The Way of the Horse and Bow

...or the Early Samurai in DBMM.

It has been rather too long since my last blog post, though much of that time was spent with this project.

One of the first armies I ever painted was a Samurai period Japanese army but that was for a friend to use with WRG 6th edition a long time ago. Since then, I haven't been particularly interested in them. When I started researching the Mongols, I used the Invasion Scroll for some ideas and that put the germ of an idea for doing a Samurai army into my head.

I was put off by the thought of doing the lacing for the Mongol invasion period and eventually started to do an early 16th century army, the lacing being less prominent. A few of the Old Glory figures had a look which lent themselves to be painted wearing the older style armour and after doing them I thought it might be manageable after all.

Sometimes, an idle thought like this can lead to a lot of work...

Anyway, I'd already researched the available 15mm ranges and there aren't many which are intended for the 12th and 13th centuries, the time of the Gempei war, the Mongol invasion and the beginning of the shogunate.

This shows the two ranges I chose. Those on the left are Eureka, available in the UK from Fighting 15s.
Those to the right are Essex. I liked each range for different reasons and so had one command's cavalry from Eureka with the remainder by Essex.

During the writing of the DBMM lists for the Samurai, the evidence was interpreted as there being very close co-operation between the mounted and foot. This has been reproduced by having a compulsory double base of cavalry and auxillia (representing the followers). This gives a number of disadvantages - slower movement, less able to exploit gaps, less easy to interpenetrate as many other troop types - but gives some advantages - a bonus in combat being the most important.

When it came down to it, the main reason I decided to do them was that the big base allowed more of a diorama look than a normal size.

These are more of the Eureka figures. Some of the cavalry are supported by monks, just for variety.
The banner is made from wire and paper.

Below are some of the Eureka foot. There is a nice degree of variety with the dismounted Samurai but only two rather similar poses for the followers. The banners - hata-jirushi - are moulded on the figures.

They are a bit pricier than most ranges but the mounted archers in particular are fine figures, with a 'breakwaist' allowing multiple positions. A couple of other poses would have been nice, such as the distinctive position as the bow is about to be drawn. There are also some cavalry carrying swords and naginata though these poses are less impressive.

Eureka also do this command scene. They provide screens though I actually used some from Peter Pig. They are painted with the Hojo kamon.

More Eureka figures.
I started doing the binding on a the bows in red but switched to a light buff as it was more noticeable.

These are Essex figures. I don't often use Essex but these have a much broader ranger of poses and are pretty accurate. The banners are more paper and wire creations. Neither Eureka nor Essex do a mounted banner bearer even though they are shown in the original scrolls - in fact one of the bearers on foot is only unmounted because his horse was killed.

These are some of the hata-jirushi shown on the invasion scroll. Going by the numbers from some contingents, there were a lot of these banners carried in an army. To make things a little easier, the generals have two banners per base, one carried by a foot soldier.

You can also see the quivers. Some of them have a separate quiver which needs to be glued on, as does the sword scabbard. The quivers which are moulded on are probably a bit high but they don't spoil the figure.

The DBMM list allows one command of cavalry to be single based, which gives a bit of flexibility. The figure brandishing a sword has this to replace the naginata he came with. It is, though, extremely unusual to see a cavalryman in scrolls from this period with anything other than a bow in his hand. In the histories, the sword tends to get used once the arrows are expended - I wasn't about the carve them off this figure though. The sword is simply a spare tachi  as supplied by Essex for gluing on in its scabbard. They are thin enough for this and I rather wish I'd replaced them on the Eureka figures as well.

A mix of infantry from Essex. It is possible to have archers (psiloi in DBMM)
supporting some of the naginata armed foot (auxillia in 'MM) which mostly helps against mounted attacks. However, these are unusually a compulsory double base. This makes them a bit cheaper but gives less flexibility. The pavises to the rear are simply plastic card with a brass wire support.

There is a good range of variation in the Essex foot.

Here are some more, with the odd head from Peter Pig.

And more, with the peasants carrying sharpened bamboo in the background.

For inspiration and info:
Online - 
The Heiji Scroll
The Invasion Scroll
Going by the scrolls, most samurai had single colour lacing (other than the top couple of rows which were often pale), Some, especially in the Heiji scroll, appear to have leather covering each row. However, for the showier forms of lacing see Lacing patterns. Also see this for the range of colours used.

Books -
 In Little Need of Divine Intervention, Takezaki Suenaga's Scrolls of the Mongol Invasion of Japan (Conlan) (includes line drawings, a translation of the text and a discussion of the invasions).
Warriors of Japan as portrayed in the War Tales (Varley) - mostly about behaviour rather than appearance
Samurai, Warfare and State in Early Medieval Japan (Friday)
There is a handy thread on TMP with more suggested reading matter for the Samurai era, including this early period, here.
Various Turnbull books are handy but most of his stuff covers the Sengoku.

Awake the Iron! - the Almughavars

 A notable feature of the Aragonese and, to some extent, the other Iberian armies was their use of the almughavars (or almogavars). These were infantry who, despite a lack of armour, soon gained a reputation for their fighting ability. They formed part of the armies used in the conquest of Valencia and were a major component of the Aragonese forces in Sicily. After the treaty of Caltabellota, a large number left Sicily and became the Catalan Company, working for various employers in and around Greece. Eventually they carved out their own state. Not all almughavars joined the Company though - some, for example, seem to have been part of della Ratta's mercenaries in Florence. These were paid for by their old enemy, the Angevin king in Naples. Dego della Ratta turns up as a character in the Decameron, an interesting read though decidedly more worldly than Dante's Divine Comedy.

 The 13th century chronicles have a great deal of detail about the Almughavars, especially Muntaner's Chronicle.

A pretty modern good summary of their career is here, with many sources listed. There is also a more general review of Spanish tactics which includes the almughavars here.

In wargaming terms they are difficult to portray since their lack of armour would make them very vunerable in many sets of rules. Sometimes they are categorised as if they were more protected to give them a chance of standing up to knights as they did on occasion such as the Battle of Falconaria. The circumstances in which they fought may also have helped, so it makes for much discussion.

As I write this, the DBMM lists which covers the Sicilians and the Catalan Company are being looked at before the publication later this year.. In the armies with Almughavars which have been published they have been categorised as superior auxilia. There has been discussion about them being fast blades in the new list, which may mean a change to the Book 3 almughavars.

In 15mm, the companies which make almughavars that I know of are Essex, Eureka, Irregular and Touller. I only have the first two - there are various pics of the Touller ones around such as here.

EDIT: Touller are no longer available. However, Lurkio figures (now available from Gripping Beast) also provide a large number of variations in the Almughavar pack. Donnington do Bidet javelinmen in the Feudal Europe range. March to Hell do 3d prints and the Medieval unarmoured militia with javelins look like they would work well.

This is a comparison shot of my Essex (on the left) and Eureka figures. There are, I think, 3 variations in the Essex range and an impressive 18 or so in the Eureka range. The Essex ones are perfectly decent but are a bit two-dimensional. Some of my figures have had arms bent so that the upright spears in particular are at more varied angles.

Some of the Eureka figures are a bit taller than the others but nothing which can't be explained by normal height differences.

Both ranges have the cap as the dominant headgear, as in the Heath books. This is mentioned in a description by Desclot as being leather, possibly red despite my painting. Other descriptions mention a sort of net for the hair which may have been metal. Some of the Eureka figures have this.

 The flags carried by the Catalan Company are described in Muntaner (p.409 in the edition linked to above). He mentions that the foot carried 'pennons' of the King of Aragon and King Fadrique - i.e. the King of Sicily. I haven't looked to see what the original Catalan word translated as pennons was, but it is likely pendon which had a pretty broad meaning rather than just the small triangular flags.