For Honor or For Glory? A Tokugawa (Matsudaira) AAR Updated Jan 8th

[waveman]

Thanks. I will say that he will be unpredictable indeed, and that his next move made an already difficult canpaign even more difficult!

I'm hoping to get two posts up over the next few days. The first will explain power and troop distributions, and the next will be an actual update

[waveman]

17. (part 1/3)

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

In May of 1549 Saika Fuyuyasu began a bolder pincer attack on the Tokugawa heartlands. He landed with some seven thousand men in Gamagori, the fief of Udono Michimori, taking the Tokugawa completely by surprise. In a lightning-fast assault he conquered Kamino-jo and thus bisected the Tokugawa holdings. With Tokugawa Hirotada embroiled in conflicts with the remnants of the Hojo and the Hitachi clan, there was no other option but for Abe Sadayoshi to march east from Nagashima-jo, gathering men as he went and stripping Owari, Nisshin, and Kaito of their garrisons. This paved the way for Fuyuyasu's second attack: Asanomu Morishige marched north from Ise with five thousand men in the second attack on the Seki. This time Okubo Moritoki and Matsudaira Moriakiri were expecting the assault, and the result was a bloody battle.

In the west, the Ikko-Ikki seized a castle from the Rokkaku. It was a blow to the Tokugawa-Rokkaku alliance, but not overly destructive to their cause.

Perhaps even worse than all of this woe combined was the news of the death of Takeda Shingen, lord of Kai, and, but a month later, the death of his brother Nobushige. These two deaths curtailed all of the momentum that the Takeda had been enjoying in the east, and prompted Hirotada to withdraw from Sagami back into Izu.

Next: battle report for Kameyana no Tatakai (the Battle of Kameyana; Seki Fuyumichi, Okubo Moritoki, Matsudaira Moriakiri vs the Saika)

[Rabbit55821]

Pretty good so far. Keep up the good work!

[waveman]

17 (part 2/3)

Kameyana-no-Tatakai

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Abe Sadayoshi was currently suffering from a splitting headache, and nothing - no mater how light or hard the girl's touch as she massaged his temples - could assuage it. He was living through a vassal's nightmare. A minor one, albeit; his lord was still alive and certainly safer than he was. His lord's holdings, however, were not so safe.


Okubo Moritoki had rushed to him as soon as he was able to, riding nonstop though he lamed several horses in doing so, and arrived as soon as he could after the birds that had brought news of the battle at Kameyana.


Moritoki now knelt before him, and Sadayoshi could see the pride evident in the man despite his exhaustion. The pride, and the sorrow. Moritoki raised his dirt-stained face toward his lord; he had not even changed from his blood-soaked clothing yet, having abandoned his armor not long after the battle so as to hasten his ride to Sadayoshi's siege camp in Gamagori.



"It was as we predicted, my lord - the Saika dogs did attack us in Suzuka," Okubo Moritoki rasped, his face haggard. Five thousand of them, my lord, under aggressive leadership." Sadayoshi nodded. "We decided it was best not to keep all of our forces inside the castle - it would be too cramped, so Matsudaira Moriakiri and I led our men out to attack the Saika before they made it to the walls.


"They attacked from all sides, which was not unexpected. We fought on the northern and eastern sides." Here Moritoki paused, his eyes distant. "It was a clear spring day. A good day to die. A good day.


"Naturally, our bowmen initiated the fight, their shafts biting into the enemy, our spears advancing under cover of their attack. Moriakiri hit them hard on the far bank of the moat while I led men who stayed on the near side. In the meantime, the Saika were swarmming the banks and the walls, thought the Seki archers exacted a heavy toll from them."











Moritoki gazed at the ceiling, unwilling or unable to meet Sadayoshi's eyes. "Then, things just fell apart. Our men on the far bank were pushed back in disarray; some broke. The Saika overwhelmed the Seki at the gates and butchered their way over the walls. We held for a time, as did Moriakiri, as did the Seki, but it could not last. I had to call the retreat - the sounds of fighting from the castle were dying down. We broke away. I turned back at the bridge over the river to see some of the Seki, at least, fleeing, and to see a hundred of our samurai, one hundred Mikawa bushi holding the bridge to let myself and their brothers escape."





Moritoki shook his head, and with a wan smile, he continued: "I rode back to them, screaming at them to disengage and pull back! But they fought like demons. One man - that Ii Nagaochi - looked back to me, we were all covered in blood but his sahimono was in tatters, crying for me to leave as he brandished the splinters of his yari at the enemy.





"Amazingly the enemy now held themselves back, so terrible were these demons of Mikawa! I kicked by horse forward and my hatamoto followed. We created enough distance between our men and the enemy for them to escape, though Shirabashi Gorozaemon fell. I was only able to coerce the men to withdraw by declaring that I would be the last one over the bridge - so it was that I at least saved a hundred tigers for the future."



Now there were tears leaving perversely clear streaks on Moritoki's cheeks. "It was only after the battle that I learned that Matsudaira Moriakiri had fallen on the river bank, leading his men from the forefront. Three thousand men gone, and the Seki scattered to the winds. I only ask that I be able to join them, for my failure to achieve victory and my failure to fall in battle," and he bowed low.


Sadayoshi leapt up and rushed to his friend. "No!" he cried. "Especially not at a time like this. I am not free to return west, no can the men I command. The Rokkaku are led by a child and a woman; the Seki scattered, perhaps perminently. You saved hundreds of our men to fight again! The Okubo name will be what holds the west together, at least for the time being. If you can hold the west, I can keep Saika Inu- sama penned up in Kamino-jo."


Okubo Moritoki bowed once more. "I understand. I shall return to the west as soon as I am able," he promised. "For the moment, I think that the Rokkaku shall be fine being led by that 'woman and child!'"

Thanks Rabbit! your kind words have greatly expedited the release of this update! On another note, I've been reading, or rather re-reading (or rather re-re-re-reading, heh ) Eiji Yoshikawa's Taiko, and if reading that doesn't make you want to put suicidal honor-bound samurai into your writing, I don't know what will. If I'm being completely honest, I've drawn on a few tropes from that book over the course of this AAR's journey

Edit: did not notice the countdown things in the corners of some of the pics; may/may not get around to cropping them out,,,

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

This is getting to bevery good, waveman. I particularly like the last line of your most recent update, with its hint that we'll get to see the 'woman and child' in action!

The screenshots from the winter battle are beautiful, and there's a lot of drama in your more recent screenshots. (There are some beautiful ones in that batch, too.) I don't think the countdown timer is a significant distraction - it's only small and only in a corner. Looking forward to the next update, as always.

[theSilentKiller]

Nice chapter with same really nice pictures. Especially the one with the wounded Samurai and everything is so fluently to read!

[SanyuXV]

Finally caught up on this, and its been excellent through and through! Especially the pictures, you have to teach me your ways so I can bring back The Touch of Fear with a bang!

[waveman]

Thanks to the three of you! I suppose, then, that I should be getting on with this...

Sanyu: I save replays of every battle (example: toku024 Ok Mor win Oda corresponds to Tokugawa battle #24, commander Okubo Moritoki, win against the Oda). Then watch key moments in slow-mo, especially charges, and voila!

This method has been really helpful, I haven't touched the campaign since august of last year, I believe

This one's my favorite from the last update:

[RodentDung]

okay

[waveman]

I only use around three mods, and they work together well. I use Morning Sun 1.0 which is the one that adds all the extra clans (2.0 includes China), and Darthmod. Darthmod makes the unit cards colored and works very well with Morning Sun.

Then I use Allies Democracy to make diplomacy less crazy; works fine with the other two.

I think that Morning Sun and Darthmod interfere with each other so Realm Divide happens too early, but there are mods to fix that as well.

Hope that helps!


A personal note about Morning Sun: I absolutly love the addition of all those independent clans, it really makes me feel immersed in the Sengoku Jidai, with so many diplomatic options, betrayals, and strategically located castles. Sure your enemy might have more land, but if your ally holds a castle blocking a bridge and you hold one that commands a mountain pass, then the foe must pass through those chokepoints...

[RodentDung]

okay

[waveman]

you can do steam workshop or the forums on TWC. If you would like further info, feel free to message me

[RodentDung]

okay

[waveman]

Thanks for reading! In this mod, in my experience, the majority of my playthroughs have seen the Oda and Takeda rise to power and eventually face off against each other unless I directly interfere. And I personally have a soft spot for the Takeda

In other news I'm intending on updating this this week


Little bit of a preview! But I have some other stuff to work on at the moment

[RodentDung]

okay

[waveman]

17. (3/3 [part 1])

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Sadayoshi's writing table was scattered with reports. In the East Takeda Nobukado had consumed the leadership of the mighty Takeda and had led some fifteen thousand men east. Things were going well there, wrote Matsudaira Hidenaga, but Nobukado was a bit rash.


In the west, things were going well. Sadayoshi had Saika Fuyuyasu and his best generals penned in Gamagori, and while he didn't have enough soldiers to attack the Saika dogs, he was slowly constricting them. He leaned over the table, examining maps of the region. Yes, he thought, a few hundred men in some key areas would deny the Saika access to food....


A month later and a scout was running to him. "Abe-sana! Abe-sama!" The scout cried, doubled over to catch his breath.


"Speak," Sadayoshi said.


Still gasping for breath, the scout made his report. "Saika.... Fuyuyasu has.... broken out of Kamino-jo. My comrades... My comrades gave their lives so I could live and make this report."


Sadayoshi dropped his fan.


Soon orders were being roared around the camp, and the seven thousand strong Tokugawa army was marching towards the Saika and battle. They came to a halt in a large grassy field. There were scattered groves of trees across the waist-high grass and a few small hills upon which Sadayoshi immediately anchored his left flank. Five hundred spearmen and two hundred bowmen, with many more on hand.


And that was what had Sadayoshi worried. While his army outnumbered his foe's by a cool thousand it was sorely lacking in samurai. The majority of his force consisted of hastily raised ashigaru soldiers, and they would soon be facing a veteran army with which Saika Fuyuyasu had felt confident enough to invade the Tokugawa heartland.


When the Saika reached what was to become the field of battle, little time was wasted. Two distinct formations - a thick to assault the hill that was the left flank of the Tokugawa, and wrecking ball to assault the center, with thin lines extending from both - were immediately assembled and resolutely set forward.


Damn, thought Sadayoshi, what I would give to have Okubo Moritoki or Matsudaira Moriakiri with me. But Moriakiri was dead and Moritoki shoring up the defenses in the west.


A flick of Sadayoshi's war-fan and a further five hundred men trotted off to the left flank, two hundred of the samurai. A wave of it and three more hundreds were dispatched to the copse of trees under which the right flank sheltered from the heat.


Soon the sound of thrumming bowstrings filled the air sending thousands of hungry shafts into the air in search of targets. A roar from the hills signified that the two forces had met there, and soon after the rest of the forces were engaged as well.


The Saika center ploughed through the Tokugawa line, the concentration of numbers and experience allowing them to overwhelm their opponents with ease.



Some Tokugawa soldiers flee past their fallen comrades

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

"Pics to come next week, I don't have access to my computer at the moment"

...lol, oops

[Tigellinus]

Excellent chapters! I enjoyed them thoroughly!

You inspired me to try out a few mods, also! I have found them to be great additions to Shogun II!

Thanks

Tigellinus

[Maltacus]

Your story totally rocks, waveman! I hope you get more time to write soon.

[Caillagh de Bodemloze]

You've given us a very dramatic chapter with a real cliffhanger of an ending, waveman! Will we discover how many (and which) people survived the battle?

[waveman]

Hm, I seem to have been sidetracked by life, both work and leisure. I'll try to prioritize an update here soon!

Thanks for the kind words


Edit: did not at all realize that a month has gone by since my last update! My bad