Nagashino

	Battle of Nagashino
Date	June 29, 1575
Location	Mikawa Province, Nagashino Castle (modern Shinshiro, Aichi)
Result	Victory for Oda/Tokugawa forces; crippled Takeda army
Forces
Takeda	Oda; Tokugawa
Commanders
Katsuyori Takeda	Nobunaga Oda; Ieyasu Tokugawa

The Battle of Nagashino (長篠の戦い) is a battle romanticized for its use of firearms, which were used previously but never as a primary measure by Japanese armies. The Takeda cavalry, known until then as a formidable and impenetrable force, fell against the bullets and the formation Nobunaga fortified. Katsuyori lost several treasured officers, including three of Shingen's four honored vassals.

In fiction, Nobunaga is often praised as the battle's supreme victor, but it was actually Ieyasu who profited more from the battle. He gained a vassal prior to the conflict and was able to expand his territory after their victory.

Role in Games

Samurai Warriors

In this series, this battle signals the end of the Takeda.

The first game has Nobunaga's army defending from the fierce cavalry. With morale low, Nobunaga and his vassals are given missions to protect the supply depot and Mitsuhide. From there, they may provoke the Takeda army to advance by taking an enemy camp and provoking Naito to charge. They may be given another objective to protect the riflemen so they can fire. If they succeed, their plan to fire the rifles will succeed and Yukimura charges for the main camp. Katsuyori will attempt to flee and the Oda-Tokugawa army pursue him. Should the plan fail, morale will plummet and the battle will be harder to win.

Yukimura's upper path and the player's original character focuses on defending Katsuyori at Nagashino. To secure an escape path, they capture Nagashino castle at the start of the conflict. Keiji and Hanzo both attempt to charge the main camp and take Katsuyori's head. In spite of their efforts, Katsuyori eventually loses patience and orders a full scale assault, falling into Nobunaga's trap. Yukimura, desperate to claim victory, offers to perform a solo charge for Nobunaga's head. With the battle a severe defeat for the Takeda army, Katsuyori safely retreats.

Shingen's version of Nagashino is similar to his son's version. The main difference between them is that Shingen waits and focuses on defense. As he does, rain falls and the Oda rifles become useless. Using this window of opportunity, Shingen orders his men to advance to victory.

Masamune, in his quest to rule the land, also leads a campaign here to defeat Nobunaga and Shingen. Suffering a defeat at Mikawa, he flees with his forces to Nagashino to avenge his loss and simultaneously halt Shingen.

Samurai Warriors 2 better includes Ieyasu and Tadakatsu as a major defense for Nobunaga's camp. The Oda-Tokugawa side of the battle prevents the Takeda advance force from reaching the ally main camp. Once the rifles fire, Katsuyori sees that he is losing ground and attempts to escape. From then on, the battle becomes a chase for his head. Upon forcing Katsuyori's retreat, Nobunaga orders the total annihilation of the remaining Takeda vassals.

The Takeda version of the stage remains somewhat similar to the previous title. Yukimura's version of the stage has the ally army already losing and Yukimura is fighting for his survival. In Kenshin's version of the stage however, it has a different backstory: Learning of Shingen's advance to the capital and Nobunaga's attempt to halt the Takeda in Nagashino, Kenshin rallies his army to help Shingen since he believes that he is the only one who can kill his nemesis. Then the battle follows a similar way to the Takeda version except that Kenshin and Shingen work together to face Nobunaga and Ieyasu.

Samurai Warriors 3 has the Oda muskets already firing at the Takeda cavalry much like the previous title. During the Oda scenario, Kunoichi will appear among the muskets to attack them. Suddenly, Shingen appears alive and well while ordering Yukimura to charge at Ieyasu's camp. In Kanbei's version, Katsuyori remains as the Takeda commander and tries to escape when things get out of hand.

Warriors Orochi

The stage appears in the first game as a Gaiden stage for the Samurai story. Players need to rescue Shingen and Kenshin from Orochi's army led by Cao Pi and Sun Quan. Once their position is secured a mission to help escort horsemen for an ambush will appear, Cao Ren and various other generals will try to prevent this. During this, Cao Ren will have second thoughts on serving Orochi and when Shingen and Kenshin are rescued quickly enough, Cao Ren will join the Oda. Successfully escorting the calvary will trigger Kanetsugu's arrival and he will spring the ambush. At this point, Shingen and Kenshin will move out and take the offensive and players simply need to defeat Cao Pi and Sun Quan to win the battle.

In Warriors Orochi 2, Zhang Fei and Tadakatsu work together to fight Lu Bu's army. Lu Bu ignores tactics and sends his army in waves towards Liu Bei. To counter, the Shu army fortify their defenses against Lu Bu's siege weapons. They receive reinforcements from Lu Xun, who is ordered by his lord to assist. Lu Xun suggests a surprise attack on Lu Bu's third base guarded by Diao Chan. Lu Bu forgets about his army and hurries to rescue her. This allows Liu Bei's army and Lu Xun to catch the instigator in a pincer.

Players need to rescue Hideyoshi in this stage in Warriors Orochi 3. Ma Chao and his forces need to drive off the Date forces. Sun Wukong is controlling Guo Huai and Ranmaru, defeating him will help to relieve Hideyoshi and free them. At the gates to the Date camp, Masamune will send both the Takeda cavalry and his muskets to deal with the Coalition. When Kunoichi takes action, she finds Yukimura still under Kiyomori's control. Ma Chao and Ma Dai must free him in order to open the gates to the enemy camp.

In the redux, after freeing Lianshi at Tao river, Zhou Tai and company must meet up with her.

Ultimate adds two different scenarios in which the Coalition's interference allow Guo Huai and Ranmaru Mori to free themselves from Kiyomori's grasp.

The first scenario shows things from the Toyotomi side. Initially, all the forces are still scattered, but timely reinforcements from the Coalition prove beneficial to Hideyoshi, and the battle continues to play out the same way as it did in the original.

The second scenario brings out the perspective from the Date army, but in an earlier timeline. Kiyomori has yet to completely master his technique of turning people into puppets, so Keiji and Masamune must assist the sorcerer in capturing people to experiment on. Initially Guo Huai and Ranmaru are captured, but the spell fails to possess them, and they are able to escape the battlefield. An intruding Wang Yi attempts to engage Kiyomori's army, but she is captured, and Kiyomori is finally able to succeed in casting the spell. Wang Yi, now possessed, assists Kiyomori in defeating the rest of the Toyotomi army before they can flee to the escape point.

Kessen

Kessen III stages Nagashino as the decisive battle in chapter 7. Ieyasu requests reinforcements from the Takeda and Nobunaga decides to aid him with rifles. Although he makes an open call for officers skilled with firearms, Mitsuhide excuses himself from the conflict to tame Tamba province. Nobunaga allows the departure and readies his men to march. When they arrive on the battlefield, Ieyasu thanks Nobunaga but worries that the rainfall will spoil their rifles. As Katsuyori is confident that the stormy weather will lead to Nobunaga's downfall, Yoshino assures them that the rain will cease as they fight.

Nobunaga and Ieyasu's armies are stationed on the bottom of the map behind three separate wooden barricades. They face the larger Takeda force from the north who relentlessly charge the three barricades. Since they are crossing a river before Nobunaga's army, their speed is not as quick as usual. Nobunaga can only choose two more generals to assist him since his required generals are himself, Yoshino, Ieyasu and Tadakatsu. Equipping rifles and spamming their troop ability behind the barricades is the simplest way to win the battle. Ideally, only one or two of the barricades will break from the Takeda's assault, which may require one or two strong war generals to defend against the invading forces. If the player can spare quick troops, they may lead them to collect items in the north and around the river.

During the battle, Nobufusa Baba, Masakage Yamagata, and Masatoyo Naito will receive in-game cutscenes for their deaths.

Game Nihonshi Kakumeiji

With the exceptions of Nobunaga and Ieyasu, all of the Oda officers are musket units for this battle. Despite the player's overwhelming advantage, it is advisable to defeat one enemy unit at a time. Counterattacks are not an issue for both sides due to the difference in attack range.