The Assault Group - Mounted Samurai

 These are two packs (3-figs each) of bows, and one pack with swords.

Along with the earlier figures, should be more than enough for skirmish gaming this period. Armies and battles of the Heian period were both relatively small.

The elite warriors of the period were horse archers, and fought pretty much in a "heroic" style. Calling out lineages and boasts. Perfect for skirmish gaming, IMO.

Plan to use them with Tribal with units of 5-figures each, along with heroes and warlords.

Plan to start on the "followers" (similar to ashigaru) next. After them, monks with naginata and bows - which should complete the needed figures for test run with Tribal. In fact, I'm signed up for a Tribal game at a game day this Saturday. It'll be nice to get more familiar with the rules before hosting my own. The basic rules are pretty simple, and allow for additional flavor as needed. Until then, thanks for stopping to check out the blog and hope you all are doing well.

The Assault Group Samurai - Foot

Finished up the 8-figure pack of TAG foot samurai; also painted the mounted figures, but still need to paint their horses.

The TAG Heian/Genpei War range is one of my favorites. Love the details and research that went tinto them. They've been around for quite a long time, and still the best for the period, IMO.

They have nice poses which reflect the heroic nature of battle during this period.

I did reposition the arms on a couple of the duplicates - the guys pointing and the ones with two swords.

And a shot of the completed riders - still needing mounts.

Thanks for checking out the blog!

Bolt Action - Battle of Mahiwa

Just finished up a nice WW1 E. Africa game using Bolt Action. This is a scenario by buddy has used several times in the past. He tweaked the game a bit today by using activation die assigned per company - about 3 or 4 individual units. Similar to the "Stand To" rules, but a bit more simplified. It sped up the game and got units to do multiple different actions. I played a company of Germans and Askari on our right flank. Played 6 turns in about 3 hours, which ended in a slugfest of attritition across the battlefield. It was only my second time playing the rules in about a year, and came back quite easily and quickly. It was only my second time in about a year playing the rules, having played Chain of Command more often. There are elements of both rule systems that I like, but I do appreciate the simplicity and quick play of Bolt Action.

The terrain and figures are very nice.

British cavalry in support of infantry, both moving up to cross the river.

Although it wasn't used in today's game, the African Queen did give the game a proper look.

German artillery spotters on top of the building.

Looking across the battlefield from the British left.

View from the German left.

QRS with unit stats.

All in all a very nice Bolt Action refresher game.

West Wind Bushi (Retainers)

Wanted to finish them up before going back to the remaining TAG figures.

I used Micron pens for the patterns on the leather parts of the helmets.

These guys are in simpler armor and only carrying naginata, similar to the ones on the screen painting of the attack on Sanjo Palace.

Comparison of TAG (left) and West Wind (right).

Thanks for checking out the blog, and wishing you all the best.

ACW Skirmish Using Warpaint

Just wrapped up an ACW skirmish game using Warpaint at my buddy's place down the road. Had a great time, but as I mentioned in the earlier post, I have no real interest in the period. This lack of interest may be due to being of Japanese decent (third generation), and growing up in Hawaii, and having no direct relations involved in it. Also, we were taught more about whaling in Hawaii, missionaries, and sugar barons than ACW history, from what I recall. Anyway, as far as the game whent, we probably played about 50 percent of the game correctly. As the rules were a first for all of the players, and the owner of the sole copy of the rules had only read through it a few times before and never played it himself, this might explain our lack of familiarity of it. The scenario had the Union troops trying to locate more horses for ones they had lost in a previous engagment. The Confederate troops, of which I commanded several mounted units, were to scout around and gather intel from civilians at homesteads. The game devolved into several smaller battles of attrition before we called it and evaluated the game - and how much we might have deviated from the rules-proper. It was all in all a fun game, but we plan to use Sharp Practice 2 the next time for ACW. I'm looking forward to that game, although the last time I played Sharp Practice was with the first version many years ago. Here are some pictures from today's game.

The Confederate side looking towards the advancing Union forces.

My cavalry units gathering intel at homesteads. This became a moot point once all the Union forces came onto board.

Union cavalry dismounting and advancing on my units.

Other Confederate troops moving into the woodline after dismounting their horses.

Union and Confederate forces exchanging fire in the middle of the battlefield.

My troops charging into the Union skirmishers. Here's where we likely got a lot of stuff wrong. After successfully testing to charge, movement distance determined by die rolls, the enemy was allowed to fire as a reaction to the charge. They didn't score any hits, and my guys made several hits, but only caused one wounded casualty. One of the results for a hit on a Union soldier ended up having my figure losing his attacking weapon (a revolver), and also not causing any wound to the enemy! Again, we might've got this wrong.

Action on the opposite side of the table. The horses at the barn was the prize for the Union troops, but they never were able to make it across the road due to strong resistance by the Confederates there.

Again, it was a fun game with great company, but not likely getting more into this period other than joining in games my buddies put on.

West Wind Bushi - WIP

Got an order of West Wind Bushi the other day, and wanted to start on them even though the TAG guys aren't finished yet. They're supposed to be lower-ranking samurai or followers. They have simple body armor without additional shoulder, arm, or leg protection. The pack of 20 figures came with separate heads, and also added a pack of helmeted heads. The sculpting isn't as nice as the TAG figures, but close enough to be mixed in with them without issues.

Comparison with TAG figures - left to right: WW, TAG, TAG, WW.

So much for now; tomorrow I've been invited to an ACW skirmish game at my buddy's place about 10 minutes away. Besides a naval game many years ago, this will be only my second ACW game I've ever played. I'm looking forward to it as my buddy usually only plays WW2 Chain of Command, so wanted to support his new endeavor. I'll post pictures and an AAR after the game. Until then, thanks again for stopping by and hope you all are doing well.

TAG Song Mounted Archers

Took a little break from the Heian TAG samurai to finish up a Ming cavalry unit for the Imjin War project. Just three more TAG figures - which are actually Song cavalry, but look close enough to Ming heavy cavalry. The funny thing is when I placed the order for these I only added the Heian/Gempei War figures to up the order for free shipping - not realizing then that I would revisit the period in earnest. Now the Imjin War project has sort of taken a backseat to it.

The unit now has 12-figures, but I may run them in 6-figure units.

Thanks for visiting and hope you all are doing well!

TAG Samurai, Followers, Monks - WIP

Recently picked these figures up from a game store, Mindtaker Miniatures, down in Vancouver, WA. Got about half of these with a trade of old rule books that were just taking up space. The store buys and sells miniatures and games from private sales and commissions. A lot of the historical miniatures, including these TAG figures, were bought as a lot from an estate sale in Colorado.

So far, just the flesh and faces. I normally don't paint eyes, but wanted to match the rest of the figures for this project. With the earlier completed figures, plan to have several 5-figure units for a 6-player game using Tribal. Thanks for stopping by and hope you all are doing well. 

General d'Armee - First Time Playing

Just got back from my buddy's place for a General d'Armee game. There were seven of us - including my buddy hosting the game - and the first time with the rules for all of us. Suffice to say, we managed to stumble through a turn and a half. The scenario was based loosely on the 1809 Campaign with some of my buddy's vast collection of Austrians and Bavarians. I played a brigade of Bavarians, which included a battalion of skirmishers. One of the unique things about the rules is the use of ADC's - rolling D6's at the top of the turn to see how many can be assigned to the army, and then choosing selected actions for the units with the ADC. This gives the units certain advantages and bonuses. It also uses D6's for scouting and the possible uncovering of hidden units at the start of the game. Also, artillery can actually cause casualties to itself for bad die rolls. Anyway, that's about all I can remember as this was my first time exposed to the rules. It's definitely more detailed than Black Powder or even Valour and Fortitude (from what little I know of the latter). We ended the game due to time, as it was mostly a learning game and didn't really expect any victory conditions met. It's always nice to game with old buddies - most of them game together once a week with various rules. I only show up occasionally when my buddy hosts games as he's only about 10 minutes from my place. Here's a few pictures from the game.

A final thought on the rules: I personally won't be getting into them - I'll play if someone else hosts/GM's it, though. Well, thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best.

TAG Heian/Gempei War Samurai and Followers Ready

These are one pack each of mounted samurai with katana, foot samurai with katana, foot samurai with bows, foot samurai with nodachi, and followers with naginata.

Rear view. The back of the o yoroi has a lot of the cords blocking most of the lacing - making painting easier.

Foot samurai with bows.

Foot samurai with katana.

Foot samurai with nodachi.

Followers with naginata.

Mounted samuria with katana.

EDIT: I went ahead on took a "family" photo of these along with the rest of the TAG figures already painted. Also, a few 1st Corps samurai and Kingsford sohei are included.

Awaiting an order of bushi (aka followers) from Westwind, and also will get a few more packs of TAG samurai from a trade of old rule books with a vendor down in Vancouver, Washington, called Mindtaker Miniatures. Met one of the sales reps at the recent Enfilade convention. They buy and sell/trade miniatures and related stuff. On the gaming front, going over to my buddy's place tomorrow evening to try out the General d'Armee for the first time. It's popular with several of the local gamers here. Plan to post pics and an AAR afterwards. Until then, thanks for stopping by and wishing you all the best!