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Thread: White Stone, Black Stone

  1. #1
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default White Stone, Black Stone

    Hello all! It's been a while, but I've got a new AAR that I'm ready to write. I've actually had this idea for a few months, but the demands of graduating and acquiring a job meant that I needed to postpone it for a time. Anyways, this story will follow a medium ranking soldier in one of my armies.

    It's on the Expanded Japan mod, with minor factions made playable, 12 turns/year with a later start year (1550's vs 1540's), and a form of Shogun Total Realism that I modified to be compatible with Expanded Japan. There will be the greatly expanded map of the Japanese Isles, with more clans and castles - this makes politics and strategy more complicated in my opinion, in addition to battles that are driven more by morale shocks than kill rates (although heavy casualties suffered quickly will generally break a unit). There is also no research, just building. 12 turns per year means (a really long game ) that campaign seasons come into effect, as winter attrition lasts 4 turns. So most actions will happen in the warmer months, but a clever surprise winter attack can be devastating.

    The Clan is the Hitachi-Oda, who I will be referring to as the Hitachi no Ota (Ota of Hitachi, a province in eastern Japan), partly to distinguish them from the Oda clan that gave rise to Oda Nobunaga. They start just northeast of the Hojo domains in Musashi and Izu in the southern part of Hitachi Province; a map will be up as soon as I can manage it.

    This will be a narrative AAR with some supplementary pictures, and will begin in 1556 after some brief backstory!


    Chapters


    Part I

    Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings
    Chapter 2
    Chapter 2. Part 2
    Chapter 3: Invasion
    Chapter 4: An End to Youth (Part 1)
    Chapter 4-2
    Chapter 5





    Last edited by waveman; August 15, 2018 at 12:24 AM.

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  2. #2
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Welcome back (and congratulations on graduation and your new job)! You've got me interested in your Hitachi no Ota campaign, I look forward to seeing what will happen.

  3. #3
    NorseThing's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Like Alwyn, I will check back and see what develops.

  4. #4
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Thanks Alwyn, NorseThing. I don't have a map yet (I'm writing this with my laptop, no access to my PC at the moment) but I figured I'd post the intro anyways:


    Chapter 1: Humble Beginnings
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    The life of the jisamurai is such that in autumn he harvests rice, while in the summer he trades the sickle for the sword to harvest heads. This was to be my life, clear and simple, but for two events in 1553 that changed my life forever.

    The first affected me immediately, for a fever took the lives of my parents and elder brother, along with many others in our village. I was 15 and inherited a sword, a small pittance that my parents had saved, and with my father’s dying gasp the name of his estranged brother and an order to seek him out. The second took another full year to come to pass in its entirety, and would have little bearing on my life for several years more: the ambitious daimyo of Suruga province, Imagawa Yoshimoto, convinced his neighbors in Kai that they should end the three-way alliance with the Go-Hojo clan of the Kanto, and was almost immediately at war with them. These events were the closest stirrings of power to my village, located near the border of the Yuki and the vast Hojo domains.

    I had to put these happenings out of my mind as I made my miserable journey to Hitachi, land of the Ota clan. My uncle Iwamoto Ennosuke was dead too, having succumbed to wounds earned fighting pirates. But he had a cousin who heard somehow discovered I was staying in a flea-infested inn in one of the seedier districts, and the first I heard of his interest in me, or even his existance, was two grubby but tough-looking ashigaru manhandling me to the castle. I had been sitting in the inn, weighing the near-empty pouch of coins in my hands. Lightheaded from hunger, I was wondering if perhaps there was a more reputable inn I could sell my sister Sen – working for an honest innkeeper wouldn’t be so bad, far better than starving with me I told myself, until the strong, calloused hands grabbed me and a scruffy man was demanding if I was the boy he was looking for.

    I waited for hours to meet the man – and he must have been important – who had summoned me. At first I was determined to pass this test of patience and fortitude, but after the first hour I began to lose hope. I could no longer passively sit still, and peered around the room, picked at the wood floors. There were fabulous bows and arrows on the walls – surely no one shot those? Exquisite paintings of birds in flight, weaving around tree branches as they danced with arrows on the wind graced the walls as well, and so lost was I in their intricacy that I did not notice the approach of several sets of footsteps until the door to the room slid open, and a gruff looking man strode confidently in with two attendants.

    One set a cushion down for the man, who knelt on it even as he finished discussing some business or another with the elder one. After a few minutes it seemed finished, and both attendants bobbed their heads in bows and took their leave of us. The man looked me over, and I sat still, gaze fixed roughly around his knees.

    “So,” he finally rumbled. “You’re the Iwatomo boy?”

    At his decision to acknowledge me, I touched my forehead to the floor. “Apologies, my lord, but it is Iwamoto. I am called Iwamoto Sanjurou.”

    The man continued to sit, but at a tap of his fingers on the floor I returned to an upright position. Had my etiquette been correct? Was it wrong to correct this man? Was I imagining things or had the hardness around his eyes eased, and had the ghost of a smile flitted across his face?

    He scratched his chin, “You really are Ennosuke’s nephew, aren’t you? I can see the resemblance, but I had to be sure…”

    I sat still, not knowing what to do or say.

    He nodded to himself, seeming satisfied. “You can ride, yes?” I nodded affirmation. “Good. You will be one of my grooms then. I am Sugenoya Katsutada; my wife is cousin to Ennosuke and Daisuke. Ennosuke was a good man. Work hard, and do not waste this charity. We will see what we can make of you. Report to Mifune Jinzaemon at the stables.” Then he left.

    I learned later, years later in fact, that he had mispronounced my name intentionally and that had I not corrected him, I would likely not have been taken into his household. It had been a test of sorts, and I suspected that being made a groom was as well. The years I spent in the stables were hard work and it was not long before I had a messenger’s duties added to those of being a groom, but I relished it. I liked the horses and the other boys and they liked me, warry though they had initially been of an outsider. Mifune Jinzaemon was a capable overseer, and he knew how to extract every last drop of sweat from us without stretching us to the breaking point. Often we would retire to our quarters near the stables with exhausted smiles, only to fall asleep immediately after eating.

    It was a nearly a year and a half until I received a man’s name after placing tolerably well in a tournament held in Hitachi, and not long after being made a messenger: Kennosuke.

    And it would not be long before I proved that I deserved the honor.


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  5. #5
    Caillagh de Bodemloze's Avatar to rede I me delyte
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    That's an intriguing beginning, waveman! I'm looking forward to finding out how our hero proves himself.






  6. #6
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Thanks Callaigh!


    Chapter 2
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    Chapter 2: Messages

    In the time that I had been working for Sugenoya-sama, the balance of power in Japan had noticeably shifted. The Takeda were embroiled in a series of wars in Shinano that seemed to be going well for them, and their alliance with the Imagawa seemed to be holding strong. The Imagawa, meanwhile, had overrun the Hojo, exploiting the deep rivalries between the main branch of the family and the two lesser branches, one of which sought glory to elevate itself while the other sought to supplant the main family.

    They all fell; the Imagawa spent 1554 consolidating their gains and spreading their influence over the minor clans in the area: the Satake were crushed, the Chiba knelt before Suruga at swordpoint, and their Imagawa overlords used the Chiba’s feud with the Satomi as a pretext to subjugate them as well in 1555.


    Naturally such developments alarmed other clans in the area. Many to the west turned to the Uesegi for protection, but was that really any different from kneeling to the Imagawa, or the Takeda, or any other powerful lord? On such topics were the debates of the upper echelons of the Hitachi no Ota, we heard, and as our neighbors were having similar conversations, our lives as messengers soon became very busy indeed.

    In April of 1555 we were never off our feet. In the month previous Daimyo Ota Ujinao had died and was succeeded by his son Ujinaga, a young man of 24. Assurances to our allies had to be sent out, and my modest skills at riding rapidly improved.

    Early one morning we were roused by Mifune Jinzaemon himself. He held three missives in his hands and selected three groups of five of us. I was to ride with Yukiyama Koan, Takano Kahei, Goda Ietsuna, and Hiraoka Sadakata to Katsuchika. We were then to proceed to the main fortress there, Koga-jo, and once there we were to deliver this message to none other than Hiraga Morokage, a leading general of the Koga no Ashikaga. Another message was being sent to the Yuki; a few years past, the late Ota Ujinao had allowed his son Ujinaga to invade the Koga region and depose the lord there in favor of Yuki Masakage, who had married Ujinao’s daughter.

    We left immediately, saddling horses and grabbing food to be eaten on the road, for the ride would take most of the day. The first hour was passed quietly, as we were still awakening and eating. After that there was playful banter; we were still safely in lands that our soldiers patrolled, and the peasants in the fields that we passed wouldn’t dare try anything against five armed men. Goda and I were the tallest, and both of us were armed only with swords. Takano had a bow, and Yukiyama and Hiraoka had spears in addition to their swords.


    Around midday Goda’s horse went lame, having injured one of its legs, so he dismounted to walk it back as the rest of us continued on. When he was but a speck receding in the distance, Hiraoka grinned at the rest of us: “He was too big for that horse! Iwamoto, watch your mount, you might be next!” We shared a laugh, and continued on.

    Takano was the most talkative of our group, and kept us entertained as we rode, or walked, on our journey to Katsuchika. Whether it was the background of our mounts, anecdotes about the weather, or comparing the philosophies of different sects of Buddhism, he could talk forever – at least until an arrow ripped out his throat.

    One second he was telling a story about a monk who spent his life deliberately cultivating a rock on seaside cliffs that were constantly ravaged by storms, and the next a long shaft had sprouted from his neck, blossoming in a cloud of blood, and he slumped back over the nethers of his horse.
    The remaining three of us stared at each other in shock: had that just happened? A second shaft buzzing angrily overhead ripped me forcibly back to reality, and with a cry of anger and fear I kicked my horse in the direction the shot had come from. I tore my sword from its sheath on my saddle, brandishing it overhead as I galloped towards the small cluster of trees the bowmen were certainly hiding in.

    I hunched over as another shaft whipped by and was soon in the trees. The first man I saw dove out of my path and I rode past him, and as I searched for his accomplice I was tugged off of my horse to roll through the dirt and roots. It hurt much, much more than I expected it might, and as I clutched at the arm I fell on I heard a scream muffled by hoofbeats and then the clash of steel even as my vision faded to stars and blackness – then another scream that trailed off to a whimper.

    I sat upright with a fierce desire to cradle my aching head in my arms – if only I could move my left. I grasped my left shoulder – and hissed in pain as I made contact with yet another arrow. I had been shot. More hoofbeats approached, followed by a thud as someone dismounted.

    “Iwamoto!” someone – Hiraoka – called. “You’re alive? Here, press this to your shoulder.” Something ripped, and then a scrap of cloth was thrust into my hand. “Yukiyama is fetching your horse.” My vision returned slowly, the blackness slowly receding to just the edges of my field of view. Somewhere in the background the whimpering continued.

    “I think I’m in too much pain to be dead,” I groaned, and Hiraoka let out a nervous laugh, patting my shoulder. “I haven’t seen too many wounds,” he said, peering at my shoulder, “but I think you should be fine.”

    “The… who attacked us? Bandits?”


    A shadow passed over Hiraoka’s face along with a grimace and his dark brows appeared even darker, thin lips sent in a serious line, before his look of concern returned. “Not bandits. Too well equipped. And they are certainly not fine. Yukiyama trampled one. The other is pinned to a tree by my spear. He’ll pass soon, and then we’ll just have you to deal with.”
    I snorted a laugh that turned into a wince. “Call me Kennosuke,” I said.

    “Sadataka,” he replied with a grin.



    Gameplay notes, for any interested
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    The Imagawa start heavily handicapped in this mod. To the north and east are the Takeda and the Hojo, both allies. To the west are more allies and vassals, and one doesn't even give the Imagawa military access, so basically they have to either use boats or attack allies or both to expand, or deal with difficult diplomacy.
    Last edited by waveman; March 13, 2018 at 07:38 PM.

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  7. #7
    NorseThing's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Your joking observation of being too big for the mount may have more truth than you think. Height acts like a lever when the horse struggles, the lever magnifies the effort.

    I also was in love (not too strong a term here) with the beautiful picture of the mounted horses moving on the plains with the snow capped mountain peaks as a backdrop.

  8. #8
    Axis Sunsoar's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Always nice to see a Shogun II AAR, and like Norsething, I found the image selection beautiful. I liked the map as well. The description of the young men riding and jesting along together was well done, and then she shift to action was gripping and sudden, as it should be!

    Keep up the great work!

  9. #9
    Darkan's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Well done so far. I like this, especially since it starts with a lowly messenger's point of view/daily activities. Inspired to have him be a messenger, he'll usually know what's going on (at least in the general sense), but he's not an all-powerful general (as evidenced by the wound, and riding skills ). Keep up the good work!
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  10. #10
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Great chapter, the map, story and screenshots are all well done! I agree that the picture of the riders with the snowy peaks behind them is especially good. As NorseThing said, the fact that the riders had to deal with a lame horse is a nice detail. I remember the fantasy author Dianna Wynne Jones commenting in her book The Tough Guide to Fantasyland that, in too many stories, horses can gallop all day without rest, don't need food or water and never cast shoes or go lame! . (It's a good book about how not to write a convincing story.) Realistic details like this, and the way that characters have recognisable personalities (such as the talkativeness of Tanako) add to your story.
    Last edited by Alwyn; March 20, 2018 at 11:33 AM.

  11. #11
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Thank you NorseThing and Axis- I've been doing some reading on Japanese horsemen, and their smaller horses seem like they might make overstraining then much more of an issue. Except for (arguably) larger mounts for heavy cav. And I may have played a custom battle and just run a unit of horsemen around the map to get that pic


    Thank you also Darkan. The messenger thing will be coming into play more, and it also gets our main character into an interesting unit for battles - a light cavalry unit called jizamurai kihei.

    And thanks as well Alwyn; that certainly sounds like an interesting read!

    I'm hoping to have the next update up in the next day or two! It's time for Kennosuke to start healing up

    Edit: I'll be a bit late, as it turns out
    Edit II: currently dealing w some relationship issues but I should be back up and running within the week
    Last edited by waveman; April 04, 2018 at 10:50 AM.

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  12. #12
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Don't worry about being late - AARs take as much time as they take. (So, apparently, does getting around to reading them - look how long it's taken me to get here... )

    I'm sorry to hear about the relationship issues. I hope you're OK. Or as OK as possible in the circumstances, anyway.


    I'll join everyone else in their admiration of the picture of the line of horsemen. Running the unit round the map to get it was worth the effort, if you ask me!

    It's a great story - and I'm looking forward to discovering who was responsible for the attack.






  13. #13
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Chapter 2, part 2/2
    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

    To be honest I was a little jealous of my new friends. New because although we had been living and working together for some time, Morokage and Yukiyama Koan had grown up together and had been friends for a long time. And now they had each killed a man, something to distinguish them. I had walked away concussed with my arm in a sling.

    Yet they and others, including the general of the Koga that we were to meet, Hiraga Morokage, were impressed by my actions. “Your quick action and bravery likely saved your friends’ lives,” they said.

    Hiraga-sama’s reaction to news of our attack, and in particular Morakage’s assessment of our assailants’ equipment, was much more severe than I had expected. He visibly blanched, and as soon as he could after we had delivered our message he shuffled us off to some subordinate or another – or so Morokage and Koan said when they eventually found me at the surgeon’s quarters.

    We stayed several days at Koga Castle, then rode back home, albeit warily. We did encounter several patrols this time and had to pass through several checkpoints, each time producing our credentials as messengers for the Hitachi. Thankfully, nothing exciting happened. When we returned to Tsuchiura-jo I was ordered to rest and my companions given several days of light duties. We were told that Goda had been dismayed to hear that we were attacked after we had to leave him behind and had requested a rigorous schedule from our supervisors.
    The rest of the year actually passed without incident despite Morakage’s dire predictions that the Imagawa would soon be moving in our direction. My shoulder ended up taking several months to heal to the point I could use it as well as I could before the injury. I had not realized how much I needed my left hand until this had happened, but I became intimately aware of how important it was when delivering a two handed sword stroke, or guiding a spear. While my right hand was decent for writing and other such maneuvers, during my convalescence I resolved to practice such arts with my left as well.

    And, of course, once I was well enough to go to the castle town and the inns of Tsuchiura, Hiraoka, Koan and I were quite celebrated: my friends as blooded warriors and myself with a nice scar to display. We received many free drinks from younger soldiers and easily captured the attentions of pretty girls. I doubt many eighteen-year-olds enjoyed themselves as much as we did, even as other soldiers were caught up in skirmishes of their own and earning glory for themselves. In short it was an enjoyable summer, and that was a good thing, for Autumn would bring more than its share of trials.


    a short one, but I should be able to move on from here pretty quickly...

    Next: Chapter 3, An End to Youth
    Last edited by waveman; July 01, 2018 at 07:22 PM.

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  14. #14
    NorseThing's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    So how well does one need to be to go to the inns to 'celebrate'? Ambulatory was always well enough for me!

  15. #15
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Is Hiraga-sama's reaction a hint that he knows more than he's saying? Although a long time has passed without any incidents, which makes me wonder what might be going on that could be invisible to everyone for so long...






  16. #16
    Alwyn's Avatar Frothy Goodness
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Like Caillagh, I'm intrigued by Hiraga-sama's reaction to the news. I'm looking forward to seeing the trials that Autumn will begin, after this enjoyable summer.

  17. #17
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Haha, well in my experience reckless youth had been known to discount doctors' orders...

    And we are indeed in the calm before the storm

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  18. #18
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Chapter 3: Invasion

    Looks like I;m finally ready to post again, haha....


    Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 
    Sometimes when it rains it pours, and often then rivers will greedily surge over their banks and flood the surrounding areas. Everyone knows it’s coming; they’ve seen the seasons change and the torrential rainfall. All that can be done is to prepare for the floods.

    So it was when, in 1556, the Imagawa finally did march on us. No sooner had winter ended than thousands of Imagawa troops were reported to be marching towards us from Suruga. But there the excitement ended, and a resentful stalemate ensued for several months. This is where the leadership of the Hitachi-no-Ota clan proved their intelligence, for the Imagawa were stalled at the Tone River. In order to cross they needed to attack the fortresses of the Koga-Ashikaga and the Yuki; it was rumored that Daimyo Yuki Masakatsu laughed so heartily at an Imagawa delegation sent to persuade him to switch sides that he fell and tore one of his favorite screen paintings and even then he wasn’t mad, just kept laughing.

    In April the Imagawa general Sessai Taigen led 500 raiders in a careful excursion over the Tone. The Koga bushi were led out to face them, but Koga-Ashikaga Harauji retreated back to Koga-jo when his scouts reported a larger Imagawa force marching behind the raiders.

    The Imagawa took this to be a sign of weakness, the fools! Hiraoka Sadakata and I were part of one of the scouting details that watched as 6ooo Imagawa troops streamed over the Tone, only to sit and wait for months. They could attack neither Koga-jo, held by the Koga, nor Yuki-jo, held by Yuki Masakatsu. “Still,” murmured Hiraoka as we watched the endless lines of spearmen crossing the river, “there certainly are a lot of them.

    It wasn’t until June that things fell apart. Sessai Taigen led another raid into Yuki lands, larger this time, while the Imagawa marched into Yuki lands. But it was a ruse and most of the troops marching to Yuki-jo were peasants and quickly fled back across the Tone to Musashi Province. In reality, the Koga were facing the core of the Imagawa army, and they broke themselves against them. They hunted the Koga fugitives mercilessly and quickly stormed Koga-jo, finally ending the month by smashing a relief column led by Yuki Masakatsu that, on top of being too late to save their allies, was also destroyed. In the space of forty days nine thousand of our men were killed or dispersed and our defensive lines breached.

    And yet we waited. It was whispered that the generals Ota Tomotoki and Sugenoya Katsutada pleaded daily with Lord Ota to march against the Imagawa but the young lord was hesitant to. Finally, Sugenoya threated to slit his belly, and at last the orders were given to assemble our troops. Amidst the relief that we were finally doing something we were awed by Segenoya-sama’s devotion to the clan, and my distant connection to him raised me in my comrades’ esteem.

    In mid-August we finally marched out! The banners fluttered gaily in the wind, and we proudly wore our sashimonos, the polished spearpoints of six thousand men sparkled confidently in the sun. Having worked as grooms and messengers, Hiraoka Sadakata, Goda Ietsuna Koan (to the protestations of his mount), Yukiyama, and I were assigned to a cavalry detachment under Mifune Jinzaemon. Directing the horse was Sugenoya Katsutada.




    It seemed both sided were eager for a contest of arms to decide this conflict, for soon the scouts were rushing back and moments after men were crying out that the enemy had been sighted! “Stay close to Mifune, he has a good head on his shoulders. You’ll need that in the confusion,” Sugenoya-sama had said, and while I wasn’t sure what he meant by that I pulled Hiraoka and the others along with me as I followed him.


    The Imagawa had marched into Hitachi proper, but had stayed together after a few raiding parties were picked off by Sugenoya’s horsemen. After that both sides just sent out small groups of mounted scouts. And it seemed that we were all drawn to Ushiku swamp, some distance southwest of Tsuchiura. We were marching north, the Imagawa south; to our right was the swamp. In a daze I followed Mifune as conch shells blared and men began beating the war-drums. I heard a whoop of pure glee; surely that could not have come from Sugenoya-sama? But it must have….

    To my right Hiraoka was pale-faced, to my left Goda was grim-faced, and where was Yukiyama? What did my face look like? Did it betray my fear and confusion?



    Without hesitation we set forward, ready to clash with the invaders. We were marching down a gentle slope towards two hills, both of which had a thick covering of trees. Our officers claimed that the Imagawa were on the other side of those hills and were hesitant to advance, so off we went. “Sugenoya-sama is happy we can advance through the trees,” Hiraoka asserted, though his lips were pressed so tightly together when he wasn’t talking they turned white.

    And so we advanced on the right flank of the army, the infantry and spearmen towards the hill to our left and in the valley between them. Ota Ujinaga commanded the center, his cousin Ota Tomotoki the left, and Suenoya Katsutada the horsemen on the right. I gripped my bow tightly as we approached the crest of the hill….




    Last edited by waveman; July 03, 2018 at 12:47 AM.

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  19. #19
    waveman's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    So, ah, my aforementioned issues are continuing, and on top of that I'm moving! But I managed to get some time to wright and to go back through my battle replays and harvest these pics, so here we go. Next bit should be up towards the end of the week since I've already got it written

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  20. #20
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    Default Re: White Stone, Black Stone

    Oh, that's a dreadful place to stop - leaving us all in such suspense!

    That's a great cliffhanger. I'm not just wondering what will happen next, I'm also wondering where Yukiyama is...

    Excellent writing, as always.

    I'll look forward to the next update.






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