Summary: I retake Owari at a horrific cost, but the Tokugawa over-extend themselves. Perhaps I can at least get one bitter strike in before I die.
I recruit a unit of bows at Mino but it is clear what must happen. I gather my armies together and march for Owari with everything I have.
Against my remaining forces, comprised of my two bodyguards, 4 full-strength bodies of ashigaru spears, 3 full bodies of ashigaru bows and a gaggle of weakened units comprising the remnants of Army Owari, is ranged 953 Tokugawa forces commanded by Tokugawan general Il Akinaga. I attack.
This time I refuse to get hung up on the defences and resolve to act aggressively. I have superiority in bows this time and well I know it, so I attack on a clear day. I line my archers up in two rows facing east where I know the enemy will come, with my samurai in the centre behind, full strength ashigaru reinforcing the flanks, and my remnants on the far flanks. I try to order my forces to face the east where my enemy is going to come... and steadily grow to loathe the new control system as chaos reigns trying to order my lines. I am constantly irritated by what the Creative Assembly have done with the control scheme, which is prone to doing odd things when trying to align my forces, such as lining them up an entire field away of where I clicked.
I'm foiled as the AI instead appear in the west, baffling me as to how I was supposed to predict that. Refusing to exhaust my forces I dejectedly prepare to assault the castle.
I fire off all my arrows, annihilating their archers and dealing sore casualties to the enemy ashigaru, but I am foiled as my archers refuse to fire into the dangerous retainers and samurai and instead insist, to the refusal of all other orders, on firing into sheltered ashigaru ranks, blunting the effects of my advance. Either this is a bug, or sometimes your forces don't respond to your orders. Either way, I have to attack. I attack with my spears in the centre across three points, and my archers, seeing only another unit of archers and wishing to tie up any reserves.
The fighting is bitter. My archers are almost annihilated and my men bled dry, my Samurai being annihilated and many Ashigaru fleeing. I have to commit my generals on foot to bolster the line; thankfully this turns things. The enemy general falls early, the fool refusing to get off his horse and fight beside his men.
By the time it is all over, the Tokugawa are dead on the field, killed to the last man. But it is over now. My army suffers 943 irreplaceable losses, having only 252 soldiers to hold back the hordes advancing on me. I understand that the campaign is effectively over. I am at least spared a parole as the Hattori inexplicably bypass Mino, though they do separate me from my latest recruits in that city. The Tokugawa reveal one final cruelty as yet another army moves out, with four fresh units. Even after annihilating two armies, I am still outnumbered. But the Tokugawa have left their capital unguarded.
So it shall be then. I will take the Tokugawa with me and advance on their capital, killing them before they can do anything about it. My other enemies may devour my territories, but I will leave them nothing. I resolve to leave a trail of horror in my wake, so that none shall benefit from what has come to pass. The Hattori will find nothing but smoking ruins, the Tokugawa, a blazing capital. I resolve to destroy everything I can before the fall.
Comments
