Overview
This is a guide to using rebels strategically for your co-op and single player games of Shogun 2. As I have got into the campaign side of this game, I realised many players did not know all there was to know about the rebels of Shogun, and rebellions. There is a lot of information hidden about rebels, which you only typically learn through hours and hours of play. This is about cutting that info down, and serving it in a convenient guide.
The Grey Unknown
Monks, Armies and Religion
Any monk can attempt to inspire revolt, with varying levels of success. The larger and more developed a province, the more difficult it is. This makes it easiest to inspire rebels early on in the game, and after your monks have levelled.
Ikko monks and Uesugi monks are the best at causing revolt. Ues monks get a bonus to all monk checks, and Ikko monks seem quite capable of causing unrest and rebellions. Furthermore, they unlock bonuses to inciting unrest earlier than all other monks. Below is an Ikko monk ideally upgraded to be as adept as possible at causing unrest:
He was born to agitate peasants. Everything has led up to this point.
Uesugi (and samurai faction) monks cause the typical rebels to emerge, which do not belong to the player; but Ikko monks spawn a very curious type of rebel army indeed—the Ikko rebels. These are not immediately controlled by the Ikko player, they are rebels, and an Ikko army can attack and kill them. When my ally saw me do this once, she was appalled. Rebels of all kinds can of course, also be bribed instead of exterminated.
If a province is taken by these Ikko rebels, it reverts to Ikko control, as do all of the rebellious units. Welcome to the Ikko crazed peasantry. More on the unusual composition of the Ikko rebels later.
The second cause of rebels is an invading army. An army takes a province, and doesn’t have the repression (or soldiers) to keep the population in check. Looting really agitates a populace, and unless you have a full stack, looting is a perfect way to spawn rebels two turns after the province is taken (you get one warning, then the next turn they arrive, then they attack). This isn’t about keeping a province after looting it, so we can move on; but I would simple suggest repairing the walls and buildings, and sitting your stack there for a few years if you want to hold a looted province (why don’t you want rebels huh?).
Each time a rebellion occurs, when the stack is killed off, the unrest goes down. Yes, you can sit a glorious elite army in a province, and kill over four rebel armies until they calm down (more if your religion differs to the province, thus causing further unrest). If you wish to vet up your troops and there are no pressing concerns, take that army, put it near the castle town but not inside it, and laugh as the rebels keep coming. I grind vetted a few armies like this, and once got up to five rebellions, all defeated, until the people accepted, “okay, we will be live in a burned out husk of a province, no more rebellions from us.”
The third cause of rebels is religion, and the unrest this causes in tandem. If a province is influenced by competing beliefs and is poorly garrisoned, Buddhist or Christian rebels can spawn and easily take that province. This is as if a monk incited an insurrection, but occurs without a monk spending the coin and making the check.
Now if you are Ikko, and you really invest in and spread your monks and your Ikko holy sites (sanctuaries are so good), you may in the course of a campaign get 1-2 provinces that come to you like this. No incite checks needed. If those that rebel are Ikko rebels, and they capture a province, then it goes to you.
The Five Types of Rebels (That is a Lot of Rebels)
Going through the types of rebels, there are:
REBELS: with their symbol of a wave, their armies are ashigaru, yari sam, sometimes other units and at times an unusually high amount of light cav (which are a joy to kill if you have yari or nagi units).
Here is a typical rebel stack, after having taken Kai back from the Takeda:
And a more normal stack:
Rebels can also have odd units like bow cav, as shown here:
It is an extremely rare event to get many bow cav in a rebel stack. It can happen though, even in small stacks.
BUDDHIST & IKKO REBELS: the Ikko and Buddhist rebel army is potentially a diverse lot. Mostly it will be yari ashigaru, a mix of standard ashi and Ikko ashi (which slightly differ, being large in size with better morale). Loan swords are rare, but two impressive units can also emerge—the yari ronin (very rare) and the naginata monk cavalry (rare). Yari ronin are solid and have no weaknesses, the monk cav are a bit of a different lot.
Here are monk cav, the core stats to the right, and the stats of a level 2 monk cav to the left. You can easily vet a monk cav to level 2 by concentrating on killing bodyguards and chasing down fleeing samurai. They are amongst the best anti-cav cav units in the game (yes, anti-cav cav). One unit of monk cav can fight and defeat two samurai lords and their katana cavalry bodyguards if the monk cav get the charge. The problem is their high upkeep, but with enough early inciting unrest actions by your monks, you can potentially get some of the best cav before any of the samurai factions, even the Takeda. I would suggest attaching 1-2 units to each major army, and deleting any other monk cav you have to save koku. Pass one to an ally if you are in co-op play.
As an Ikko causing rebellions, or as an opponent of a strong Ikko faction, beware of fighting Yari Ronin.
They are some of the most well rounded units in the game (and only 90 upkeep on normal). They are better than yari samurai (as they are akin to a Date bulletproof samurai with lower armour). Buddhist rebel armies that spawn from a castle gripped in unrest can have a lot of them (5-6 sometimes), but you will usually get more light cav and bow ashi. If you have a strong army, you will probably be fine against the yari ronin, but don’t underestimate this unit before the mid-game, and don’t let them near a mounted general (25 bonus vs. cav).
CHRISTIAN REBELS: these are quite dull compared to the previous rebels. Christian rebels may have a few matchlock ashigaru, but otherwise they are typical rebels and usually just ashigaru and light cav.
Lastly, on rebel types, dead factions may re-emerge…
Dead Faction Rebels: But I Killed You! You Are Meant To Be Dead!
Factions can return from the dead. This can be somewhat common, especially if you do a lot of looting (as an aside, temple dues is one of the funniest looting traits I’ve seen).
“Now are you truly… happy… to support our work?”
A re-emerging faction will usually have a large to massive stack, and samurai units. If they take the province they will gain two new family members instantly. So you don’t want to lose that battle and let a powerful old enemy come back. If they take the province they will march on your faction concentrating on any weak provinces. They only have one good stack, but if you allow them into your unprotected backyard, this may break the back of your clan.
You can let them return if they are far away from your clan lands and surrounded by rebels, their advance will then be slow. This isn’t so tactically sound, because you probably should have chosen to make them a new vassal (although vassals push you closer to realm divide).
As an Ikko player, I have noticed that Ikko conquerors have a higher chance to spawn Buddhist rebels instead of a re-emerging faction stack. Regardless of playing Ikko or not, you can be stuck in a cycle of the Mori or Takeda determined to come back. As Ikko, in the home faction of a province, the second rebellion will usually be Buddhists. This is why, if you don’t want a faction to come back, you take their capital and let it rebel before the faction is killed off. Then you won’t be seeing them again, the rebels keep “control” of that clan home.
Your Glorious Castle of Angry Peasants
A note on castle and rebel army size. The larger the wall upgrade, the larger the rebel army. It isn’t a precise thing, the armies can vary in size, but the rebels from a major castle will be very dangerous, and can have a lot of yari elites.
These stacks, while dangerous, are perfect for holding a province from any competitors. If a stack is not complete, the garrison granted by the walls and castle upgrade will also fight any invader. Yes, you can have onna bushi rebels (so hot).
Bulwark Provinces: The Best I Have Found
Rebel provinces can be used to slow down and inconvenience enemies. Sometimes forcing them to go around another way (to here is a castle I prepared earlier) or not attack you at all (if you are on the other side of a crazy large bulwark of rebel provinces). If the AI does not have a great stack, it typically will not attack rebels. This isn’t set in stone, they sometimes will try to deal with rebels if they are close in size, and can be annihilated by rebels (although it is rare, if an AI loses to rebels they are normally just very injured). Of course, if a competitor does have a go at rebels and fails, you will want to mop up. This is a part of what bulwark blocking provinces are about.
If you create a large enough rebel region, an invader that chooses to come for you by land (Takeda or Hojo for example) can be forced to spend a winter freezing to death. This is good! They are weaker when they finally get through. If they get really blocked, they may waste two winters. If they dally to raid your farms, that is more time spent freezing and without replenishment. Of course a skilled ninja can be artfully used to sabotage them so they are stuck in hostile terrain without support for another turn, winter wins!
The best locations for rebels, due to bottlenecking, resource and movement denial, are as follows: (a link to the map: [link]:
Wakasa (bottleneck)
Tango (bottleneck)
Tajima (crossroads province)
Tuskushi (denies access to library and instantly upgraded metsuke)
Buzen (bottleneck and easy to rebel due to Christians)
Settsu (bottleneck to the west, denial of library and upgraded metsuke)
Owari (crossroads)
Kiso (denies stone, a long province to get through, a gateway from the east to the centre)
Izu (Hojo gold province, usually upgraded highly by the Hojo, making it very difficult to take back and preventing another Hojo stack from hassling you)
Sagami (attack or armour upgrade province, and a bottleneck)
Echigo (a very long province, good for causing attrition)
Miyagi (hateyaks often upgrade this castle, and then it can rebel mid-game, denying access to the north)
Iwate (attack or armour upgrade province)
So be sure to consider what you are going to take with guile and force, and what you leave to rebel and hold up the enemy.
Sorry, Was That Your Capital?
One of the most enjoyable things in Shogun 2, is to dive into the territory of an enemy, take their capital, loot it, burn everything down, all building upgrades including their fields, and then let it rebel. If it is something like Kai or Sagami or Iga, and the castle is well upgraded, the stacks can be enormous. They will not be getting that province back, and the loss of the capital is a real setback. Then you move your army on (because you had one turn to rest and recuperate at their capital) and finish them off. Later, you can always come back, which will likely still be rebel controlled, and laugh at your foolish enemies that thought they could get away with attacking your clan.
The second version of this, is to hold a strong province (Kiso, Kaga, any bottleneck) and to invite your enemies to attack. As you prepare, you send in a monk once they have left some of their provinces with their main stacks. Incite unrest, take these provinces, destroy all buildings and take that little force and keep going. It can be surprising how much a small army can accomplish when it faces no real resistance (it is all coming for your heavily defended provinces). As you can gather, monks (especially Ues and Ikko monks) are quite strong when used at the right time.
Rebel Regions: Making a Faction and AI Response
Rebels do not become a faction, but by rebelling whole regions you change the campaign and how the AI reacts. Buzen and Tsukushi (I was lucky enough to get Hizen to rebel as well); Tango, Wakasa and Tamba; Iwate, Uge and Miyagi; Sagami, Kai and Izu—by turning whole sections of the map rebel territory it is denied to the enemy, potentially for years. Sometimes the AI will ignore these regions entirely, it doesn’t matter what they can offer. The AI does not bother, and struggles to manage with what it has (which isn’t half the map if there are clusters of 2-3 rebel provinces here and there).
As recently discovered, the AI may also become hyper aggressive and heavily stack up if it loses home provinces and your alliance is a major threat. Now they are like a roaming horde, cut off from their home.
As seen here, the Takeda and Hojo ignore Kai, and attack west:
The Rebel Prince: a Campaign Challenge
With a co-op ally, there is a type of Shogun game variant that can be played. My friend Vert and I are currently trialling this demanding game mode. One player is Ikko (because of the high chance to spawn Buddhist rebels), one is another faction nearby (Chosok, Hattori, Oda. Uesugi are suggested). Farms are upgraded, and then a stack of troops is made each. Together, they rampage across the map steadily, the aim is to make as many regions rebel as possible, while only keeping a handful for your own faction. The end game objective is to be shogun of a rebel Japan, with no factions bar the two players, and rebels, remaining. This includes having no vassals.
Like this:
Bonus points if you allow your capital to rebel. Then you only take it while already Shogun, to finish the game.
Further bonus points if the capitals of all competing factions are major rebel strongholds. This can be easy to do to Takeda and Hojo if they are far away from home.
The End For Someone
Thank you for reading, and good luck with inciting unrest and leaving devastation and agitated peasant cultists in your wake.
Please feel free to share any stories on rebels, rebellions and the Ikko below.
– Tea
Now to show some new screenshots!
An excellent stack of rebels.
All the East is rebel controlled.
Ujiaki the Agitator
