Key Provinces on the Campaign Map

[Rothe]

I like the smithy provinces in the mid-part of Japan. The edge ones are so far that any "troop surge" takes too long to reach the center which the game usually revolves around post RD. I like to have castles in smithy provinces to be able to produce 3 units per turn of top quality units. Even if my armies are getting to be large, producing spear ashigaru of good quality will be done as a continous flow in any case. For missile troops I don't find it so critical as usually they will survive better and gain valor, but I do tend to combine melee troops after battles, and that means "lost units".

[Monk]

Usually anything with a gold mine gets a big fat target slapped onto it as I'm expanding. I've even started wars over them, since they're such a boost.

Warhorses are the second most important for me, with ninja and religious centers tied for third. Warhorses are absolutely required if I want to field Yari Cavalry, which are usually a big part of my armies. I love their speed and their strike force potential, 3-4 of them in a stack and I can do some real damage. The bonuses to Monks and Ninja are great, but not required in any stretch of the imagination.

[Dead Guy]

Kii province is also a key province.

har har...

But it's true. Major cash cow with very fertile soil, smuggling network and, if possible, infamous chimichurri district.

Otherwise this topic depends too much on where you're at and where you're going to give a concise answer, really. And how far into the game you are. Close to Realm Divide, choke points > resources, early on it's the other way around. I like Bizen (Buzen is the crafts region on Kyushu, right?) as Shimazu/Mori/Chosokabe, serves a choke point if you've focused on the west for example, and it's close enough to the center of Japan to be excellent for weaponsmith/armourer troop spam castle. Kaga rivals Bizen in this respect, coastal choke point north east of Kyoto with smithy. Kaga might be better just because there's a crafts province right next to it, so you can produce all your upgraded troops in one central location if you want to. I rarely capture those provinces early enough though. Went south (not figuratively) as Oda and took the Imagawas smithy province instead.

[Azi Tohak]

Playing as the Takeda now I'm really happy I nabbed Kaga and Echizen early on. They're very upgraded and I'm producing lots of very useful troops from there.

Thanks Poulp for the map. It has been VERY useful.