Samurai Archers

Inspired by the recent Samurai battle of Mikata Ga Hara, the remaining bowmen from last year's Museum Miniatures' sale were dug up from The Lead Pile and pushed into the painting queue.  Strike while the iron is hot, right?  Whoops.  Check that.  More Museum Miniatures' Samurai came up in a follow-on dig.  In this latest tranche, there appears to be enough archers to field one more Samurai foot archer unit.  In addition to the Samurai archers, there are enough figures to field two Samurai teppo units.  I knew the teppo units were in there.  These fellows are planned to hit the painting desk later.  Perhaps inspiration will strike again after another Samurai battle?     

Off the painting desk today are 26 figures split between one unit of Samurai foot archers and two units of Samurai horse archers.  With these three bow units, there ought to be sufficient numbers to field any Samurai needed for any Samurai Battles' scenario.  I know.  Famous last words.  With Museum Miniatures' annual January sale winding down, time remains to slip in a small order if needed.

Next week on the gaming front will be a busy one.  Five games are on the week's gaming docket including my 15mm Franco-Austrian War Battle of Montebello on Monday.  Montebello is set for a six-player remote game.  I will see five games in five different periods using five different rules.

Samurai Archers

As a brief intermission between fielding SYW French, off from the painting desk today is a unit of Samurai bowmen.  These 15mm figures are from Museum Miniatures were part of a holiday sale pick-up in January.  Great figures with excellent sculpting.  Still more cavalry and teppo remain to push into the painting queue when I need a change of pace. 

SYW French remain a dominant sight in the painting queue although another diversion is in work.  A dig through The Lead Pile surfaced a box of TAG Thirty Years War/ ECW figures.  Both infantry and cavalry were rediscovered in the mix.  Nine of the horsemen were gathered up and primered in preparation for seeing some action at the painting desk.  After the next SYW French infantry musters out, I expect these cavalry troopers will be next on the scene.  

Gaming remains afoot including an introduction of Commands & Colors Ancients (CCA) to a fantasy gamer.  Yes, indeed!  I enticed a Warhammer 40k player to give historicals a try. 

Having replayed Caralis 215BC a number of times and finding it always to produce a close game, I put that out on the table for a refight in 6mm.

Caralis 215BC

My opponent chose to command Carthage and after a brief overview of the rules, we set to combat.  Logan began the game in a blaze of successes.  Quickly opening up the center, I found Rome down 5 banners to nil.  Rome recovered.  By endgame, Rome stood on a 7-6 advantage.  In one last grand cavalry charge, Carthage took out two severely weakened Roman infantry units in the center to claim victory.  It was a terrific Carthaginian victory.  Even better, my WH40k opponent enjoyed the game and is looking forward to more historical CCA games.

Score!

Up on Graham's gaming table for Tuesday is a rematch of last week's RCW battle.  Players are switching sides and plotting new battle plans. 

On The Table Today is...

the action at Las Guasimas in Cuba 1898.  Yes, we see Teddy Roosevelt in action with his Rough Riders.

Having fought Mollwitz twice, it was time to clear the table and consider a new topic for a game or two.  Mollwitz replays may not be finished just yet but time to move it along.

Not having seen the Spanish-American War collection out for a game in more years than I can honestly recall (I suppose I could look it up!), I figured an outing was long overdue.  That, and the action could fit onto a 6'x'6 table space which seems to be about the one-stop, coverage limit for two stationary webcams with one placed behind each army's baseline.  Any wider than six feet and the cameras occasionally require a pan left or right to take in the entire battlefield or the two cameras need to be positioned at table corners. 

My interpretation of Las Guasimas battlefield

I have yet to select the rules of engagement but likely with proceed with some of my own doing.  That way, I have a better chance of remembering the rules in the heat of a multiplayer, remote battle.  Rules will be worked on this week before presenting the game at the weekly Tuesday game.  Osprey's The Men Who Would Be Kings ruleset is under consideration too, but I may want a bit more flavor and less buckets of dice.  More scenario details to follow before the Tuesday game.

Hopefully, the group will enjoy a change of pace from the regular fare.  The Spanish-American War may not be a period readily gamed by English gamers.  We will see.

While not much painting has been happening on the Home Front, I did manage to push out a unit of 15mm Samurai bowmen.  Figures are Museum Miniatures. 

Several units are making their way through the painting queue but not much to show yet.  Soon, I think.

On the Table Today is...

the Battle of Koriyama Castle in 1540.

The combination of Samurai Battles' scenarios and Basic Impetvs (BI2.0) continues seeing regular action on the gaming table.  Today is no exception.  With a start time of 0700 PST to fit in with my UK-based opponent's schedule, the gaming day begins early.  Rather than umpiring the game only, I face off against my opponent in a remote, two-player contest.  While my opponent has two games under his belt with my adaptations to BI2.0, today's contest is a chance to reinforce some of the game elements without a virtual room full of players and competing demands.

Koriyama Castle introduces (to me and my collection) a new unit type in Samurai foot archers.  Without any such units in the collection, I needed to make quick work in fielding the two required BMUs for this battle.  Luckily, the recent Museum Miniatures' order had enough figures to field two such units.  Oh, I also managed to slip one more order under the wire during the January sale.  A month ago, I thought this project finished.

Off the painting desk today and just in the nick of time to see action in today's game are two Samurai foot archer units.  Each unit has 14 figures.  As with the Samurai horse archers fielded earlier, these foot archers are superb looking sculpts.

Anyway, with an early start time, I better get some rest.

Is a Project EVER Finished?

Is a project ever, really finished?

I may never know.

In a post from July 2020, (see The Last Samurai?), I postulated that the Samurai Battles project was finished with the exception of, perhaps, fielding a few markers and some odds and ends.  Well, that statement was only good until I started gaming with the figures.

When GMT released a new version of Commands & Colors Samurai Battles, I noticed a number of new scenarios out on the support website.  What I also noticed was that new troop types were included in some of the scenarios.  Into the mix were added Samurai horse archers and Samurai foot archers.  Some of the alternate scenarios laid claim to these new troop types.  If I wanted to play the new scenarios with miniatures, I must return to the painting desk.

With that, mustering out from the workbench, these 24 horsemen (in four BMUs) trot out just in time to take part in the Sunday game.  While all of my figures for this collection are 15mm Peter Pig, Peter Pig makes no mounted Samurai archers.  What to do?  I discovered Museum Miniatures.  I quick order arrived last week and I set-to in fielding a few units for the game.  While larger than Peter Pig, the sculpts are gorgeous.  On the gaming table, these size differences will disappear.  

The game for today?  I turn back the calendar and refight the prequel to the Second Battle of Azukizaka fought earlier.  That battle is the First Battle of Azukizaka in 1542.  Oda vs Imagawa clans fight for domination again.

Today's table looks like this:

Yes, I need to paint Samurai foot archers too...