Nagasino was a castle in Mikawa built on a naturally strong position where the Taki and the Ono rivers joined to form the Toyo. At the time of the civil war in Japan Nagasino had changed hands several times. In May 1575 it was held for Oda Nobunaga, one of the greatest Japanese warlords, by a samurai named Okudaira Sadamasa. On June 16 the castle was attacked by Takeda Katsuyori, the son and heir of the famous Takeda Shingen, the principal adversary of the Oda clan. After his attempts to take it by storm had failed, Katsuori besieged the castle trying to starve the defenders out. One of the Oda samurai managed to slip through the enemy ranks at night and took a message to Nobunaga. Soon considerable reinforsements commanded by Nobunaga and his vassals were on the way. Nobunaga saw in the relief of Nagasino an opportunity to crush finally the Takeda clan. He brought with him about 35000 men, twice as much as the besieging Takeda force. The old retainers of Shingen (Baba and Naito) advised their lord to withdraw, but Katsuyori was for fighting. Then they suggested an all-out assault on the castle so they could occupy it before the arrival of Nobunaga\'s troops, but Katsuyori turned this suggestion down. He was too sure of his excellent cavalry and he knew, that Nobunaga\'s larger army was much less reliable and not so well trained as his own.
Nobunaga took a strong position on a high ground behind a stream a mile from the Takeda lines and built a loose palisade of stakes and ropes. He detached 3000 musketeers (the principle Japanese fire-arm was a matchlock arquebus, its drawbacks were its short range and slow loading) and lined them in three ranks. They were ordered to fire each rank alternately in volleys.
The battle began at dawn on June 29 1575. The ground was uneven and muddy. As soon as the Takeda horsemen approached the edge of the stream, a devastating volley of a thousand arquebuses tore into them. Volley after volley followed every 20 seconds. Soon most of the Takeda commanders lay among the dead. Katsuyori personally led the final assault on the stockade but was beaten off. At that moment the garrison of the Nagasino castle attacked him in the rear, and the Oda main body left the palisade and joined in hand-to-hand fighting.
Now you have a chance to re-write the history of Japan. In this game you play for the Takeda clan against the much larger army of Oda Nobunaga and his generals - Toyotomi Hideyoshi, Tokugava Ieyasu, Honda Tadakatsu, Oda Nobutada, etc.
This was a solid and fun scenario. You fight against overwhelming odds, and you have multiple tactical options to beat this battle. At first I thought "my allies have a really big army, defeating Nobunaga cannot be that hard..." Boy, was I wrong. Boy, did I get creamed the first time. :-) Very tough game, but winnable with some micromanaging. Fixed force-fans, check this one out!
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Posted on 09/12/03 @ 12:00 AM
Playability:Good AI follow takeda
Balance:If the AI follow you it's easy the mission
Creativity:The triggers are well maded
Map design:A normal map good
Story:The scenario is heavily historically accurate.