Imagawa Campaign - Strategies & Challenges

[Drisos]

Second one: Hold Kyushu and upgrade farms, forfeit Suruga, and a little later Totomi and Mikawa too. Use what troops you have to take and keep Owari+Ise+Iga. Ally Hojo, and either Mori or Shimazu (or both, if possible). And again, try to kill one and gain their lands.

Owari was easy again. The Ise garrison was very small, and I kept the Bhuddist temple in there this time. I had pretty wacky armies, I spammed nothing but SA early on, later on nothing but YA (Owari) with a few WM's whenever I felt rich. See attachment #1 for the situation after my first few victories (Summer 1533).

I still managed to expand in central Japan without much trouble (even though I had left 4 units in Kyushu at the start this time). Money-wise this was easier, so I'm guessing it the more reliable of the two strategies. I did start increasing my garrisons in Kyushu after a while, but I'm sure that only costed a small fraction of the income (100% Farms in all three, eventually ports too). This time I didn't finish Oda, but rather allied with him (I had 5 allies at some point). After he broke it to take MIkawa (which I had left empty --- it's awkward, these two regions just sat there empty for a long time, eventually lost Totomi to R&R after being on Very High Taxes for years on end), we allied again, and he functioned as a barrier to the clans in the east (mostly Takeda, in this case).

I started with Hojo, again, but this time Takeda gained his lands. This was one of those rare times that these two weren't fighting, it might have something to do with my unusual opening. Rather than going for Takeda, I switched to Shimazu. His lands went to Uesugi. Finally, when I assassinated Moro Motonari (a lot harder! Honor 1 ninja's have 0% on a 5* Daimyo, so you can't just spam them), I hit the jackpot. See attachment #2 for the result! (Winter 1541). As you can see, the Takeda have started to eat away at my buffer.

I played a bit more, and Takeda has killed Oda, I've wiped out Uesugi and Rebels in Kyushu and Shikoku. Uesugi survives in 5-6 lands in the North-East, but Takeda is much stronger. I've gotten my first win vs. him (conquered Mino). I think I set it to conquer 40/60, I might just run a few more big battles vs. him for the official win.

PS: The difficulty of these openings will vary widely, what happens between Oda and R&R seems to work out differently every game. I've seen Ise with a small garrison and Iga completely empty, yet I've also seen Oda locked into Iga with a large garrison.
It seems like Oda produces a port in Owari turn 1 most of the time (if not all of the time?), so I'd advise to either take Owari turn 2, or to wait until Summer 1531 to send in your army (it will complete before the battle occurs). You can check if he's building it with a ninja/emissary of course. I specifically mention it, because in the second scenario, you destroy your own Port in Totomi and abandon it, it's a big bonus to keep the connection to Kyushu.