Sengoku Japanese: Yumi Samurai

I've painted up some Ashigaru archers and now it's the turn of Yumi Samurai to join the Mori forces.

As before these are from Fireforge miniatures from the missile troops box.

As with my other Samurai units I've done a mix of armour colours and lace blobs to give an individual look to all the fighters. The sashimono on the leader is really the only way to differentiate the units apart for the archers as the missile armed troops don't have them.

The next ten will be added to the Shimazu force and then I think it will be the final models for the Mori from their leader box.

Sengoku Japanese: Mori Commanders

I've been working on the remaining Mori foot command from the leaders box this past week. It comes with a variety of Samurai and Ashigaru in various poses with different equipment. 

The Ashigaru leader is carrying what I believe is a range measuring stick to be used along with yumi (bow) armed troops. It could also be purely ceremonial like the Samurai's fan of command.

I'm not entirely sure what the portable chest is meant to contain, it could be ammo for the teppo (musket), as their is also an arrow case you can build, or perhaps a traveling tea set.

Here we have all the Mori I've painted up so far, I have Samurai archers on the painting table at present with mounted leaders after those.

I've also received word that the plastic Monks from Fireforge should be shipping very soon so I hope to have those in the mix before Christmas.

Sengoku Japanese: Mounted Samurai 2

Quick post to show that have indeed still been busy with the Samurai, this time it's the second batch of mounted Mori cavalry.

Again mostly Yari armed but this time aside from the Katana armed leader with have a Naginata wielding warrior.

That takes me up to 12 mounted Mori Samurai, I just have the three mounted leaders from the commanders pack to go before I can start on the Shimazu cavalry.

Fox & The Rat: Day 2, Minefield Clearance

Having successfully lead his men through enemy lines the night before to destroy the Commonwealth anti-tank gun Lt. Gruber was back in action again. This night he needed to clear a path through the minefield to help with the anticipated main assault.

The brave lieutenant was once again accompanied by Sgt. Klinkerhoffen and Pvt. Schafer with his sniper rifle. Pvt's Geerhart, Grosse, Weiss, Kopp, Leitz and Moller made up the rest of the attacking force. 

The defenders had already left a couple of routes through the mines for patrolling so Lt. Gruber split his force in half and worked down both flanks towards the mines.

Pvt. Schafer took up a central position with his trusty sniper rifle with the aim of providing covering fire once the alarm was raised. His hope was to further add to his three kills from the first patrol.

Both flanking forces initially made steady progress towards the minefield with Lt. Gruber even managing to start clearing a path but then things took a turn for the worse. A nosey British officer started to patrol along the stretch of mines the Lt. was trying to clear putting the area under a close watch which seriously hampered efforts.

Sgt. Klinkerhoffen had no such hinderances on the left flank and he and his men quickly opened up a path through the mines.

However Pvt's Leitz & Moller drew the attention of the guards as they pushed on to clear further mines and so decided to withdraw back into the shadows in the hope of throwing off the enemy.

At this point all hell broke loose as Pvt. Geerhart who was in the process of removing a mine instead managed to set of a chain of mines. Only quick reactions by his kameraden Grosse in pulling him to the ground meant he avoided being blown to pieces.

This however meant that the guards where driven into a frenzy of activity as the alarm was well and truly sounded.

This was particularly bad new for Pvt. Moller as the guards on the left flank started to fire wildly into the dark and he was struck. As he slumped to the ground Leitz could see he was already dead so had no choice but to carry on moving back into the night. This drew further fire from the guards nearby and things started to look bad for Klinkerhoffen and his remaining men. Fortunately at this point Schafer started to pick off the defenders one by one until three more men lay dead on the sand and the left flank managed to disengage. 

On the right flank the explosions had unnerved the British officer so he'd pulled back to a safer distance, spotting his chance to try and clear a path all the way through mine field Gruber darted forwards. In his rush however he too set off the very mines he was trying to clear. Again, either cat-like reflexes or god given fortune allowed him to come away unharmed.

Knowing that the game was now up Lt. Gruber also led his men back into the night, he just hoped they's done enough to allow the full scale attack to break through the enemy lines.

Sengoku Japanese: Commanders

This week's painting has been some commanders for my Samurai forces, once again making use of the Fireforge Games line of miniatures, this time from the command box.

This contains a good variety of poses and extra equipment not available in the other boxes they produce to add some extra flavour to the commanders.

You get one commander sat on a campaign chair with a couple of kneeling retainers and some Ashigaru carrying large banners and even a sun-shade. 

As I bought two boxes I have one for each side and will be painting up some further foot command figures for the Mori before I work on the three mounted commanders that also come in the box.

Fox & The Rat - Day 1 - Battle 2 - Minefield Clearance

 0200 hours 10/10/1942

Location - Western Desert; Undisclosed location west of Benghazi, Libya

Roster: Lieutenant Tonkin

Sergeant Wilson

Troopers Pike; Crabtree; Flashman; Fraser; Walker; Carstairs; Godfrey

Moonless night.  Minefield belt.  Unknown number and quality of DAK sentries.

Sub-unit of L Detachment SAS led by Lt. Tonkin charged with clearing multiple paths through a minefield in preparation for a breakthrough by the main column.

The main sections of mines were protected by barbed wire.  Lt. Tonkin with Crabtree, Flashman and Godfrey probed the mines on the right.  Pike with the bren set up on a sand dune overlooking the centre to provide covering and supporting fire if necessary.  Fraser and Walker set up opposite the centre with Sgt Wilson in close support while Carstairs was probing on the left ready to be supported by the centre if it was a viable route.   

Lt. Tonkin on the right met no resistance in the form of direct sentries and was able to remove a significant portion of mines.  Crabtree, Flashman and Godfrey were slower in arriving at the mines and were less successful.

In the centre it soon became clear Jerry was patrolling in strength making approaches for Fraser and Walker more problematic and slow.  Sgt. Wilson deployed to the left in support of Carstairs.  Precious time had thus been lost and by the time they were able to get in position to start clearing a path Jerry was aware what was happening.  Carstairs was subject of concentrated fire and was struck but as luck would have it he was struck on his cigarette case and bullet ricocheted harmlessly off.  Sgt. Wilson wisely took the decision to withdraw rather than be less lucky than Carstairs and no headway was made on the left.

Meanwhile on the right Jerry now started paying attention to Tonkin and his team.  Luckily their wild firing into the void failed to find the mark but it would only have been a matter of time especially as Hermans from a nearby hut were now rushing to join their comrades and would overwhelm Tonkin and his chaps.

Unfortunately Fraser and Walker were caught out in the open as Jerry got his act together as they were making a surreptitious approach towards the centre.  They were outgunned and although were able to loose off some rounds on this occasion their world renowned marksmanship was sub par.  Walker was downed by a lucky shot but was able to crawl away to fight - literally - another day.  Alas Fraser went into the bag holding the Jerry’s up and allowing his comrades to make an orderly withdrawal.  

While this commotion was unfolding Pike offered covering fire from the bren and took out a couple of Jerry’s but ultimately drew the conclusion that discretion was the better part of valour and crept away to fight another day.

Overall a disappointing show despite some heroic efforts from Lt. Tonkin but most of the chaps got away with just their pride dented and importantly no permanent losses.