First things first lets get to know the Shimazu Clan

Basic traits:

1. Increased Loyalty for all generals
2. Reduced recruitment costs and upkeep for all samurai
3. Can recruit superior katana heroes
4. Can recruit superior katana samurai

As the game itself suggests the Shimazu have a relatively easy start in the game. They are in the bottom left of the map and their starting troops can easily win you your first provinces with ease. Their tactical army with shimazu katana samurai units, is by far one of the best foot soldier army in the game and you can hack your way to victory with a certain degree of reassurance once the game really begins to roll. Their clan traits are all army based so that gives you a really good advantage both in the beginning of the game and later on (battlewise) and a little less headache as to what to do with your army's general direction. Also as a bonus point you start in an island and that means you dont have to worry about getting harassed by all the inland clans except later on as you progress. Also with a little ship exploration you can easily begin to create trade agreements with many coastal provinces and having close to you most of the games trade stations is a big bonus as well and one you can easily exploit to your advantage.


Weaknesses

Although the Shimazu have a good katana army they dont excel in anything else to be honest. Their navy is good and decent but thats about it and their position in the game although a good one to start with, has it disadvantages as you progress and lead your army further and further away. If you arent careful or prudent rebellions and enemy armies can easily raid your capital province and with your army far gone elsewhere, its a matter of time before things become difficult. Also a factor you should always be aware is your island's religion. Although not a big problem at first it can become a major problem later on and thats something you should always have in mind. And last but not least be careful of the otomo. So far in all of my playthroughs they are the clan that becomes your worst nightmare in the beginning of the game. They expand really fast and really hard and they pose your first main threat in the game.

One of the great things about Shimazu and probably the reason why they are my favorite clan is the fact they use a lot of samurai. There is nothing better than watching green samurai charging the enemy and hack their way to victory ( fanboy mode on).


Katana samurai have decent attack and charge rate and can easily be your favorite basic unit as
you progress in the game. As you develop your commanding skills in the game, note that your armies or your main army should contain at least five katana samurai units. Deadly, swift and accurate they can destroy large units of the enemy and take a beating. The game suggests they are vulnerable to both missiles and cavalry. From my experience the first one is a lie. Although arrows deal a lot of damage, having them charge the enemy eliminates that factor and reduces your losses to a maximum of 75%. The charge attack is probably the best thing in the game and by far the easiest way to dispatch units/archers and other infantry. As for the cavalry weakness that sadly is a big truth. Unless u are in mass, a cavalry raid can sweep a lot of your samurai power aside if u aren't careful. Leaving foot soldiers alone on the battlefield with horse opponents is an assured path to defeat.

That said lets move on to your army synthesis.

The game allows for an army to have 20 units (1 being the general), so this is my favorite list on how to do things in my main campaign army:

1. 6 shimazu katana samurai units
2. 4 Ashigaru bow/ Bow samurai (later in the game)
3. 3 Ashigaru infantry/ Naginata or Yari samurai (later in the game)
4. 4 Cavalry units
5. 2 Special or heavy units of your liking (i usually go for the kisho ninja or the warrior monks to supplement my army depending on the situation or siege weapons for conquering towns).

This particular army synthesis comes in handy in most situations and can be flexed to deal with any type of enemy. Your main bulk army consisting of katana and bow samurai is the one that will deal the most damage in the game while your cavalry units will amount for quickly dispatching enemy units or to help flank the enemy. The spear units can help you counter any enemy cavalry along the way and remove the pressure from your archers and katana units. The 2 special units can be anything you like but i usually go for the kisho ninja or the warrior monks if i want more cover or more power in the game. If u feel like mixing it up you can use some matchlock units to provide attack fire as well as keeping the enemy at bay as you charge towards victory.

Note this is merely a suggestion based on my battles with the shimazu and should not be treated as a general rule. The best thing for any player is to find the balance he or she thinks works the best for him/her.

It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.
Sun Tzu, the art of war


If you are a fan of historic quotes you know what the above means. Although simple it fits perfectly in the art tree of shogun 2. The moment you open it, you are bombarded with 2 options. Military or economy. Choose one and you get to be left behind in terms of growth. Choose the other and you may find your enemies killing you in every single fight. So its a perfectly win win situation. What you should always have in mind in shogun 2 is that balancing your weaknesses is not the way to victory. Although it may seem prudent to go with the things you lack, shogun 2 rewards mostly the advancement of your traits. Simply put, your best traits should evolve to even better ones. As you begin go for the Bushido tree.

Your main focus should be at least in the early stages of the game to evolve your samurai to an unstoppable force.

So at least in the beginning it should be Bushido ---> strategy of attack ---->way of the sword

After you get 3 or more provinces switch to your economy tree and focus at the early stages

Way of chi ---> Todofuken ---> Equal Fields

Having secured a good source of food and basic fighting skills switch back to your Bushido and continue your path to sword mastery by learning Form and then sword expertise thus enabling your samurai to evolve into a whole new level. Now japan will be ready to fear you and your new army powers.

After this point its basically up to you to do what you think its best, depending of course of your actions in game. If you have secured trade agreements and your cash flows in stay true to your war path for couple of rounds and see how things are working out for you. Try to get the heaven and earth art to reduce your army recruitment costs which helps a lot and then move again to the economy tree to see which art suits you best. In my experience earlier in the game its better to run with the creation of a sake den in order to get ninjas to do your dirty work and scout the map thus going to zen and school of shinobi would be a wise choice. After you get comfy and start to expand metsuke are ideal for keeping the order in your new provinces so id suggest market research to be pursued later on.

After that, its all about your game and how it has evolved so choose your tree talents wisely.

As i said before religion can be a real ♥♥♥♥♥, if you aren't careful. As you begin your main religion is Buddhism, but if the otomo rush to conquer entire island areas, their religion begins to change to Christianity. Thus when you make a move to conquer them and you have stayed true to Buddhism, it will be tricky for a while to change them back.

During my first run i converted my daimyo to become Christian, just to see the effect it would have on the populace and boy that didn't turn out too well during the early stages of the game. My capital province and the ones close to it rejected that move and that made it really hard to play with lots of rebellions until the time i got a missionary down to convert them!!!

During my second run i decided to stay true to Buddhism and i sent monks to convert the otomo areas i had occupied. That was a good tactic and one that paid off in quicker turns than my previous one. Later on as you progress as well the main areas of the inland japan are mostly true to Buddhism so it will be tricky to convert them if you conquer them as a Christian. Its not impossible or that hard to do but it takes time and effort to do so.

My suggestion is to stick to Buddhism if you want a kinda easier campaign or if you feel like upping things up a notch change to Christianity.

This a campaign walkthrough i found to be most thorough during your initial steps with the Shimazu Clan. It shows what you need to do in order to conquer your immediate island area, which basically is the hardest part, since its the beginning of the game.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?433737-The-Shimazu-Campaign-Guide&p=9179209&viewfull=1#post9179209

Credit is due to Sir Robin of total war center forum.

After that my suggestion to you is to move towards the next island close to you rather than mainland japan. If you can secure both those areas then you are in a particular sea advantage and you can start building any attack plan you want for mainland japan, since the road now is clear for invasion in every part you like. Also, by controlling both islands you are in a position to secure all the trading routes and pirate your way to many trade incomes for other clans. Trust me when i say you will need that gold to get rolling.

So thats about everything you need to know about the Shimazu Clan in order to achieve victory in total war shogun 2. Hopefully this guide will help you evolve your gameplay and raise your banner in Kyoto. So polish your katanas and be ready...


War is coming!!!


P.S For any information/additions or corrections feel free to notify me. I will edit the guide as soon as possible.