Hojo campaign: "Half a campaign: Half a Japan"

[Wishazu]

This is quite a good campaign report. I`ve enjoyed reading this so far. :)

[patdj]

Thanks Wasp and Wishazu.

I'm a bit surprised that it is this "easy" on expert. I'm familiar with the basic concepts of the TW games, but I'm far away from being a Shogun-professional. I thought it would be more challenging. But, I guess, I was really lucky sometimes. I never really had too fear a strong rival at my borders. The Takeda, Uesugi, Oda and the rebels kicked each other really nicely so I could take what they left over without much effort. I built a stable infrastructure for highclass troops instead of raising armies of peasants. As Drisos already mentioned, this could have broken my neck pretty early.
Additionally, a major thread I'm facing right now, too, is that my line might die out. The Shimazu Ninjas killed 2 or 3 of my heirs quite some time ago and failed killing the Daimyo when he was the only one left. I now have one heir whom I keep in the center of well guarded provinces.

But yes, I think this is a matter of time now. And as I already said, I'm not rushing. I think Shimazu will struggle with the new ambitious Oda and I'll do my best to draw some troops away from them. Some rebellions will probably do the remaining in the north. I will try to take Kyushu next. I hope I can do this in a fast one-year-battle. I'm already training troops for this purpose.
If the battle with the Oda and Ikko Ikki keeps him busy, perhaps I can even get to Satsuma.

Unfortunately I'm busy with Christmas presents at the moment so I'll postpone the next turns. Until then I have 2 more questions:

i) Is there a rule for the level of difficulty? Like things, the AI does and Expert and not on Easy? Or that loyality in provinces is harder to be kept on Expert? Or something similar?

j) The weather, a really broad topic. First: you should not attack in winter, because troops get tired fast when walking, right? Same in summer? Are there similar effects when it's raining? What else is important considering the seasons? Second: Fog reduces sight, for the player himself (I hate searching for the defending armies...) and for the bowman. Rain does the same and reduces the range of their arrows? What about snow? Is there an overview of the times and the resulting effects?

Arigatô gozaimasu in advance.

[Wishazu]

Well Ive just started a campaign on Expert in 1530 as the Imagawa. I`m really struggling with cash flow lol. I have the bare minimum of troops to hold what I have and Im slowly (very slowly) expanding alongside the Shimazu. The only chance I get to expand is by destabilising their provinces with Shinobi and then moving in and picking off the rioting rebels.

To answer some of your questions. On expert I believe the enemies troops have slightly higher morale, also, the weather is obviously very important - Your guns wont work well, if at all in the rain. I can`t say I`ve ever noticed the weather in Shogun effecting the fatigue levels of my troops.

[Drisos]

i) Is there a rule for the level of difficulty? Like things, the AI does and Expert and not on Easy? Or that loyality in provinces is harder to be kept on Expert? Or something similar?

One thing I know for sure:

Easy = small morale penalty for all enemy troops
Normal = Fair
Hard = small morale bonus for all enemy troops
Hardest = big morale bonus for all enemy troops

I don't know about any other difficulty-linked 'cheating' by the computer.
So I guess it's just that + the AI get's smarter in as well battle as on campaign map.

j) The weather, a really broad topic. First: you should not attack in winter, because troops get tired fast when walking, right? Same in summer? Are there similar effects when it's raining? What else is important considering the seasons? Second: Fog reduces sight, for the player himself (I hate searching for the defending armies...) and for the bowman. Rain does the same and reduces the range of their arrows? What about snow? Is there an overview of the times and the resulting effects?

Some general advice: don't bother looking at the season. The weather seasons give is various, and even if it would always be the same weather in a season, it's not as important as the moves you want to make. Have your campaign map strategy/actions depend on other factors. When you want to attack a region, and have the capacity for it, do so right away. Don't wait for a better season. It's just not as important.
So, don't bother about the seasons.. but, DO bother about which weather you pick before battle. There's usually a broad spectrum of possibilities within that season. You'll have to let it depend on your army, the enemy's army, the map, your strategy, etc...

I'll copy some stuff on a little guide I wrote some day... I remember I had a chapter on weather. Now let me find that thread..
Ah. got it.

Weather and fatigue

Weather is an important factor in S:TW/MI/WE MP as it has big affects on fatigue and ranged fire. There are many different weather situations that appear in shogun, but there are certain groups with the same effect. You can simply see them as six: Cold weather, Snow, Rain, Wind, Fog and Sunny weather. All have their own different effects on units, beneath is information on their effects:

- Cold weather: Increases units fatigue speed. Increases armoured units fatigue speed greatly.
- Fog: Decreases your sight.
- Rain: Decreases your sight. Decreases the effect of musket fire and archer fire. Arquebusiers cannot fire in rain. Heavy rain decreases the defenders morale. Increases units fatigue speed.
- Snow: Decreases your sight. Decreases cavalry speed. Decreases the effect of musket fire and archer fire. Arquebusiers cannot fire in snow. Increases units fatigue speed.
- Sunny weather:
- Wind: Decreases archer fire accuracy.

In Multiplayer the attacker always has the benefit of choosing the weather. When you play in teams, you never know who will, so in that case you'll have to make the decision together.

Though you select the weather after selecting your army, you must think about the weather while selecting your army, because the season is already selected and the different seasons have different weather. There are four seasons, Winter, Spring, Summer and Autumn. The different weather scenario's have their own season of happening often, beneath is information on what weather you'll find in what season:

- Cold weather: Appears often in Winter.
- Fog: Appears often in Spring and Winter.
- Rain: Appears often in Spring and Winter.
- Snow: Appears often in Winter.
- Sunny weather: Appears often in Fall and Summer.
- Wind: Appears often in Spring and Summer.

Before the match, you must decide what season you'll play in. Always think of the army you'll use and the army your enemy will use. Then decide what weather would be the most useful and choose a season in which that occurs often.

Big fatigue will greatly decrease your chances to win battles. Your men won't only have lower morale, also, their attack and defense are lowered. Therefor, try to keep your units from getting tired before the attack. Things you can do to achieve this:

- Don't attack in rainy, snowy or cold weather.
- Don't deploy your army too far to the edge of the map, but delpoy in the middle of the map instead. This will save you a lot of time, but it also gives the defender the chance to surprise you, so be careful.
- Don't move around too much, Try to walk in a straight line towards the enemy, unless you have tactical plans like attacking him from the side.
- When your men are really tired, simply wait. Give them some rest, and they will do better in the fight. Time almost never runs out in multiplayer games, so it's safe to wait a little while. Of course this does not give you an exciting battle. Try to find something to while you wait. For instance, move one unit over to the side or change your formation a bit.
- Put your units in formations with lots of rows when long walks are inavoidable. For instance 20 rows, which means 3 men next to each other. This formations decrease fatigue speed.

When defending, you will rarely notice your men are fatigued. You can even try to tire your opponent. For instance, by forcing him to move by changing your position, or to deploy to the edge of the map, so the enemy will need to walk a lot before the fight.

in short... biggest factor to think of is negative influence on ranged fire.
(though fatigue should never be underestimated.)

edit:

Ah! About the difficulties: There's certain features that the computer doesn't seem to use on lower difficulties. I think they only use Geisha's when on Expert level. There may be similar rules for other features... Attacking by sea may be difficulty-linked too. Not sure though.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

The only weather you have to watch out for is naginata in winter and archers/gunman in heavy wind/rain fog. Fog can be the best weather to attack in as you can often hit them from the flank before they see you.

On expert, it really depends on the clan you pick. The hojo are easy because they start in a strong position on the wealthy side of japan.

[Drisos]

On expert, it really depends on the clan you pick. The hojo are easy because they start in a strong position on the wealthy side of japan.

I'd say:

Easy = Hojo & Uesugi
Medium = Mori & Shimazu
Hard = Oda, Takeda, Imagawa

But it might just be me. As Mori/Shimazu I was usually to slow to conquer territory and the eastern clans had grown much stronger than me.

[Martok]

i) Is there a rule for the level of difficulty? Like things, the AI does and Expert and not on Easy? Or that loyality in provinces is harder to be kept on Expert? Or something similar?

Well the Hojo is one of the easier clans to play as, since they start out with some of the richest territory. Uesugi is similarly easy, maybe even a bit more so since their lands are not only rich but easily defensible as well (me loves Mutsu and Echigo! ).

If you want more of a challenge, I'd suggest playing either the Shimazu or Takeda clan. If you *really* want a challenge, then go with the Imagawa, Mori, or Oda.

[Wasp]

The 'easy' part in Shimazu is the relatively safe position, but if you don't advance to get better land, you'll be put down eventually. It's a good clan to begin with for a few campaign years and battles, I guess. To learn the mechanics

[patdj]

Nice Drisos, this is exactly what I was looking for. One last question "Decreases your sight." implies less effect of archer/gunman fire?

Lol, I thought I picked a rather difficult clan with the Hojo because they are pretty surrounded. I played the Shimazu first and overran Japan with No Dachis. Wasn't on Expert though. I'll try one of the more difficult ones next then.

Thanks for the other answers.

[Drisos]

Nice Drisos, this is exactly what I was looking for. One last question "Decreases your sight." implies less effect of archer/gunman fire?

No, that's just about you own observations. It's not a big role in the game, but fog does bring a surprise now and then.

[Martok]

Ah, fighting in fog. My palms are getting sweaty just thinking about it....

[patdj]

Ok, I have some time and I have enough of peace. Loading the game I see that Shimazu has his pants down.

I invade Tajima and Harima with considerable armies and send 1,5 units of cavalry and some No Dachi to Inaba where some rebels produced an uproar. The latter I do just for fun or to get an easy win if Shimazu and rebels get into trouble.
As I already said I prepare the invasion of Kyushu by sending troops to Kawachi.

See what comes out:

Best case in Inaba. The rebel army does NOT retreat and an equally strong Shimazu army joined to hold one of their last ports.
Battle of Inaba:
I want to keep my self away from battle and see what rebels and Shimazu do. I'm attacking in spring, what, as I now learned, is an absolutely useless and irrelevant information. I'm choosing fog as weather, which is good because I'm playing on surprising both armies with a heavy cavalry charge.
So I start mooving towards the center of the map, avoiding a forest, when suddenly rebels come sprinting down the hill to my left. Dammit! What are they up to? I see a Shimazu unit of archers far ahead of me, damned fog! Already regretted! The rebels rush into the forest near my troops. I withdraw and hope for them to turn left towards the Shimazu. They stop, and still there come archers running down the hill, some of them very lonely. I think of hunting them down but don't. Senseless. As the take no notive of me, I decide to climb up the hill where they came from. If they approch the Shimazu I would be able to heavily hit their flanks.
But they don't they start rushing towards the other side of the map, still in a very long line. The Shimazu archers approach me uphill and as they want to start shooting I charge with a single Yari Cav unit. Massacre. The rest of the Shimazu troops are approaching. Arquebusiers, Cavalry Archer and another archer unit. They stop, then the latter approaches again. Withdraws and approaches again, backed up by the gunmen. I get them the other Nagi Cav unit to play with and chase the Cav Archers with my yari cavs. I send the No Dachi as well because I'm on total encounter anyway. (I bet I now get rebels racing into my flanks. ).
Total massacre. All archers and gunmen dead. I hope that my yari get the archers while I'm looking for the rebels with the NDs and Nagi Cavs.
Suddenly, the Shimazu general routs and the battle is over. Looks like the rebels already withdrew. Funnily, at the "You Win"-Screen they are said to be my allies. Don't recall the negotiations. Must have been quite a lot Sake. :D

Shimazu withdraws in Harima. He would have done same in Tajima but he has no way out. So:
Battle of Tajima
I have loads of archers and its flat coast map.
I approach the enemy that is far ahead of me. Suddenly some archers start firing from a little forest at my left. I answer with arrows, too. Then I send some peasants in to bring the archers out of formation and chase some horses into their flanks. The peasants get defeated and I loose to many horses while my archers approach the main part of the enemy army in a larger forest at the foot of a hill ahead of me. I send NDs to kick the last archer in the little forest. They are chased down by cavs while I send the infantry to the remaining Shimazu units. Mainly archers, as well. My arrows got a lot of them down. The infantry does the remaining.
His peasants withdraw, the archers, including the general, die bravely.
I get after the peasants which try not to stay in archer range. Still I shoot a lot of then. A cav charge and they rout, right into their arms. All dead, battle won.

Nice round, got three new provinces. Funny, too: Uesugi reemerged in the Oda province. This is getting funny up here but I think I'll get a strong defensive position and concentrate on the south.



To be continued. :)

[Drisos]

Lol, weird. Bitchu should've been loyal to Oda by now... Surprising, those Uesugi... Anyway, it's kinda fun that it's not Shimazu vs. Hojo Finishoff-campaign anymore.

On expansion, I'd suggest: Take Shikoku within a year from now or so. You can then rest in Iyo for a while, while you conquer southern Honshu. The Oda and Uesugi will probably kill eachother, and Shimazu doesn't have much forces either... shouldn't be too hard to move on to a Bitchu-Hoki(-Iyo) line of defense.

Good luck!

[patdj]

Thanks for the advice, Drisos.

Before giving those Christian Daimyos some Christmas rest, I'll deliver my presents:
As I planned and you suggested, I'm moving to Shikoku. Awaji is first to fall. Mass invasion there and a not unconsiderable army there (relatively to the rest I see of him.). Still I expect withdraws till, perhaps in Ijo, he faces me with full (remaining) strength.

See what happens...

Retreat in Awaji. As I thought. Additionally, Oda and Uesugi did NOT kill each other, they now build a second and third rather strong factor in Honshu (apart from a relatively big Shimazu army). I stick to turtle tactics and wait for anyone of them to come.

Meanwhile, I'm moving Shinobi to Hoji in order to apply some (more) pressure and invade Sanuki and Awa with splitted troops.




Moved forward. Awa and Sanuki surrendered and fell back. Funnily, Oda joined me in Sanuki. Apart from that they did not do anything interesting. Now I'm in a situation, where Oda could backstab me. I'm moving forward to Ijo and Tosa. The latter one must be the origin of Shimazus peasant armies and a relatively advanced province. I decided to end the siege in Inaba, although the castle about to fall. Want to keep the port. It's winter, BTW.

Retreat in Iyo, now Tosa has to fight. They do, outnumbered 3to1. Snowy map with many forests. I have 3 units of cav, what a shame. I see his General in the forest to my right and I bring archers in position.
Since he does not seem to have archers he does not do much. Arrows are raining down on him with minimal effect. My archers fire uphill and the woods catch the majority of the projectiles. I'm advancing with infantry but decide to wait till my archers did their job. Being economic, one could say.
His second and probably last unit is now visible. Peasants, too. They get some arrows as well and, being sure to kill all of them and avoid a siege I start surrounding them with infantry and cavalry.
They start moving now. Towards my archers. I tackle the moving army from 3 sides, stop the arrow rain and watch the happening.
Rout, inmediately. They could as well have done Seppuku. Shimazu generals get more stupid every turn, I think. Poor AI. I close the circle and kill all 224, loosing 9 men.

The siege is not much of a story. 29 archer defenders, 2 whose horses have already died. I send one unit of cavalry in, they kill all, loosing 4 men.

Shikoku is saved. I destroy the church that was build in Tosa and start preparations (palace?) for a Buddhist temple (40% Christians there, Merry X-mas!). Additionally I regroup troops. Doesn't look like I have to defend much against Kyushu troops so I send most of my attacking troops to potentially defend against backstabber Oda. Still I'm waiting for some action there in Honshu. 3 major (potential) enemy armies there.



I guess this was my last action before Christmas, I'll give them and me a rest. Therefore, I wish all my readers to have a Merry Christmas and, if I'm busy a Happy New Year as well! See you in 2009 then.

[ReluctantSamurai]

h) Till now, I never was friendly to Christians, because I feared religious uproars in my provinces. Can somebody explain me, how exactly the different interactions (giving audience, accepting their proposal, building a church, building trading posts) with Christians affect the believe of my Daimyo and my people.

You can accept at any time. The conversion, as mentioned, doesn't happen until you build your first trader. Prepare ahead of time. Have at least two shinobi in every one of your provinces.....maybe extra in provinces far away from your Daimyo. Don't hardly waste your time on the arquebus...having a few in the interim before muskets is ok. Plan which provinces will have churches, which one gets the cathedral, and where to build the gun factory. You should have muskets years before anyone else gets them

One thing often overlooked by players afraid of the conversion is the income from the cathedral. That 1200+ koku has seen me through many a poor harvest Those religious fanatics just can't wait to fork over their earnings in the name of god

[Drisos]

Ah, good job in overrunning those. This should cost shimazu a great deal of his income.
40% Christians? Holy crap! (ghehe)
How does loyalty seem in Shikoku. May proove a bit difficult.. let's hope for the best.

How about diplomatics? Have you allied Oda yet? (If I missed it out reading somewhere, sorry) Shimazu is a no-no of course.. but either Uesugi or Oda should be an ally for now. Anyone you must try to achieve that it's not you who needs to exit all those troops there. (they should kill eachother preferably)

You seem to have big load of cash btw! Only thing is those few armies in Honshu... once you get these down you win...

[Thermal]

Wow, took a while to read, but great, all of that writing, woah its comparable to an epic AAR, nice info also as martok said try oda or mori if u want a good challenge, though with your battle results your easily better at the game than me also i've never known uesugi to rebel in bitchu, in fact ive never known oda to own bitchu either, oh well

[patdj]

Yay, back again.

Loyalty in Shikoku is a bit critical, yes. No thread but I'll need to spend some years in infrastructure and holding, requiring time and men. Here is my medium-term plan:
Hold Shikoku, slowly gathering troops for a quick invasion of Kyushu. This should break Shimazus neck. I hope for some action in South Honshu in mean time. I'm allied to the Oda and hope for the 3 big armies there to crash themselves.

2 turns without much action, then something interesting:
Oda cancelled his alliance with me, due to my war with his ally, Shimazu. This might draw attention to Honshu sooner then I thought. Oda might want to invade Sanuki, a temporal weak spot which I'm taking care of now. Well, I'll try to get friendly with Uesugi now.
Additionally, Shimazu drew troops to Bungo. Looks like I'm soon having some fun with the green root-force.

2 turns nothing, then BASH IN BITCHU!

Oda and Shimazu attacked Uesugi to whom I am still not allied. Still I think this is the time to attack. Revenge for my future friend!
So, Invasion of Oda-Bizen, Mimasaka and Hoki (both without Shimazu troops in there). Have to keep an eye on the Butcho garrison, which is growing steadily.

Attack on Hoki, I'm outnumbered 850 to 650. On of the first attacks I have a disadvantage. Still, I do not withdraw, because I expect low quality troops. DÖÖÖD! Wrong: Arquebusiers, No Dachi and Naginata in a weird formation await my arrival.
Hm, my archers do a lot o damage to their approaching No Dachi. I send cavalry to my right flank for giving them a big blow. Bäm, suddenly two big infantry units storm out of the forrest and hit my horses. I have to send help, leaving my archers nearly without protection, their infantr, especially their Naginata do the remaining. If I recall right, my first defeat in this campain... 350 killed, 500 lost.

Next attack, Mimasaka. A big Shimazu army returned, joined by an Oda army (is he at war with Shimazu now? He is said to be neutral...). Summing them up I'm otnumbered 1600 to 1350...
Oda is placed to my left. I'm moving along a valley towards the Shimazu troops. Lucky me! Oda seems to be attacking Shimazu. I would like to hurry now and crash them all, but the terrain is way to much highland. I approach slowly and see what is left over.
I Shimazu left two cavalry units (including general) to take care of me while the rest of his army seems to be defeating Oda. I want to provoke them with archer fire and block their attack with Yari Ashigaru. I'm a little too slow, loosing some bowmen, but the YAs do a decent job. His general gets defeated and roots.
I attack the rest of them, they come stoming through the forrest. Its an expensive fight because I cant bring my cavalry into play (damned woods) but my infantry is superior and wins. Meantime my horses kill Oda, who approached with his Daimyo unit, the only one left over.
Summing it up, kicked them both, killed nearly 1000 and lost nearly 500.

Battle with Oda. 1900 of mine against the remaining 400 Odas. Bad troop management, aye? Not much of a story. I kick the majority of his army with archers. Without loosing one men. Cav Archers ftw. His archer units, one of them general, hide in the forrest and await my bunch of No Dachis. They are outnumbered heavily but manage to kick quite a lot of mine, including my general!
Whatever, could have been easier, but I was in a hurry.

Oda killed in battle, no heirs. I'm angry with Shimazu and advance to Bitchu in order to help Uesugi. Additionally, I run a second attack wave to Hoki. Finally all my trops are good for something!

To be continued, perhaps even this year. :P

[Drisos]

Aw, tough losses in Hoki and Mimasaka. Glad to hear the good news on the defeat of Oda.

Btw, if possible, it's be most helpful for you if the Shimazu would kill off the Uesugi. It will cost Shimazu some troops, and you won't have to betray and defeat Uesugi later on. (you would have to if you saved him now)

Btw, screen?

[patdj]

Yeah, I know. I'm being silly.

But this isn't about fast winning. This is about the new order I'm establishing. I will not tolerate that Shimazu will put an end to the line of Uesugi. He is just not entitled anymore to end anything on this isle. It is the Hojo who will send the Uesugi as well as the Shimazu to a life as monk or their death, be it on the battlefield or by Seppuku. (Sorry, I'm getting weird.)

But seriously, I'm getting nuts by now and launched everything to offense.



My second wave on Hoki was succesfull, Shimazu retreated without battle although he moved his Daimyo there. The big attack on Bitchu will probably determine the fate of southern Honshu. Shimazu sent reinforcements, I have 1400 men attacking 1200 Shimazu defenders and I think I have the upper hand.

Bridge defense. I should watch the map a bit more precisely. But I have plenty of archers and learned from my faults. See what I can do.
Shimazu stays at distance. I try the tactics I used before and send my strong infantry to the bridge. He sends is best infantry to welcome me. I withdraw in time and build a block on the bridge. The defending force becomes attacker and rained down by arrows. I take a glace at his units. 2 of archers, no horses, rest is more Yaris than No Dachi, one of them general.



I hit my people as well and my block is expensive. His troops withdraw so I'm advancing a bit. This time he sends more, including his archers firing at me. Now I'm efficient, all his men get pierced like Brosnan, including his General.
The rest of his army advances, I still have some NDs left, so lets get it on.
Same story. I nearly loose all my infantry but so does he. And me has troops left. I think he got that, too. He is withdrawing. Some of them openly routing, rest just "marching quickly" as if death was behind them.

He is, in fact, but he is faster, he has horses.



The rest isn't very thrilling. I only get some of them before they reach the "safe zone". Nevertheless, a nice victory and a good revenge for the shame of Hoki. And the process of battle is read perfectly from the overview:



Everything looks fine. I'm besieging Uesugi now, as well as some Shimazu remainings in Mimasaka and some rebels in Hizen. It's perhaps a bit of a game problem but somehow, Uesugi did never want to see my emissaries since he is locked up in his castle. How disrespectful! I think there is no other way than ending the siege and thereby... ...his line. The other sieges will be ended as well. Tomorrow. This took some time and I'm tired.

PS: 16% Christians left in Tosa, nothing new from Butcho, apart from new troops arriving every turn. I think he wants Shikoku back. I'm prepared, muaha!

[patdj]

DAMMIT! (Sorry.)

I just kept telling everything that happened during the last turns, but the usually very useful extra buttons at my mouse screwed everything by accidentally returning to the page I was before.

So, I'll only give you a short overview.

I ended the sieges, not much of a problem. Then I concentrated on getting reinforcements, especially infantry. We both got two new heirs, I have 2, Shimazu only 1 now. And he turned Buddhist again, for what reason ever.

I'm attacking Izumo, Bingo and Butcho now. In Izumo is his Daimyo, in Bingo his (only) heir. Could be a final trust.

Oh my. Retreats everywhere. Funnily, Kyushu looks deserted, only one garrisn in the north. See If I can get the whole isle in one strike. First I'm isolating south and north. Thereby I can conquer the south without letting the northern troops help.

I have the smell of victory in my nose while I send my troops to Iwami and end the siege in Bingo.



Total succes. Retreats everywhere, siege ended well.

Is stick to my offense. Invasion of Aki and Hyuga. Port in Chukugo is very useful. Need mass troops to hold my instable position.

Took Hyuga as well as Aki without battle. Loyalty in Hyuga is difficult. Especially the remaining sieges will be problematic, as they are the first on big castles. I think I rush the south of Kyushu as fast and safe as I can and try to hold my position against the sieges and population.

Meantime, I'm advancing to Suo and Nagato. Might be able to catch his Daimyo.

Retreats, retreats, retreats. Except Suo. Daimyo HAS to fight. 1600 of mine against 1000 of his.

He awaits me on a woody hill right infront of me. I tickle him with archers and he cmes storming down. I'm pretty well prepared and soon his Daimyo roots, and dies. So does the rest of his army. Lost 265, killed 860. And the rest got trapped.

I have a nice position now, I'd say. Sadly I have no time left to think it through, so this is the situation at the end of this years offense.



I wish you all to have a Happy New Year!

[Drisos]

Wow! Massive citadels!

Victory is yours for sure... Happy new year.

[caravel]

I've just started a "starting at 1530" Takeda campaign. In the first two years Imagawa joined me in a battle and died on the field leaving no heirs. The result is that I've gained his lands... so off to a good start so far. A lot of rebellions so far so I'm on my toes trying to keep those down. Gaining Hizen from Imagawa was very welcome however as the Takeda starting provinces have poor farming potential.

[patdj]

Happy New Year.

Yeah, getting the lands of a former ally really rocks.

Indeed, Shimazu is pretty smashed by now. Unless he has something big growing in Satsuma this might be done within another year. I'm looking forward to the citadel battles. Never did one before and now I can choose.

[caravel]

Yes I think your campaign is now a forgone conclusion patdj. What will be your next campaign?

Mine is going ok, but my expansion is still stifled by poor income. To make matters worse Shimazu is now going after Hizen. I have held him off for the last 6 seasons, always fighting at a disadvantage with a smaller force.

My attempts om Sagami where Hojo is holding out, have been a dismal failure so far. Two attempts have resulted in defeat, the second in the loss of Shingen... I think I may be striking to early before my force is at a decent strength. I also don't have enough decent cavarly to take on his No Dachis.

In this campaign I have taken the different aproach of going fully Christian. That means accepting the Portuguese converting all provinces to Christianity and building churches in every province and most importantly no Monks.

[patdj]

My fellow soldiers,

I am General Hayashi, the leading military adviser of Great Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu, the Conquerour of Whole Japan. Japan has seen 245 winters since the Ashikaga unrightfully snatched away the lordship over this isle.
Today it is again the Hojo, who bring peace after all this years of war. I am proud to have done what I could in order to reestablish the rightful dynasty. I led my sword as well as the sword of thousands of fellow Samurai to the battlefields, in glory, honour and victory!

Hail to Shogun Ujiyasu, hail to Japan, hail to the Samurai!




Excerpt from Hayashi's records:

"It is winter in the 6th year of Tenshô Tenno. The Babarians call it the 1579th year. This years offense was a break through. Shimazu troops are clustered all over their remaining provinces and unable to regroup properly. Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu took four provinces in Kyushu, Bungo, Higo, Hyuga and Chikugo. I know from a messenger of Hojo Uiyasu-sama that the Daimyo troops are trying to end the ongoing sieges in the South.
Me and my troops reached the most western coast of Honshu this fall. Now where are moving over to Kyushu, planning to land in Buzen. I don't expect much defenses their, since Shimazu is heavily outnumbered. He took to heavy losses in Suo and the young Daimyo seems unable to keep his troops together. The final battle will come within a year."


"Spring is coming. We arrived in Buzen one half moon ago. Shimazu had his troops retreated, the peasants seemed relieved that there will be no fighting on their lands. Still I see crosses hanging onto to some people necklaces. Especially the local noblemen seem to carry it with great believe but I don't think that this will last long.
Today a messenger arrived from Uiyasu. He said that Obi castle fell to our troops in a perfect victory. Udo was taken, though bloodily, as well as Iwakuni Castle in Suo. Looks like the siege on the citadel in Buzen lasts until the end of spring. We hope for the safety of our Great Daimyo!
My troops have another week of rest, then we move westwards and invade Chikuzen. A last major Shimazu force is awaiting us there. I asked Hojo Ujiyasu-sama to send a minor force to Hizen in order to overwhelm the little garrison there and guard the border in case the Shimazu army we are attacking is retreating towards them.
In the meantime Hojo Ujinao-sama, the talented heir to the Throne is attacking Daimyo Shimazu Muneharu in Satsuma."



"I got a letter from Hojo Ujinao-sama yesterday. He told me that the coward Daimyo Muneharu fled over sea. Satsuma fell to his troops and the Shimazu forces are trapped in their citadel.
Daimyo Ujiyasu managed to take Yanagawa castle without much difficulty and determined to burn all Christian churches and foreign trading posts in Kyushu.
Unfortunately, the little troop attacking Hizen arrived there outnumbered 2 to 3. From what I heared they fought bravely against a large group of local warrior monks, supported by the fire throwing foreigners without honour or bravery, but where overwhelmed in the end. Daimyo Muneharu, who came here to lead his last big army, thereby managed to flee to Hizen. This will be the last decisive battle.

My troops are ready, we start marching. Ujiyasu-sama is supposed to meet us at Tachiyama tomorrow morning. We will rest there before we attack the last free Shimazu army, lead by the last heir to this minor Japanese family."

"The battle is over. We encountered Shimazu Muneharu-sama and 1000 of his men this morning on a wide and broad field in Hizen. It was fog on the fields and we hoped for a quick attack from multiple sites with critical cavalry strikes.
We found the Shimazu still manouveing. I could believe my eyes when I saw Christian unit wandering through the fog, without any protection, as if they where blind. They where heading to a little forrest to our left and I suggested Daimyo Ujiyasu to encircle these woods. He did, but he sent heavy cavalry after the two units of gunfire-men, too. Some minutes later scouts told us, that Muneharu-sama himself was following the fire-throwers. Another unit of cavalry was send with the scout in order to perhaps get a fast and easy grip on our enemy.
Some unjapanese yelling made me feel confortable, although I never loved to here the sounds of dying men. But these sure weren't ours. And the scout was right, as well. My lord went of to face Muneharu himself, our Yari Cavalry had him trapped at the foot of a hill.
The rest of the army I saw scrambled up in the woods, hoping to thereby defend themselves against our smashing horse power. Ujiyasu-sama told me to encircle them and attack, when the troops were ready or arrows started to rain down on us.
So far, neither the one nor the other thing happened so far. The Christians got chased of the battlefield, not worth one koku.
Then, we stormed. From about 4 sides my men moved uphill into the woods. No perfect circle, but the equally lethal. This time I couldn't hear whether these are the screams were those of my enemies or my friends, but as I was approaching in the secand wave of attack I saw more dead bodies with the green Shimazu emblem. Soon there were only archers left. As they were unable to aim properly in the thick woods we literally slaughtered them without much casualties. A messenger told me that our Daimyo had beaten Muneharu in battle. If that is really the case I couldn't tell, but it was good for my mens moral, in any way.
Soon they fled out of the forest, with my horses behind them. We took many heads, 950 in total but we are equally burning 166 of our brave soldiers, who made this victory possible on this glorious day.
The line of Shimazu has ended, there are only some rebel forces left in the castle."

"Today arrived a two messengers. One from General Ota, who took Hiroshima castle in Aki. The other one came from the south of Kyushu. Ujiyasus son Ujinao-sama, who successfully took Osumi with a minor army and without Shimazu defenses."



"I met Daimyo Hojo Ujiyasu today. He asked me end the ongoing sieges with the rebels in Satsuma and Hizen while he is visiting Tenshô Tenno in Kyoto Castle in order to be nominated Shogun.
The rebels will not be much of a problem, I would say, but for now I don't have the capacities effectively distributed and I will need until winter to be ready for an attack on the castle in Satsuma."

"Nagasaki castle fell three days ago. It was today the day I wanted to leave for Satsuma, to subordinate the last unpeaceful castle on this isle. But I was asked for an urgent audience by another messenger. He wore golden robes. It was a royal messenger of the Tenno himself. A message he send to all castles all over Japan:
A new Shogun was nominated. His name is Hojo Ujiyasu. Finally, peace has come. Finally, the Hojo rule again and will bring this country wealth and power. Hail to the Shogun!"







Puh, finally done with this one. THis roleplay thing costs time. Need to go to bed. Cya. :D

[Martok]

A very good campaign patdj, and a most enjoyable read. Thanks for sharing it with us!

[caravel]

[patdj]

THX guys. Now that I'm done with I'm already missing it. But still, I'm a bit too busy at the moment for large campain reports. I'm playing a Viking Invasion campain sueing my free time. When I'm ready with that one I'll give one of the more difficult ones a try. With extended reporting, of course.

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Excellent writeup patdj