Mongol Invasion Campaign

[Drisos]

Sorry for taking so long. I had to find a decent amount of time to play all those battles. Nice turn though. I can't finish the campaign tonight.. but I'll have some more time this week. Ah well, a campaign lasting longer then 5 turns may be more intresting anyway.

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Turn #5:

Ouch. Indeed, reinforcements arrived. Almost full stacks in Hizen and Nagato, a half stack in Buzen, and a small stack in Chikuezen. Of course I have armies in those four regions, but they might not be strong enough to keep the mongols out. If not, I'll have years more of trouble.

First battle: Attacking Chikugo. I have slightly more men. I deploy all archers at the river bank, and send one YS as bait. After a few times of running forward and backward the YS unit, I've shot down most of his infantry. A few more times, and my YS is almost destroyed and routs. Seems like their cavalry weren't going to take the bait, so I move to the other bank. Killed a few of his cavalry units, and the rest decided to flee. Total victory, because they have nowhere to go and will be disbanded. Killer over 700, lost about 350.

Second battle: Defending Buzen. I'm outnumbered. Good chance that Buzen will kill my efforts to kick them out this turn. I deploy deep in a forest almost on the border. To minimum losses by ranged fire, and to be able to flee soon if needed, and because YS defeat their cavalry's easy in the forest.. However, I still didn't stand a chance. Their Cavalry killed only very slowly by their arrows, but there was no way I could come out of the forest and attack them. They'd just hit-and-run me to death.. Eventually some korean infantry showed up, and by fighting them, two of my units almost left the forest. They were shot down and routed. The rest, demotived by ranged fire and seeing their friends rout, soon followed. (h0 mostly.. so it wasn't a surprise.)

Third battle: Defending Hizen. Outnumbered 2 to 3. May be winnable. Once Again I deploy in the forest. Sadly I had to send lots of archers to the attack in Chikugo. Because of that I'm in trouble with the defence against their reinforcements. I deploy my 1 SA unit not too deep in the forest, my ashigaru's and general to the back, (they shoudln't be used in fight too soon) and two YC to the sides at the back of the forest. Finally, one YS unit is deployed in front.. as 'cannon fodder'.
Ok, gah! Mission totally failed. The enemy appears to have 75% percent korean infantry.. so this won't work. They just walk onto me, I form a line and the two lines engage... my men rout very soon. I was suprised. My honour levels weren't that low.. and I wasn't attacked from the flank or the rear, and I wasn't even outnumbered that badly. Btw, seems like cavalry don't make short work of korean skirmishers... that actually lose, lol. Weird stuff. Ok, major loss. Killed just over 100, lost 300.

My deploy. Using woods for this kind of turtling is something I only recently tried out. Works nice now and then... failed today, too bad. But I still like the idea and will use it now and then.


Fourth battle: Defending Nagato. Glad I have some ranged units there. Full stack vs. full stack. This may be the most important one for today.
Ha! This went loads better. Deployed on a hill just left to the centre. 7 ranged units in front, YS and YA behind. In an attempt to neutralize their skirmishers on the left flank I rush in some YS and my cavalry units. After a short fight I cause a chain rout on their army.. only their light cavalry continues the ranged war with my archers. With three cavalry units I chase their infantry. Their cavalry doesn't bother helping their routed units, so I kill loads. Some rallied and routed later again, I destroyed 4 units to the last man with that. Their mongol light cavalry routs a while later, my archers were doing better on the hill, of course. Plus, I had better numbers. Pity though that their mongol cavalry routed through my cavalry. I know no way to stop this: they kill loads while routing. I've seen a single mongolian kill 6 of my cavalry in a row. Ridiculous. I guess it isn't possible to mod this 'bug' out? Anyone knows a solution for routing mongolian cav? They're far stronger when routing than they are normal. :S Anyway, killed almost 800, lost almost 200.

Of course, in the North I had to abadon Mutsu. Outnubered almost 5 to 1. My armies in the regions surrounding mutsu aren't half as big as their army, but in a few more turns I'll gather more troops so that it will be nearly impossible for them to attack other regions, and I can start thinking of reconquering Mutsu. Btw, need to keep an eye on Echigo as well... how come the loyalty is so surprisingly low in this campaign? Taxes are still on 75%... :S

Situation in the south doesn't look that bad yet. Armies in Chikuezen, Nagato, Bungo and Chikugo seem like they can make a pretty tough defense now. I think I'll be attacking Buzen again next turn. Hizen will be harder. Their force there is pretty large... Seems like I have enough koku for now... so I build an archery dojo in both Aki and Harima, where I had castles but no troop-training stuff. I'll need more troops on the coastline soon, I'm afraid. Btw, some more good news. My daimyo finally arrived at the front. With him is Takazaki Suenaga. So, two generals that will add +2 honour. This will help, I think.

map: