First, there was a great thread that gave a rundown of how to do baiting. I couldn't find it from a cursory look through the Strategy Index. Is it in there, or could someone link it? If it isn't in there it must be added.
Now then, baiting is getting the battle command AI to aggro on a specific squad which will then move (via 'Guard Commander') and cause those aggroed enemy squads to chase them. The theory is that those enemy squads will have to move and fire over long distance, while simultaneously bringing them in short range of your own archers and flankers.
Here is what's required:
0. A well armored commander with lots of HP (this is what the bait squad will move towards).
1. A well armored squad placed where it will get aggro
2. Some chaff, archers, and squads on flank to surround the enemy squads chasing your bait squad.
Here is why Shinuyama does this well
0. It has a well armored commander with lots of HP (Bakemono General)
1. It has well armored archers with lots of HP (Dai Bakemono with Longbow).
2. It has decent flankers, robust chaff, and massable archers.
The big thing they have here is the Dai Bakemono with longbows: they are guaranteed to catch just about any sort of command the opposing player might attempt to get his units to not aggro them. They are:
* archers, and will get 'Attack Archers'
* well armored, and can handle the missile fire.
* have lots of HP and take up lots of space, thus they will satisfy commander AI where it attempts to target things where they will do damage.
To make sure you get both 'Attack Closest' and 'Attack Rear', use two squads, one placed in the front, one in the rear.
The other key ingredient they have is the Bakemono General. Very few nations have such a robust recruitable everywhere commander. These guys have lots of armor and lots of HP. I always (even before figuring out how effective this particular tactic is) would set these guys to 'Hold' 'Hold' 'Attack', just because they can safely wade into a melee and tear stuff up. They ensure that after drawing your enemies forces towards a commander, there is a commander there who is ready for them (with the help of his soldiers of course).
Although the 'perfect setup' is given here, this tactic works beautifully with different variations (maybe Dai Bakemono with No-dashi as baiters, or any heavily armored unit). In fact, when facing indie squads, the computer just seems to always 'Attack Closest' or 'Fire Closest'. In these cases you don't need large archers, nor a squad in the rear to catch 'Attack Rear'. This tactic, with these acceptable variations, is a great way for Shinuyama to plow through Indies (I did 22 provinces in the first 12 turns [ie one year] easily).
A final note: this tactic doesn't scale well with large armies. It gets too difficult to place your bait squads where they will perform as expected, and your other squads will be so big they just get all the aggro. However, it is magic in small and mid-size battles.
Here is a diagram to give the basic set-up:
Code:
0. Dai General; set to 'Hold', 'Hold', 'Attack Closest'
1. ~5 Dai Bakemono (Longbow); set to 'Guard Commander'
2. 20+ Bakemono-sho (Yari); set to 'Attack Closest'
3. 20+ Bakemono-sho (Shortbow); set to 'Fire Closest'
4+. 5+ Dai Bakemono; set to 'Attack Rear' or 'Attack Archers'
---------------
| 34
| 2
|0 1 1
|
| 4
---------------
A. Squad 1 will retreat towards Commander 0; all enemies set to 'Attack Closest', 'Attack Monster', or 'Attack Archers' will have aggroed to this squad and will begin to follow them back.
B. Squad 4 will begin to move towards the enemy's rear, but will probably aggro to other passing enemy squads; they might, however, make it to the back and attack archers.
C. Squad 2 will intercept enemies chasing Squad 1.
D. Squad 3 will have short-range shots at passing enemies chasing squad 1.
E. Shortly, commander 0 and squad 1 will move towards enemies chasing them who will by now be engaged with squad 2 and 4.
This tactic will generally a) nullify the effect of enemy archers, as they are forced to move and fire over a long distance at heavily armored units; and b) break up enemy armies, as they get flanked by squad(s) 4.
EDIT: updated to reflect that "Attack Large Monsters" doesn't target size 3
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