Sengoku Basara/Border Defense

This map, called Border Defense (国境防衛戦), is different from all of the others in that you are given a time limit of four minutes and no bosses to fight. Your general begins in front of two gates that must be protected, marked on the map with X's. Take out the three squad leaders in front of you to build up your Basara gauge before large soldiers with pillars arrive to start beating down your gates. You should only focus on taking out the leaders of these squads, as this will significantly diminish the power with which they hit your gates. The strength of your gates is represented by a gauge in the corner of the screen; if your character is knocked out or this gauge is completely depleted, you'll receive a game over.

When you have some time between defending gates, make sure to ascend the hills on either side of the map; inside crates at the top are two tamatebako (rewards). There is also a row of archers with flaming arrows on the eastern hill; while they don't usually create a nuisance unless your camera is aimed toward them, since they aren't facing you as you ascend, they make for easy fodder to build up the Basara gauge.

While the soldiers carrying pillars will usually be accompanied by similar soldiers as well as soldiers wielding giant hammers, halfway into the stage, they will be accompanied by bomb soldiers. Plan your Basara attack around these soldiers, as they do considerable damage once they approach (especially on harder difficulties, or when holding an accessory that makes enemies deal double the damage). Lastly, the final four squad leaders that arrive, two to each gate and all holding pillars, all drop tamatebako once defeated. Make sure to defeat these soldiers before time runs out as well as break the crates on top of the hills to pick up all rewards that this map has to offer.

The short length of this stage and lack of a tricky boss makes it ideal for experience farming, though be warned that time spent clearing this stage in Free Battle does not count toward the "Thank you for playing" (100 hours spent) trophy; only time spent in Unification Mode does.