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Difficulty: Easy
Conditions: Annihilate the enemy
Player: Toyotomi Hideyoshi
Enemy: Akechi Mitsuhide
Background: After the death of Oda Nobunaga and the murder of his son and heir by Akechi Mitshuhide, Toyotomi Hideyoshi - who was one of Nobunaga's most loyal followers - set out to avenge him and took control of his armies. He immediately mobilized to Kyoto to face Mitsuhide. Meanwhile, Mitsuhide resolved to meet Hideyoshi's army in the field rather than wait in his dilapidated castles. On the morning of the 13th day after Nobunaga's death, the two armies met across the Enmyojigawa River.
You outnumber Akechi Mitsuhide's army significantly (though Akechi possesses more samurai archers) in a historical battle that bears similarity to Anegawa - a river crossing, this time the Enmyojigawa, with two bridges instead of three. Observe Akechi's troop movement at the scenario's start. He protects the left (your left) bridge heavily, while leaving heavy cavalry alone to protect the right-hand crossing.
Set up your archers along the river to fire upon Akechi's troops - make sure you're within effective range and actually scoring hits so you aren't wasting ammunition, especially since Akechi is equipped with 60 more samurai archers.
While you're diverting Akechi's left-side troops, start moving your own heavy cavalry toward the right bridge. Couple the cavalry advance with yari ashigaru, samurai, and some arquebusiers for support. It's likely Akechi will shift units over to assist. If so, advance your samurai archers and arquebusiers to the river to score hits against the moving enemy units. You may also want to consider pressing the other bridge, depending on what's left.
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You've successfully distracted Akechi's units and weakened a flank - you outnumber him now on this side. |
Since Akechi's right-side heavy cavalry lack ranged support, it's possible to cross the bridge nearly unscathed, but you must quickly prepare for Akechi's retaliation. Conversely, you could attempt to lure Akechi to the bridge crossing (letting you weaken the heavy cavalry with ranged units). But unless Akechi shifts over his entire army, you should outnumber his troops, particularly if you have crossed with one or two groups of yari ashigaru and samurai.
Move support troops up to the river or along the bridge to assist in the impending melee battle. If you outnumber Akechi greatly, though, don't fire into your own men, as you could just cause casualties against yourself and even up the potential rout. Once you have crossed the bridge, start advancing toward the area between each bridge. Akechi will try and defend with samurai archers; push him back with remaining cavalry and your own ranged units. Once Akechi shifts his left-side units to assist, start crossing on the left bridge.
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