Total War: Shogun 2 Heaven

Ikko Ikki Walkthrough

By Liam_the_Spartan | Forum thread

This guide was written and tested while playing on Very Hard difficulty. Other difficulty levels may pose different challenges, but this should work as a guideline in all cases.

Early Campaign

Turn 1

Start researching the Way of Bushido.
Move the Monk agent you start with down towards Omi then move the army down to Wakasa. This turn it will only get as far as the castle.
Train two Yari Ashigaru in Echizen and upgrade the farms in either this province or Kaga.

As you can see, we are not on good terms with the rest of Japan.

Because we are one of the few Clans to produce crafts, and they are so rare and valuable, few will deny trade rights with us.
Get trade rights with Jinbo and Saito. They will each pay t least 100 Koku for it, but a larger amount depends on things like difficulty level.

Adopt the General into the family. It will increase his loyalty and there are no brothers for their's to go down.

Turn 2

Move the army down to the border. Make the Daimyo and the 2 Yari Ashigaru down too. Move the Monk into Asai territory. For now he can convert the populace to Ikko.
Declare war on Sakai. They will be joined by their allies Takaoka and Hatano.
Upgrade the port in Echizen to a harbour, and upgrade the farms in Kaga (Or Echizen, depending which one you chose before).
Train 2 Yari Ashigaru in Echizen. The people in this region will be slightly unhappy but it is nothing to worry about.

Turn 3

The art of Bushido is now mastered, so start researching Way of Chi.
Move the Yari Ashigaru to the smaller army and move the Daimyo close enough to the enemy to act as reinforcements.

Most probably the Sakai have a small army outside the castle and when you attack it they retreat. Move the lone general close enough to the castle to act as reinforcements then assault the castle with the large army.
Depending on what happened with the army they had, they would have either retreated into the castle or just behind it.

If they act as reinforcements, they will appear on the opposite side of the map between the hill and the trees to either side. On the mini-map it would be on the left about a quarter way down or half way down. If you deploy your men around this area you can kill them before they are completely prepared. But keep your archers by the castle.

Shoot the defender garrison(Usually just a Samurai Retainer unit), until there are none left. Be careful though, sometimes the men will sally out of the castle and try to catch the archers. If you get your archers to fight, then get the 2nd General to charge into their backs and they should die. If the enemy retreated into the castle previously, then you still have superior numbers and should win without too many casualties.

The people of the newly captured castle won't be happy, so exempt the province from tax.
Build a sword school in Echizen and train 2 Yari Ashigaru, and another in Wakasa.
Before you end turn, move your monk to the Omi castle and demoralise the army if there is one in sight, as it will train your monk and give him experience.

Turn 4

If the Hattori offer trade rights accept it. the Takaoka may offer peace, but they are weak and we need their land, so decline.

Keep the large army in the castle for now to replenish any casualties and keep the people under control. They should be happy enough now to put the taxes back on.
Upgrade the roads of whichever province you want, I suggest Echizen as you use it the most and need to move with speed.
Train another 2 Yari Ashigaru in Echizen and 1 in Wakasa.
See if the monk can demoralise any army, but if the odds are too high don't risk him being executed.

Turn 5

If the Uesugi destroy the Jinbo, get trade rights.
Chi has now been researched so you'll now want to study Zen, then Essence of the Spirit. Both help spread the Ikko faith and the latter provides you with a free Naginata Warrior Monk.

Move the general(Not the Daimyo) to the lower part of Echizen province and move all the fresh Yari Ashigaru from the castle to join him.

Now, if the Takaoka have an army in your land, attack it. You should win without too much damage as it is quite small, and remember to run down any fleeing enemies. Many units will gain experience after this battle and the General will increase in rank. It is best to use the points on religious traits. Then move the army up to the border.

If there wasn't an army, move the army as close to the enemy castle as possible but stay in friendly territory.
Wakasa will not be happy, so exempt the region from tax again and train a Yari Ashigaru unit. Train a Katana Ronin and a Yari Ashigaru in Echizen.
The Saito have probably been destroyed, and most likely Oda are getting strong. Get trade rights with them, and if you have enough money upgrade some roads.

Turn 6

Attack Tango. If you didn't meet the army then simply try your best in the fight, remember to use rally and inspire abilities ti turn the battle in your favour. It may be a good idea to quicksave then reload if things go wrong. If you lose, train some more Yari Ashigaru and try again.

If the army attacks you during its turn, then you should be able to deploy on the mountain. You will win and won't lose too many men, but I'd recommend waiting 1 more turn or sending the fresh Yari from the castle and replacing them with the most depleted units.

If you fought the army that went into your land, then the Garrison won't be too big, but often the Hatano will have an army hanging around and can cause trouble. All together the enemy will beat you, but if you destroy the reinforcements first then you have a chance. They will appear to the left, at the bottom of the mini-map to the right of the river, in the forest there.

You can either attack in the forest before they have time to prepare, or position your men on the castle side of the shallow water. I recommend the second option. They get put at a deep disadvantage and cannot hope to win. Then concentrate on the castle garrison.
Or possibly you can attack the garrison then defend it against the reinforcements, your choice.

Exempt the region from tax and repair the gates if they got damaged. Move your fresh army to Wakasa to keep them under control for a turn.

Middle Campaign

You'll want to use the fresh army to take Omi from whoever has it (Either Asai or Hattori). Oda will no doubt also try to take this province, so snatch it up before them!
Keep the army in Tango for now to recover its strength and control the Shinto-Buddhist populace. Then move it down to wipe out the Hatano.
Concentrate on Economy and spread the Ikko faith. You will need to secure whatever lands you have conquered by converting the populace to Ikko before continuing onwards, or you may get public order troubles and rebellions. Use the valuable Monks to incite revolt and cause unrest in enemy territory, and remember to protect them with spies.
You may want to send some trade ships to the nearby Trade Node if it isn't held already.

Late Game

Once you have easy access to Ronin and Warrior Monks, and have the economy to support them, then you can start speeding up your expansion.
Expand to the south and east, or left and down in-game. Once you have Iga, Yamato and Ise, attack the Oda and work your way down to the Hojo.
Inciting Revolt is the best way to expand and the way to win wars without any casualties. You may want to lure the enemy out of the castle with a small army so the price the Monk charges is greatly reduced, since there will be less garrisoned forces.
When you declare war on Hatakeyama, take the castle next to Kaga and create a chokepoint ready for the Realm Divide.
You have easy access to Kyoto, unfortunately you cannot incite revolt here, but you have powerful armies, and that title of Shogun looks pretty nice don't you think?