武士道&茶道

[Primarch]

And my small starter force is complete.

My Samurai Commander


The second stand of Hatamoto

Here is the commander with his full bodyguard

A unit of Ashigaru armed with long spears

And a unit of Samurai


Hopefully I can get in a couple of games with these chaps tomorrow!

[me_in_japan]

well done, prim always a pleasure to see a fully painted painting project. Tip o the hat *hattip*

[job]

Well done, Prim. It should be a glory to see tomorrow. Ganbatte to Komura-san.

[Spevna]

Nicely done old bean.

[Lovejoy]

Good effort, doubtless there'll be more to come. Look forward to checking it out tomorrow.

[Primarch]

Well, Komura and myself got two games in yesterday. The first used the Hail Caesar rules, the second used Pike&Shotte. The two rule sets are fairly similar, though HC puts more emphasis on melee and P&S puts more emphasis on shooting.

My Army so far:


Game 1 - Hail Caesar - Forces of Kuroda Nagamasa (me) Vs. Forces of Ishida Mitsunari (Komura san)
Kuroda clan deployment.

Ishida clan deployment.

The lines start to close the distance.


Ishida's forces charge the Kuroda.

The Kuroda ashigaru are forced back and their Teppo unit is wiped out.

The Kuroda samurai cavalry and infantry charge the Ishida.

The Ishida ashigaru are wiped out, but the Kuroda cavalry are forced back.

The Kuroda samurai assault their Ishida counterparts in the flank...

...but cause no significant casulaties, merely pushing them back.

The Ishida launch a flank attack of their own...

...but are repelled and counter charged by Kuroda himself and his Hatamoto.

The hatamoto are in turn driven off as Ishida enters the fray.

With one last push the Kuroda launch themselves forwards.

But finally Kuroda himself is surrounded and defeated.


Afterthoughts - HC is definitely a good way to simulate the clash of large blocks of infantry, grinding down your opponent and launching massed charges. I thought it worked well for Samurai forces.

Game 2 - Pike & Shotte - Forces of Kuroda Nagamasa (me) Vs. Forces of Ishida Mitsunari (Komura san) again.
Kuroda clan deployment.

Ishida clan deployment.

Revenge will be ours.

The Kuroda samurai infantry forces the Ishida ashigaru unit back while the Kuroda cavalry smash into the Ishida's right flank.

The Ishida's flank collapses as the cavalry withdraw to regroup.

As the Ishida samurai advance to fill the gap, the Kuroda cavalry charge again.

A closer result forces both sides to disengage, but the Ishida have lost both their units of Teppo and their two main infantry units are shaken and disordered.


Afterthoughts - This game played much faster. Cavalry in P&S are devastating compared with HC.

HC Vs. P&S - Honestly, I think both games were good. HC was a little more complex as units had higher stamina values and could stay in combat for several rounds. P&S units seemed much more fragile in comparison. Komura san and I have decided to stick with P&S for our next game simply because it seemed faster and that's not a bad thing if you hope to get a couple of games in during the day. Maybe we'll revisit HC, who knows?

[Primarch]

Looks like I have missed uploading a few pictures to this thread.
Some of my more recent works:
Ashigaru skirmishers armed with Yumi.

A peasant and some Sohei.

Some more peasants and some Samurai.

A unit of Ashigaru.

And Kuroda Nagamasa (in the black armour) and some attendants.

[ashmie]

First class Sir. I have been so busy, the fact that you were collecting and painting these passed me by. They are really good. A wonderful credit to you, your collection and your painting. Nice work.

[Primarch]

At the December Joshin event I played another game of Pike and Shotte against Komura san. As before, I was using my Kuroda clan forces against his Ishida clan.

As best I can remember, the forces were:
Kuroda Nagamasa
1 Bugyou (brigade commander)
1 Small unit of hatamoto
1 Unit of samurai
2 Units of yari armed ashigaru
1 Unit of teppo armed ashigaru
1 Unit of mounted samurai
1 Small unit of peasants
1 Tiny unit of skirmishers

Ishida Mitsunari
1 Bugyou (brigade commander)
1 Small unit of hatamoto
2 Units of samurai
2 Units of yari armed ashigaru
1 Small unit of yari armed ashigaru
1 Unit of teppo armed ashigaru
1 Small unit of teppo armed ashigaru

The Kuroda deployed their forces in two parts, with cavalry, peasants and skirmishers holding the right flank and the bulk of the infantry on the left/centre.

The Ishida clan deployed in a similar fashion, with a small flanking force facing off against the Kuroda right and a solid core of infantry in the centre.

Turn 1 saw both sides advancing into position, but little else.

The Ishida flank force came forward in column of march, unable to advance far enough to form line.


In turn 2 the Kuroda forces on the left took up supporting positions to block the advancing Ishida troops.

Meanwhile, on the right flank, the Kuroda cavalry pounced on one of the Ishida columns, easily overrunning the ill-prepared unit of teppo armed ashigaru, before wheeling around for another charge.

The remaining units of the Ishida clan's outflanking force quickly wheeled into line to face the threatening cavalry.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Ishida troops advanced to meet the Kuroda in the middle of the battlefield, their teppo causing a disorder on one of the Kuroda units.


Turn 3 began with the Kuroda teppo advancing forward to try to soften up the advancing Ishida heavy troops.

Feeling that it was better to charge than be charged, the Ishida threw themselves at the cavalry and peasants holding the flank. The Kuroda horse counter-charged at the enemy samurai, ending the combat with a draw, while the peasants barely held back the ashigaru.

In the centre, the lines clashed as the Ishida ashigaru smashed into the line of teppo armed troops, throwing them back in disorder.


With all the forces in close proximity to each other, turn 4 began with a charge from the Kuroda infantry, to little effect.

The Ishida counter-charged, their heavy infantry hitting the Kuroda ashigaru and their own ashigaru locking up with the Kuroda samurai. On the flank, the Kuroda cavalry started to wear down the Ishida samurai while the peasants continued to stubbornly hold against the professional troops attacking them.


Eager to finish off the Kuroda teppo and deal with their melee units, the Kuroda commander ordered the skirmishers to join the fray, hoping to overwhelm the flank of the enemy unit and free up the yari armed ashigaru. The cavalry finally overwhelmed the Ishida samurai and drove them from the field.

The combats in the centre proved fairly evenly matched, with the Ishida teppo being forced back while the ashigaru spearmen who had engaged the Kuroda samurai broke and ran. The Ishida samurai had the better of their combat with the Kuroda spears, but the presence of their Daimyo and his hatamoto behind them steadied the resolve of the ashigaru and they held firm.


At the end of turn 5, we checked brigade morale and found that both of the Ishida brigades were broken. The main Kuroda force was also broken, but the troops holding the right flank were still, just, intact. The peasants had been wiped out, leaving the cavalry and the skirmishers in the brigade with 1 point of stamina left each. Had either of them suffered another casualty, the game would have ended in a draw. As it was, the Kuroda, bloodied and weary held the field.