More Ikko-Ikki Warrior Monks...

I've increased the number of Warrior Monks so they can form a reasonable size unit.... 

Supporting the Monks against any aggression from clan Monogato, are troops from clan Tidamatsu - I've added a couple of banners to go with the command group ..

Ikko-Ikki 'Peasant Levy' units...

 Finished 15 more 40mm figures, this batch is for my growing Ikko-Ikki force; a mix of Irregular Miniatures, Steve Barber Models and some of my own figures - with various suitable heads.

The newly finished ones combined with what I already have gives me 'peasant mob' units.

Warrior Monks painted ...

Enough for one unit for small scale actions...

Cannon for a siege game ...

 Finally found someone on Etsy who responded to an enquiry to print for 40mm some samurai period japanese cannon; so I ordered a couple 

just right for a castle siege game...

smaller lighter pieces would have been used in a battle.. so I will have to make a couple of those

Initial Warrior Monk castings....

First lot of castings done for the warrior monks... enough for a contingent in a small scale game

A couple of my generic peasants castings as well, two with heads from Steve Barber Models

I also bought a few figures from Steve Barber Models... I gave two some of my own home-made heads 

Bits n Bobs

Some bits for the two clan armies....

I've split the two banner command stand for each side into two single banner command stands and each side also gets a selection of single figures for small scale games...

Warrior Monk sculpts ...

 I've finished sculpting some masters for a generic peasant and some warrior monks in various poses. Once I've made the moulds and cast some, they'll give me provide me with some variety for skirmish games and also for Ikko-Ikki conflicts.

The Battle of Tanigawa .... denouement.......

as the fighting rages, more Clan Tidamatsu troops have started to arrive.....

Clan Tidamatsu's foot samuari have routed more of the Clan Monogoto troops, their commanders body guard prepares to defend him ....

Clan Tidamatsu's foot samurai join the fight against the Clan Monogoto mounted samurai attacking them in the flank

the remaining intact Clan Monogoto troops edges backwards holding their position, awaiting the outcome of the clash of the mounted samurai.

The mounted samurai of Clan Monogoto attacked in the flank are beaten and rout ...

As Clan Tidamatsu advance,  Clan Monogoto's remaining intact troops fall back and retreat...

A victory for clan Tidamatsu

---oXo---

Notes on the game...

1) Rules used : Battles in the Age of War - Samurai Warfare (available from Peter Pig)

first play through of the rules in a game of the core mechanics (firing, fighting and morale); I think the rules gave a proper flavour for the period.  I made some minor adjustments for my 40mm figure basing scheme along with movement and firing ranges.

I think I made some mistakes using the rules as I went along but mostly these affected both sides.

Some Rules Adjustments:

• to get some ebb and flow in melee; If lose melee: One Morale Failure fall back 3 inches,  Two Moral Failures fall back 6 inches
• Routing troops stay on the table till they have passed by all the units (not removed after the move they rout).

2) Game lasted 25 moves...the key melee at the river crossing 7 moves.

3) Armies were approx 175 figures each, split into 4 Sonae with mounted samurai separated into separate units. Clan Tidamatsu (defending) started with one Sonae not having arrived (one quarter of its troops). These were late and would arrive on move 10 + 3D6.

4) Final result - a win for Clan Tidamatsu

Clan Tidamatsu 3 sonae intact, one badly mauled at just under 50% in strength.

Clan Monogoto - 1 sonae intact, 1 sonae wiped out, 2 sonae 30% losses and routed.

The Battle of Tanigawa .. stalemate broken.......

The melee along the line of the river intensifies....

Clan Monogoto troops after taking heavy casualties break and rout ..... things have swung in favour of clan Tidamatsu....

Clan Tidamatsu goes over to the attack...

Clan Tidamatsu troops follow up behind the routing clan Monogoto troops and charge into the supporting units...

The mounted samurai clash in the centre, while at the back a clan Tidamatsu samurai unit has routed a clan Monogoto musket unit and then charged straight into their supporting long spear unit....

on the other flank another clan Monogoto musket unit has been routed, their attackers wait for supporting units to move up...

to be continued...

The Battle of Tanigawa .. to & fro...

Neither side seemed to be able to gain any ground ....

Clan Tidamatsu got the edge and pushed the opposition back ....into the river 

and then back over the river ...

Clan Monogoto dug deep and found extra resolve and regained some ground ....

both sides moved troops up to support the action, but held off committing more men to the fray ...

Clan Tidamatsu's troops lost more ground as they were pushed back again ....

Both sides then started feeding in men to the ongoing melee.....

The fighting intensified .....

to be continued...

The Battle of Tanigawa .. first moves ...

Clan Monogoto troops move up into musket range ....

after an exchange of fire, Clan Tidamatsu's front ranks have thinned out somewhat ....

Monogoto's musket men move out to the sides as the spearman advance ...

Tidamatsu's troops responds quickly with it's musket men moving to the flanks and the rest step forward to face the attack as their opponents cross the shallow river ......

The attack goes in, but gets bogged down .... 

Neither side can gain a clear advantage as the musket armed troops join in the melee...

to be continued ....

The Battle of Tanigawa ... the armies deploy

The valley of Tanigawa , clan Tidamatsu's army have deployed to block clan Monogoto's advance. Part of the Tidamatsu's army has not yet arrived. The commander issues his orders for deployment ...

The lead troops are deployed to block the river crossing ....

Clan Monogoto's troops have deployed ....

and are ready to make their attack ....

to be continued ....

The Sonae Abstraction ...

Trying out some ways of splitting up one of the armies into a number of nominal Sonae - 'regiments' approx size 500-800 men.

At 1:20 that's about 25-40 figures.  Currently working on

• 1 ashigaru Teppo (musket) squad (12)
• 1 ashigaru Yari (spear) squad (12)
• 1 samurai support squad (8)
• Mounted samurai (4)
• 1 command stand (3)

Total figures ....39 . That'll do for starters 👍

Which means I can get about 4 of these from each army of ~175 figures.

Castle Keep ?

For a siege game it would be nice to represent a cast keep...

I tinkered with an image to get something in height that wouldn't go above the top of the game table back scene; fixed it to some thin card...

Perhaps a low relief version using the image as a template ? maybe ....

Castle done..

 Finished painting all the castle sections, nice to get it finished and setup on the gaming table....