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.