Samurai!

 All gamers worth their salt have some Samurai tucked away somewhere. Mine were bought around............2013ish? Whenever the Ronin set was released by Osprey, anyway, built, undercoated, played two games and then left to rot for many years. 

I didn't play Test of Honour when that came out, in spite of it being popular in my group, due to grown up reasons (i.e. full time job, toddler, university studies), so they never got used in that either and were left kicking around doing nothing.

Ironically, I go to Japan every year though and am quite well travelled in the country, so see more samurai stuff, museums and such than the majority of people.

So, after this years visit, I decided that NOW was the time. 

Thus:

All Perry range, except one model, and a nice little force. The terrain and table dressing was a set of seconds from Oshiro that a friend picked up for me at Salute (again, irony, I was in Japan at the time)

Quite happy with the red lacquer effect - more chance than design TBH, which comes from a thicker layer of paint at the end to dry shiny.

Not yet seen the table in anger, but they may one day, they may. Used the family Mon for the back banners, as its a fairly easy one!

WOTR 1455-1461 - Second Battle of St Albans

 

Date: Thursday 18th May 2023

Table Size: 8x6

Context: Following the Battle of Northampton in 1460, King Henry had been captured by the Yorkists leaving his queen, Margaret of Anjou, in charge of the Lancastrian cause. Having recently won a (disputed, in this history) victory at the Battle of Wakefield, the Lancastrian army now began its advance on London to consolidate their position, heading from the North towards the town along Watling Road. 

The Yorkists under the command of Warwick have moved to block the Southward march by Margaret, taking up position around and within the town of St Albans. The Yorkist force holds Henry VI Amongst their lines.

Battlefield Map:

Objectives - Yorkist: Delay and harass the Lancastrian forces.

Objectives - Lancastrian: Capture the town, engage and destroy any Yorkist forces on the table. If Henry is found, reclaim the royal personage.

Order of Battle - Yorkist: 6 Households, 1 Light cavalry, 1 Medium Cavalry, 1 Crossbow, 3 Men at Arms, 1 Handgun. 2 Cannon.

Order of Battle - Lancastrian: 6 Households, 1 Light cavalry, 1 Medium Cavalry, 2 Mounted Men at Arms, 1 Crossbow, 4 Men at Arms, 2 Pike. 1 Cannon. 

Deployments: Yorkists begin their deployment in and around the town. Lancastrians deploy onto table and advance, taking the first turn.

Painting Tally - Feb-Apr 2023

 Honestly, I have no idea. Things have been done, but gotta take a rough guess here. 

Life - gets in the way sometimes!

12 Samurai

12 Ashigaru archers/handguns

Samurai Commander Mounted

Samurai Commander Foot

2 Ninja

2 Japanese Houses

10 pieces assorted Japanese Terrain

Thats all I've done since being back in the country (so about 2 weeks then), but theres def other things I've painted before I left! Will update as it comes back to me.

Month Total: 40

Year Total: 135

WOTR 1455-1461 - Mortimers Cross Battle Report

 Mortimers Cross, a fight of two sides!

Scenario can be found here: https://themosquitoonthetenthfloor.blogspot.com/2023/02/wotr-1455-1461-mortimers-cross.html

Initial Deployments and Table Layout

Both sides begin to move towards one another, with the cavalry putting the spurs on

The fight on either side of the river seems to be more of a classic archery battle, with both sides trading equally.

Meanwhile, the cavalry is kicking the absolute shit out of one another, with feints, counter charges, evades and infantry getting in the way. Both sides still fairly equal at this point, although York a lot more in the face of Lancaster.

Yorkist reinforcements arrive on one flank, although the way things have progressed on that side of the field, there may not be much left on either side.

Table of two halves - the fight around the river much more controlled and disciplined.

Lancastrian households start getting combine charged, now York knights are dominating their side of the table........albeit pretty smashed up and weakened.

Good indicative view of how the two halves of the table were unfolding. Complete carnage at one end, organised lines of men on the other, with York pressing advantage on the other side of the river. This is likely reflective of the commanders at each end!

Engagement actually starts happening across the river, as Lancaster feels slightly outnumbered.

Plucky Men at Arms suddenly charge out to force some action and fight their way through an unholy amount of people.

York looks to have this side sewn up, but not as easily as they'd have hoped.

And with that, it was all over. Yorkist win.

Really two battles in one, with the key points being whoever was going to win that almighty cavalry ruck, who was able to bring support up to claim any advantage from the cavalry fight, and the mad men at arms who punched straight through the Lancaster line after a couple of hours positioning and trading shots at one another, which allowed York to push the advantage on that side.