Review by Ian Keogh

Oda Nobunaga has spent his life fascinated by the military stragegists of the past, people who’ve conquered vast areas of territory, and he’s ended up in the one place where his unique knowledge has immense value. He’s been transported to a place where areas are controlled by those very people he’s studied, each of them equipped with troops and looking to occupy ever greater territory.

Oda has associated himself with the Japanese warlord whose surname he shares, and as “Tengen” Hero Wars 1 ended Nobonaga was preparing to attack the forces of Chinese warrior Zhuge Liang.

In the previous volume it wasn’t always clear what was happening during the combat scenes Kubaru Sakanoichi drew, but here there’s a different emphasis. With the exception of a few pages of flashbacks the entire volume is the battle Yasu Hiromoto set up toward the end of the previous volume. Over 196 pages the object is to admire the military strategy rather than become involved in the general scrum of battle, and Sakanoichi delivers that overview phenomenally well in page after page of military action. The level of detail is outstanding, and the work rate beyond belief.

Hiromoto is also due some praise here. After all, he’s only following the battle plan he concocted at the end of “Tengen” Hero Wars 1, yet although it plays out almost to the letter, it still makes for a compelling page-turner. Hiromoto even manages to up the ante by having the final quarter as a face off between two of Japan’s greatest warriors. Miyamoto Musashi is very different from the younger version of himself presented in Vagabond, somewhat of a brute to be frank.

This volume differs greatly from the previous one, and is much better, with the art outstanding, but because it’s more concerned with strategy than plot it’s also going to have a narrower audience. It also raises questions as to where the series is heading overall, as there’s no conclusion yet to the battle begun on the first page. It extends into the next volume.