I seriously just can't fufill the requirements to unlock Keiji Maeda. I try focusing on only the drum banging, the officer and gate captain killing but there's always an ally officer or two that screw up by dying or wasting time on killing every single last peon.

What did you guys do to unlock him?

I just did it on easy and used a good crowd clearer as well as my best people. It was getting so annoying on doing it in the other modes, I just said screw it and did it on easy. Here are some suggestions. Try to clear the north as quickly as possible and kill any of the base captains that you encounter, because peons will just keep on coming from those gates. You should also beat the drum right at the moment Lu Meng says to. Well not exactly right at the moment, but if you are focused on something, then continue with that. Also, do not choose Zhou Tai as one of your characters. Zhou Tai can last longer as an A.I. then a generic officer. Don't let any of your base captains die, otherwise it will be time-consuming, to go there and kill the base captain again. You should try to kill as many officers as you can, because then your allies can survive more easily. Finally, when Keji launches an ambush, any of their base captains will start unloading peons again, so try to get rid of the ambush leaders as quickly as you can. Believe me, everybody had a tough time getting Keji, but I can say it is a great battle to train your officers and acquire abilities.

How I unlocked him was I actually went into the level in 2 player mode. I had the first player go through and beat all the enemy generals and whatnot and then had the second player just sit in the garrison and hit the drum. You don't need the second player or the guy that guards the garrison to go meet Keiji. Also I heard this somewhere, don't have Zhou Tai in your party because then Cheng Pu will appear as reinforcements and he dies easier.

Figures you'd answer before me lol.

What can I say, I help people when they need it.

If you still haven't unlocked him I have a strategy here

I give you a play by play, so it shouldnt be too difficult

yeah, it sooo hard

I did it like my second time and i had Zhou Tai in my party it was sooooo easy cos it was on easy >.>

Is there a stragtegy 2 unlock Keiji
I just did what I always do on any level, keeping my allies alive and doing all missions I didn't even know he was hard to unlock... I got him first time taking the battle... haven't done it twice yet it was so annoying, I only did it once... (Kunoichi, Lu Meng and Sun Xiang Shang was the lucky squad who I controlled... )

quote BrokenKnights

If you still haven't unlocked him I have a strategy here

I give you a play by play, so it shouldnt be too difficult

Well, what difficulty are you playing on? Because if you played it on easy, then it shouldn't be too much of a problem. You could probably beat it with 40 characters, unless it is on anything higher than Easy, then you probably need leval 60 for Normal, 80 for hard, and 99 for Chaos. Also, you need to get all allied officers to Keji's base, before he gets bored and opens his main camp himself. Maybe that is why it didn't work. Or if you go near his base more than three times, he will get annoyed and then you won't unlock him.

The worst part is I'm playing on Easy!

And no, I'm always careful not to tick him off by approaching his main camp, I guess I'm just not quick enough to take down all the bases, since those can be really annoying to take out once they start spewing soldiers like no tommorow. But if I stick in one area too long, the allied officers in the opposite part of the map start having troule and slow down.

SO ANNOYING!

Here's a sugggestion. If you are having trouble getting around quickly, then equip the ability Cavalier and call the horse whenever you need it. If you are having trouble keeping your allies alive, then I'd suggest to kill the genarals that are attacking them to improve their chance at survival. If you are having trouble killing the base captains, due to the peons coming out and attacking your bases thus forcing you to go back and protect your base captains, then I would use a good crowd controller(like Guan Ping). Finally if your have trouble killing the generals, then I would suggest using your strongest person in your team to kill them. Otherwise, never give up and keep on trying.

Why are you guys struggling with keiji? It's not the easiest, I know, but it's not that hard. Just simply clear all the enemies that are in the neighbourhood of the gong, and boost up some morale. Everytime Lu Meng wants you to hit the gong, take a xiao qiao and double jump charge towards the gong. Give it a wack, and run off to some officers farther away. Also, there will be some ambushes or enemy reinforcements, so clear those aswell. Wack the gong again, as lu meng tells you to. When the enemies are in the far east, you go swiftly as possible ( xiao qiao XXT ) to one of the officers and take him out to save one part of your army. Go back and smack the gong when lu meng tells you to. Then when Yoshimoto appears, you can leave for serious and kill the remaining substances of the enemy army. Together, then go to the castle gate, where keiji is waiting.

I got 17 minutes left when I reached him, that's a spare time of 7 minutes

Yoshimoto doesn't appear in that leval, or does he?