in many cases (e.g. Uesugi/Hojo/Takeda in the Sengoku Jidai), the player can break the balance between the clans on the very first year, gaining an advantage that will render any competition meaningless.

I'm thinking about an Imagawa/Oda campaign after my Mori one and hope I can find a campaign that does not make a rush too easy :)

Please, keep us updated,
TWD.

[caravel]

The winter of 1560 - Ujitsuna at the head of one thousand men, heads into Owari province to break the siege of Unuyama. Further north, Ujiyasu is leading his army into Mino to lift the Inabayama siege. Using overwhelming numbers, this will be a show of force to cause the Tokugawa clan to think again...


Delayed, Ujitsuna's men meet up with the fleeing stragglers of the Oda troops emerging from thick fog. It appears that the Oda taisho is dead and the Tokugawa soliders are close by! Immediately realising the possibility of a surprise attack, Ujitsuna orders his men to wait, after a few minutes the Tokugawa army appear over the crest of the hill and are cut down from all sides.


Finally Ieyasu himself is slain and it is over.

Ujitsuna's men return to Mikawa victorious - the Oda now very much in their debt. Word arrives from Ujiyasu that the Tokugawa when faced with the combined Oda/Hojo force beat a speedy retreat. The Tokugawa are no more, their supporters in Echigo melt away, becoming ronin, bandits or joining other clans.

The Tokugawa clan elimated, Ujitsuna now turns his attention to the smaller clans and ronin lands in the north.


1571 - the tide in the war against the ronin and Ikko-Ikki in Mino, Echizen and Kaga has turned. After the razing of Inabayama and ousting of the Oda garrison by these powerful and influential fanatics, it fell to Ujiyasu, now the effective leader, to quell the uprising and take overall control of the province thus stablising the region. Now only the mountain strongholds in Echizen remain.

Ujitsuna, now in his 80th year and becoming frailer, is confined to Okazaki castle in Mikawa. The last 11 years have seen much progress under Ujiyasu's firm but fair administration, the Cathedral in Shinano finished, the northern provinces absorbed and everywhere new fortifications are going up or something is being built. It is impossible to go anywhere in the country without seeing large numbers of troops marching along every road.

Only two clans remain as the major contenders for the shogunate: The Hojo and that distant clan of Kyushu, the Shimazu. The latter have recently moved into Wakasa province. Though allied to the Hojo, there is much talk on the streets that war could break out once again. Shimazu Takahisa has good relations with Ujitsuna and the Hojo clan, but on the death of either of these great men, this could change.

[Gregoshi]

You are in very good shape and you have an nice store of koku should you need to crank out a lot of units. Have you scouted the Shimazu to get an idea of what state their lands and armies are in?

[caravel]

So far I haven't scouted the Shimazu lands so I've no idea what I'm up against. I see a classic "Osaka vs Edo" situation developing however. After taking Owari and Echizen, I plan to halt for a few years and build up troop numbers to the support limit. After which I will probably push for Yamashiro and beyond. My plan is to enter the Shimazu heartland through Shikoku and strike at Satsuma early on, rather than taking the longer route through south-western Honshu.

[Gregoshi]

Good plan. I approve...which should cause you some concern about the soundness of it.