Kabocha grows along the ground - A Sugi AAR

[cccino]

My first AAR! I won't be trying anything fancy, but I hope you enjoy it.

I lost all my notes in the Great Computer Crash of... yesterday... so some details might be a little sketchy. I'm writing from a combination of memory and 100s of screenshots. (Ed- parts 1-2)

I guess it takes as long, or longer, to write and prepare images than it does to play, so rather than write everything up and post it, I'll be updating in bursts over the next day or so until I catch up to where I'm at in the game.

Index

Part I - Ōnin no Ran (1467-1483) - In which Ouchi expand and Sugi go along for the ride.
Part II - Gekokujō (1484-1493) - In which Ouchi Masahiro is too popular for his own good.
Part III - Uesugi Saga (1494-1506) - In which Sugi takes a risk and Toki takes any excuse.
Part IV - Consolidation (1507-1520) - In which Toki takes a well earned holiday while Sugi get dressed for work.
Part V - The Battle for Japan

We start the game as Sugi Takekatsu, Daimyo of Buzen and vassal of clan Ouchi. Our demesne consists of one province, Miyako, and we have under us one vassal, Kii of Nakatsu. It is a weak position but we are relatively secure within Ouchi. Although the Onin War means we are part of a major conflict, the Buzen area is well out of the way. Takekatsu has no children, so that will need to be rectified.

Ouchi Masahiro, Ouchi clan leader, controls much of the territory directly, keeping his vassals small and weak. There are five: Ouchi Noriyuki, heir to the clan, Sue Hiromori (with only 1 province and no vassals despite his Daimyo title), Naito Moriyo, our cousin Sugi Shigemichi, and of course ourselves.

The war sets Ouchi against the large Hosokawa clan and their allies. Yamana, Kono, and so on are also in the war but we are not concerned with these clans for now. We are out of the way and unlikely to be attacked from multiple directions, so Sugi territory and indeed all Ouchi should remain safe. In any case, we have no control of our levy and no money to raise a retinue, so the war is out of our hands.

 

[cccino]

In which Ouchi expand
and Sugi go along for the ride.​

1467
First we must deal with matters of administration. Our bloodline is of the highest quality – we have some good Sugi courtiers to choose from. We therefore appoint Sugi Chikatoki to Master of Ceremonies for his high diplomatic skill, Sugi Fujitaka’s to Master of Arms for his martial skill, and Sugi Haruhisa to Master of the Guard he has the highest intrigue skill, even though his martial is better.

Our ultimate goal is to become a powerful clan in our own right, so we activate the Plot to break free from the Ouchi clan. Our cousin Sugi Shigemichi in Abu will probably be our best ally in this endeavour. He “might accept” to join the plot, although it is unlikely while we are so weak. Nevertheless we send our Master of Ceremonies to Abu, in the hope of improving our relations, and our Master of the Guard, in order to sow dissent by planting the first seeds of doubt about clan leader Ouchi Masahiro.

Little do we know how futile all this is at this stage.

Finally, the new Master of Arms is ordered to see about improving the castle in our single kori, Miyako.

Our wife, Sugi Gin, is getting on in years (40) and we have no children, so there is some concern about an heir-less future. Finding a second wife is put on the to-do list. There are no obvious prospects, so we’ll worry about it later.

1469
Even as early in the war as this, our ambitious plot has begun to look naïve. General Ouchi drives the clan forces Kyogoko and Hosokawa and begins to capture territory. We have no forces of our own – we cannot afford to hire and maintain a personal retinue, and military hierarchy dictates the Miyako and Nakatsu levies operate under Ouchi generalship.

As Ouchi gains territory they increase their strength in proportion to our own. In addition Ouchi Masahiro begins to distribute kori to his vassals, gaining their confidence and increasing his honour. All of these things shatter the illusion of an early breakaway plot. We may not be able to achieve independence in Masahiro’s lifetime. This turns out to be very true – by the end of the Onin War he is has immense popularity and prestige.

1470
But it’s not all bad. We cannot capture territory ourselves, but Masahiro cannot keep it all to himself and Ouchi Noriyuki. We are granted the title to Usa province! Chikatoki is recalled, in order to improve the wealth of our new kori.

1472
A son is born! Our wife gives birth to Akimori and against all odds we have an heir. This is good, because we have as yet not arranged a second marriage for Takekatsu. We have been looking for good diplomatic and intrigue abilities to aid our rule, and had a few rejections, but eventually marriage will be a useful tool to boost relations with our fellow ‘non-clan’ Ouchi vassals.

1475
The war progresses at a furious rate. Ouchi gains yet more territory, and eventually has no choice but to grant us another kori – Aga, somewhere near the front. It will be a nice bonus to our monthly income, even if it is later recaptured by the enemy. The risk means we won’t improve it, of course.

Kyogoko has been eliminated, and Ouchi have even gained some former Yamana lands that had changed hands back and forth between various sides. Akamatsu clan is unlikely to survive much longer.

One of the big winners is actually Naito Moriyo. With 5 provinces he is the most powerful non-Ouchi in clan service, and therefore will eventually be critical to any breakaway plot. We arrange a marriage with one of Moryio’s daughters, Naito Chacha. Meanwhile, Sugi Shigemichi casually informs us that to plot against our Ouchi master would be stupid. Not that we asked for his opinion anyway. But it reaffirms what we’d already figured.

For now.

But eventually we will need honour, and with income from 3 provinces we finally have saved enough to subsidise an Imperial ceremony, bringing our honour up to 30. This is an important milestone, since 30 honour enables us to purchase Imperial court ranks and the monthly honour bonus that comes with it.

1477
… And so we do. Court rank Jugoi is ours. Our son cannot be granted a court rank until he comes of age.

“Sneaking into the food supply was ridiculously simple. Getting caught by one of the courtiers didn’t feel as great, though…” Our wife is not impressed.

Court rank and marital disagreements are trivial compared to human mortality.

1478
Five-year-old Sugi Akimori inherits the leadership of the Buzen branch of the Sugi family. Chikatoki will act as regent, which is probably a good thing.

1480
Hosokawa clan is almost destroyed, and the war will not run for much longer. Over the course of the next 2 years, General Ouchi appoints new territories to our young Daimyo, and we surpass our demesne limit. Some kokujin titles are therefore bestowed upon some of our less useful family courtiers. Sugi Harumoto wins Kagawa, Sugi Fusaaki: Nagusa.

With Takekatsu’s death our relationship bonus with Naito is lost, so we arrange a marriage between Master of Arms Sugi Fujitaka and Naito Gin.

“When other children play in trees or catch tadpoles, I linger behind” Akimori gains the trait ‘craven’ which is a slight disadvantage in a ruler. There is a martial penalty and a relationship penalty with ‘brave’ characters.

1483
The Onin War is over! Or Ouchi’s part in the war, anyway. Hosokawa, Kyogoko, and Akamatsu are the most notable clans to have been completely eliminated.

Toki has become the largest clan in Japan, controlling 13% of all territory. Uesugi, quite large to begin with, has also grown, and Ouchi clan has doubled in size.

 

[cccino]

In which Ouchi Masahiro is
too popular for his own good.​

Sugi Akimori, Daimyo of Buzen, is 14 years old, with 5 provinces under direct control and three vassals.

We’re really starting to rake in some cash now, so we start building a Shinto Shrine in order that our young Daimyo can begin gaining some honour. As a minor cannot purchase court ranks. We have been, and continue to, upgrade the castle and village of our core home provinces Miyako and Usa. (Miyako will eventually reach the maximum castle level.)

We also recruit some Ronin.

“I love my mother, my father, the kenin, and even the grumpy old gardener. (He’s gross though.)” Sugi Akimori gains the trait ‘kind’.

“I was taught to be patient, to wait peacefully until whomever I seek has time for me. (My father is busy, so I wait.)” Sugi Akimori gains the trait ‘patient’.

Your father is dead, Aki.

Thanks to the war, parcelling out territorial rewards to his vassals, and extremely high honour, Ouchi Masahiro has become an extremely popular leader.

…Four years later, 1487, the situation is unchanged, and his honour is 100. We cannot abide this!

We don’t know where help may come from, so start looking at our neighbours, and eventually arrange a betrothal between our Daimyo and a young Shimazu daughter. Meanwhile we analyse the Ouchi realm and our fellow vassals.

Naito Moriyo is a strong non-Ouchi vassal that we really need on our side. He is now a Daimyo, with a 5 kori demesne and two vassals of his own. Sue Hiromori has come of age, but has not been heavily favoured by his leader, and only controls 2 provinces. Despite this he loves the Ouchi, and we are never able to bring him to see our point of view. Finally, our cousin Sugi Shigemichi has also been made a Daimyo, with 5 provinces and 2 vassals.

Oucho Masahiro is still young and virtually invulnerable. To break free with a decent chance of holding our own, we need Sugi Shigemichi and Naito Moryio pledged to our cause. Together we make up more than half of the Ouchi land. But not even our own blood Shigemichi is interested in betraying the beloved Masahiro.

…The bloodthirsty Masahiro.

Unsated by his recent victory, he declares war on Kono clan. However, three other clans – Ogasawara, Hatakayama, and Shoni immediately respond with war on Ouchi. This could be tricky, and unlike the last war our own Sugi lands are at stake.

“I was promised a small reward from my liege in exchange for the use of my samurai but when they returned, wounded and exhausted, the gold was nowhere to be seen. (I feel insulted, Ouchi Masahiro!)”

No really, I do!

General Ouchi sends the bulk of his … our … forces east, and we begin to lose some territory to Shoni. We utilise my meagre 1750 retinue to eliminate whatever tiny levies we can. However, there’s not much we can do about the 13k strong army that marches across Ouchi land to besiege my beloved home of Miyako. Despite the maximal castle there, it won’t hold out forever.

Shoni forces are slowly being reduced from attrition, but my small force and the small allied armies operating in the area are ultimately never able to touch the 8k men besieging Miyako. I manage to capture some weakly defended Shoni provinces while I wait and hope for Ouchi reinforcements. I have no idea how the rest of the war is going, but my distant Aga province is lost.

Some good news…

Akimori’s coming of age means two things. Firstly we can start buying up court rank to improve our honour. Secondly we can start plotting again. We immediately do both.

“IKKO IKKI REBELS. This is a serious threat to all of Japan!” We can worry about that later, we’ve got our own problems to attend to.

1492
We managed to attract a ninja clan. A damned good one too. What the hell, we’ve got plenty of money.

Success! That is a genuine surprise, this was attempted mostly for fun, and annoyance at not being able to put a plot together. Even better, let’s look at the results: everyone hates the new Ouchi leader.

Sugi Shigemichi “might accept” an invitation to join the plot. They don’t like us much, -22 relation due to a Sugi pretender. This is a good start.
Naito Moriyo “might accept” an invitation to join the plot.
Akizuki Taneteru “will not accept” an invitation to join the plot.
Sue Hiromori “will not accept” an invitation to join the plot.

Time to improve the odds.

We have plenty of money so we send gifts to all four eligible (non-Ouchi) vassals of the new Ouchi leader, Ouchi Noriyuki. We send another ninja clan to dishonour Noriyuki, which succeeds – it’s a relatively easy mission. Noriyuki’s low honour gives a penalty to his relations with his vassals. We have over 50 honour, which is hopefully enough not to scare off potential plotters. We can use our Master of Ceremonies and Master of the Guard to improve relations and sow dissent respectively, although neither has any success this time.

1493
The final piece of the puzzle falls into place – the Sugi pretender dies of old age and our relationship with our Sugi cousins rockets.

Sugi Shigemichi “will” an invitation to join the plot!
Naito Moriyo “might accept” an invitation to join the plot.
Akizuki Taneteru “might accept” an invitation to join the plot.
Sue Hiromori “will not accept” an invitation to join the plot.

It looks pretty good.

However, as part of Ouchi we are still at war with Shoni, Kono, and the other clans. We lost several provinces to Shoni, including the heavily developed home province Miyako.

On the other hand we don’t know how long we can keep the plotters interested, nor how long it would take to recover Miyako – without control of our levies we have to rely on Ouchi to take it back and they’re occupied elsewhere. Let’s put the plot together!

We invite Sugi Shigemichi, Naito, and Akizuki to join the plot. Shigemichi joins, as expected. The other two could go either way. Unfortunately we were never able to get Sue to so much as consider it.

“I have decided to accept your offer to join your plot against Ouchi Noriyuki. Signed…” … both Naito and Akizuki agree to join the plot! Superb.

Ouchi allows us to separate without war. They didn’t really have much choice, we outnumber them (plot was 74% of the clan) and they are at war with several clans, and doomed. Overall I think we were pretty lucky to the way everything worked out, from the assassination to the acceptance of two marginal plotters.

STATE OF THE REALM

In addition to our pre-existing vassal, Kii Fuyuyasu, all of the plotters are vassals of the new clan.

Toki remain the largest clan in Japan. Sugi is now a clan in its own right! We own 6% of Japan and therefore are 4th largest. Ouchi are left with only 8 provinces and are expected to be eliminated soon. It would appear that Uesugi have already eliminated Takeda.

 

[DerKrieger92]

You a cruel Daimyo, excuse me, Clan Leader. Those poor Ouchi never had a chance.

 

[cccino]

You think that's cruel, guess what I did next!

 

[cccino]

In which Sugi takes a risk
and Toki takes any excuse​

Our clan leader, Sugi Akimori, has the traits: craven, kind, patient and most recently charitable. Irrespective of the negative effects, the positives add up to a whopping +6 diplomacy, for an effective diplomacy of 19 with his wife’s bonus. This makes him very popular and we can expect to get away with a lot of stuff we mightn’t otherwise. At the very least we should have very loyal vassals.

The tiny Omura clan asks to exchange hostages to secure peace and we say hey, why not. They aren’t on our immediate hit-list so it’s no trouble. So who is on the hit-list?

Shoni did us some damage in the recent war when we were still Ouchi subjects, and it will be easy enough to conquer them.

Kono will have to go eventually, since they are the same map colour as us and we can’t abide that.

At this point there are two major forces to be afraid of. Toki have become the largest and strongest clan in Japan, and Uesugi have conquered Takeda to sit right on our doorstep.

Ouchi might not have wanted war with us, but we do not have the luxury of charity in this situation. They are about to be destroyed, and we have a responsibility to not let our enemies grow fat on the carcass we left in the wake of our independence.

Therefore we declare war on our former masters Ouchi.

Quick and painless.

You may think it cruel, and indeed our motives were purely pragmatic, but as it happens it is a compassionate thing we have done. We have instantly captured the entire Ouchi lands without shedding a single drop of blood, and at the same time ensured the survival of clan Ouchi.

We switch out our Master of Ceremonies for a younger courtier with ridiculously high diplomacy skill, and send him to improve relations with Ouchi Noryuki. We immediately follow this up with a marriage to Ouchi Noryuki’s daughter to ensure peace between the clans.

Noryuki conveniently dies, but it’s okay for his successor has the ‘content’ trait and we have great relations with them. The Master of Ceremonies is transferred to improve the villages around Saka.

Meanwhile, it’s 1494 and Toki and Yamana join forces to eliminate the Isshiki.

In these years we take a moment of respite from war, and evaluate our options. Toki are looking dangerous, and with a popular leader will be extremely difficult to break apart from within. Uesugi looks like a more manageable task, and the more imminent threat to us. We create a plot to attack Uesugi, eventually hoping to gain the support of the smaller clans around and to the north of Uesugi’s primary territory. But no-one who is in my part of Japan, since I want Uesugi’s small southern property all to myself.

A daughter, and then a son, are born! Later I have him betrothed to a Satake child, partly to ensure he can start creating progeny as soon as they come of age, and partly to gain an ally on Uesugi’s northern border. We purchase the next court rank, Shoshii, and later Junanmi. We welcome an Ishida ronin retinue to our company.

Uesugi Akisada's non-clan vassals:
Koga-Ashikaga Shigeuji (2 kori, 3 kokujin vassals)
Ashikaga Masatomo (4 kori, 3 kokujin vassals)
Nagano Hisanari (1 kori)
Kiryu Chikayasu (5 kori)
Annaka Fuyuyasu (2 kori)
Obata Sanetaka (1 kori)

We’ll to use ninja regularly from now on, so using the Master of the Guard we must also build a theatre as soon as we can afford it.

Finally, a ninja clan is located. A good one too, by all reports. We send them to dishonour clan leader Uesugi Akisada, as the first step to destabilising them. They are successful, but discovered. Shortly after, we receive some daunting news.

“My lord, the ninjas we sent against Uesugi Akisada succeeded in their mission but were caught shortly afterwards. Uesugi Akisada has spread the news about this in an attempt to diminish your honour, and I am afraid he has succeeded.” We lose a small amount of honour, which isn’t particularly important, but Uesugi is extremely mad. We could be the next target of an Uesugi war.

1498
It gets worse.

“A plot you’ve been involved in has been exposed. This might have dire consequences”

Never leave uncooked plots lying around.

Kikuchi offer to exchange hostages, which we agree to readily – if war is coming, the last thing we need is some opportunistic minor clan nipping at our exposed belly.

Half-heartedly we send another ninja clan after Uesugi Akisada, only to realise too late he has randomly died and been replaced. The new leader is quite diplomatic and therefore popular with his vassals. It won’t be easy to turn his them against him. We cancel the plot for now. On the plus side, he isn’t looking to skin us alive for the ninjas and plots, unlike his predecessor.

Up next: Uesugi declare war on Kono!

Kono will lose the war. And that would be very bad for us. We cannot take on Uesugi but can we try to conquer Kono for ourselves before Uesugi does? Tough call. Have to keep a close eye on this war. But it looks like we’ll be sitting this one out.

1501
Screw it.

Uesugi are going to kick Kono into the sea, and if we don’t intervene we’re going to be outnumbered and trapped in a corner. We raise about half our levies – those on Honshu, saving the armies in the Awa and Awaji provinces in place to reinforce the castles, and saving the more distant Kyushu forces to keep expenses down.

Despite this, it looks like we’ll running out of cash before the war is over.

The trick in war is to capture the assault the lightly protected provinces, and besiege the defended ones later. Dividing our forces into roughly three groups of 10k men, plus stragglers and reinforcements, we seek out the Uesugi provinces which have had their levies removed, and quickly capture Kato, Mitsugi, Aki and soon take the boats to Kuwamura while the enemy is occupied with the remaining Kono forces.

However, we are running out of steam and money, and we should be worried about Uesugi mobilizing their armies from the main territory in the north. We have no choice but to strangle taxes out of our richest province. It doesn’t stop the financial haemorrhage, but it slows it down. Meanwhile we arrange a little distraction.

Kono are fighting out of the corner thanks to our taking the pressure off, but unfortunately it may mean less territory for us.

Uesugi’s strategy has been to try and draw me off with small forces on Honshu, while their large armies besiege my strongly defended provinces on Shikoku. Probably the reverse would have served them better.

But while Uesugi still have some large armies around, we don't have the funds to maintain my current army for a drawn out war, let alone raise more levies. My sieges are thin and Saeki has stalled entirely.

The enemy are moving more troops from Itano to Kaifu in order to assault my beleaguered kori. We must decide when to intercept. We abandon the siege in Nagaoka and send them to Kaifu, but they won't arrive until a few days too late. We raise the reserve levy that was defending Katsura, and will let them organise before moving since they have a shorter travel time. Trapped in a pincer, Uesegi abandons the siege in Kaifu.

We decide to start raising all the Awa and Awaji levies and hope to quickly end the war before we run out of money. These are quite a substantial force, but expensive.

Ouchi and Sugi Shigemichi send me gifts, which will keep me in the black some extra months. We can only it’s enough.

The reinforcements pay off. Finally, in 1505, we can assault the former Kono provinces and capture them from Uesugi. They never really reinforced the region at all, and lost their men to attrition in heavy sieges or mismatched fights which meant we were able to succeed against the equivalent of a small foe, instead of the monster we was dreading. Saeki is the last province in this theatre to fall, and we muster our tiny units into a single large force to defeat their last army.

It is made clear that Uesugi’s heart was never in it when he accepts our offer of peace and the region is ours. He could have crushed us at any time if he had the time, inclination, and money to send the main body of his army against us.

STATE OF THE REALM
Satomi and Ogasawara took some very small amounts of land from Uesugi before making peace, so it seems likely that Uesugi were running out of money or otherwise unable to fight effectively on either front. Sugi has become the second largest clan (12%), approximately as strong as Uesugi (11%). However the Toki are becoming ridiculous, having first absorbed Isshiki with Yamada's help, and then absorbing most of Yamana themselves. They sit on 30% of Japan!

 

[Qorten]

Nice AAR and especially well-presented screenies.

 

[cccino]

Thanks for reading!

I might not be able to play much or post another update for a few days, but in the meantime there are some things to consider: Toki will likely take out the last 3 Yamana provinces before I can, and I exchanged hostages with Kono, Kikuchi and Shoni during the Uesugi war so I can't consolidate my position much the next few years. Things will really depend on how aggressive Toki are feeling, and if my diplomatic ruler stays alive. Uesugi look to be on the decline if they can't even hold off Satomi.

 

[cccino]

In which Toki takes a well earned holiday
while Sugi get dressed for work.​

This is a time when we are terrified of Toki, and glad every day for our likeable, diplomatic leader. It is a time when we must be ruthless and eliminate the small clans in southern Japan, so that we may be strong enough when the time comes to face the enemy.

It is also a time when we are struggling to maintain a healthy court. Our masters age and die, and most of the early part of the century is spent without a Master of Ceremonies and, for a period, only one advisor. Our Master of Arms is always on the lookout for Ronin to join our ranks and fill the empty advisor position.

YAMANA – 1506: Toki are still at war with Yamana, who have only three provinces left. Unfortunately, having been distracted with our war with Uesugi, there isn't much left for us to glean. Nevertheless we continue our policy begun with the Ouchi. We declare war on Yamana, and raise our armies to put weight behind our words. It's time to face reality and Yamana accept subjugation - but they are stubborn and tardy and Toki capture Ano while the agreement is still being drawn up. We consider it an honour to bring clan Yamana into our clan as a vassal, and at the same time a slap in the face for clan Toki, who tried to wipe them out.

It is vital that we only engage in short wars. If at any point we are involved in a bloody, drawn out campaign, the Toki will be upon us like hyenas. But like any large clan they have a weakness – a reliance on vassals. The rule of a weak and unpopular leader can throw the clan into chaos, with rebellious vassals easily outnumbering loyal Toki. For this reason our policy must be one that relies on ninjas to poke and prod until we find the weak spot. It didn’t have much effect in the early days, but at least we didn’t provoke the Toki (yet).

IKKO-IKKI: We cannot abide upstart rebels and every last soldier in Shikoku is raised to wipe out the 20,000 strong Ikko-Ikki army in Ukena. Order in the former Kono province has been restored.

KONO – 1508: Finally our daughter returns from the hostage exchange with Kono. We must collect together the disparate clans of southern Japan if we wish to resist the orange monster on our doorstep. Like the Ouchi and Yamana before them, clan Kono see the welcoming hand and the threatening sword and – choosing wisely – agree to vassalage.

SHONI – 1511: The Shoni-Omura war is at a stalemate. There is a simple resolution. As soon as our hostage exchange expires, we declare war on Shoni. This time there will be no subjugation. The war is quick, and brutal. In six months Omura are no more, and we have our revenge and the return of Miyako and the rest of the Ouchi lands.

Our son comes of age and we invest in his future with increasing Imperial court ranks so that when he one day begins his leadership, he will already have much honour and respect.

It turns out we had picked the correct time to war against the Uesugi. Over an 8 year period they continue to decline until their eventual demise. The Kasai emerge as the dominant power in the far north. Eventually, they too collapse under the weight of their rapid expansion. Ogasawara remain our best hope of a strong northern ally, and we arrange betrothals with that end in mind.

OMURA – 1515: The Omura lands are rich and well developed. We take them for our demesne.

We begin to invest in theatres so that we can administer our wealthy 6 kori demesne without invoking revolt risk. The wealth is also put to good use, raising a modest retinue of 10,000 samurai and ashigaru.

The fickle Toki seem to change their elected heir regularly, which plays havoc with our espionage strategy. Ideally we want to see a Toki leader take over who has a low diplomacy skill and therefore will have difficulty keeping his vassals in line. Occasionally we send a ninja clan against the Toki to spread rumour or evidence of dishonourable activity, and hope for the best. If all else fails, eventually with the right heir we will attempt assassination.

UKU and SO – 1519: Barely worth the trouble of recording their demise. The islands are good territory, and only our honour limited the timeframe within which we could appropriate Goto and Tsushima. Our son and heir shall have these trivial Daimyo titles.

Our southern neighbors, the Kikuchi, who earlier eliminated the Shimazu, complete their war of occupation against the young Hongo clan. As much as we want to intervene while their backs are turned, we know it is one war we cannot finish quickly, and we cannot afford turn our backs on the Toki. So Kikuchi remain our friends for now.

We have done all we can to strengthen ourselves for war. We are 17% of Japan, Toki are 30%. We cannot win without allies and intrigue.

1519

We receive 2 ninja clans in close succession. This is extremely useful. Toki and Ogasawara are at war! On the one hand we cannot allow the strongest northern clan to fall to the dominant Toki, and on the other this is the last and best chance to take them out. So we must strike!

“A ninja clan you’ve hired failed to kill Toki Eishi. One of the ninjas was captured.” Our ninjas fail to kill the target, and Toki have discovered a great hatred for us.

But within days, as we go to check on our relations with Toki Eishi, we learn that he has died after all! It looks like our assassins were not the only ones after him. No doubt Toki are the target of all the smaller clans.

“A ninja clan you’ve hired succeeded in dishonouring Toki Masafusa. One of the ninjas was captured.”

Once more we are hated by a Toki leader. Fortunately, with his honour destroyed below 25, and his diplomacy skill of 3, the mighty Toki clan appears to be built on a house of cards. We begin a rapid campaign of bribing Toki vassals and inviting them to join our plot against the unpopular Toki Masafusa…

We manage to convince Toyama Yorikage, Saito Harunobo, Saito Akitsura, Ujiie Haruyuki, To Eisaburo and Inaba Akizane to join the plot, and become our vassals when we declare war, as well as convince clan Kikuchi to join the war. Toki are already at war with Ogasawara so they will be in some trouble. (I still have no idea how Toki Eishi died.)

With the defection of several Toki Daimyo and Kokujin, we now own 29% of Japan, and Toki down to 20%. But the war is yet ahead, and it's going to be a chaotic mess. Even with the numerical advantage it's impossible to know how it will turn out, and the distribution of provinces will be a logistic nightmare.

 

[cccino]

Not that anyone is reading this or even cares, but I haven't abandoned this, I just haven't had time to play Sengoku - at all - since the last post. o

 

[Selzro]

As someone who's read this and cares, I hope you find the time to continue it at some point.

 

[Polish Eagle]

pity it was unfinished, good aar for newbie to read, good strategic tips on how to break up larger clans by use of ninjas, reducuing honour and plots