Chronicles of the Takeda Clan- 1547-1550

 1547 was a glorious year to the Takeda clan.
With the three Takeda brothers working in unison the Hida campaign ended in three months in what surely should be a tale for the ages.

With the Takeda army divided in three collumns our clan stormed Hida at lightning speed, with Lord Shingen's collumn spearheading the assault on the Anegokoji army, with his brother's contigents closing the pincer for a double envelopment.

In annex I transcribe Lord Shingen's speech to the troops before the fateful battle.

With the fall of the main Anegokoji army Takayama was unable to hold out the assault of our glorious army. After the battle Lord Nobukado met a most curious samurai Shichiroji who seems to have a bit of the strategist in him. He his now part of Lord Nobukado's personal retinue.

Unfortuantely this was not the last of the Anegokoji as they had defeated our relatives the Jimbo during the winter, so there were some loyalists in Etchu. It was with a sad heart that Lord Shingen decided to recover the ancestral home of our fallen kin. To further complicate matters the Hattori darkspawn decided to attack our Imagawa allies. Naturally Lord Shingen declared war on the hellborn insolents but could provide nothing more than moral support until the Anegokoji were dealt with.

Trade agreements were made with the Oda, Sakai and even with the Ikko-Ikki rabble.

 Meanwhile Lord Shingen recognized the need for "information" specialists and by 1548 the first Takeda intelligence network had been setup in Hida by a fellow named Tsunemasa.

Soon Tsunemasa would prove his value for the Takeda cause.

As usual Lord Shingen moved to destroy the enemy armies on the field, and then move onto the, now undermanned, strongpoints. This time however Tsunemasa improved upon the strategy by moving ahead of the army, and sabotaging the castle gates at Toyama.

With the Anegokoji matter dealt with it was time to move onto the Hattori.

 The unholy scum first showed their perfidy when they tried to assassinate Metsuke Suwa Ujinari. Naturally they failed, and Ujinari proved quite relentless in uprooting the Hattori spy network. He suceeded in tha same season, altough we coild not secure enough evidence to garantee an execution, so we had to conted to arrest and exile the ring leader, a man named Chisato.

 After this experience Metsuke Ujinari took to alaways be accompanied by a fine hunting dog of Kai stock.

Unfortunately the operations in the north prevented our armies to reinforce the Imagawa on time and by the end of the summer Sunpu was in Hattori hands.

Commisioner Nobushige would commence the vengeance for the fallen clan in the fall with the retaking of Sunpu in fall while Daimyo Yasunaga had moved into Izu but it was clear that the Hattori were no conventional enemy and as such another Metsuke was invested, Suwa Ietoyo, on the advice of his cousin Ujinari.

 In the meantime Lord Shingen provided rearguard cover for Commisioner Nobushige and engaged the returning army of Yasunaga.

It must have a great surprise for the Hattori Daimyo to be on the receiving end of a relentless assaul for a change. After the initial defeat Yasunaga tried to escape back to Izu but not even that detered Lord Shingen. Yasunaga was parted from his head in the snow covered fields of Izu.

During this time Metsuke Ietoyo was also proving his worth by uncovering and executing the Hattori agent Moroakira

With 1549 ending on such an auspicious note, 1550 proved to be even better. Lord Shingen promoted Baba Sanefusa to the rank of Commissioner for Development.

But above all the honors of the year go for commissioner Nobushige who spearheaded to offensives into Totomi and Mikawa both provinces falling within the year putting the Hattori on their knees.

However the victories of the year were lessened by the dogged resilience of Hattori Metsuke Ooyama Aritoki who was able to inconvenience Tsunemasa to a sandstill.

 Metsuke Ujinari also recommended another cousin for a position, Tsunenori, a somewhat wild young man with ties to the Yakuza.

Ietoyo also proved a to be a surprise by recruting a kabukimono for his retinue.

 With the Year at the end Owari would be the main target for 1551

Historical/Gameplay notes:

Baba Sanefusa is a non-existent personality, probably randomly created by the game, however the Baba clan, like the Suwa is real.