Guide of Bait Tactics

[Maltz]

Hello,

Frequently I hear people's concern about AI's army. Hopefully this changes everything.
The guide will cover a few actual battles of a campaign, where all the elements of Bait Tactics are explained by text, pictures, and videos.
It should be suitable for everybody's level.
I hope it will be the best guide I have ever made.
Welcome comments and suggestions.

maltz

[Maltz]

Table of Content

I. Battle of Hyuga

Preface. Riders of Faith
One. Attack, or Defend
Two. Anticipate thy Enemy
Three. A Long, Tree-less Line
Four. Keep Ranged Power Ratio (you/enemy) < 2
Five. Bow Draws Bow
Six. Keep the Right Distance
Seven. Traps for Ranged Prey
Eight. Induce a different formation
Nine. Cavalry Draws out Melee Ashigaru
Ten. Melee Trap for Melee Prey
Eleven. Long-ranged Bow Draws out Melee Samurai
Twelve. Calvary Draws out Cavalry
Intermission: Running Ronin
Thirteen. A Paranoid General
Fourteen. Bow Ashigaru Draws out Melee Samurai
Fifteen. Refresh the Enemy's Formation
Sixteen. The Last Formation
Seventeen. The Last Prey

Video Episode #01 Battle of Hyuga
Video: Battle of Fukushima (Bait Tactics in end game)

II. First Battle of Iyo

Intermission: Agents of Faith Travel East
Eighteen. Where Bait Tactics Fails
Nineteen. Routines
Twenty. Cavalry draws out Fast Cavalry

III. Second Battle of Iyo

Intermission. The Grandmaster Arrives
Twenty One. Ambush to Attack in the Open
Twenty Two. Flat Terrain is Ideal for Baiting Ranged Units
Twenty Three. Cavalry draws out Taisho
Twenty Four. The Samurai Sacrifice

Video Episode #02 Battles of Iyo

IV. Battle of Koriyama

Intermission: Amako the Treacherous
Twenty Five. A Little Hope of Forest Hill
Twenty Six. Taisho Draws out Hidden Melee Ashigaru
Twenty Seven. Last-minute Bait Tactics

Video Episode #03 Battle of Koriyama

V. Bingo Sea Battles

Intermission: The Third Memorial
Twenty Eight. Approach from the Side
Twenty Nine. Lazy Trade Ships
Thirty. One Bait, Many Preys
Thirty One. Those who were Idle Remain Idle
Thirty Two. Those Who Tried to Hide will Get Away
Intermission. Repair for the next battle
Thirty Three. When No Ship is Allowed to Escape

Video Episode #04 Bingo Sea Battles

VI. First Battle of Echizen

Intermission. Japan Divided
Thirty Four. Formation: Misplaced Katana I (Spear Point)
Thirty Five. Formation: Misplaced Katana II (Crane's Wing)
Thirty Six. Formation: Misplaced Katana III (Cloud Dragon)
Thirty Seven. Formation: Bow First I (Flying Geese)
Thirty Eight. Formation: Bow First II (Reclining Dragon, Turtle's Shell)
Thirty Nine. Formation: Bow First III (Bark of Pine Tree)
Forty. Formation: Bow Last (Way of Tiger, Marginalized Bow)
Forty One. Formation: Bow Middle (Flying Bird, Hot Dog, Porcupine)
Forty Two. May it be the fire arrows
Forty Three. Forty Three. You Move, the Enemey Rotates

VII. Second Battle of Echizen (Battle of Fukui)

Intermission. Double-Double, Lazy Couples
Forty Four. Very Exposed Flank
Forty Five. Balance the Enemy with Baits on Both Sides
Forty Six. Pressing the Limit of Bow Units' Response Radius
Forty Seven. Observe the Enemy's Formation Carefully or Regret

Video Episode #05 Battles of Echizen

VIII. Battles of Musashi

Forty Eight. Revenge for 20 years Ago

Video Episode #06 Battles of Musashi

[Maltz]

Preface. Riders of Faith

Searching for man's pure true land,
the faithful travelled west.
On the green hills of Tsukushi,
they passed a rival's test.



Before the purists Shoni bowed;
the loyal army marched south.
Sagara's legion blocked the path,
into a Fort they lockout.

A miracle happened as they prayed,
Faithfuls answered when monk's call was made.
From the country came a revolt of man,
with the most feared cavalry in all Japan.



Inspired by the riders of faith,
Sagara's garrison crumbled within days.
The faithful army carried on,
Till the next battle gives their fate.

[Maltz]

Suzuki Sadayu (鈴木佐大夫): "Captain of the Naginata Warrior Monks Cavalry?"
Shinji Kagenaka (神慈景中): "Honored to meet you, my lord!"
"Hm... your face looks familiar. Did you ever fight Takeda in the past... like in a winter?"
"Strangely, I get that a lot, my lord. My cousin and I look much alike, and he fought Takeda. Unfortunately, he died from a duel on the snow."
"Ha! So he is actually realted to you! Here, I've always had a question about your cousin..."
"Please, my lord!"
"What was his last word? He said something but... there was no caption..."
"He said 'Defending in the castle is the worst option... should have used Bait Tactics on the field..." and then he died."
"Bait Tactics?... hm... I will have to study The Art of War further. Take some rest. We have a long way to go from here."
"Certainly, my lord!"


Note: Actually his last word was "My journey ends here. The autumn leaf dyes my gravestone red."

[Maltz]

One. Attack, or Defend


"Did you summon me, my lord?"
"Yes. I have a hard decision to make, so I wish to hear about your opinion."
"I am extremely honored. What is the decision to make?"
"We have successfully taken two provinces from Shimazu, but as you know, there were hardly any defenders in the castle. Now our ninja reports that Shimazu's army is marching straight at us, led by their Daimyo Shimazu Takahisa."
"Shimazu must be very angry that we stole two provinces from them."
"Our ninja reported that Shimazu Takahisa really likes to drink tea at night. So he offered to try poisoning him..."
"I see. So the decision is whether to proceed with poisons. My lord, from a Buddhist's point of view, all creatures are equal and..."
"Oh that's not the decision. Shimazu Takahisa has been sent back to Hyuga on a stretcher. We leave him alive so the commander of the army, Shimazu Yoshihisa, remains as the heir of the clan, and does not inspire his men as much as a daimyo does."
"That... was very thoughtful, my lord."
"What we want to decide is how to approach the following battle. Our power is not as strong as Shimazu's army, which consists of mainly Katana Samurai. We will be hurt badly."
"What are our options?"
Option One: we can defend in the Osumi castle. Option Two: We give up Osumi and let the Shimazu take the castle. Then we counterattack and assault the castle, looking for a way to hurt their Katana Samurai with our numerous Bow Ashigaru from outside the walls. Option Three: We meet them on the field of Hyuga."
"Hm... according to my cousin, option One is probably the worst. Option Two sounds good but there is no guarantee that Shimazu will stay inside the castle. Option Three sounds like certain death, but wouldn't meeting them on the field gives us a chance to use Bait Tactics? What is it about?"
"Actually I could not find it in Sun-Tzu's The Art of War..."
"Too bad..."
"But I accidentally found it in another book! The Art of Gore by Sun-tzu's contemporary Mao-tzu. "
"I have never heard of this Mao-tzu..."
"Neither have I. But here is actually a chapter dedicated to Bait Tactics. Let me quote the second line:"

2. In order to use Bait Tactics, we have to attack on the field.

"Hm... we can do that..."
"So let's do it!"
"But we are not even sure whether Bait Tactics will work!"
"Here I quote the first line:"

1. If you have no confidence to win a battle the hard way, why not try the easy way?

"There is a laughing drawing on the book!"



"To battle!"
"To my cousin's prophecy!"

Note: Ikko-Ikki will lose the combat if it is automatically resolved.

[Maltz]

Two. Anticipate thy Enemy

"My lord, we arrived at the battlefield earlier than Shimazu. Where should we deploy?"
"Have you played cards? A good player plays the enemy's cards, not his. A good general deploys according to where the enemy deploys."
"But Shimazu is not here yet."
"That's true. However, here is a quote from The Art of Gore..."




3. Anticipate thy enemy who defend. They like trees. They LOVE hills.

"Hm, there are some hills on Shimazu's side (A). There is also a pretty large hill with trees on our side (B). Which one will Shimazu choose to defend?"
"Hm, our hill (B) is certainly more attractive since it has trees grown on it. Does this mean that Shimazu will try to rob our hills? This brings me back to the Battle of Tsukushi."
"How about we deploy on our hill (B)? If Shimazu comes, we can defend. If they do not come, we decide where to move our army to."
"Good idea."

Note: If there is no Hill A, the AI is likely to make a run to Hill B even if we are already on the hill! This has been observed in so many other battles (such as my Hattori's campaign's Battle of Kyoto). However, since the AI already has some attractive terrain within its deployment zone, it probably will not move. If the AI makes a run to our hill, we can defend the hill and intercept the AI's cavalry followed by infantry, or we can purposely deploy away from their destination to carry on with Bait Tactics.