Last Stand at Fushimi

Clearing the Road Is the third scenario of Act I: Japan in Age of Empires III: The Asian Dynasties. It leaves off from the cinematic "The Truth" and "Secrets". It revolves around General Kichiro, following the samurai code and remaining loyal to Tokugawa where he joins Mototada at Fushimi estate. Once there, Mototada confirms the story of his parent's death from Mototada and Kichiro learns the bitter truth.

Objectives

 * Destroy all enemies along the eastern road(1250 XP)

Strategy
This mission seems more difficult than the previous ones, because the player has to fight on two fronts at the same time and you can't overwhelm the opponent - it's an uphill battle.

At the start, the player should move their army to the damaged walls to help in defense. In the meantime, queuing a few Villagers and setting the economy gather point to the Rice Paddy will allow Villagers to quickly gather resources. After the Rice Paddy is full, have some villagers chop the nearby wood. You don't need as many villagers as in the earlier scenarios, but you'll definitely still need some. The player should move their villagers,  to balance their economy. Building a couple of Shrines with the villagers gathering wood in north - there are a couple of herds lying up there. Queuing Yumi Archers and Ashigaru Musketeers from Barracks will create he strong and well balanced army. The player should try not to have all of their army killed, fight only their appropriate counters. Make good use of Kichiro's special ability!

When the attackers have been dealt with, the player should take their army except for Kichiro and head back to the castle. The player should hire locally trained units from now onto go to the gates, they can hold them off for a substantial time meanwhile the player will get units elsewhere for your primary army. Send your Samurai shipment twice - you'll need the siege units. If you have removed that card, send something else and train a few locally. Start to clear the eastern road by taking out the first outpost with those units.

Every time the walls are being attacked, use Kichiro's special ability. Taking out the Flaming Arrow units will be very important due to their power, then the Samurai. The player can then use the Yumi Archers they have to fire at samurai units. It will be difficult, especially when they breach the wall and can get to tot he player's archers, but don't give up. One trick that the player may find useful is when samurai units are chasing your Yumi Archers, while either of the gates is still standing, is to go through the gate every time they're about to hit you. Once you are on the other side of the gate, they'll have to go around the gate again, giving you time to shoot.

Once the player has destroyed the Outpost, they won't have to go further the road, the game will take care of it. The player should then head Southeast and will see some Stockades, guarded only by a skeleton crew. Take them out and destroy the Stockades, which will go down with relative. The player now can go back to the road and take out what's remaining. While you're there, the should out the Zen trading post.

Now before the villager evacuation starts, the player still has some time, they can use them to travel North, where there's a small road leading to the forest. There they will find some Ninjas, who will join their side. Heading back South, the player should patrol the area near where the Stockades used to be. Every time Villagers are fleeing, the enemy will send some units to kill them, so the player will have to intercept them. It isn't too hard, since they stop to fight your army whenever they see you. The player can train some units now for this army too if you still hold the gates.

When enough Villagers have escaped, the mission is completed.