Nobunaga Besieged - Battle of Nagashino - Update 43
Nobunaga Oda:
All forces, heed my call! This battle will be fought with a way of war crafted by my hand, and our victory will be no ordinary one. Following are the rules of engagement. First, not a single unit is permitted to retreat. Second, do not advance before the stockade. Falling back is permitted – mind your distance from the enemy. Finally, my unit will not move. Should I be required to move in this battle, our victory will be sullied. This is not a battle we have a chance of losing! Win, everyone, and win in a way that will strike at the very heart of the Takeda clan!
Masatoyo Naito was trusted as an adjutant on the same level as Shingen’s younger brother, Nobushige Takeda. Though he never stood out, he supported his clan from behind the scenes. However, the Takeda retainers Masatoyo had supported for so long were n the verge of collapse after the crushing blow they’d been dealt by the Oda.
Masatoyo Naito:
Everyone, forward! Break the fence! If I do not stand here, who will?! Giving the Takeda everything I am is the purpose Lords Shingen and Nobushige have left me!
Though Masatoyo put up a valiant fight, the guns of the Oda fired furiously, and enemy archers rained arrows upon them.
Soldier:
Lord Masatoyo, the enemy archers…!
Masatoyo Naito:
Stand your ground! We are the pillars of the Takeda clan… And I am the adjutant to the Takeda clan, Masatoyo Naito!
Masatoyo was pierced with so many arrows that his armor was said to look like a straw coat, yet he continued to fight. Every time his soldiers fell apart, he would regroup then advance again. However, the enemy’s focused firing finally brought them down. The death of Masatoyo, known to later generations as a “True Adjutant”, hastened the collapse of the Takeda clan.
Nobutsuna Sanada, heir to Yukitaka Sanada and leader of the Takeda’s retainers in Shinano.
Masateru Sanada, younger brother to Nobutsuna and tactician famed enough to be regarded by Shingen as “his own two eyes”.
The two brothers fought valiantly to break the Oda army’s defenses.
Masateru Sanada:
Gah…!
Nobutsuna Sanada:
Masateru!
Masateru Sanada:
Brother, it seems that this is where I meet my end… Please, retreat while you can… Nobunaga truly knows his way around the battlefield… Should we stay, we’ll all find ourselves in the same grave…
Nobutsuna Sanada:
…I won’t pull back.
Masateru Sanada:
Brother, even…even our liege, even our father would tell you to retreat like I am now!
Nobutsuna Sanada:
Masateru, the very pride of the Sanada is riding on this battle. Our father swore that he would throw his life away for our liege and the Takeda if he had to. We who bear the six coined banner of the Sanada cannot leave Lord Katsuyori alone in this hell of a battlefield!
Masateru Sanada:
Heh… Ah, you’re right. Indeed. We of the Sanada go into battle fearing not death… Retreat is simply something we cannot do. For this battle, however…I just wished to know what our liege…would have…done…
Nobutsuna Sanada:
…Masateru, forgive me. I will leave your body here. Warriors of Sanada, hear my call! This is where we die! We will fight down to the last man and carve the very name of Sanada into this land! Masayuki…the Sanada’s in your hands, now…!
Though Nobutsuna drove the Oda army into fear swinging his meter long sword forged by the legendary Sadatsugu Aoe, he fell to a hail of bullets. However, his fighting spirit was passed down onto his younger brother Masayuki’s child Yukimura, a man who would see his warrior’s reputation precede him.
Masakage Yamagata, critical retainer to the Takeda clan and Shingen’s most trusted officer. His elite Red Brigade was known throughout the land. However, not even they could stand before the might oof the Oda army’s liberal use of firearms. And, though Masakaga fought valiantly against the odds…
Masakage Yamagata:
Gahh…!
Soldier:
Lord Masakage!
Masakage Yamagata:
Should we of the Red Brigade retreat over such a trifle, I could not face our liege. Men, forward! We fall for the sake of the Takeda! Break their fences! …Guh…!
Soldier:
Lord Masakage, I beg of you – pull back!
Masakaga Yamagata:
Pass me my command baton… Even if these limbs of mine break, I will continue to fight. Watch over us, my liege! Bear witness to the pride of the Takeda, to the battle of the Red Brigade!
Soldier:
Lord Masakage!
Venturing a final valiant charge, Masakage Yamagata had the Oda army’s bullets tear through his entire body, meeting a glorious end on the battlefield. It is said that Masakage, fighting for the Takeda’s victory t the very end, died holding the command baton in his teeth.
The Battle of Nagashino Movie Plays
Soldier:
Our second garrison has fallen. The enemy is still coming strong! If this keeps up…
Nobunaga Oda:
Right now, think only of luring the enemy in. Once they step into our range, the Takeda forces will meet their end. Fire!
Deafening roars filled Shitaragahara. Blasted by bullets from all directions the Takeda charge was broken and its forces routed. Important Takeda retainers fell one after another. Nobunaga’s revolutionary strategy, making great use of firearms, dealt a crippling blow to the Takeda army…and brought about a large change to the old, cavalry-centric way of war.
Hideyoshi Hashiba:
Lord Nobunaga! Both Nobutada Anayama and Nobukado Takeda’s units have started to retreat out of fear!
Nobunaga Oda:
Hmph, the weak always have the sharpest eyes. Shingen, you were far too strong… Katsuyori should not have learned only from the strong, but from the weak as well. Everyone, you fought well. This battle has ended in victory. Chase after the enemy and take what heads you can – gain your glory!
The Takeda army, praised as the strongest in all the warring states, met a grand loss of historical scale before the barrels of the Oda’s guns. As key retainers fell one after another, Katsuyori Takeda, the clan’s leader, managed to barely escape the battlefield with his life. The Oda forces pursued the retreating Takeda army, killing remnants as they went and eventually catching up with Katsuyori himself. However, one man stood before them. The Beast of Mino, Nobuharu Baba.
Nobuharu Baba:
Well met, men of Oda! And well fought! We have lost, completely and utterly. Yet though we may have failed on the battlefield, I cannot allow you to take my master Katsuyori’s head. I have stood upon the field of war over seventy times, yet have not bore a wound once. I, Nobuharu Baba, will be your opponent! Take my head and win your glory!
Nobuharu Baba, retainer to the Takeda since the age of Shingen and renowned on the battlefield as the “Immortal of Mino”, took up the rear guard and met a glorious end after a valiant battle. His final battle strengthened his reputation as a warrior with no equal.
Battle of Nagashino(Quest) Completed!
Held in the Mikawa Province under the control of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the Battle of Nagashino was a huge deciding factor in the complete change of warfare we saw in 1500’s Japan. This battle cemented the use of firearms which at the time people were mixed about. But seeing the defeat of what was considered one of the greatest armies in the land, the Takeda, people could no longer deny the viability of guns. The use of stockades to protect gunners became a staple in warfare. This was also where Nobunaga got to show off the technique of Triple Firing. This is a method where you line up gunners three deep. One fires, one readies to fire, one reloads. This cycle keeps up a barrage of bullets, it is also Nobunaga’s Officer Skill in Nobunaga’s Ambition. It highly increases the damage he does in game with muskets for his entire force. The battle took place in 1575.