Sengoku Clan Introduction: Takeda news

The Takeda clan is a branch of the Minamoto family. For around 400 years, they ruled the land of Kai, that is today's Yamanashi. In the time of Takeda Shingen, the power of the clan reached its height, extending its territory outside of Kai and becoming one of the most powerful clans in the Chubu area (the other two being the Hojo clan and Uesugi clan).

Takeda Shingen is known to be both a master tactician, the "Tiger of Kai", and a great ruler of his lands. Despite showing his talents in various aspects at a very young age, Shingen's father, Takeda Nobutora had decided to name his second son as his heir, resulting Shingen's rebel against his father and taking over the control of Takeda clan. With the city of Kofu as his base, Takeda Shingen started his campaign of expansion by launching assaults on Shinano. And one by one the local landlords united against Takeda clan were crushed under the might of its cavalry forces. Eventually, Shingen came to cross swords (or maybe "cross katana") with the greatest rivial in his life, Uesugi Kenshin.

After the lords expelled from Shinano turned to the Uesugi clan for help, leading to five major battles fought during 1553-1564. In the Battles of Kawanakajima, the two clans were equally powered and could not win a decisive victory against another, though after the battle the results seems to favor the Takeda clan with a few Uesugi castles taken and Shinano under its control. It is said that while being enemies against each other, the two had also developed a unique friendship out of respect.

Later when Shingen came to notice the rise of an unstoppable threat, Oda Nobunaga, he decided to join the military operations of the "Nobunaga Encirclement". However, fighting against Nobunaga might turn out to be a wrong decision for the Takeda clan. Although the Takeda clan had won serval battles against Oda and his allies, the situation suddenly turned unfavorable for then after the demise of Takeda Shingen. In the Battle of Nagashino in 1575, Takeda Katsuyori, son of Takeda Shingen laid a siege to the stronghold of Tokugawa Ieyasu, who was a loyal ally of Nobunaga. With the help of the Oda army and a massive amount of firearms, Tokugawa was able to crush their forces. Losing a large part of its army, the Takeda lost its influence, and vanished in the following years.

Unlike the fertile lands owned by other daimyo such as the Hojo, Kai is a landlocked mountainous region which is no good place for farming. However, under the administration of the Takeda clan, Kai became advanced in agriculture despite its barrenness. In addition, Kaikinzan, one of the largest gold mines in Japan, is located exactly in the territory of Takeda clan, making them one of the richest clans in the period.

The Takeda army is best known for its cavalry units. Among them, the Akazonae ("Red Arms") was an elite force feared by all the enemy generals of Takeda's enemies. Armed in equipments coloured in red, the Akazonae are versatile units who are good not only in destroying weak infantry formations, but dealing with other cavalry units as well.

In addition, the clan had also organized a special division of slingers (Ishinagetai). Led by a Takeda general, Oyamada Nobushige, the rock-throwing slingers actually make an excellent counter against lightly armoured enemy units, with a relatively primitive weapon in the age of gunpowder.

Takeda are an aggressive Cavalry and Monk clan. They can only research Buddhism as Takeda Shingen was Buddhist. A good clan for pushing with cavalry and using healers to heal them (having better armour to withstand front line alterations). Farmers work harder but they lack final farm upgrades. Takedas castle was a very traditional Sengoku period castle in the mountains, so they also lack Fortified stone walls, as Takeda Shingen believed the best defense was his men.

• Priests/Monks have +4 pierce armour and +20HP
• Gold Mines contain 25% more gold.
• Free Bloodlines and Husbandry
• Farmers work 15% faster.
• Horoku Dame Throwers are 100% accurate and have +2 range and LOS.

All information here is subject to change. This is an alpha preview and may not represent the final game version, due to game re-balancing, new ideas, new graphics or otherwise.