My Shimazu Campaign!

[Adrian II]

i tried a lot other campaign's and learned a lot, but i only finished one (..)

Maybe you have too little time? In that case you might have a go at the Monk Rush (see above), because it is a nice break from playing entire campaigns. If you feel that it is still a bit too much for you, you can try Easy or Normal mode first. By playing it over and over again (for you will lose in the beginning...) you will discover how small differences in the initial set-up of your army or apparently marginal decisions during a battle can have huge consequences for the outcome. For instance you will see that defensively those Warrior Monks are much weaker than offensively.

[Drisos]

i tried something like the monk rush(i didn't remember the rules)

enemy: 10 WM honour 2

me: army of 5000 - 4 kensai, 2WM, 4 musketeers and 4 sam. archers

i won it (had 3 men left on the end )

i won the 2 first battles of ODA NOBUNAGA and the first of HIDEYOSHI

i'm learning more about the battles with those historical campaigns. - had one problem, the 3rd of nobunaga and second of hideyoshi were a fight against a cav. rush, and i couldn't win them

[Adrian II]

i won it (had 3 men left on the end )

Good show! Let me guess: the survivors were 1 Kensai and 2 Musketeers...
And did you win that on Expert?

i'm learning more about the battles with those historical campaigns

In the case of an enemy Cavalry rush, use all woods and heights available to you. Particularly woods; draw the enemy into them whenever you can. Just look at the bonus stats for various types of Cavalry fighting in woods; they are all negative.

Oh, and if you can spare the time, please post a longer story about one of your campaigns or battles. We all know battles can be won or lost, but the important thing is to know why.

[Togakure]

Missle fire from a distance (Cav Archers work nicely, except against Yari Cav which can chase them down) and units that use yari (spears: Ashigaru, Yari sams, and Yari cav) are the best units to combat cav. Also, a dynamic army formation is important. Cav are fast and will try to attack you from the sides and rear. Don't let this happen. Block their path with spears or cav and then shoot at them, forcing them to withdraw or attack and take heavy losses. Use terrain (woods especially) as AdrianII mentioned.

Put ashis in Hold Formation for the best results. Sometimes it's good to put Yari Sams in HF too, though not always (skilled players have differing opinions about this). Don't use ashis out alone by themselves or just grouped with other ashis! Their morale is low and they will often run if you do. Hit with samurai first, then use the quicker ashis to go around the sides and back to attack the enemy units' flanks and rear. Trick is to get enemy units to run, then they are easy to cut down. Ashis don't fight well, so use them to affect the enemy's morale! A unit getting attacked from the flank or rear incurs a significant morale penalty. If you have cav in reserve, use them to run down fleeing troops. Ashis are decent at running down fleeing troops too, as they are fast for footmen.

Yari cav get a bonus when attacking other cav because they use a spear. This, combined with their speed, make them a good cav counter. It's best to hit from the side or rear if you can, as they tend to die fast. Don't let any cav get hit by spearmen, or sit around getting fired on my archers or musks as they are large and make easy targets. My favorite thing to do is catch an enemy cav unit with spears and engage them, tying them down, and then use Yari Cav to circle around and charge from a flank or rear. This almost always causes the enemy unit to take heavy losses quickly and run away.

It is very important to protect your archers and gunners from cav stabs! Keep spear units close behind them (but not so close that they get shot by enemy ranged units). When charged by cav, quickly order your ranged units back and your spear units forward. If the cav charges into the spears, they are gonna get hurt bad . If this happens, order your ranged units to fire on the cav (if your spears aren't in the way). If your spears are in the way, manuever your ranged to one side, then fire. Remember--a unit taking ranged fire suffers a morale penalty (-2 morale for arrows, -6 morale! for bullets). This can make a big difference when the unit being shot at is also in melee.

Always put gunners in rows of three (or, some might argue, 4). This allows them to engage in revolving fire, significantly increasing their rate of fire and kill rate. Less than three rows and they all fire at once, and take a very long time to reload. More than 4 and your kill ratio will suffer because not many are firing at a time, with no commensurate increase in firing rate.

Nag Cav work well against just about any non-spear-equipped unit. They are my favorite, aside from Cav Archers. They will lose to Yari Cav of equal honor, however.

Just some basic advice. Most players online know these things, so it's good to get in some practice before taking them on. Once you get good at these things, the AI becomes very easy to beat, even on Expert difficulty.

[Drisos]

Won the monk rush at expert!(my first won battle at expert! )
killed 573, lost 321.

i used: 1 sam. archers 2honour 2weapon 2armour (was my general)
7 sam. archers 0honour 1weapon 0armour
3 yari. cav. 2honour 0weapon 0armour
3 WM. 2honour 0weapon 0armour

made first row with(from left to right) WM - yari cav - yari cav - WM
second row(from l. to r.) WM - sam archers - sam archers - sam archers - WM
third row 5 units of archers
behind those 60 yari cav

when the rush came i tried to avoid battle as long as possible(so that my archers could fire at them!).
i tried to outnumber a unit and destroy it fast enough so that when another unit came i could focus really on them (the first unit was destroyed). meanwhile my archers totally destroyed a few units(i let them spread out, they couldn't attack all the archers at the time and were shot! )
half of his army was dead or fleeing but his last few units were defeating my last yari cav and WM, so i let my archers storm them, unthough the WM were stronger, they were outnumbered so much that i won and they fled(to be killed by my cav! )

adrian II, have you played the hist. camp. yourself too, or should i tell you about the situations in it first?

this might be an important question: what about "bonus stats" never found any, they could be a real help in improving my skill! so tell me where i can find them!

bye-bye!

[Drisos]

Adrian II, please respond, i've been waiting for a very long time.

Have won the last battle of Nobunaga thanks to the help of toga and you!

have made great progress: i'm winning a hojo expert campaign at the moment!

bye

[ElmarkOFear]

Here is one more challenge for you concerning the 16 monk rush:

Try defeating them, at equal koku, using an all yari samurai army. No missile, no cav. :) It is a matter of judicious upgrading and tactics. If you can't beat it I will explain how it is done. Consider this an open challenge to all at hard or expert level. :)

[Adrian II]

have made great progress: i'm winning a hojo expert campaign at the moment!

Great news! I've been away for ten days and I have other obligations, but it's good to see you haven't been sitting on your hands in the meantime. What can I say?

Ohhhh, he's a jolly good Taisho
He's a jolly good Taisho
He's a jolly good Ta-haishoooooooooooo
And so say all of us!