STW Uesugi

'fixme: need ingame description here'

Geography and Economics

The Uesigi are sited on the eastern tip of Honshu (actually it's north, but the map has been tilted to the side). Their provinces are relatively rich with some good mineral deposits, and even richer farming provinces are nearby.

Clan Uesugi probably is the faction that's best suited for beginners.

Advice

Hida is a write-off. If you try to hold both Hida and Shinano, you'll probably lose both. Pull back your troops and cling to Shinano -- that province is an obvious keystone and sure enough, you'll have plenty of opportunities to defend it. Not losing that place will probably soak up most of your resources for years to come, yet it's definitely worth it.

The other rather obvious objective is to conquer all Hojo lands; once you've shifted your western border into the river province of Musashi, you're safe in your corner of Japan and have plenty of income to leisurly develop any kind of infrastructure you like.

Cheap archers will come in handy when defending your borders; but don't let yourself be lured into building all-archer armies.

Immediate Measures

Blitzing into Hitachi then Shimosa during the first turns certainly is possible; not in order to seize and hold Shimosa, but doing so will destroy all Hojo Dojos and give you an immediate edge in the arms race. However, if you can pull that off, playing the Uesigi becomes so easy as to be boring. In that case, you should probably play another faction instead.