Takeda 3 - Rebirth of the Hosokawa

[Groundhog]

Takeda 3 is a pretty cool little turn-based strategy game set in the Sengoku Jidai (warring states) period of Japanese history; the 16th Century. It is heavily influenced by Shogun: Total War, but is a heck of a lot more historically accurate (both in terms of characters & clans, as well as troop make-ups), has deeper diplomacy options, and a more impressive battle engine.

Strangely the game completely ommits the islands and clans of Kyushu and Shikoku, though in truth you could say it's not a big deal, as those places only really become particularly important after the main island was unified.

I'm going to play as the house of Hosokawa, to the South-West (according to the layout of the continent in this game, at least), and see if I can reverse the fortunes of this once-proud clan.

[Groundhog]

The Hosokawa




The Hosokawa rose to prominence as supporters of the first Ashikaga shogun, Ashikaga Takauji, during the 14th Century. They continued to serve as deputies to the Ashikaga shoguns throughout the 15th Century, and with the rise of Hosokawa Katsumoto, one of the most powerful men in the country, to the head of the family they came to dominate the shogun's court in the mid-15th Century.

Eventually a succession dispute broke out over the post of shogun. In truth it was a dispute between the house of Hosokawa, who led by Katsumoto backed one particular successor, and the rival house of Yamana, who backed another successor. This led to the Onin War (1467-77), a devestating war that destroyed the capital city, the prestige of the ruling shoguns, and the resources of both the Hosokawa and Yamana houses. It also spread to the provinces, effectively beginning the century and more of warlords and civil warring that is now known as the Sengoku Jidai.

The Hosokawa managed to survive the Onin War and lasted into the 16th Century with lands around Kyoto, but their power and prestige would never again reach the heights it had before the Onin War. Around the mid-point of the 16th Century the Hosokawa retainer house of Miyoshi would rise in power, and eventually overthrow the Hosokawa.

One branch of the Hosokawa family would survive however, to serve under the warlord Tokugawa Ieyasu, and as a result they would once again serve as daimyo, a post the house would hold throughout the entire age of the samurai, up until the 19th Century.

I've decided to try this dynasty with the Hosokawa because I've always found their history interesting. They also have the added bonus of starting in a good location. Due to their proximity to the capital and the sea we are able to create "foreign districts" to attract European missionaries. What's the advantage in this, you ask? One word: guns!

It's a tough starting point however. To the east of our castle lies the powerful stronghold of the Hongan-ji. Technically it was a Buddhist temple, but in reality it was perhaps the strongest castle in the country. It held alot of power, had a lot of supporters, and an army that could more-than-compete with any warlord in the country.

Also east is the Ashikaga clan, ie. the shogun. We start with good relations with this clan due to the history of our two houses, but the days of Ashikaga shogun domination are long-over by this stage of history. We will have no qualms in annexing this clan should we get the chance.

To the neighbouring north lies the Akamatsu clan, who figure to be an easier target than the Hongan-ji, if it comes down to that. These will likely be my first attempted-victims, unless the Hongan-ji forces me to look their direction.

Most of the power-house clans lie in the Kanto plains of Japan, to the far East of us. They aren't a big problem now, but these guys - the Takeda, Uesugi, Hojo, Imagawa, etc. - will eventually be my greatest concern, should I last that long! The Oda house at this point in history is a minor house, but if they survive the first couple of years they could be a power thanks to the strength of their generals.

[Groundhog]

Hosokawa Harumoto is the ruler of the Hosokawa house in 1548. His ratings are very low compared to rulers of the major daimyo houses to the east, and his skill in the various unit types is also quite low, outside of the yari ashigaru. Just about the sole positive trait Harumoto has is that he has achieved a court rank, that of Secretary of Defense. As far as court ranks go, this is a low one (27th out of 30!), though there are only 3 people who begin the game with a court rank, excluding the Emperor himself. The advantage to court ranks? Typically the most units any general can command is 12, where as Harumoto's court rank increases that to 13. Not sure if higher ranks allow even more units or not.

I imagine that court ranks can be earned through achievements and bribes (there is an option to send gold to the Emperor), though I haven't toyed with this side of the game much at this point.

All-in-all, Harumoto is, true to life, not a man that would strike fear into the hearts of many other daimyo. Let's see if we can't change that.

[Groundhog]

Our castle town of Kishiwada in the south-east corner of the map. As I said above, the designers of the game took some liberties both with the direction of the map and the shape of Japan, but in reality we are to the south of Kyoto. The Akamatsu are to the north with the purple crested flag, the Hongan-ji to the east with the swastika-looking flag, the Ashikaga east of the Hongan-ji with the green and yellow circle flag. Also just touching my borders is the Rokkaku clan to the south-east, with the purple flag with a yellow bird.

Rokkaku and Hongan-ji will be my biggest two immediate threats. The Hongan-ji castle is quite the fortress, while the Rokkaku have two castles to begin the game, giving them access to a larger army. We have good relations with both the Ashikaga and the Akamatsu in the form of alliances, though we are at war with both the Rokkaku and Hongan-ji. That should keep things interesting!

[Groundhog]

A quick glance around the rest of the country. The Imagawa (white flag with gold hair comb) begin as the most powerful of the clans. Not far behind them are the Hojo (green flag with the gold tri-force), while wedged between those two are the Takeda (red flag, yellow diamond), who begin with some very strong generals. The Uesugi to the north (white flag, black Japanese character), and the Oda to the middle-west of the map (yellow flag, black flower - next to Rokkaku) will both become very powerful if allowed.

[Groundhog]

1548

In 1548 guns, or teppo as they were known in Japan, were not yet widely in use, though they were known. The fact that we control one of the few regions capable of eventually producing them and attracting European missonaries (who are essentially teppo suppliers), we decide to first of all develop our castle town. Each improvement costs 1000 production points, and we begin with a little over 3000, so we decide to build 2 foreign districts and a church. Each foreign district increases the chance of a missonary visit by 20%, while each church reduces the price we'll need to pay for the rifles.

It took years for the power and usefulness of rifles to be known throughout Japan, though we hope in this game the nation will be learning that lesson at the hands of the Hosokawa!

Later in the year we build a farm, which increases production of the town. Production is important because it is used for both building improvements as well as supplying marching armies. We also build a granary, which increases the maximum amount of rice we can store, and a marketplace, which creates trade lines (improves the gold earned by our clan), and increases the chance of a merchant visiting our city. Merchants, from what I've seen so far, supply us with the horses required for cavalry, though I'm not sure if they sell anything else as well. We also build a teppo house which will eventually increase the rate we produce teppo, and finally we purchase a town, which increases the rate we are able to recruit soldiers by +25 per turn.

We are also approached by two ninja. The first is Nikaidou Geni, a ninja looking for work. Ninja are important in this game for a number of reasons, and can be used for all kinds of jobs, including assassinations, spying, spreading rumours, delaying armies, etc. and are also good bodyguards, defending against other ninja. He wants 250 gold, and we gladly pay. He ends up having an Intelligence rating (the key ratings used to determine the success of ninja missions) of 76, which is OK but not as high as I had hoped. Niho Tadamune also approaches us wanting 250 gold. Again we accept, but are very disappointed with his rating of 61 intelligence...

Just as the year is about to end we learn that the Oda clan have overthrown their neighbours the Shiba, absorbing their lands and retainers, and putting the soon-to-be-powerful Oda clan just one region seperate from ourselves. Hopefully the Imagawa can keep them in check!

At the end of the first year of each game you are given the ability to hire a special ninja. There are four different ninja you can choose from; Corrupter (beautiful woman who will infilitrate and corrupt an opposing clan), Elite Assassin (will successfully assassinate anyone but die in the process), Body Guard (will protect reserve ninja from dying while defending your castles), and finally a Master Ninja Trainer (trains other ninja). I pick a Body Guard ninja, as ninja aren't all that cheap and it'd be useful to keep the ones I have around! It is awful tempting to take the Elite Assassin in order to knock off any particularly threatening daimyo, but I decide to think long-term instead. Need all the gold I can get my hands on to buy foreign boomsticks!

1549

It'san auspicious start to the year as foreign missionaries arrive in Kishiwada! Unfortunately we do not have a lot of gold, and can afford just 2teppo! Still, 2 guns are better than none, so we accept! Our special Body Guard ninja arrives in town too, the beautiful yet deadly Momochi Azuka.

Although it may well be doomed from the beginning we decide to take a bold step; an attack on the mighty Hongan-ji. Chances of success are low, but it should give us a feel of their strength. We'd rather march on our allies the Akamatsu, but it would require moving through Hongan-ji lands to do so, which would see us attacked anyhow. So with that in mind, we form an army!

We appoint Harumoto as marshall of our force, despite him not having the greatest of leadership or combat ratings amongst our generals. What he does have is the extra unit bonus thanks to his court rating, which will give us some reserves in the likely event that we need them.

We create a force that is 970 strong, largely yari ashigaru (light infantry) based. We do not have any particularly skilled cavalry or kachi (heavy infantry) generals, taking just two 40-strong cavalry detachments (though only one by a general with any talent), and one 60-strong kachi detachments. Archery is the strength of the Hosokawa, but for a potential attack on a castle archers will not be of much use, so I make the risky move of assigning most of my skilled archer commanders to other troop types, bring just two dedicated archer detachments. This could prove a mistake.

It takes about a month to march inside Hongan-ji lands, and we begin our siege. During this time we decide to make use of our ninja, Nikaidou. We ask him to sneak into the imposing Hongan-ji fortress, Ichiyamahonganji (quite a mouthful), and attempt to burn down the gates in order to make the invasion a far simpler task. Unfortunately, yet not surprisingly, we learn that despite entering the city, he was killed before completing his task. With this news, we decide to break the siege and, perhaps foolishly, try and capture the fortress.

[Groundhog]

We are somewhat dismayed to learn that the Hongan-ji have nearly twice the soldiers available that we do (960 vs 1694), and the strength of their army is an impressive 3039 to our 1683. Unfortunately it's too late to pull-back now!

Considering the disparity in troop numbers, we are hopeful that the Hongan-ji will leave the temple gates to try and defeat us quickly, with this in mind I position my archer detachments at the front and will hope for the best!

All unlabelled detachments are yari ashigaru.

As we approach the fortress it appears that the Hongan-ji have decided to attack us outside the fortress. To the houses in front of the gates we find 2 detachments of enemy yari ashigaru waiting for us, one on each side. My archer units open fire and both enemy detachments suffer heavy loses, though one of my yari ashigaru detachment to the right side (in relation to the image above) is engaged in close combat. The archers defenders of the detachment (even a yari unit has a few archers attached to it, one of the touches of realism I love about this game) fall back and the yari spearmen of the unit step forward, but suffer losses and are force to fall back and regroup. At this stage my cavalry unit comes to the rescue, and charges into the enemy, forcing them to flee back to the fortress, though the losses suffered by my own cavalry in the process, thanks to the poor leadership rating of my cavalry general, is enough to force them to turn back as well, and they flee off the map, right behind the yari ashigaru detachment who also fails to regroup.

While this is happening the main gates to the keep open, and another detachment of enemy yari ashigaru make their way out the gates and approach my army. My archers pepper them as the approach my kachi detachment, and combat breaks out. My kachi make short work of the ashigaru spearmen, and then rush towards the archers of the enemy unit, who had been sitting back and covering from a distance. The enemy archers are surprisingly deadly and my kachi suffer heavy losses in their approach and my general wants to fall back and retreat, but I command him onwards and he breaks the archers, forcing them to flee.

The heavy losses suffered by the units the Hongan-ji decided to send outside the gates proves to be just about all the defenders can stand, and we are suprised to see a full retreat ordered! Victory!

Victorious Hosokawa troops storm the deserted castle gates

Wow! That was far easier than I expected. The troop advantage was heavily weighted towards the Hongan-ji forces, though it was definitely a mistake of theirs to underestimate our forces. If they had forced us to breach the castle gates we would've suffered many more losses than we did initially, and have been a weaker force once we'd entered the fortress.

Clearly the leadership ratings of their generals were not high either, because I've never seen a force break so early in combat. After routing three of their detachments we probably had numerical supremacy, but victory was not assured. The fact that the Hongan-ji have another castle to the north probably helped in their decision to rout - this is not the end of the Hongan-ji just yet.

We lost just 82 men to death, and 16 deserted the battle field. The Hongan-ji lost 186 and 87 deserted. We get 2707 performance points for the battle, to -766 for the Hongan-ji. Our most distinguished general was Isshiki Yoshiyuki (yari ashigaru) with 268 points, while Akai Naomasa, who led the kachi samurai in their charge on the archers, was second with 101. We award "bonus awards" to Akai and our general and ruler Hosokawa Harumoto. You gain a certain amount of bonus awards per successful battle, and when assigned to a general allow them to level up, so you can increase their leadership, combat, or intelligence rating by 1. Akai gets his combat rating bumped to 61, while Hosokawa is bumped to 46 combat skill.

[Groundhog]

1549 - Cont.

The capture of Ichiyamahonganji gives us our second castle, but also further thrusts us towards hostile borders. Ichiyamahonganji comes equipped with 3 barracks showing the militant side of these Buddhists, and also has 2 farms, 2 granaries, and a marketplace. It has a lower troop recruitment rate than our home castle however, making it not an ideal place to launch military campaigns from. For the time being I disband my army here, and decide to appoint a governor of this castle.

Governors are important as their leadership ability controls the level of production by the castle, but they are also important because if the governor's Loyalty rating drops too low, they will rebel and join a different clan, meaning you lose control of the castle to another. There are several ways that your generals Loyalty can be reduced, but by far the most common is enemy ninja spreading rumours inside your castles. We appoint Miyoshi Yatsunaka as governor of the new castle. He has a leadership rating of 78, 2nd highest in our clan, yet his combat ratings are not so high. Governors are not able to travel with armies, so this is important - I want my best generals in the field.

With our first big victory complete, and the first steps taken towards restoring the Hosokawa house to its former glory, we hope to spend the rest of the year replenishing our troops and hoping for foreign missionaries. We do hire another ninja though, Yamamura Okikazu, (intel. 75).

I also learn something important, thanks to the burning gate on the now Hosokawa-owned Ichiyamahonganji castle - the ninja attempt to burn the castle gates DID succeed! That explains why the Hongan-ji were so eager to rush out the gates in defense... makes far more sense now!

As the year winds down a force led by our Akamatsu allies to the north makes its way into our newly acquired lands. This is not necessarily a hostile action as they may be marching beyond our borders, but as they approach Ichiyamahonganji castle, I have my suspicions... thankfully they harmlessly pass by our castle, instead moving towards the Ashikaga.

We also learn that Shiba Yoshimune, his clan annexed by the Oda last year, has decided to instead throw his lot in with the Rokkaku clan. It was a mistake for the Oda to allow him to retain his governor position.

The other big news of the year 1549 is that the Saito clan decide to give up independence and become vassals of the Imagawa. This is a major move that dramatically increases the power of the already very powerful Imagawa, and brings that clan even closer to my lands in the process. The Saito clan have generally been a powerful foe each time I've played this game. If the Imagawa are able to hold onto them, they will be tough to stop.

We also discover that the Akamatsu forces that passed through our lands were on the way to the Rokkaku fortress to the east. Three Akamatsu forces attempt to take the fortress, but are unsuccessful and forced to withdraw. With the Akamatsu forces positioned far from home, we are faced with an interesting decision as we approach the end of the year. Do we break our alliance and invade the Akamatsu while they are weakened by their war with the Rokkaku?

[Groundhog]

1550

Isshiki Yoshikiyo and Tsutsui Junkei both come of age for us, and are able to serve. Both are fairly useless with low ratings across the board, yet both are fairly skilled archer generals. The weakness of Hosokawa retainers, especially of those skilled in cavalry and kachi, could be a problem going forward. Hopefully we have some horses in the stables further down the track. Generals are generated historically, so real life retainers become available at the year they turned 15 in real life, and if we conquer a clan, we get their retainers too, so there is hope yet!

We ponder invading Akamatsu right as the year begins, but decide against it at this stage. We would need to send a force to their homelands while defending our newly captured castle from the retreating Akamatsu troops who are still about 2 or 3 turns away, and we just don't have the depth of generals to make me very confident in our abilities to do so. We will wait until a little later in the year, providing we aren't forced to concentrate our attention elsewhere.

Just as we reach this decision a Rokkaku force approaches Ichiyamahongangji castle! Following the fleeing Akamatsu force they instead decide to setup siege around our castle... those bastards! Unsure of their numbers we have to decide it's best to stay in the castle and wait for their attack, though we decide to send out our ninja to burn the supplies of the attacking Rokkaku force. This would hopefully break their moral and end the siege quicker, at the least forcing them to attempt an invasion of the castle quicker. Our ninja returns to our castle with good news; the mission was a success! As expected, the enemy are forced to march on the castle immediately, but with just 860 units to our 1743, a morale that is shot to pieces by our ninja activity - 1 morale to our 50 - and a force strength of 574 to our 3250, well, this should be a slaughter.

[Groundhog]

Despite the heavy numerical superiority, we still only have a general capable of leading 10 detachments in this castle. With that in mind we position two archers on the front walls, kachi in defense if the main gate is breached, with the army general Sogo mounted, yet back defending the HQ.

Generals Isshiki and Inadome are both placed outside the castle gates in charge of yari ashigaru. What seems like the most dangerous place on the battle field is in actual fact probably the most desirable in a battle such as this. Victory should be all but assured, and being first into battle means honour and prestige for these two generals!

As the battle begins Inadome's detachment in the village on the right comes under heavy attack by several detachments, and suffers major losses, yet will not break. Isshiki has an easier time of it, facing just one detachment of yari ashigaru. Despite a valiant effor, Inadome is forced to fall back, while the rest of the Rokkaku forces approach the gate.

It doesn't take a great amount of time for the enemy kachi and mounted samurai to break through the main gate, but once inside they face Miyoshi's kachi samurai, who hold their position while my archers move in from both sides to provide support. Inadome in the meantime is fleeing back towards the castle, while a second unit has also engaged Isshiki in the village, turning the odds back against him and causing heavy losses and forcing him to retreat.

The strength of the Rokkaku force's koshi and cavalry forces Miyoshi's koshi unit into retreat, and Matsuna takes over the main defense of the gate. Our archer units continue to spray the attackers, but the Rokkaku have an archer unit of their own outside the gates, peppering down onto our defenders with devastating results. This is closer than I had hoped! We still have the numbers right now, we just need to hold this wave back, as the Rokkaku don't have much in support!

Then disaster strikes; Matsuna routs, and the yari ashigaru units in support lose their nerve at the sight of this, and also leave the battlefield! Argh!

Our valiant archer detachments hold their ground, but it's only them and our general who aren't fleeing the battlefield at this stage! In a last ditch effort to salvage this, I charge my general forward from his HQ position, but he loses his nerve as well, and flees the battlefield, signalling a complete rout of my army... How did this happen?!

Is this castle cursed for the defenders? First the Hongan-ji lost it despite the far superior force and now us, with an even greater advantage, have just done the same! That's what I get for not taking the Rokkaku seriously enough.

In a reverse of fortunes from the 1st battle of Ichiyamahonganji castle, Hosokawa defenders lay dead in defeat as the underestimated Rokkaku forces storm the castle.

We killed just 196 Rokkaku troops while they took 377 of us. We are scored a -8 to the Rokkaku 2813...

Most dissapointing of all is the fact that not a single general of the enemy's army was more than an ashigaru general - ie. a low-rated, game-generated fictional character. Embarassing.

Miyoshi Yasunaka, our governor of the castle, is captured by the enemy forces, alongside Akai Naomasa, Miyoshi Yoshitaka, and Ogasawara Narisuke. In a clan that is already suffering from a shallow pool of retainers, this really, really hurts.

[Groundhog]

1550 - cont

Well, we need to act and act fast. I want to hit back and take Ichiyamahonganji ASAP, before the Rokkaku are able to transfer any skilled generals there, and still have the make-shift ashigaru generals in charge. They made short work of my generals, sure, but I still much prefer my odds against them than Rokkaku retainers.

I wait one more turn for the generals from our last defeat to return to my castle, and in this time the Rokkaku send a force towards our home castle! Again it's led by an ashigaru general. I create an army, but you can't create an army and march it all in the same turn, so the Rokkaku force reaches my capital and decides assault without a siege. Enemy ninja are also successful in burning my gates, meaning that this is going to be a tought battle... I disband my force so all my generals are available for defense. Back to war we go...

[Izulde]

How does this series compare to Nobunaga's Ambition?

[Groundhog]

Once again, we are the heavy favourites in this battle, but we all saw what happened last time that was the case... We won't be taking these guys lightly.

Unfortunately we lost some of our best close-combat generals in our last battle, giving us a bunch of generals who are skilled at archery. I decide to play to our strengths by assigning far more archers than usual - 4 detachments. Everybody else is leading yari spearmen, I just don't feel comfortable with any of these guys leading kachi or cavalry.

Remembering that there are no gates to defend us, this could be interesting.

It turns out that only the left gate was destroyed by fire, and the Rokkaku send yari ashigaru on that flank, while cavalry attack the left gates under a hail of arrows fired by my defenders.

My archers on the left gate are doing a great job, pushing back the Rokkaku yari troops, and then holding their own against the cavalry that followed. The Rokkaku cavalry gets through the gate and engages in close combat, but their losses are too great and they are soon broken, and there are now no enemies approaching this side of our defenses.

Meanwhile on the right gate the enemy cavalry finally break through the gate and engage my archers, and my yari general Isshiki Yoshimichi, positioned to the right of my archers on this gate, charges into melee. An enemy detachment of yari approaches, so I send in my reserves, with Inodome's yari detachment, positioned on the middle island, moving towards the gate. The left flank is still clear of any attackers.

More detachments of yari stream towards the right gate, so I move my other yari detachment on the middle island over towards the right gate, but I have a clear superiority in numbers now. As long as one of my units doesn't break and cause a domino effect, victory should be ours.

Sure enough, before my two reserve detachments can make it to the gates, the enemy begins their retreat. I order an all-out advance to try and mop up as many of these Rokakku bastards as I can. A fairly easy victory, with not a single Hosokawa detachment ever routing from battle!

My army charges out the gates on mop-up duty of the fleeing Rokkaku army, while a few brave Rokkaku soldiers lead suicidal charges into my forces.

We lost 94 men to their 235, and scored 2801 points to their -2072. Matsunaga Hisahide, leading the archers on the right gates, suffered the most losses of our force from with 46, while Isshiki Yoshimich, leading the yari units on the right gate, suffered 27 losses. Both men earn a reward point and go up a level, while my ruler Hosokawa Harumoto also levels up.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Izulde

How does this series compare to Nobunaga's Ambition?

The two games are very, very similar. Imagine Nobunaga's Ambition's world map/diplomacy mixed in with an advanced version of Shogun: Total War's combat engine and you've got Takeda 3.

[Groundhog]

1550 - cont

Those Rokkaku bastards are still laying siege to my castle despite their loss. I admire their persistence. I take a bit of a risk and form an army. I won't be able to attack this turn, and if the Rokkaku attack me next turn I won't be able to use my generals in this army for the defense. Turns out it was a bad gamble, and the Rokkaku do indeed attack again. Argh...

[Groundhog]

Despite the fact that we are stuck with crappy commanders, at least we have some retainers available. The Rokkaku are still stuck with ashigaru.

We lay out a very similar strategy with 4 archer units, the main difference however is that we are forced to field 3 units of ashigaru-led yari. Hmmm.

Cavalry approaches the still-burnt left side gate, but my archers force them to flee. On the right side cavalry also approaches. I send one unit of my reserve yari on the middle island to each side to reinforce the gates.

Once again the left side gate, despite being open, proves impossible for the enemy to gain a foothold in, and all attackers on that side are routing after the fierce archery of my attackers. The right side is not so lucky and the attackers breach the gate and storm in. My yari ashigaru rush in to the attack, but the lack of skill of my generals is apparent, as we are suffering some losses. I call in support from the left gate yari troops and the archers from the middle island, hoping they can make it in time, though the situation isn't critical yet.

Enemy war drums sound, and the enemy recover their morale, and the entire force heads towards the right gate, where my troops are suffering severe losses, some falling back. I order more backups, this time the archers from the left gate, but sheer volume of numbers forces all my attackers back from the right gate, and the enemy begins to stream in as my reserves still make their way over, trying to prevent them from reaching the middle island.

My leader's lack of leadership now comes into play as my troops begin to flee the field, creating the dreaded domino effect... Soon just one detachment, oddly enough an ashigaru general is left standing while the rest of my men flee, and the enemy pours into the middle island. Oh dear.

I order a full retreat. Resistance is futile. Crap.

General Kagawa Kotokage's reserve archers try and defend entry to the middle island.

We lost 243 to the enemy's 193, and scored just 3 points to their 2236. A disappointing defeat, to say the least.

Despite still having an army in the field - frustratingly enough, containing all my skilled generals - that's it for the Hosokawa clan. The loss of our home castle means defeat.

[Groundhog]

In real life it was also around this time that the Hosokawa lost their positions, so unfortunately this game mirrowed reality a little TOO closely.

Though I haven't yet played this game very much, this is the first time I've been wiped out. Other times I've played I've actually thought things were perhaps a little too easy, so this was kind of a nice change - though a bit embarrassing considering I decided to chronicle it here! Oh well.

Overall, it's definitely much more of a challenge using a clan like the Hosokawa. I really noticed the difference in general ratings this time around, as morale is such a huge factor - as it should be.

[the_meanstrosity]

Sorry about the defeat, but a nice dynasty Groundhog. I always loved the old Koei series (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga's Ambition, etc).

[Groundhog]

Thanks!

I'm going to give this another shot shortly. The single best thing about this game is the field battles, so it's a shame I didn't have a single one with the Hosokawa!

[Tellistto]

Restart!

Tell

[Izulde]

Originally Posted by the_meanstrosity

Sorry about the defeat, but a nice dynasty Groundhog. I always loved the old Koei series (Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga's Ambition, etc).

I did too, though Genghis Khan was my favorite of the original NES games. Probably because I loved gaming the AI by making my army one giant cavalry unit, which was the easiest to win.

[the_meanstrosity]

Originally Posted by Izulde

I did too, though Genghis Khan was my favorite of the original NES games. Probably because I loved gaming the AI by making my army one giant cavalry unit, which was the easiest to win.

Nice, lol. I have a number of the old Koei games saved and will load one of them up to play a session every few years. I never conquered Genghis Khan though I'll probably give it a shot in my next Koei session. Such a great game company.

[Galaril]

Groundhog I am interested in picking up T3 and was wondering if you ran this on a 64 bit vista system? I have 64 bit Vista OS and see they say it is not supported as of two years ago on 64 bit systems.

[Groundhog]

I was running it on XP 32bit before, but since I upgraded to windows 7 32bit I can't get it to launch any more. But no, I've never tried it on a 64 bit OS.

[Groundhog]

Originally Posted by Galaril

Groundhog I am interested in picking up T3 and was wondering if you ran this on a 64 bit vista system? I have 64 bit Vista OS and see they say it is not supported as of two years ago on 64 bit systems.

Actually, running it in compatibility mode for Windows 95 allows it to run on my 32 bit OS and apparently (from the game's forum) it works for 64 bit too! Woo-hoo, fired it up last night and was wiped out by the CPU 20 minutes later.