Feudal Japan is a wonderful example of that unique time period where armies are just starting to mix in gunpowder with their melee combat, and you can see tactics shifting to attempt to accommodate this drastic change. Total War:Shogun 2 is a game that allows you to take control the Daimyo of one of Japan’s warring clans in an attempt to become the next Shogun.
Shogun 2 is a mix between a Real-Time Strategy game and a City-Builder. The majority of the game is spent building your city and armies a la Civilization, while the combat is real time, and you must maneuver your soldiers around the enemy and defeat them. The game’s military is far more complex than that of Civilization, however; you must maintain a sizable force of soldiers, a general to boost morale, and you must plan your attacks around the weather and time of year; I made the mistake of laying siege to a rivaling clan in the dead of winter and paid the price for it.
You also have the option to arrange your men in formations while they prepare to fight, as well as having to monitor their energy – if they run too much they will grow tired and perform poorly in combat. It is a very engaging and entertaining system to work with, and feels incredibly realistic compared to the other strategy games I have played.
The city-building aspect is similar to Civilization in that you need to maintain a healthy economy while also allowing yourself to train additional military units to resupply your forces. You also can interact with the surrounding Daimyos, keeping peace or going to war depending on your style.
Jeremiah McCall encourages students that play games educationally to try and pick out things that are accurate and inaccurate. However, my knowledge on feudal Japan is incredibly limited, save for a little bit about the Battle of Shiroyama (and I only know about that from a song). Regardless, even someone as fresh to this subject as I can tell that this game is worth its salt. The care given to the different soldier classes in combat leads me to believe that the formations and tactics available to the player were inspired by tactics used by real generals. As for equipment, that I cannot vouch for, but the use of gunpowder in the late game does call to mind that battle I mentioned previously; it is notorious for being the final battle of the Samurai order against the new Imperial Japanese army, wielding firearms against the Samurai and their Way of the Sword. Anyone who is looking for a strategic simulation on Feudal Japan need to look no further than Total War: Shogun 2.
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