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.