The hopeful rise of the Nanbu clan - A Sengoku AAR

[King]

Part I – Prelude

So it is the 26th May 1467 and the Ashikaga Shogunate has fallen. The Onin war has kicked off around Kyoto and meanwhile the Uesugi clan are off to deal with some rebels in the Kanto region. Up in the far North of Japan sits Clan Nanbu, about as far from the action as you can be while still actually living in Japan. The situation in the North is everyone is at peace, and this is good because it allows us to strike where we want and when we want to.

This is the Sengoku period, so no one really trusts anyone, so there is absolutely no such thing as alliances. There are however plots. At the moment we are not going to bother with them, all we need to know is that these exist. Our first objective is to reduce the number of neighbours without gaining new ones. This gives us three starting targets, Namioka, Ando and Tozawa.

The reason we do this is because of plots. Plots need a certain amount of power before they can be sprung, power looks at the military power of the target versus the military power of the plotters. This allows a number of smaller clans to strike at a bigger enemy with fairly good odds, and we want to prevent this. Removing neighbours reduces the available power of potential plots while at the same time increasing our own power. We wish to avoid gaining new neighbours (for the moment) for precisely this reason. Striking at the Onodera or the Kasai clan would gain us the Osaki clan as a neighbour and we want to avoid that until we are strong enough to face them and their pool of potential backers are reduced.

So the question becomes who to pick, and this is a question of honour. We start out with just 26 honour and to declare war on any one of them will cost 20 honour. We will gain back 3 honour for each province we hand out and we have a handy son ready for just such an occasion. The basic arithmetic suggests that the Ando clan might be our best target, with 6 honour to be gained back if we win. However, they are also the largest target and thus the war will be the most costly. If the war becomes too costly the Kasai clan may decide that we are too weak and strike in turn. So we are going to start with the Tozawa clan. Not only will we become one province stronger but we will also deny this tasty little morsel to the Kasai clan, which is rather nice.

View attachment nanbustart.JPG

 

[King]

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[King]

Part II – The Kanto War

The good news is mission accomplished. While things settle down in the North and we rebuild our honour to prepare for the next target. To aid with this we are currently saving up to endow a Shinto shrine and become a follower of the Shintoism. This will give us a monthly honour boost to assist in our on going plan to unite Japan, just the way the Emperor would of wanted.

Meanwhile down in the Kanto everything is not going well for the Uesugi juggernaut. Not only have they not conquered the Ashikaga rebels the Nagao have decided to throw off Uesugi over lordship and launch a solo career. At the moment the balance of forces still favours the Uesugi, but this will slow them down a bit.

This is something we should be pleased about, anything that slows down the bigger players gives us time to become more powerful. The more power we can gain the better placed we will be. So while the Uesugi bog down fighting what really adds up to be themselves we can look to consolidate our position in the North.

 

[King]

Part III – Things never quite go to plan

So a get my Shinto shrine under construction, my honour slowly recovers because I am at peace. Everything is going exactly to plan. Then the Osaki attack the Kasai clan. They quickly seize half their land and it looks like my excellent plan is about to become undone.

The good news this quick victory cost the Osaki half their forces. I see approximately 3,000 Osaki troops in the field (down a hell of a lot). The combined troops of the Nanbu clan are currently over 7,000. The bad news is that I simply don’t have the honour to attack them. If I wait until I do have the honour their troop strength will have recovered and what is currently looking like a pretty certain victory will change into a near run thing, if I am lucky.

I need honour and I need it now, fortunately the Emperor seems to be a little broke for a change. A small donation to the Imperial court will then mean that I can do the honourable thing and backstab the evil Osaki.

 

[King]

Part IV – Things only seem to get worse

The Emperor received his donation, and the massed armies of the Nanbu marched onwards. The Osaki forces were too weak to stop me. Although being a bit sneaky I did let the Osaki forces destroy the Kasai clan first. Just when things couldn’t get any worse for the Osaki clan the Date clan, sensing their weakness, jumped on them too. The Osaki were finished and their land divided up amongst the victors.

All in all I should now be the strongest clan in the North and able to hover up the opposition at my leisure. There is one minor fly in ointment, the Uesugi clan have appeared on the scene. The Uesugi are big and also are at war with the Onodera clan. For those of you who are interested the Onodera attempted to join in the war against the Osaki and instead was on the receiving end of the Uesgui.

This poses a huge problem for me and our plans need to change. We now need to block further Uesugi expansion northwards by absorbing those clans instead. Then we need to think about what to do about them. Basically an all attack on them is not my idea of courage more like suicide. It is time to look at plots.

 

[King]

Part V – Trying to Plot

So we do a little conquering and then try to sign up people to a little plot. The plot is nice the minute I declare war and have reached the trigger conditions all countries will join in my war. The catch is that the trigger conditions are that the plot must command as much power as the target, the AI countries are not stupid.

In a moment of inspired genius I managed to get one of the loyal vassals of the Uesugi clan to join my plot. Should my plot succeed the Daimyo of Izu will become my loyal vassal instead, although sadly the plot ends there. The other clans of the North really aren’t keen on joining in a plot against the Uesugi, I have the feeling that should someone else manage to weaken the Uesugi clan they would ready to strike.

So it is time to look westward. We have lots of promising potential allies against the massed ranks of the Uesugi. The problem is they are all far too busy fighting each other to thing about fighting the Uesugi. Although the Toki clan looks promising, they are big and currently at war with the Shiba clan. When that war ends they will have a border with the Uesugi and perhaps they will then be interested in joining a little plot with me.

 

[King]

Part VI – Failing to Plot

In the end no one else wants to join my plot and one co-conspirator decides to leave. What is wrong with Japan? It seems like I am the only who is aware of the threat posed by the Uesugi clan.

Sadly everyone is worried about the strength of the Yamana clan. Having won the Onin war they are now consolidating their control of Western Japan. Essentially no one is keen to plot against the Uesugi because they want to keep their hands free to deal with the Yamana clan if the opportunity were to arise.

Meanwhile, since it was requested, the two little green blobs at the top of Kyushu are the remnants of the Ouchi. They are currently at war with the Yamana, Otomo, Shoni and So clans. It all looks a bit grim for them.

 

[King]

Part VII – Ending the Stalemate.

So we sit about waiting for something to happen then that way we can hopefully exploit this to our advantage. However, nothing happens. It seems that although we are not strong enough to start things, we are strong enough to make others think twice.

With everyone obsessing with the Yamana clan we are currently out of options regarding a good plot against the Uesugi. So for a time we wait and see if something will happen. Sadly nothing does.

Enough is enough, something has to be done and risk retaliation from the Uesugi. So the plan is take out the Date clan. If we are quick we will grow in power and no one will do anything about it. If we are unlucky we will get Uesguied (I just made that word up btw).

 

[King]

Part VIII – Choices

The gamble works and we takeout the Date clan. Even better the Uesugi decide to leave us alone. In fact the Uesugi decide to attack the Toki (who in turn decided to attack in the Imagawa).

All in it is now Chaos in the Kanto, which is great new for someone like me. As we watch the massed Uesugi leagions march off to fight the Toki we face some interesting choices. We have to assume that as things stand at the moment the Toki clan will fall to the combined forces of the Uesugi and the Imagawa. Which should we do nothing will make my strategic position even worse. So the only wrong choice is no choice.

We have to either use the fact the Uesugi will too busy to bother us to destroy the other clans in the North, or we can attack the Uesugi. The march of Uesugi forces westward gives us a guilt edged chance to attack the Uesugi clan, but there is a risk. Should the Toki clan make peace the Uesugi clan first we will be left in a very unpleasant position. On the face of it attacking my weaker neighbours is the safe option, but will we get a better chance to strike at the Uesugi?

 

[King]

Part IX – The Gamble

After much thought it has to be the Uesugi. Looking over at the situation on the Toki front their armies are starting to crack under the pressure of the Uesugi assault. We have to act now to save the Toki (for now) and by association all hopes of the Nanbu uniting Japan in the name of the Emperor.

So the Nanbu forces, still depleted from their war against the Date clan march into action. The Uesugi send forces back to deal with me and struggle ensues in the North. To be honest it looks touch and go, the Nanbu clan ran out of money and had send troops home. Running out of money is really bad, not only do your troops fight poorer due to lack of pay and supplies, but your vassals sense your weakness and become more likely to revolt away from your clan. The clan is broke and our dreams of conquest could end here, the great Nanbu clan is now threatening to collapse.

We start to offer the Uesugi a white peace. Having gained a few provinces in the North and with the Toki now advancing it looks like the war has achieved its goal, but the leader of the Uesugi refuses. It looks like everything the Nanbu has achieved could be undone, offering subjugation to the Uesugi is considered at this point. Then we are saved, we were not the only ones who had money problems, and the Uesugi clan starts to crumble. No longer bordering the Uesugi I exit the war. Thoroughly satisfied that the strategic position is now present opportunities.

Just as a side note, the most interesting rise of a clan are the Ashikaga, now the fifth most powerful in Japan.

 

[King]

Part X – Expanding Again

With the Uesugi now no longer a neighbour we can go back to the original plan of picking off weaker neighbours. We have 2 choices here, the Ashina and Fuwa. Being the smaller of the two and thus easier to take and hold. The Fuwa’s holdings are a bit more scattered. So the Ashina are next on the Nanbu hit list.

I should keep you posted with all that is going on in Japan. The Yamana are marching eastwards and getting a little too close to for comfort. The Ashikaga are still there, the Yamana’s advance is along the northern coast. It is a worry. Kyushu is still in the balance, but in an interesting quirk of fate all the clan leaders are Christian. The Uesugi are back up again but have moved a bit Eastwards, if it wasn’t for the Lazarus like come back of the Ashikaga I would of credited them with the best comeback since Elvis.

 

[King]

Part XI – All Hell Breaks Loose

So the Nanbu are back to picking on clans weaker than ourselves. We are also back with a border with the Uesugi. Still my situation is much better than before as we are far more evenly matched than last time.

In other news strange western ships have turned up with strange new weapons. The Nanbu have started to develop them too. So we now make sure that we staying the most current military in Japan.

In other news the Uesugi and the Ashikaga have gone to war with each other. While the Yamana have attacked the Fuwa. Now the later war is rather displeasing to me as I had plans to add Fuwa land to my domains. So there is no choice but to go to war with the Fuwa and take what I can before the Yamana get it all.

 

[King]

Part XII – Blocking the Yamana

The race is own to try and grab as much of the Fuwa clan as possible before the Yamana clan gets it. We grab what we can only to watch the Fuwa clan fall apart under the strain of the war. To prevent the Yamana gaining more spoils in the war we subjugate the Fuwa clan. They become a subclan inside greater Nanbu collective, we have added the biological and technological distinctiveness to our own.

For those of you who are keen on borders will notice that the Nanbu has lost some provinces in the North. The Fuwa assembled an assault army and began to take provinces off us. The AI clearly cheats because it had far more luck than we did on the assualts. Just as we were about take them back and thus restore Nanbu pride they left the clan and thus the war. Needless to say I have plans for those clans…..

 

[King]

Part XIII – The Great War

So we go back to doing what we do best and jumping on small clans in quick wars. The Nanbu slowly grow and we wait for opportunities. The Ashikaga defeat the Uesugi in their war, cementing their position as serious contenders to replace the Ashikaga shogunate with the Ashikaga shogunate. Don’t ask, it just is.

While waiting for opportunities to present themselves a more worrying development happens. The Yamana attack the Ashikaga, essentially if we let the Yamana win it is game over. So we have to wade in. Our objectives are simple save the Ashikaga and gain the northern coast of Japan for the greater glory of Nanbu.

This war heralds a major change of tactics for the Nanbu, none of the levies are used. The attack force contains solely of our own and our vassal’s retinues. This will make war a lot of cheaper but at the same time reduce the potential strength of my attacking armies. It does have two added advantages though, the levies who stay at home act as garrisons which increases my defensiveness and it also acts as a handy reserve which will discourage any backstabs by other clans.

So we launch in our offensive to assist the Ashikaga. Our troops begin to take the northern holdings; with the Yamana troops off fighting the Ashikaga we initially have no opposition. Eventually troops start to move away form the Ashikaga to oppose me, this slows down my advance but saves the Ashikaga. Eventually more clans join in the fight against the Yamana. The war is decided when the Shoni, who were victors in the fight for Kyushu, start attacking the Yamana in the West. With all the easy gains taken and the Ashikaga saved the Nanbu exit the war to avoid becoming too powerful.