The Mongols on Normal have nothing for me

[VoodooChild]

and I'm a map strategist and by no means a battlefield tactician.

3 battles is all it took. The defense of Chikugo, the defense of Hizen, and the counter-attack on Chikuzen.

Everything rides on the defense of Chikugo, since the Mongol AI will throw the majority of his troops there. And you must set your defenses up so the Mongol will only send in 960 troops. Why? because this random placements of reinforcements just plain bites.

The first couple of battles at the bridge I got my butt spanked. I could throw back the first assault of MLC and KS, but by the time the KG came across, it was goodnight VoodooChild.

So after a reload, I stacked my defense heavy with AX and SA. Sure enough the ranged itself threw back the sorties across the bridge. Each unit had panicked and ran away so many times, that one salvo for any of my range and they would flee again. But then came the reinforcements, and from every side. I was easily crushed from all sides.

So for my next try, I had to come up with a bridge garrison where the AI would only send in 16 units. The core of the group has to be 3 AX. These guys are great for a bridge defense. Lots of ammo, lots of moral impact, and can move out of the way quickly. I think for melee troops I had 3 YS, YA, @ YC.

The battle was simple enough even in the light rain. Set up the AX in an arc where the mouth of your side of the bridge is in their optimum range. When the first wave of KS form up on your side, send in the YA. The KS will rout, and the YA can charge into a MLC. Several units of MLC will be trying to get across the bridge, but your not going to allow that. send in a YS into the front of the enemy line, and bring in the other two from the sides. Eventually the Mongols will break.

After that its all downhill. The Mongols will reform and come back a unit or two at a time, but the AX will take a couple of shots at them and they will flee. After enough attempts they will give up and give you the victory.

The defense of Hizen was an odd battle. Both sides had lots of range, and only three units of melee. I had the upper hand since two of the Mongol units were KS which are worthless. I spent most of my time in the clump of trees exchanging range attacks. Every time the KG got into range I would target them with everything. After most of my YA were out of arrows, I did some encirclement maneuvers until the moral broke.

Originally the counter attack of Chikuzen was a feint to try and stop the reinforcements in Chikugo. But with even odds and still lots of retreating Mongols from my other two battles, I went ahead. Another quirky fight. I had lots of range and only 2 YS, YA, @ YC vs. lots of KG.

Figuring the Mongol to be aggressive even in defense, I just waited at the starting position. Sure enough a MLC came running up. I spent a long time exchanging range with this one unit.

After getting concerned with my ammo supply, I began encircling the MLC with a YS and YA. If you manage to get the YS behind the MLC, just charge the YA at the MLC. The MLC will start to back up right into the advancing YS.

The rest of the battle was just pouring all my range into the KG waiting in a clump of trees, while my melee unit began to encircle the rear unit. Once it panicked, it started a chain reaction with the other units. Soon after the Mongols were running for the sea. This time I had a fast unit so, I kept the chase on to prevent the Mongols from rallying.

Three epic battles, that when added up meant victory for the Hojo Hoard. Tomorrow, I'll try and repeat and refine my tactics, then its onto Hard. More later.

cheers,
-VoodooChild

[Alastair]

You're getting to be as useful as Shaihulud!

[VoodooChild]

Quote Originally posted by Alastair:
You're getting to be as useful as Shaihulud![/QUOTE]


what is this a reference to?

[Obake]

Interesting take Voodoo. I chose to abandon Kyushu and solidify my defenses on the exit points to Honshu and Shikkoku while I build the required infrastructure to take on the Mongols (sword dojo's and armories).

The difference is that I wanted to run through without re-loading, taking the results as they came. It almost cost me the whole game as the Mongols landed a huge contingent in central Honshu just as I started my assault to re-take Kyushu. Fortunately I was able to contain the hemorraging in central Japan and finish the Mongols off.

Nice job holding back the Mongols with those limited troops that you had available on Kyushu though! Well done.

[Lord Aeon]

LOL, i think that's a reference to Dune...
Which is interesting because Emperor is the other PC game i have been heavily playing lately.

------------------
"You have offended my family, and you have offended a Shaolin temple."

[Shiro]

Shai-Hulud-san is a patron here at the dojo. I'm not sure if Alastair is kidding or not, but Shai-Hulud often pops up with advice and many jokes.

[VoodooChild]

Well this was by no means my first attempt. The day I got the game, I started an Easy Mongol campaign (one for each side) to get a feel for the new units and changes.

My Hojo defense did not fair well. I threw the majority of my defenses around the two provinces that the Mongols took with the first wave. The reinforcements showed up on top of some units that were stringed out traveling to the front. After some desperate battles trying to save my production centers near the front, my adjusted front line collasped. I could have played on and maybe saved the game, but like I said I was mainly interested in playing with the new units.

My Mongol campaign was a walk in the park. Most of the minor battles were easy enough using standard tactics. I had one pitched battle were reinforcements came in from all over. I won the battle, but only after a much lower kill ratio than normal. After that battle I just used the auto calculate, and each year managed to take 3 or 4 provinces. That was enough to keep a steady supply of troops comming in, and then it was just a matter of time.

[Lord Aeon]

Quote Originally posted by Shiro:
Shai-Hulud-san is a patron here at the dojo. I'm not sure if Alastair is kidding or not, but Shai-Hulud often pops up with advice and many jokes.[/QUOTE]

Ah... my mistake...

[Alastair]

Sorry for the lack of clarity. I was referring to Shaihulud's Oda for PROS guide.

[A Nerd]

I think to make the mongol campaign more interesting more japanese clans should be involved. Only so Hojo has more to deal with than crushing two armies in one province. Even if the first battle is lost Hojo still has the finances from the rest of the country to raise reserves. Perhaps Japanese infighting and alliances (japanese with mongolian) will give the campaign more dimension and more playability. Though some of the history buffs would complain.

[Alastair]

I doubt the Mongols would have much trouble riding over anything but undivided and organized attention considering the number of reinforcements available.

[Algesan]

Inspired by VoodooChild, I started as the Mongols in an expert campaign. AutoCalced all my battles. I've got one honor 5 and a bunch of honor 4 generals running around now. Didn't build any border stuff, sent it all home to the Khan. I spent most of my early time chasing down rebels in Kyushu with a couple of small armies while a couple pushed east. After a few years of chasing, Kyushu started settling down as did Nagato where I had my main army watching Hojo's. Then I broke out with a 16 unit army into Kawachi and the chase was on. I split it into two and started screaming around all of eastern Japan with the only purpose to loot and destroy troop producing facilities. I have been running a constant guerilla campaign for loot while slowly expanding out from my firm base as Hojo pulls out units to try and hunt me down. I'm getting the Wakasa, Yamashiro, Kawachi line with a few behind me broken to the yoke and have four armies tying up Hojo's rear area. This is getting a bit silly, but it would be a blast if you want a lot of tactical battles.