15mm Samurai Army Completed

Before I get stuck back into some 28mm French Napoleonics I thought I'd gather the recently completed 15mm Samurai Army together for a quick parade:

In this case I am using the word "completed" advisedly as I have done enough for essentially all the options in the DBMM army list and really can't see myself having to paint any more. First up a couple of pictures of the Samurai foot:

The Samurai Bow:

And the Samurai general:

Under DBMM the Samurai cavalry is supposed to be double-based with their Ashigaru foot followers. Rather than doing this on a permanent basis I decided to simply create magnetic sabot bases so I can easily separate them for use with other rule sets:

There is also quite a large amount of Ashigaru pike and bow:

With a couple of elements of arquebus-armed Ashigaru:

The figures are all Eureka except for a few Museum Miniatures pavises and some Ashigaru figures which I included in the camp elements:

The Sohei monks were a welcome change of pace and are the only troop type rated as regular in the army:

As I mentioned in a previous post the total figure count is 976, with 909 foot figures and 67 horses. I have already used the army twice with one loss and one win, although it must be said the win was against an arguably much weaker foe:

I'm just putting the finishing touches on some 28mm French chasseurs at the moment, so hope to have a few pictures of them posted before too long.

15mm Samurai Camp and Baggage

 After having painted so many ashigaru I was very much looking forward to getting stuck into a camp and seven baggage elements. Of course, most of the figures are ashigaru porters and attendants, but at least there was only a handful of them and there was some nice variety in the poses:

The camp and most of the figures are from Eureka Miniatures, with the drum and drummers, baggage and the ashigaru holding the umbrella from Museum Miniatures. There is no doubt the latter are larger and more rounded than the more slightly-built Eureka figures, but I don't think the difference is too noticeable here:

I found the samurai feudal symbols online and have used the circle with the three spokes on a few banners, so decided to use it for the camp as well. I hope in retrospect that it hasn't ended up looking too much like a Mercedes Benz trade display at a motor show:

The baggage elements are exclusively Museum Miniatures. They are great figures to paint and certainly a lot more robust than I was expecting them to be. First up is a trio of ashigaru having a drink and something to eat:

Next some baggage mules:

Some ashigaru porters, in two different poses:

And finally two ashigaru carrying a palanquin, which looks rather uncomfortable for the occupant:

That's the samurai baggage elements completed, with only twenty-one elements of sohei monks now left to finish. With any luck I'll be back into some 28mm French Napoleonic cavalry within a week.

15mm Ashigaru with Bow

These sixteen elements of bow-armed figures represent the last of the ashigaru. I enjoyed painting these much more than the previous kneeling and running ashigaru armed with yari and naginata, mainly because these poses are more straightforward and all parts of the figures were easily accessible:

The DBMM rules allow an upgrade to four elements protected by pavises which were also fun to paint:

The figures are again Eureka, and are supplied in a standing and kneeling pose:

I purchased the pavises separately from Museum Miniatures. Quite a straightforward rendition of a pavise which were sometimes decorated but apparently often left unpainted when used by ashigaru:

I also completed the maximum allowable two elements of arquebus-armed ashigaru:

Another 71 figures achieved toward this project then, with completion now in sight:

Next off the production line will be some baggage and camp figures. These contain a fair bit of variety so should be even more fun to paint.

15mm Baggage

I have had a number of Museum Miniatures lying around for the past eight years and am in need of some 15mm baggage for the gaming table, so I decided to move five wagons along with three Forged in Battle ox-drawn carts to the front of the queue:

The first of the Museum Miniatures models is an engineers' wagon:

Along with two large hay carts:

And a smaller single-horse version:

My favourite however is the beer wagon, complete with three barrels for a thirsty army. It puts me in mind of one of my locals which is the last pub in Queensland to still serve beer on tap from a wooden barrel although, to be honest, I can't really tell the difference and suspect it is brewed in the same steel vats as the rest of the beer they serve:

The Museum Miniature models fit together very nicely and are provided with two horses. I ordered four additional horses but found, after painting them, I preferred to stick with the original teams of two. The models are also available with a choice of solid or spoked wheels. The spoked wheels give them more of a middle ages/renaissance appearance, as opposed to the three Forged in Battle ox-carts which have solid wheels and a much earlier look about them:

These will do double-duty as combatants for the DBMM Ancient Spanish army list which also allows the use of flaming ox-carts as an expendable troop type.

I was feeling quite pleased with myself after having completed them, until I went back to the email confirmation of the original order and realised I have another four of the Museum Miniature carts packed away somewhere. I now have a small side-project for the second week of my Christmas break in hunting through a few dozen storage boxes to try to find them, although I am hopeful this will also allow me to locate a mislaid Peter Pig Parthian army and some 28mm Renegade Carthaginians.