I am the Real Shogun! - The AAR
Update 1: The Adopted Son/Brother and the Second Daimyo - Part Two.
This will be a bit more picture heavy, read it like any book, left to right, bottom of the stack to the top of the stack, as far as the narrative goes. There might be some exceptions (The second picture, for example =D), you should figure it out. Let me know if you hate this style. It should get better as I become more familiar with it/don't decide going for it halfway through. Looking at it in retrospect it's way to messy, will definitely clean it up for the next post.
I'll also go ahead and apologize once more in advance, this time about the names. I'm trying, I really am, but Japanese names are seriously difficult when you've never delved into the culture before. Matasomo Makatsumo Matakomo Rokokomanykokoko.
The immediate results of my initial strategy, I am a happily married man. I mean who wouldn't be happily married when you have 4 wives, any issues you might've had with marriage gets thrown out the window when you go with polygamy. Arguments? They'll argue with each other. Affection? You'll never run out, the competitive spirit ensures that. Boredom? Won't happen, just won't. Cheating on you? Eh, you've got 3 more. And to top it all of none of them are lepers, they're all fresh, 30% more fertile babycontraptions of one kind or another.
What might be more important, and surely more interesting, is that you can see the strategy I detailed above for yourself. This is my opening move as Ashikaga, it appears to work most of the time with even the most random RNG happening (This game has had it's fair share of that so far, quite liking the results, you'll see more of that later). Well it works in a way, it stops you from being completely stomped by Hosokawa, which is the result I had before I started trying this one.
So, that monster horde trampling through my territory? Yep, headed east and I'm all clear for now. Sagara is being sieged, the Kizu levy is doing just what I want it to and my main army is strolling around waiting for those suicidal Hosokawa vassals to appear. I spot one heading for the province where my family resides:
12th August, 1467: This is my first battle in the Ōnin war, excluding the ones my levies engage in with my original moves, this is the first one I "choose" to engage in. To my great surprise, despite a 7 to 1 advantage the Hosokawa's most loyal subjects prove to be formidable enough. Wounded in battle? Well the wound might plague me until I randomly fall dead for no apparent reason sometime soon but the heroic initial victory, nevermind the odds, surely inspire loyalty in my fearless peasant army.
1st November, 1467: There's very little going on at the start of the game, some months pass between each battle and now another vassal retinue approaches, I quickly dispatch of it and move my army south. Once there I run into a bit of an issue, there's yet another massive army matching through my lands and I just hope and pray (Although I don't practice any religion as of yet, none offer any real power, I wonder when that will change /hint) that they're heading east or at least invading my immediate neighbour, the Buddisht clan of Rokkamanykokokos. The former seems the likely option, as you can see they have lands in the east, surrounded by Toki and Shiba. Although both have battles to fight in the northern theatre they do spend resources conquering the Hosokawa territories.
So basically, the reason the Hosokawa armies are ignoring me? They have more pressing issues, to be completely fair unless they lose the war in the west and east I pose no real threat to them, should they so choose to, and they occasionally do, they completely ravage me and I'm powerless to stop it. Fortunately that means as long as the rightful side is the victor, I have a lot of expansion opportunities in the early part of the Sengoku Jidai, I just need to make sure I grab them before the troops of the eastern and western clans do, while estimating the power of the Hosokawa's reaction.
The western (Southwest perhaps, but that's too complex) and northern theatre, in the west the Ouchi, Takeda, Kono and Yamana face off against Kyogoku, Akamatsu and Hosokawa, occasionally aided by the rebellious, Onyu-Takeda. Rebellious? Even more so than those who dare engage in an open civil war against their rightful Shogun, must be those who engage not only in said war, but break off from their own family to do so!
In the north there is another example of such a betrayal, the rebel clan of Daizu - Hatakeyama have broken off from their own clan, the Hatakeyama of the south, and are slowly conquering their territories on the northern edge of this war. With them are the Togashi, Kyogoku, Niu - Shiba and the eastern troops of the Hosokawa plus reinforcements arriving from the west. The Onyu - Takeda makes the occasional appearence here as well.
On the opposing side? A few troops from the northern provinces of the Hatakeyama and Shiba, who perish quite early. Then there's the Toki who focus their full might on the north, the Shiba who once they've dealt with the Hosokawa also head there, the Rokomanykokokokos who usually conquer the central northern provinces, and of course the eastern troops of the Takeda clan.
I'm afraid the strategy of the early war is quite boring to witness, as you can see I defeat vassal retinues one by one, I try to move south to engage in the siege but before I even get there I am forced to move north again to stomp out another siege before it grows like a tumor. It is also important that I keep my army in my own territories until my Samurai retinue has reached the respectable size of 1000 strong.
25th June, 1468: On this day Sagara falls, while a small and insignificant clan they did indeed turn on the Shogun, as such their existance is erased. More importantly, I can finally move on.
With Sagara in my hands I turn my eyes towards my traitorous brother, one of his provinces is currently under siege by the levy I sent there at the start of the war, that siege is well underway but I have to make sure that I establish the sieges in the other two provinces he holds, Soekami and Yamabe. It would not do to have another clan as overlord of the lands of the righful Shogun. I split my Sagara siege force and send them on their way.
The first steps of the second Daimyo are taken by Ashikaga Harutane as I grant him the title of Kokujin of Sagara. A diplomatic man (Hence why I saved him for this), he makes an excellent vassal because he's easy to get along with. While Sagara is technically inside my own Kuni I do not want to hold all provinces within it, the revolt risk of +5 that you get per every province you hold above 5 is simply not worth it. Especially not if you look to the future and a certain group of peasant lunatics. I will however seek to hold 6, once you get theatres running that revolt risk goes away and the profit you gain is certainly worth it. As you can see my troops are besieging every province that the Soejimo rebels siezed in their attempt on the Shogunate, assuming no interruption from the Hosokawa clan you'll see a united Ashikaga once more soon enough.
1st September, 1468: Unfortunately, the Hosokawa army I was hoping would be heading east does in fact stick around to siege my provinze, Kuse. In a move of sheer brilliance (ohhai =D) instead of assaulting head on I decide that offense is my best defense. I head south on the gamble that the province of Soejimo will go from "Suicidal assault" to "Fair chance of winning" with the addition of some extra troops, or at least capitulate soon enough for me to rush to the defense.
The former does happen, this is where having an infantry army as a smaller clan does work in your favor, as you can assault fortifications much more effectively which lets you react to situations such as this one with more force. Most Honourable vassal Ashikaga Horutane is granted yet another Kokujin title with the conquest of Soejimo, and my military might is ready for it's first true challenge. I send them north, to Tsuzuki. There I hold, they have a cavalry army, or at least a larger portion than mine. I gain nothing by attacking right away so I simply wait for an opportunity of any sort.
I figured they'd either assault, leave or get reinforced. The first would be the best scenario for me, the last the worst. Luckily the AI likes me this time around, he decides to assault with my army just one province over. The garrison of the castle hits 45 soldiers, my army arrives, despite the morale losses of the Hosokawa army the battle is fierce. Numerically they still have a slight advantage and since their cavalry force can't engage in the siege they've lost no morale. The start of that battle was quite exciting to say the least, maybe because it's the first decisive event of this game. I did actually think I would lose, I figured I had attacked too early, because they looked to be winning. Then their cavalry ran out of juice, and that threatening green bar started running out for them, their infantry units were fighting and losing. Also keep in mind that I play on the lowest speed setting at the start, each little mistake really hurts you at this point, so the slow speed really helps. Anyways, the speed lets me see each little shift in the battle, that definitely makes it more interesting.
Had I lost I would've lost my main standing army, one of my main provinces and would probably have been way behind in the conquest of the remaining Hosokawa territories once we get towards the end of this war, assuming we win, the other way around and I'd be in an even worse situation. In all honesty I don't know how this one will go either, I haven't played that far yet but this one battle definitely made it look promising as they have literally no troops available at the moment, in the central area.
Either way, they still have 400 soldiers moving in from the east, I don't want to fight 400 fresh men with my exhausted army, not because I'd lose but because I want to pursue and destroy the rest of the Hosokawa army. So I panic and send my troops to what I percieve to be the closest province, Uji. I could've just followed them but I end up going Uji > Kii > Tokuni where I defeat the remnants of their army. After that I head east to Kuse and finish up the other retinue that for some reason decided to start up the Kuse siege again.
15th January, 1468: With no opposition left on this part of the map, and no levies coming up for quite some time I send my army south to aid in the Siege of Soekami.
As the siege is underway I recieve word that the construction of the
Castle in Kadono is completed, perhaps I should take some time to explain my strategy in this part of the game. It's not too complex, basically the first
Military building, the
Castle, grants +1 levy size, so I ensure that every province has that. Once done, the next levy size upgrade comes at tier 3, with the
Stone Base, and I go from province to province making sure each one gets that. So basically
Castle x6, then
Earthwork Palisade >
Stone Base, rinse and repeat. For the
Village buildings, the strategy is similar. The first retinue upgrade comes at the
Guild Hall, tier 3. Then
Road Network and then
Geisha District. So you ensure that all your provinces has each upgrade before you move onto the next tier. I send my
Master of the Guard to raise another
Castle in the province of Kii.
Another interesting thing happens, something I haven't seen a lot. A ronin party randomly appears in one of my provinces looking for work. I haven't been looking for them at all, and I usually don't get them even if I do. Sadly this one costs 75 "wealth", something I'm not even close to being capable of spending.
22nd December, 1468: Soekami is the next province that surrenders to me, every traitor in it is given the choice of Seppuku, or obligatory Seppuku. My Most Loyal Ally Ashikaga Harutane earns the right to his third Kokujin title, that of Soekami. The Ashikaga forces march on the capital of the Soejimo traitors.
With yet another, although very important siege underway there's more time for civic matters, where my brother Ashikaga Masatomo failed my
Master of the Guard succeeds. Perhaps my brother is too incompetent to incorporate into any future plans after all, even some lowly courtier outperforms him. While Masatomo's goal was to reach a peaceful solution that let the Shogunate maintain it's power in the east, mine is a bit more violent. My
Master of the Guard has stirred up so much trouble that Uesugi's unruly vassal Nagao Kageharu has
started a rebellion. While such things are dishonorable and disgraceful, in times like these they seem more or less neccessary. Surely an internal conflict such as this will slow down the mighty Uesugi, and perhaps spare the Ashikagan Kamakura-Fu from complete obliteration, they do indeed live on for now.
After such a successful mission I can't help but think that he should continue in the same style, a more local threat is one I wish to dismantle without resorting to armed conflict too soon. The Ishiki clan just east of me, during the early years of the war they were neutral, but they soon launched an attack on their Shiba neighbours, much to the delight of the Hosokawa who could thus maintain some power in the east. But not only that, the disloyal vassals of the Oda clan (Sweet! =D) broke free from the Shiba, forming their own 3 Kokujin power in central Japan with Oda Toshihito as the leader (When I saw them I had hoped for the other guy, since he's the actual forefather of the big man himself, oh I love that extra flavor, oh well). Perhaps I'd be better of trying this with Hosokawa, or even my larger allies who won't be that for very long, but in the long term I think that the later will be fought with plots, and the former will likely lose the war. So, I set my
Master of the Guard to dismantling my soon to be neighbour, I find the weak spot among his vassals and I put him to work. Beyond that the construction of the
Guild Hall in Uji will be done a bit sooner than expected, always welcome news.
Still sieging that last province, not much longer to go now. However good news does come all at once it seems, another heir is born at which point I realize that I've forgotten to record the birth of my second son, perhaps I didn't even know he existed at all until now. It is possible that I did even mention it at some point, then forgot I had done so and then forgot that he existed. A Shogun's mind does not function well without sleep. My third son, Ashikaga Haruhisa, has demonstrated the seed of Justice at the age of one day old when he suckled each of his mother's breasts equally long. Surely a future leader of men.
But not all good news have to do with heirs, the
Castle in Kii is almost finished and the long awaited
Guild Hall has finally finished construction in Uji, the guilds are so pleased with me that they donate arms and supplies for another personal retinue of Samurai to their rightful ruler, the Shogun. This, along with a not insignificant portion of my wealth (But mostly it's just the Samurai, I promise) makes me finally decide that it's time to move up in the world. I petition the emperor for the imperial title of Jugoi and he does not object.
The
Master of Ceremonies beings construction of an
Inn in Kadono.
The siege carries on, assault after assault hits the walls of Yamabe, yet they fight like men, not traitors. Had these fools not betrayed me in the first place they would've made fine warriors, now they will die. On a happier note the
Castle in Kii is finished and my
Master of Arms moves onto Uji.
28th of may, 1471: Yamambe falls, the Soejima traitors are put to the blade, every last one of them. Men, women and children, no one lives. Curious that it should happen on the same month as it started, 3 years later. The war could be over now, the spark that lit the flame has been put out, there's no reason to go on. Yet everyone does, the Hosokawa fight because of greed, I will fight because the Ashikaga Shogunate should be nothing but uncontested now and forever. The rest, they have their own reasons.
Ashikaga Harutane, the Second Daimyo, is granted his fourth Kokujin. Soon enough he will come to claim the coveted title.
What remains of the Ashikaga forces are sent north, the war has only begun and a fresh batch of Ashigaru and Samurai are eagerly waiting to take the place of the veterans, wounded and dead. The Shogunate is ready.
End of Part Two and this Update. More to come.
