Endgame - Mori no Nihon

The Mori conquest of Japan is complete! Except for two provinces belonging to my Anegokoji vassals (the only vassal and ally who stuck by me through to the end game!).

Battle of Otsu, 1576

In 1576 a Hatekayama army led by Hatekayama Mitsunaga (AI controlled) walked into a Mori ambush laid by Mori Akinaga and Shishido Morikane (controlled by me) in Otsu.

1650 Hatekayama samurai found themselves surrounded by 3430 Mori warriors and their Asai allies. The battle was unwinnable from the Hatekayama point of view. However, the way that the Hatakeyama AI fought was commendable and this battle showcases the tactical competence of the Shogun Total War tactical AI.

I deployed my cavalry in the rear of the enemy and the rest of my army facing the enemy front hoping to smash the Hatakeyama between the hammer and the anvil. As if that wasn't enough, I have heavy reinforcements arriving on the left flank of the enemy.

As you will see from the video below, the AI allocated sufficient units to pin down my cavalry in the rear preventing an early collapse of its rear. Also, it spotted a weakness on my right where I had deployed musketeers unprotected in my eagerness to bring direct musket fire on the enemy. The AI destroyed the mustketeers with its cavalry.

The battle ended predictably in victory for me but, as you will see from this video, the AI did nothing wrong tactically. Having said that, the campaign AI was stupid to walk into a concentration of Mori forces, without first scouting out the lay of the land.

You can see a video of the Battle of Otsu at this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UTrLohaIoQc&feature=youtu.be

Here is a montage of the same battle with soundtrack from "Conan the Barbarian" (Schwarzenneger version):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j19_oF-21-U&feature=youtu.be

(P.S. I noticed that people are choosing to see the "Conan the Barbarian" soundtracked video of the battle but not first video. The first video is actually a much longer and complete video of the battle. The soundtracked video is just something I did for fun. Please look at the first video if you want to see what actually happened in the battle.)