The Sengoku Jidai, the Warring States period. A time of sword and samurai. To live by the
sword, and to die by the sword. That is the setting of Creative Assembly’s strategy
game, Shogun 2: Total War.
If our daimyo is to become shogun – military ruler of all Japan – you must understand
the weapons of war, among which is the iconic Japanese longbow, the yumi. In this Popshots
episode, we look at the history of warfare in feudal Japan, and evaluate the role of
ubiquitous ranged units in Shogun 2.
One can’t really talk about Shogun 2 without admiring the history of warfare in Japan.
The weapons of the samurai are legendary – the yari, the katana and the yumi. Bows were used
in Japan since prehistoric times, though the exact origins of the asymmetric longbow are
unknown. Some theorise that the shape was due to the use of a single piece of wood,
stronger at the base. Others believe that the asymmetric shape allowed it to be used
while kneeling or from horseback. By the time of the samurai, the yumi was made from laminated
bamboo, wood and leather, and typically measured 2 metres long.
While we might recognise Japanese archery through kyudo, the style used in warfare was
kyujutsu. The bow was commonly used in large numbers with foot soldiers, known as ashigaru,
but the warrior class, the samurai, were expected to be masters of the bow alongside their other
weapons. The bow was, in fact, the primary weapon of the samurai. Their expertise in
yabusame – mounted archery – gave them a unique advantage on the battlefield. It
is for this reason – not because of honour – that samurai were distinct in not carrying
shields into battle, as all their weapons were meant to be wielded with two hands.
The yumi would see hundreds of years of use, largely unchanged, until the arrival of Portuguese
traders. From that point on, the most important weapon became the matchlock musket, adopted
more widely and aggressively than European armies, and the bow’s presence soon waned.
Shogun 2’s place in the Total War franchise is interesting, bringing the series from the
gunpowder era back to a feudal setting. Unlike in Rome, the armies in Shogun 2 are fairly
homogenous, consisting of cheaper ashigaru units and expensive samurai units, with specialised
units composing of spears, swords or bows, with marginal advantages given to certain
factions. As to be expected from a strategy game, the strengths and weaknesses of each
unit type are intended for balance rather than realism.
Initially, players will make extensive use of ashigaru units, including the bow ashigaru.
These cheap ranged units are available from the beginning, offering high volume of arrows.
Bow ashigaru have poor accuracy and have the lowest melee stats and morale. Their main
use is to whittle down enemy formations, especially other poorly-armoured ashigaru units, but
they find themselves only marginally effective against the better-armoured samurai units.
After some technology advancement, players have access to bow samurai. Samurai archers
stand out with better melee ability than their ashigaru counterparts, though not as good
as specialised melee troops. They also boast better armour – making them more resistant
to arrows – and better accuracy and rate of fire, allowing them to be more effective
against other samurai. However, they have fewer numbers than ashigaru.
By combining an archery school with a temple, the player can train bow warrior monks. While
having poor melee stats and defense, bow warrior monks have greater range, the highest accuracy
and rate of fire. Though their numbers are even fewer than bow samurai, several units
of monks can break multiple units before they reach combat. Monks also get access to whistling
arrows, which provide a morale penalty to targeted units.
There are several other specialised ranged units. The bow hero unit is a very small group
of archers with near-perfect ranged stats. However, their tiny numbers make them largely
ineffective, and are only good for weakening strong armoured units.
Bow cavalry are also present. These horse archers provide some utility on the battlefield,
though with smaller unit size than foot archers, their effects are not felt as heavily and
they require much more micromanagement. The Chosokabe faction also has a unique unit,
the Daikyu Samurai, which are slightly better than normal bow samurai, but not as powerful
as bow warrior monks.
Bows also have a notable role in the naval battles of this period.
Outside of the balanced unit structure, further advantages are gained from having more experienced
troops and, crucially in the campaign, control of special buildings that can improve accuracy,
potentially turning your bow warrior monks into samurai shredders.
Bows also play a prominent role in both campaign expansions. In Rise of the Samurai, the bow
is used by foot soldiers, but are prominently used by the samurai units, both on foot and
on horseback. In this campaign, the samurai represent the pinnacle of combat units, with
samurai units fulfilling both melee and ranged roles without the specialism of weapon types
in the main campaign. Warrior monks are still available, providing the same advantages as
before. If there’s any downside to these early ranged units, it’s that the default
formation for Rise of the Samurai is open, so most arrow volleys will not have a huge
impact. This forces the player to adopt more complex small-unit tactics.
Fall of the Samurai sees traditional samurai units compressed into foot bowmen and mounted
bowmen. While easily outmatched by modern rifle infantry, bows have a role to play in
the early campaign, and have unique advantages. Since soldiers are no longer armoured, masses
of bowmen can cause devastating damage to infantry formations. In addition, bows can
shoot over hills, which gunpowder infantry cannot do. There’s a certain element of
fun to recreating the stand of the last samurai, but realistically armies with well-deployed
gunpowder soldiers will wipe the floor with bowmen.
There are a lot of things that Shogun does well with its depiction of archery. Bow units
are well balanced and always have a role to play, whether in offensive, defensive or siege
battles. The variety of archers allows the players to spam cheap but less effective archer
units or invest in late-game armies with samurai and monks. The arrow volleys look and sound
great.
Through trivial, Shogun 2 is actually the first game in the series to actually model
the bowstrings, which were absent due to graphical limitations in previous games. The arrows
are even on the correct side of the bow for Japanese archery. That’s a huge leap forward!
The downsides of Shogun’s archery is mostly in the inflexibility of the battle engine.
As with other Total War games, the unit formations are fairly rigid. Bow units operate quite
similarly to gunpowder units in Empire and Napoleon, with the clearly defined firing
arc and the enemy must be specifically in that area to shoot. Shooting animations are
awkwardly long for the slow-shooting ashigaru, and individual soldiers hold onto the shot
for far too long, and realistically, archers were far more flexible in deployment and rate
of fire.
Perhaps the best display of the bow’s utility is in siege defense, where soldiers on the
walls are not locked into shooting by unit and shoot arrows continually, resulting in
a rain of arrows closer to what a real battlefield might have looked like.
While Shogun 2 has fairly monotonous armies and units aren’t really unique enough to
stand out, the game is often hailed as one of the best in the series, especially after
the mixed reception from Empire, before the glitched release of Rome 2 and before the
fantasy-based Warhammer instalments.
Shogun 2 gives us a fairly unique way to play out the battlefields of feudal Japan and witness
the effects of Japanese archers on foot, on horseback, in castles and even on ships. Though
not the most realistic, there are few real-time tactical games that are placed in this setting,
and the units forego true historical accuracy and err on the side of balance and fun – perhaps
the honourable choice to make.
Thank you for watching another episode of Archery Popshots. This is NUSensei. As always,
shoot straight, and aim for your best.