Mounted Commanders(conversions)

 I've used four of my own mounted castings and some parts from some Steve Barber figures  (heads and parts of arms), to make up two senior mounted samurai and two commanders with fan.

Ashigaru Short Spear Units - prepped

 The last (?) batch of castings have been cleaned up and short spears fitted...

all ready for painting (they'll be done next after two more squads of samurai are finished).

Samurai spear units...

 The first samurai spear units completed, one for each side...

two more of these to do, then I can start the ashigaru units....

Castings done ..

Mould made for the new Ashigaru masters, after a couple of casting sessions have enough figures for 4 10 man squads (two for each army)..

...plus a few more items for  a couple of other things I want to add

• mounted commanders (as an alternative to those in the dismounted sets)
• make some masters for a pack horse and men carrying ammo/supplies

Ashigaru with spear ... masters

 With some Ashigaru armed with spears needed to complete the armies, I have made up two new masters each with different types of 'armour' on their arms. Also I have thickened the bases, bulked out the legs and fitted a sword. 

 Shown with spear temporarily fitted....

Army Commands ...

 The two army commands with their camp curtains now completed...

Trial Setup of Samurai Army ...

 With painting progressing slowly, to give me a boost I setup a samurai army in a nominal 'Sonae' formation...

Looking good. One thing I realised once I set it out is that I hadn't made some ashigaru squads with short spear to support the two front samurai squads. So I will need to cast up 20 figs for each army.

Two samurai squads completed...

 Two samurai squads with swords drawn one for each army completed...

(only 100 figures or so left to paint for each army....)

Adding to the Library (1) ... Samurai Armies of the Late Sengoku Period

 

Invested in these super books.... Samurai Armies of the Late Sengoku Period  Vol1&2 by Till Weber:

Centre fold out from Vol 1 - army on the march....

Centre pic from Vol 2 - lots of inspiration...

Both books are replete with well presented information, some of which may mean I will have to make some adjustments to the structure of my Samurai armies.

Ronin Go Home .....

Background ..... A band of unruly ronin have been seen moving towards a large village; the local samurai organises a hasty defence ....

---oXo---

The ronin approach .....

Villagers armed with bamboo spears supported by an armed monk cover the entrances to the village..

The samurai with his two sons, a couple of retainers and villagers with more military experience await developments...

The ronin near the village ...

and try and make their way in along the road ...

the chief ronin leads a group to another way into the village near the shrine...

Another small group of ronin have cricled round the edge of the village and are trying to get in via another of the roadways...

The monk is the only one left protecting the narrow passage by the shrine...

his expertise with a ningata catches the chief ronin by surprise, the monk inflicts two nasty wounds on the chief ronin and the ronin are forced back ....

The ronin are not making much progress getting into the village....

but they slowly push their way into the village....

they are then attacked ....

The monk is still keeping the ronin at bay ...

The fighting intensifies in front of the shrine, with the ronin gaining ground....

The samurai, looks with disdain on a ronin moving towards him brandishing two swords and cuts him down...

Things turn against the ronin ...

The monk still holds the passageway ...

While another man backed up by one of the samurai's sons and a retainer, hold back another small group of ronin

The ronin are slowly pushed back....

A ronin with spear moves towards the samurai who steps aside deftly and cuts him down....

the samurai turns round and finishes off another ronin... while his son and another of his men kill a partly armoured ronin....

The ronin have had enough and run for it ....

A bad day for the ronin.....   

---oXo---

Notes:

0). Summing up

• Villagers: started with 17, their losses were 7 peasants armed with bamboo spears who bore the brunt of the initial attack, a couple of the others were wounded.   
• Ronin: started with 14 men, their losses were 7 men dead with their leader and two others wounded 

1) Rules uses: cut down version of my own Simple Combat Rules. 

Used Combat, Movement Risk and Disengage from Combat sections only.  Movement 'as you like it' for each side on initiative.

2) Stats for each side

The Ronin (14)

Leader.  Skill:4.    Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).      Max Wounds: 3

Second.  Skill:3.    Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).      Max Wounds: 3

and 12 Ronin: 

8 sword armed, each one  Skill: 2.   Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).   Max Wounds: 2

4 spear armed, each one  Skill: 2.   Attack Modifiers: +2 (spear).    Max Wounds: 2

The Villagers (17)

Samurai  Leader.                    Skill:5.    Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).      Max Wounds: 3

Samurai's 1st Son.                  Skill:4.    Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).     Max Wounds: 3

          Samurai's 2nd Son.                Skill:4.    Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).     Max Wounds: 3 

2 Retainers, each one             Skill:2.    Attack Modifiers: +1 (sword).     Max Wounds: 2

4 'ashigaru'(no armour), each Skill:2.    Attack Modifiers: +2 (spear).      Max Wounds: 2

          7 peasants, each one   Skill:1.    Attack Modifiers: +2 (bamboo spear).      Max Wounds: 1 

1 armed monk                        Skill:2.    Attack Modifiers: +2 (Ningata).      Max Wounds: 2 

Armies - mounted samurai..

 The mounted samurai for each of the armies now finished..

Miniature Wargames - Magazine Article - Defend the Village

I've had my 'seven samurai' Defend the Village game published in Miniature Wargames September 2022 issue 473

None of my pictures made it to the front page - but pleased to have my article published...

Army Command Stands...

Painting of the armies started, first off the painting table - the command/control stands for each army.