Battles with Bushi

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Background Back to Top

The Japanese Samurai have an enviable reputation as outstanding warriors who were peerless fighting machines. As is often the case the truth is somewhat different from popular perceptions; I would argue that the average Samurai was no more dedicated than the average professional or semi-professional warrior in any other warrior culture. However that early image captured my imagination, so I wanted to build a Japanese army.

Reading about the Samurai I became interested in the Gempi war (1180’s AD) and the Mongol invasion, so I decided to build an appropriate army. At this stage in their development the Samurai ideal was to be a mounted archer. Duels were fought mounted with bows. It was not till much later that the sword became the weapon of choice and duels came to be fought on foot with swords. Indeed, it is probably better to speak of Bushi (i.e. warriors) rather than specifically Samurai in this period. Thus the army should obviously contain mounted bow armed Bushi (i.e. bow armed heavy cavalry). Not all Bushi will have matched the ideal, but I have found it very hard to find any reasonably concrete details on which to base an army list.

I have also had problems with determining how Japanese troops were organized and how they fought in this period. See Chris Kinnear’s discussion in the Light Troops Symposium (Slingshot 156) of the problems of trying to represent the fighting styles of an isolated warrior people within a set of rules written to cover all ancient & medieval warfare. In the end I have settled for using the relevant WRG army list, rules as written (7th Ed) and concentrated on enjoying using the army.

Figures and Painting Back to Top

I have had a problem finding suitable figures. The core of my army came from a bring & buy stall and is composed of early 15mm Minifigs (the ones which were sold as a strip of figures), so they are no longer available. Minifigs does make some excellent mounted Bushi, wearing the correct style of armor, including a command group which includes two mounted standard bearers. I have added a lot of these mounted figures to the army. However, I have had less luck with finding suitable foot figures; I have got by with the old style Minifigs, a few of the newer Minifigs and a few TwoDragons foot figures. The problem with most of the foot figures is that either they are wearing later styles of armor or I just don’t like the figure’s pose.

The other major problem I faced was that of trying to paint Japanese armor, it looked far too intricate, time consuming and fiddly for my unsteady hand. But it turned out to be surprisingly easy. I noticed, while looking at Japanese paintings of battles, (rather than photographs of suits of armor) that the artists tended to paint each individual warrior's armor in a single color (or at least so it appeared in photographs of the paintings) Therefore, I used the same approach. I undercoat my 15mm figures in black and then paint each piece of armor in a single color (undersides are left black as are the top of helmets); one color per figure. Being careful to ensure the color is not too bright, I paint the armor various shades of red, blue, green or brown and use a mix of dull and bright colors to paint the clothing worn beneath the armor. The result is very effective in 15mm. I also use a lot of standards which helps to create the right image.

As an aside, I normally live in the UK, hence the references to Slingshot (journal of the Society of Ancients) and my lack of comment about the NASAMW army list. However, I am working in the US at present so this seemed like a good opportunity to join the NASAMW and write for Spearpoint. Enough background, it is time to consider what the army is like on the table top.

The Army & Wargaming (7th Ed) Back to Top

The resulting army is rather different. No one has a shield, every one has a two handed weapon (or even a pair of them), there are no open order or light troops and only a few or no close order troops. The lack of shields means that the army is horrifyingly vulnerable to missile fire, so I use large units. I have found 6 figure and even 12 figure units of mounted Bushi (shieldless HC) are too vulnerable to horse archers and other missile fire, so mounted Bushi are used in units of 18 figures (i.e. about 1000 men). Any peasants, retainers, followers or similar riffraff are used in the biggest units possible (usually 36 figures); these are generally the weakest troops in the army but have some uses. The use of relatively large units increases their staying power but reduces maneuverability and the amount of control I can exercise, which has the right feel

The composition of my standard army has changed several times, but it is always based around the mounted archers - the samurai ideal. Thus the core of my army is provided by 5 blocks each of 18 mounted Bushi (block sounds so much better than unit when talking about a collection of arrogant warriors) supported by various blocks of Bushi on foot (usually including a 36 figure block) and a single block of 36 peasants/followers/retainers (if used). I also try to avoid having any close order troops in the army; they do not feel right for the individualistic style of early samurai warfare and I have trouble working out how everyone gets enough room to wield their weapons.

I have never believed in the classification of the Japanese bow as a longbow under WRG Rules. The bow was not used to fire massed volleys on command, but to shoot at individual targets at close range (which is standard horse archer practice). Consider that duels were fought mounted using the bow, that the Japanese were outshot by the Mongol invasion force (primarily Chinese and Korean infantry) and that there are accounts of samurai counting the large number of arrows stuck in their armor, which is striking similar to the accounts of Crusader infantry facing Turkish horse archers. Thus both the style of use and armor penetration ability of the Japanese bow argue for it being classified as a normal bow. I was pleased to see this classification adopted in the new WRG army lists so I now tend to use these new lists for my Japanese army (if I have to use a specific list, otherwise the army falls between the new and old WRG lists).

Using the Army

It might seem that an army including 90 shieldless bow armed heavy cavalry and a lot of bow armed foot would do a lot of skirmishing and shooting, but mine does not. First, it is not very heroic and certainly doesn't feel right for the mounted Bushi. Secondly, I am virtually incapable of sitting on the defensive. Thirdly, I believe missile fire doesn't win battles, fighting does. This is not to say that firepower is not very useful and that the Bushi won't skirmish, but I find charges by mounted fanatics in wedge much more effective.

Deploying the Army is very simple. C-in-C in the center with one sub-general on either flank and a simple linear line of units, shoulder to shoulder - with none of this cavalry on the wings, infantry in the center lark. The big block (36 figs) of Bushi on foot will be used to hold one flank (perhaps being forced marched) and the other Bushi on foot may be placed in ambush. The mounted Bushi will move off first with the foot following along which theoretically might allow a little shuffling of the order of units in the line, but this rarely works in practice.

The Battle Plan. The army has enough problems that fancy plans will not work. But the units generally have high morale so losing the odd unit is not too bad. Therefore ATTACK! The `Mad Dash' (Fager's Tactike, Slingshot 162) neatly sums up my usual plan. Most of the troops can skirmish but it is much more heroic, fun and decisive launching massed charges and I play with this army for FUN. Hurling the mounted Bushi in wedge into the enemy is exciting, particularly with an "Irreg A" class front rank. Sometimes it is best to throw the foot in first, sometimes the mounted troops. But which ever goes in first the others should not be too far behind and should join in as soon as possible. Do not be put off by loses but keep throwing more troops in - you will at least get a result one way or the other. And such a ferocious, shoulder to shoulder attack is often effective.

Does it work in practice?

Yes. Let me illustrate with a couple of example from recent battles.

In the first my opponent was using Ghaznavid. A potential horror story for Japanese with elephants, lots of light troops and masses of bows. The table was generally open with a wood on my left near the centre line and some rough ground, including a small wood, on my opponents left also near the centre line. The 36 figure block of foot Bushi strung out in line 1 rank deep proved well able to protect my right wing. My left was covered by two blocks of Bushi, one on foot and one mounted, and the wood. Everything else and all three generals were deployed shoulder to shoulder in the center and duly ended up in one massive fight there. The mounted Bushi even held their own against the elephants for a surprisingly long time. The only fight I tried to avoid was hurling mounted Bushi into a fairly big block of Arab spearmen (MI Long Spear,Sh). The result was a very exciting (melee dice rolls with 'Irreg A' are always exciting) and bloody battle which resulted in a marginal loss for me.

In the second I fought a Viking army on a very open battle field with the sea on my right (major water feature in WRG 7th speak). The two armies lined up shoulder to shoulder opposite each other and crashed together. The mounted Bushi fighting in wedge proved their worth and smashed several holes in the Viking line. The Vikings counter attacked with several wedges of beserks was nasty. However, the morale of the Viking front line had suffered and it collapsed fairly quickly. Overall a major win for the Japanese.

To Conclude

An early Japanese Samurai army is different, with a quite unique mix of troop types. It probably will not give you much of an insight into its historical prototype or early Samurai warfare. However, it is great fun to play with; indeed of all my ancient and medieval armies this is probably the army which I get most sheer enjoyment (win or lose) from using.