It was my intention to create this thread after the model of maltz's stories; it is an accurate description of my latest campaign with the Takeda, finished in 7 years, seen through the eyes of one of Shingen's generals, Obata Toramori.
On a separate note here, it should be known that all facts, names, titles, familiy history, japanese dates, and places are historically accurate. For example, Kaizu castle is indeed the castle where Obata died, in June 1561. Description of the Uesugi, Mori and Takeda clans histories are also historical facts, lake Biwa is the lake that can be seen on the map as being part of Omi, Takeda's taishos were organised in the way depicted in several parts of the chronicle etc.
Of course, I was carefull not to include too much historical information and thus break the "swift tone" of the chronicle.
It is not to be a superficial read, or at least this is my hope. Converging the descriptions with the screenshots I hope that my style of playing will be revealed to the other taisho. What I think it can be learned by examining this description is when to attack, when and what threats can and should be ignored, and of course, how you can finish a campaign in 28 seasons. It is not my way to give advice; instead, I prefer examples.
I await your opinions, and sincerely hope to be criticised if there were options which I overlooked. Btw, hope you won't mind the tone used, as said I kinda' liked maltz approach and thought it will make for a better read.
Conditions:
- expert level
- never loaded
- never attacked allied factions
- in order to make it all more interesting, I used no shinobi
- unit size 80
- try to mantain the plethora of taishos given by default (when the game ended, all these plus Morozumi Masakiyo were alive, 6 of them 4 rank taishos, with Kansuke of rank 5, Shingen 6, heirs Nobushige and Nobukado only 3)
- patch 1.02
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"Swift as the wind"
Written in the 4th year of Eiroku, 1561 after the calendars of the southern barbarians ..
at the Kaizu castle ..
by myself, Obata Toramori, Yamashiro no kami of the Takeda clan, veteran of Shingen's Koshu warband and part of the go-fudai karo-shu council since the times of Takeda Nobutora.
The past few weeks left me weakened, and I feel that my end draws near. But before my death, the documents in my possesion deserve to be revealed to our followers. For all years that passed during our offensive against the rebel powers that threatened the peace of the nation and the Emperor's, it was I that served as secretary of my master, Shingen, it was I the one with whom he discussed his plans, even before ever sharing them with Yamamoto or Baba. Thus, all notes regarding campaign plans are in my possesion, and it was my decision to leave them as heritage to the generals of the Takeda, as testimony of Shingen's genius.
12 years ago, in the last autumn before Shingen unleashed us upon Japan, he called me to his provisory headquarters. There, in the quiet gardens of the Kentokuzan temple, Shingen shared to me his ambitious plans. For the absolute succes of these plans he was later named Nowake. In my language, this word refers to the dry storm wind often encountered during autumn, the wind that brings with it death and silence. It was our rivals' way of defining Shingen's peace. May they come to Buddha's hand some day.
To speak all truth, the legend whispered even today among our ranks states that one morning, as our master was meditating in front of mihata tatenashi, the kami of the wind revealed itself to the "compassionate eye" (jap. shingen) offering council; in return, Nowake asked for each year to fall as many heads as leaves from trees each autumn. And swift as the Nowake wind those fell ..
But no matter of the origin of his new name, since the day he called upon me, Shingen shielded our weaknesess and maximised our strenghts. Thus, when he summoned us, our spirits raged in front of the absolute ..
My chronicle covers the whole period of 7 years we needed to pacify Japan; it reproduces to the letter the notes I wrote during my secret councils with our lord, but I also allowed myself for personal comments and judgements over the general situation, in order for the reader to understand the sometimes desperately bold decisions our generals and especially Shingen were forced to take. Structured into 7 chapters coresponding to the years of the campaign, the chronicle is an objective work, thus throughout it I used 3rd person even for myself.
PROLOGUE
Plans:
Over the whole spring of 1550, shinobi delivered reports directly to Nowake in the Kentokuzan temple. Present at almost all meetings, I was able to quickly form an opinion over my masters plans; these were astounding. Kai being bordered by other 5 provinces, our forces were eventually forced to face 5 potential directions of attack. Shingen effectively proposed to wipe out any resistance in the south, while striking into the west, north and east, preventing any rivals from preparing an offensive; thus, not only we would form another front in Suruga, Shinano and Musashi, but we would have obtained the long needed acces to the sea and its salt.
Of course, an all out attack raised many problems, much more than a slow relentless offensive, and it wasn't something no one thought about before; even Nobutora contemplated the problem, but at the time we were not prepared. The advantages of this maneuvre consisted in negating to our southern enemy the posibility of retreat or form pockets of resistance. And if we were to invade Izu, Sagami and Musashi, we may just get the chance to catch Imagawa of Suruga and Suwa of Shinano relaxed. Mount Fuji could be ours without a fight.
The main problem were numbers, as we would be forced to fight 5 to 1 in some places; but Kai now had a plethora of valorous generals, and our men were thirsty for blood. Nowake was not to be impeded by numbers ..
Forces of attack as established by Shingen ..
Invasion of Imagawa lands:
- Yamamoto Kansuke (CA) and Obata Toramori (YC) shall attack Imagawa's forces in Suruga
Invasion of Hojo lands:
- Sanada Yukitaka (HC) must secure the left flank in Izu, dealing with the ashigaru of Ota Yoshinobu (rank 1) and the yari samurai of Utsunomiya Masauji
- Takeda Shingen and Amari Torayasu (CA) will head for the bulk of the Hojo forces in Sagami, under Miyoshi Takatsugu and his troops consisting of 2 SA, 1 YA and 1 YS
- Tsuchiya Masatsugu (CA), merging with Yamamoto Takayoshi (NC), must secure the right flank by attacking Hojo Ujiyasu leading 2 SA in Musashi
Invasion of Shinano:
- Yokota Takatoshi (YC) and Takeda Nobushige (YS) will attack Suwa Nobukimi's troops consisting of SA and YS.
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However I won losing only 17 
the other battles were easy...however I got 3 rebellions next turn, and 4 the next...so I can't expand at all, it's summer 1551 and I haven't expanded past these 5 provinces. Not sure why Imagawa sent all there troops to shinano in my game and not yours...perhaps because I sent Kansuke up there. 
), but I will try to emulate u.
Plus, if you keep your taxes on 75% for a long time, the chances for revolt drop even lower.
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