Shogun 2: Total War Heaven

And so it begins. In my home province of Kai, I find one army, one town and one breeding ground for horses. The first is more important right now, the last later on. The horses will allow me to recruit superior cavalry, giving me a solid advantage in battle. Sieges won't be my speciality, so the open fields are where I will fight.



My army consists of one general, who is a brother to my daimyo and has been appointed as Commissioner for Warfare. He's only twenty years old, which means I have plenty of time to train him into a great general and pluck the fruits of my labours. A good start already.

He commands an army of one Yari Samurai, one Yari Ashigaru, one Bow Ashigaru, and one Light Cavalry. Most clans start without any cavalry, so I have an advantage here, because I can chase down routers much more efficiently, which means I can make sure I don't have to fight routers again in another battle.

I'm already at war with the Murakami to the north, but since I don't want to overstretch myself I first bolster my army with one Yari and one Bow Ashigaru.



My home region contains a breeding ground, but the farming soil is only average and it has no access to the lucrative sea trade, so I'm not too strong economically speaking. To compensate for this, I start research on the Way of Chi.

On top of that I upgrade my farms to improve my income. I really like farms, because they increase your food supply. Each extra unit of food increase Town Wealth by 1 in all your regions. So if you have ten regions, each with a food surplus of one, you're gaining 10*10=100 Town Wealth each turn, which after a while makes a big impact.

Another reason why I like farms is that they don't depend on other clans to earn you money. This makes you less dependent, so it doesn't matter too much if you lose a trading partner. (Or all of them, when the Realm Divide happens.)



Time for some diplomacy. As you can see above, I'm at war with the Murakami to my north-east.



The Imagawa and Hojo to my south-east are friendly towards me. To start with I'm allied to the Imagawa and have trade rights with the Hojo. They're friendly to each other as well, so I will try to forge a three-way alliance between us. This will make sure my southern flank is protected. I start by arranging a Trade Agreement with the Imagawa.

I also agree to a Trade Agreement with the Kiso to my south-west. Their home province has a supply of superior stone, which is needed to build great fortresses. I expect them to do this in their capital as well, making it almost impossible to capture. Useful for me, as it makes it much more difficult for Liam to attack me from that direction.



The Hojo approach me with an offer of alliance. I definitely want to ally with them, but they ask for 640 koku in return. Right now I'd rather spend that money elsewhere, so I decline for now.



The new recruits have joined my army on the road to North Shinano, so I march to war.



The Murakami had already sent an army to my border, but I quickly dispatch them in an auto-resolved battle. (Liam and myself were still figuring out how that worked here, so it was more or less by accident, hence I have no pics.) A few routers flee north, but they're quickly dealt with.



The road to Matsumoto, the capital city of North Shinano, now lies open, so I besiege the town and quickly capture it.



I bear no ill will to these people, so I peacefully occupy the region. To show my goodwill, I repair the castle and start upgrading the farms and roads in the region.



Capturing this province has brought me into contact with many new clans. The Uesugi approach me with an offer of Trade. I have no desire to expand north, so I accept, hoping I can establish friendly relationships with this highly religious people.



The Hojo also realize they have much to gain from an alliance with me, this time not asking anything in return. I accept their offer, so now my south-eastern flank is secure.

Looks like a good start and I am sure this will turn out to be a very good AAR.

The Takeda are a good choice for you, Hussarknight. Especially with the Takeda being notorious for their excellent cavalry, which makes up for their infantry not being the greatest when compared to other factions. But so long as you use your cavalry wisely then I have no doubt that the Takeda will reign supreme over Liam's dastardly Hattori and rule the whole of Japan.

I wish you good luck Hussarknight and the worse of luck to Liam.

Good luck, chaps.

Good luck to both of you. And have fun!
Looking forward to further updates.

Thanks for the encouraging comments guys, good to know you're interested. I'll do my best to defeat Liam for you Also, expect an update tonight. Getting quite close to Liam already, and have so far killed three of his supposedly superior ninjas

Later than promised, but here's another update:



The Anegakoji have a feel for humour. I'm besieging their only town, with the remnants of their army defending it. Still they think they can persuade me to make peace. But I need their region if I am to continue expanding north-west, so I have to take their region.



The region has a source of Superior Wood, which will come in useful, even though I can't use it to build ships cheaper as the province has no sea access. A little extra trading income is always welcome.



Good news! A new son of the Takeda is born. Now an infant, he will one day lead our armies to victory. On the night of his birth, a falling star was seen shooting across the sky, surely a sign of the heavens predicting his glorious triumphs!



Merchants have brought with them news from the south. Two great clans, the Shimazu and the Mori, have been defeated by their enemies and are now a footnote in the annals of Japan.



As we made war, the Anegakoji were trying to kill us in the dark. In their capital a dark, shady place provided a harbour to all lowly kinds of people, the scum from the streets, the thieves and assassins. We disdain their ways, but we realize how useful they can be to our cause: sometimes, a single knife in the dark can do more than a thousand swords. Secretly a Ninja was recruited in the backstreets to assist our cause, together with a Ninja that joined him from North Shinano.



The Uesugi, who we are already trading with, are growing into a more powerful clan each day. We have nothing to gain in the far, cold north, but we cannot afford to leave our borders unguarded, so we proposed an alliance with the Uesgui, and after some negotiations, they accepted.



Our clansmen are the most skilled horse riders in all Japan, an advantage we would do well to utilize in war. To train better cavalry units, we upgraded the stables in our homeregion of Kai.



We must always pay due attention to our borders. We have many friends around us, but to the south the border with the Kiso could still be vulnerable. Hence we approach them with an offer of alliance. They refuse to contribute to our war efforts, but to show their loyalty they send one of our sons to our court to keep as a hostage.



Further south-east, beyond the lands of the Kiso, the Oda rule. Word has reached us that they are expanding their influence, so we establish friendly relations with them that may be useful later.



One of our lowly ninjas has discovered the next stronghold barring our way to the coast. The Jinbo haven't declared war on us yet, but they're not very friendly either, so we decide to capture their town. Their castle provides our Ninja a chance to sharpen his skills by trying to sabotage their gates, without demanding too high a reward.



He is succesful, and already he is beginning to become more stealthy and more clever at avoiding enemy guards. With more practice, he'll become an even more useful weapon.



The Jinbo must be taken out, so our general leads his army north, stopping at the border. Although he could march further into the Jinbo region, he stops at the border to avoid spending the winter in their territory, far away from fresh supplies which the men need to keep themselves alive in the harsh winter.



Our greatest researches and thinkers have mastered the Strategy of Attack, so now it is time to focus on more peaceful advancements. Koku doesn't buy us honour, but we need it to fund new buildings and raise mighty new armies!



A messenger brings bad news. Our loyal allies, the Imagawa, have been defeated by the Oda, their lands pillaged, their castles taken!



We do not like it, but we have to re-evaluate our alliances. We do not like the Oda much, but they are a powerful clan and would make fine allies to protect us from invasions from the south. We have to put honour aside for a short wile and ally with the Oda. They even demand a hostage from us, but we have little choice but to accept.

And on that bomshell, it's time to end!

Good luck Hussarknight!

This is a refreshingly interesting way to post an AAR- from two viewpoints.

Both daimyos add depth to their tales of war, and the game is wonderfully adept at providing a proper stage upon which to act out this tale.

Well done, to you both!

It's been a while since I last posted here, but I still have a batch of screenshots left over so here's another update. To clarify, this is part of our previous session so Liam may have updated to this point already. We haven't had a new playing sessions yet.

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Here's where we left off: Takeda Nobushige leads an army to capture Etchu. As his forces reach the castle, the defenders march out to meet them in the field. Liam took control of the AI troops in this battle.



A large hill dominates the center of the battlefield. Eager to take control of it, I split my forces into two parts to walk around both sides. On the far side an infantry detachment, on the near side a similar infantry detachment is supported by my cavalry.

In the heat of the moment I didn't have time to take much screenshots, but this one shows more or less what happened:



When I deployed the default Hammer and Anvil tactic, Liam rushed my cavalry, which included both generals, with pretty much everything available.



I try to pull them out, but it's too late: both my generals are cut down.



It doesn't take much to rout their forces after that, but it's a Pyrrhic victory at the cost of two young Takeda warlords.



Luckily in the chaos of the battle, a young captain rallied the troops and managed to defeat the Jinbo. His actions don't go unnoticed and I hire him as a general.



Not much is left of the garrison, so in his first official battle as commander I autoresolve for an easy win. I really like how far it has been improved since Rome, where you had to fight every battle yourself or lose many times more men. Now you can get comparable results with fighting it yourself or autoresolving.



A bit earlier I had received a mission to eliminate a general in battle. It is now fulfilled, giving me a morale boost which will is always welcome. I usually don't pat much attention to the missions but it's a nice extra.



The newly captured settlement harbours a market building, where a local magistrate drew attention to himself by catching a fraudulent trader. To make better use of his talents, I recruit him as a Metsuke to help me keep those Hattori ninja's in check.



My economy is humming along nicely, so I can start thinking about future military plans. Of course I want to get better cavalry, but which type shall I go for? Yari Cavalry have a strong charge but little staying power, while Katana Cavalry is a more all-round unit. In the end I decide to just trample everyone done and go with the Yari Drill Yard. It will take a few turns to build and then some more to get the recruits to the front, so you can't really start too early.


Just having a little fun. Can anyone understand why Liam wouldn't accept my offer?



Normally the "Clan Destroyed" messages aren't very interesting, but this one is. The Yamanouchi bordered me to the north-east and I hadn't allied them yet, so they were a bit of a risk. However an ally of mine has gobbled them up leaving my flanks even more secure. Until the Realm Divide at least...



Two turns later I capture the province of Noto. I won't bore you with the battle, but it's results are more interesting. First I get Imperial Recognition, which I'd expected to get earlier. Does anybody know if this is maybe affected by difficulty? Second is a new rank for Kosaka Kametaka, my general. He'll be going down the leadership path, with skill points spend on Strategist (+20% movement range) and a Kikuchiyo as retainer (+1 morale for all units in the army). I'm getting closer to Liam, so I better prepare myself.



Here's a quick overview of my army before I continue my conquest down the coast. As you can see it's still made up out of Ashigaru, but the Yari Cavalry is on the way and will soon reinforce them.



Liam's being sneaky again! Let's see if we can fight fire with fire.



Succes! It's always satisfying to kill a ninja, even more sore when it's a Hattori ninja and even more if it's Liam's ninja!
Takeda: 1 - Hattori 0



I have a feeling this won't be the last ninja I encounter, so I train my ninja to become the ultimate assassin.



This is interesting. My cavalry are already powerful, but this offer can make strengthen them further. 2500 koku is a lot, but in 10 seasons I can train 10 yari cavalry, If they all start with improved stats that's a big advantage, so I employ the renowned horseman.



As I showed you a few pictures back, the Ikko-Ikki are my next target. However I don't declare war on them straight away. Instead I offer the Oda to join them in their war against the Ikko-Ikki. I don't ask anything in return, so this counts as a gift which will improve my relationship with them. It won't change the world, but every bit helps.



Now that we're officially at war, I can sweep in and take the lightly defended Kaga province for my own. First thing to do is destroy the Ikko-Ikki temple as their faith will cause unrest in the region as well as in neighbouring ones.



The loyalty of my new general isn't very high yet. If he's going to fight my battle in the future he might get dreams of starting for his own, so I adopt him into the family to improve his loyalty to me.



To cement my flourishing relationship with the Oda, we give each other indefinite military access. I can't imagine why the Oda would want to march through my lands, but I reach Liam the frontlines a lot quicker through their territory.



Liam is being a sneaky spartan again! Let's do something about that...



Another win for me in the Ninja Wars!
Takeda 2 - Hattori 0



Here we go, round 4!



Not what I had hoped for, but at least my ninja managed to escape.



Time for revenge, it's round 5!



And it's another win for the Takeda!
Takeda 3 - Hattori 0
That zero looks nice doesn't it?

And on that bomshell, it's time to end. Thanks for reading and if you have any suggestions/comments/questions/ninja wars supporter t-shirt, let me know!

Never played Shogun 2, but this looks pretty interesting. Should definitely get it. The dual narrative is really interesting-- it gives you two different perspectives. I like it.