Samurai Blades Birthday Present

I don't usually post stuff about boardgames on the blog but today is my eldest son's twenty fourth birthday, so I'll make an exception. When he was little we used to play both Cry Havoc and Samurai Blades, which he absolutely loved, so when I spotted a mint, unpunched copy of the latter on eBay I put in a tentative bid. For some inexplicable reason, given that these go for about a hundred quid a pop, no one else put in a bid. As a result, I snapped up an immaculate, original set for a fraction of the usual asking price. It's great to pass on a game I loved as a teenager to my son and I'm looking forward to a few games in the not too distant future, even if he'll probably give me a thrashing!

Projects and Plans 2026

Up, Up and Away...or more likely Kaboom!

It's that time of year again where I set out my projects for the year ahead in the hope of actually achieving some of them. Last year I decided to focus on the First World War as my principal theme and, with a few minor and inconsequential diversions, I managed to stick with it, with a specific focus on Algernon Pulls It Off!. I have really enjoyed this and ideally would like to carry on, so...

...in order not to let this fizzle out, I will be continuing my Algy project into 2026, with a focus on the French Aviation Militaire, subject to Paul at Tumbling Dice putting the new models I requested into production (this is very likely but just a question of time...as always). I will be writing more scenarios, rules additions and possibly a follow on article for next year's Lard Mag, who knows?

In other air wargaming news, I am planning to re-visit a couple of Bag the Hun projects in the shape of Arctic Eagles and the mothballed Finest Hour campaign that I started organising a few years ago. I have done quite a lot of the spade work for both of these and it would be a shame not to get at least one of them ticked off in 2026.

As far as naval wargaming goes, the plan is to add the long overdue Spanish fleet to the 1/2400th scale Napoleonic naval project and, if I have time, the Americans or possibly some other minor power as well. After that I may well do something with 1/2400th ironclads again, quite possibly revisiting the Second Schleswig War and Battle of Jasmund, or perhaps finally get round to a new pre-dreadnought project, the Sino Japanese War being a hot contender using Broadside and Salvo. Who knows?

Finally, the ever neglected land wargaming aspect of the hobby will get some attention. This is always my Achilles heel, as I hate painting figures and have a particular aversion to 28mm. Not to be put off by this affliction, I have been encouraged by my eldest son, now back home from university for at least two years (!), to do some samurai skirmish games in 28mm. I am also planning to finally get round to some medieval semi-skirmish wargaming, with both Lion Rampant and 'another set of rules' as a focus. 

As a final footnote to all of this wishful thinking, I may even get a Through the Mud and Blood 15mm First World War project underway in 2026.....just don't hold your breath!

Christmas Presents

As we spend our Christmas in France every year, we only open our presents when we return home, by family tradition on New Year's Day. This year we decided to open them today, as the middle spring is away tomorrow in Bristol at a party. I was lucky enough to get some cracking wargaming presents this year including some 28mm Japanese MDF buildings from my son, who is keen to have a go at some samurai skirmish games this year, an Airfix Tiger tank kit from the other son, which will be useful for What a Tanker!, and the aforementioned double sided hex cloth for air wargaming from the other half. My daughter bought be a two year re-subscription to Wargames, Soldiers and Strategy, which is brilliant! To round it off, I bought myself in the sales a brand new copy of Thunderbolt Apache Leader, a game I've been after for years having really enjoyed Phantom Leader. All in all, a great haul of very nice presents, topped off with a Christmas brunch cooked by my daughter! 

Teppo Miniatures Sohei

These are a new range of 28mm Sengoku Era figures sculpted by Bob Naismith, available via eBay. I bought this set of Sohei to see if they'd match with my Perry Miniatures figures but, as you can see from the photos, they are a better match in comparison with the North Star 28mm Ronin range, being much more chunky than the Perry figures. I've donated them to my son, as he has the North Star Sohei and Samurai Bunti sets, so he will have sixteen figures to build his warrior monk contingent. Very nice figures but at the moment, the only pack in the range. 

Samurai Skirmish

I've been away for a few days for my eldest son's graduation, hence the radio silence, but had some time to spend with the family in a cottage in deepest, darkest Devon. The boy has been working for six months for the Forestry Commission but that job is now winding up, so he's got time on his hands and wants to do some wargaming, specifically samurai skirmish. We've decided to give Test of Honour a try, although it's a bit 'gamey' for me, so we'll be picking up the rules and a couple of sets of figures for a project over the winter months, possibly taking advantage of a good deal or two at Warfare in November?l. If it's not up to scratch then the fall back option will be Ronin, which I've always wanted to use for Sengoku era skirmish games using the wonderful Perry Miniatures figures.

Samurai Skirmish

The eldest son has decided that he'd like to do some Samurai skirmish games, so I've decided that at some point over the summer, once The Men Who Would Be Kings Sudan project is complete, I will paint up some of the Perry Miniatures figures that I gathered together back in 2015. These were destined for use with the Ronin and Daisho skirmish rules but, as usual, I was distracted by other things and wandered off in a different direction. 

In these financially constrained times, it's a project that would cost me virtually nothing to set up, as I have plenty of lovely figures and some splendid Sarissa Precision building kits already. I quite fancy a winter theme for this as well, so that I can use some of my existing winter tree and river pieces, together with some specific Japanese elements that I can add in. I'm not sure when I'll do this but it's another thing to tick off the list over the next few months, while I have the chance.

Project Plans for 2016

I'm being very cautious with my plans for the coming year, so I'm keeping down to a skirmish level and focussing on small projects that I can complete in the space of weeks rather than months. These will include both Dragon Rampant, which is already underway, and Lion Rampant War of the Roses which I've decided to do in 28mm rather than 15mm, at least at the moment. I'll may also have a crack at Black Ops, Ronin, Frostgrave and En Garde, all of which require a small number of figures and are published by Osprey. The Achtung Commando! project and Saga will be in there somewhere too.

One thing I will use to tie this all together is an ice and snow theme, using my lovely new(ish) tundra gaming cloth from Cigar Box Battlemats. This means that I can maximise the use of the relatively expensive cloth and combine any other terrain that I build or buy to cover several projects. I like the idea of War of the Roses in the snow for a start, all very redolent of Towton, and there are obvious connections with Frostgrave, the Heroes of Telemark and the Ice Elves on the workbench. I may even do something sci-fi or pulp set in the snow, either in 15mm or 28mm, who knows...

...and there will definitely be some more mdf !

Ronin [8]

 

I didn't have much time for shopping at Warfare yesterday but I did get a few more extras for the Ronin project. The main purchase was of four packs of Perry Miniatures figures including a couple of Ikko Ikki packs, a set of armed peasants and some townsfolk. The first three packs will be split up to form the nucleus of a bandit gang, adding to the figures that I already have that are suitable for this, while the townsfolk will mostly be used as civilians with one or two perhaps 'disguised' ninja.

 

I also splashed out on my most expensive mdf building kit to date, in the form of a Samurai tea house from Sarissa Precision which I had my eye on for ages but couldn't pluck up the courage to order on line. It's a really impressive kit just in terms of weight and the number of sheets included in the pack, so it should look pretty amazing when (?) I get it glued together. I just hope it's worth the outlay, as it meant that I had to forget any other spending plans for the day, including some longhorn cattle for the cowboys to rustle and some terrain stuff for the Black Ops project.

Ronin [7]

 

 

The figures for my revived Ronin project arrived from Perry Miniatures yesterday and I've wasted no time unpacking them and sorting them into buntai. This is the first buntai and consists of seven katana armed martial artists of a Koryu or martial arts school. The seventh figure with the slotta base tab is actually an EM4 samurai that I already had and is a perfect match for the beautiful Perry samurai in everyday clothing. There's another unarmoured figure of a ronin in the EM4 range so I'm going to order one to add to the existing buntai to make the numbers up to a round eight. These are stunning models and way better than the Northstar official figure range so I only hope my painting will do them justice!

Ronin / Black Ops Project

This is what sparked it off!

I've been really pleased with my output over the last couple of months, especially as the first half of the year was a bit of a slow burner and didn't really get anywhere. The Fistful of Lead Reloaded inspiration appeared as if by magic and gave me a real drive to get some decent terrain completed for a change, rather than another 'ooh shiny' attempt to paint some little lead people. The end result is a stack of Old West buildings, together with trees, hills and railway tracks that will also double up for games in the Back of Beyond. On top of that, I've enjoyed several games of FFOLR both at the club and at home, with the Warfare participation game to look forward to as the big finale to the project.

Now that the Old West stuff is nearly complete, for the moment at least, my thoughts have been turning to what to do in the next six weeks or so in the run up to Christmas. This isn't a lot of time and I'll have a lot of work to do, so it will have to be a very limited project with a minimum of figure painting involved. I also really enjoyed making the mdf laser cut buildings for the Old West project, so the opportunity to make some more for a different genre would be a big plus. Ideally, I'd also like to be able to re-use whatever terrain I make for more than one period or set of rules. This narrows things down a bit and has given me a clear direction in which to head.

The big idea is to double up my existing but stalled project for Ronin with the latest new set of rules Black Ops, combining the terrain but painting separate parallel forces of figures, the former from the Perry Miniatures Samurai range and the latter from the Copplestone and EM4 Future Wars range. I have all of the figures I need for Black Ops but have decided to use the Perry figures for Ronin, as the Northstar and Foundry figures that I originally collected don't really have the all important inspirational oomph. The terrain will utilise the Sarrissa Precision Japanese building kits that I gathered together for Ronin last year, together with some other more modern stuff from Timeline Miniatures and elsewhere.

This is all a bit nebulous at the moment but I have put in an order for some sohei warrior monks, Ikko Ikki, ninja and samurai in everyday clothing from Perry Miniatures today. This will be enough for two decent sized buntai already, one a Koryu martial arts school and another a community of sohei warrior monks, with the ninja as Swords for Hire or a stand alone assassination unit. There's plenty of scope to build on this basic framework, so some bandits or samurai may well be added to the set up later on, along with some peasants and civilians. In the meantime, I'll start on the figures for Black Ops, with two rival teams of intelligence agents or criminal gangs and a SWAT team of special force operatives as the first units to get cleaned up and based...

...it's also a good excuse to watch lots of Luc Besson and Akira Kurasawa films!

Daisho

This was on special offer over at Northstar the other day so I thought I'd take a closer look. It's based on the In Her Majesty's Name system, which I've played a couple of times, and is similar in theme to Ronin which is a set of rules I've had on the 'to do' list for a while. The rules are pretty impressive and look far more detailed than Ronin, although I don't think this will make them any more complex or time consuming to get a handle on. The production values are also pretty high, with nice glossy paper and plenty of photos to add further inspiration.

The thing that's been my stumbling block with samurai skirmish games is the figures and I've yet to find a range that ticks all my boxes, having looked at both the old Wargames Foundry figures and the Northstar buntai for Ronin. I think that the best way ahead is to abandon both of these options and go for the Perry Miniatures range, which is much more realistic in terms of sculpting style and the size of the figures. I'll see if I can pick up some packs at Warfare in a few weeks time especially the Samurai in everyday clothes, the Ninja and the Sohei warrior monks.

The great thing about this is that I can make more mdf buildings (!), having already collected together a number of the Sarissa Precision Japanese kits including houses, an inn, a temple, a bridge and several sections of wall. There's loads of potential for some imaginative modelling here and the terrain could also double up for modern espionage games using the forthcoming Osprey Black Ops rules and my Copplestone Future Wars figures, to which I've just added some Moonraker Miniatures men in suits and security guards.

Anyway, there's still plenty of Old West stuff to glue together and paint in the meantime!

2014...where did that go?

It's time for the annual review of the year, which has very much been a bit of a downhill slide after a promising start. I set out this year to focus on World War Two things, with the scope to try out some other sidelines along the way. In the end I have completed two projects to the point at which they are playable, the first being the Victory at Sea French fleet and the second the RN and Kriegsmarine Action Stations coastal forces. However, it took me all year to get the Chain of Command platoon assembled, based and undercoated but at least I got that far, leaving the painting for a summer holiday project in 2015.

Although the 28mm WW2 Japanese didn't get painted, I did put together an Airfix-style jungle outpost using the excellent Sarissa Precision mdf kits, which will be great when I actually get round to a game of Chain of Command. The kits were easy to build and look great, so I'll be making some more mdf flat packs as soon as I can find some useful ones in 15mm. I also scratchbuilt a crashed missile objective marker for AK47 and assembled a Lost World temple thing for the club participation game, although the pirate ship that I started on didn't get past the hull stage.

Other half completed things included the 10mm Aliens project, the 1/2400 scale Second Schleswig War flotilla for Iron and Fire and the 28mm Ronin project, that I started but then hesitated with, due to the fiddly painting and second thoughts about the old Citadel figures that I decided to use. It's definately one that I'll come back to though, perhaps with some alternative figures from the Perry Miniatures range, as I have a shedload of mdf buildings to put together! On the plus side, the AK47 superpower backed army rumbled toward completion including lots of new APC's, softskins, AFV's and even a Hind helicopter gunship.

AK47 continued to be my game of choice in 2014, with three cracking games using the 'classic' rules ending up in two victories and one ignominious thrashing. I also enjoyed some new games at the club including a try out of Judge Dredd and Victory at Sea, both of which were good fun but a little clunky as I was learning the rules in the process. I was on more familiar ground and a less precipitous learning curve with my late war US infantry platoon in Bolt Action, the RFC dogfighting through Knights of the Sky and the Texan Oil expedition getting ambushed in the Back of Beyond, all of which added to the gameplay. My scratchbuilt armoured train also made it onto the cover of this!

That's my train that is...

A very special mention has to go out to the long suffering but loyal Bag The Hun playtesters at the club, who helped me to fine-tune a couple of scenarios this year, one a convoy strike in the Med and the other a low level fighter interception over the Russian Front. The latter scenario, 'Catch the Pigeon', ended up as a published scenario in the Toofatlardies Xmas Special, along with a trio of Malta scenarios aka 'Hurricanes over Hal Far' in the Summer Special. The Westland Whirlwind themed 'Rhubarbs and Roadsteads' project is one that I've been working on over the year, so some new linked scenarios are definately on the cards.

One thing I won't be tackling is anything in 28mm for the immediate future, aside from the Chain of Command Japanese, after struggling through the SAGA Normans over the summer holidays. This was fun at the time but, after trying out the basecoat and dip approach, I won't be trying it again. The four point warband looks OK from a distance but it's not up to scratch on closer inspection, so perhaps the time and effort involved in proper, fiddly 28mm painting is not really affordable. I may do half a dozen figures at some point but 15mm is much more likely to fit in with my workload next year.

So, on reflection 2014 wasn't a complete washout even if it fizzled a bit toward the end. To use a slightly cheesy football analogy, it was definately a game of two halves, with a good start but a lacklustre finish. I have worked through some of the issues that I've come up against this year (I'm sounding like some sort of new age lifestyle guru now?), so have some cunning plans for 2015 that will mean a return to my previous levels of output and enthusiasm over the next twleve months. I hope you have had a great New Year and best wishes for all your projects in 2015!

Summer Painting Projects

 

With only a week to go before the end of term, not that I'm counting of course, I've been making plans for the annual Summer holiday wargaming project. I usually spend some time cleaning up and basing the armies that I subsequently paint up over the following year, in theory at least. This can be quite productive but doesn't always end up with a finished army, as they invariably get stockpiled for a rainy day, or end up half done and gathering dust on the shelves above the workbench.

 

This year, however, I'm going to try a different approach by concentrating on painting up some of the back log of 28mm forces that I've assembled and then consigned to oblivion. The three projects that I've picked out are all things that I originally put together over previous Summer holidays but then stockpiled while I tackled other distractions. If I can finish painting all three I'll have made a significant inroad into the back log of 28mm projects that I have stashed away.

 

The first army is a 28mm Viking warband for SAGA, which I started to paint up but then got sidelined away from. This needs some archers and shields but, otherwise, is a ready to be painted straight off with no further preparation. The second will probably be my tribal villager force for In the Heart of Africa, which only needs undercoating and some shields sorted out. However, the large number of figures may mean I won't be able to pack it for the journey, so it may be replaced by something less hefty.

Finally, I have a buntai for Ronin to paint up but that needs some further thought. A while back, I started putting together a couple of buntai for Ronin using the old Foundry Samurai range of figures. These consisted of a Bandit buntai and a Koryu buntai, with a few swords for hire thrown in as extras. I'm now having second thoughts about using these figures and may just use the Northstar starter sets that I bought at Colours last year. I originally wanted to do a Sohei buntai and this would be one way to make that possible, so I will probably go for this option instead.

 

 

I also have a piratical painting project up my sleeve for On the Seven Seas but that may have to wait until after the Summer holidays, when I've had a chance to think it through in a bit more detail. The Japanese for Chain of Command will take a break while I'm away but will be picked up again in September, by which time I should have most of the units assembled, undercoated and ready to paint. I'm looking forward to actually painting some 28mm stuff and finishing it, so will keep you posted!

Ronin [6]

It's been a hectic week and there's been little time for wargame related things but I have, at last, got around to some photos of the buntai that I put together over half term. These consist of a Koryu buntai of five figures, one of which is an old Dixon ronin I found on eBay a few days ago and have based up this morning. The other buntai is a Bandit gang, which could do with one or two additional figures but is a decent 100 points as it is. Finally, there are four Ronin to hire out to the highest bidder and to stand in as additional figures for my Samurai buntai. 

Ronin [5]

 

I've just taken delivery of a few more Sarissa Precision mdf buildings for the Ronin project including a rather splendid Shinto temple or shrine, a Tori gateway and some wall sections. I was having a chat the other night at the club about terrain for Ronin and the range of scenarios that could be covered by some purpose built scenery, so these will fit in well with my plans for a Japanese temple garden 2' x 2' size board.

Ronin [4]

I cleaned up and based the Bandit buntai this afternoon. This consists of four Rank 1 unarmoured bandits with katana, one Rank 2 unarmoured Gashira with naginata, one Rank 2 unarmoured Gashira with yumi and one Rank 3 leader with katana, yumi and medium armour. The leader has the option of just having a katana or a full on suit of armour, as I have a couple of suitable figures to match. 

The leader and one of the Gashira also get an attribute, probably the relevant bujitsu. All together this lot adds up to between 110 and 113 points, which is a bit lightweight, so they also get to hire out a Ronin that I based up the other day adding another 30 points or so to the total. If I can, I'm going to find some extra basic bandits or some peasants to up the numbers and allow me to add at least one more Rank 2 figure to the gang and a second Ronin.

Ronin [3]

I sat down and sorted out the figures I based up yesterday, with some intensive number crunching to add up the totals for the various buntai that I have in mind. The Koryu work out at four figures, two Rank 3 Kohai, one Rank 4 Senpai and one Rank 5 Sensei, giving a decent overall total of 106 points. If I add the Shugyosha 'sword for hire' I can boost the total to a respectable 146, so enough for a reasonable length game.

The remaining figures that I've based up will be used as a self contained band of Ronin, ready to hire out to my Bandits or to the Samurai. This lot consists of two Rank 3 ronin with katana and light armour, one Rank 3 Ronin with katana and medium armour and one Rank 4 Senior Ronin with yumi and medium armour, for a total of 88 points. The last figure will also be used as a Samurai, when I deploy them as a buntai in their own right.

Next up will be the Samurai or Bandit buntai, one of which I'm hoping to clean and base by the end of the day.

Ronin [2]

I cleaned up and based the Koryu buntai this afternoon, using the old Citadel figures that I've gathered together over the years. The buntai includes seven katana wielding figures, a single yumi equipped figure and a no-dachi wielding female shugyosha, who may or may not be included in the final line up. 

Despite their vintage, the figures look really good together, even if they're not up to the anatomically correct standards of the Perry range. No pictures yet I'm afraid, as I don't have the camera with me, but it's on to the bandit buntai tomorrow. In the meantime, I'll be working out the points values for the Koryu buntai, so that I have some idea of their format.

Postscript: after actually reading the rules it seems that Koryu are not allowed to have armour, which wipes out half the buntai, unless I turn a blind eye. Not a problem, as what's left is still viable points wise and the armoured figures can be used as additions to the Samurai buntai or as Ronin for the Bandit buntai.

Ronin [1]

We were supposed to be off to Cornwall today but the car is in the garage with an oil leak, so won't be going anywhere until later in the day at the earliest. We're waiting for a phone call from the garage to tell us if it's fixed or not, so everything is on hold until then.

As it looks like our holiday will be cut short, I'm not going to take the Warlord Japanese with me but will instead be packing a box of Foundry Samurai for Ronin, which won't take long to clean up and base. 

I may also take the Northstar Sohei box set that I got at Colours last year as an alternative starter buntai, although I do prefer the old Aly Morrison citadel figures over the modern style figures in the Northstar 'official' range.

Happy New Year!

As we have a Xmas in France every year, the kids open their 'English' presents on New Years Day, rather then cart them across to the in-laws and back again for Xmas Day. This means that they get two sets of presents, which can be a bit much, but it also means that I get to open my presents today as well! This was the Ministry of the Interior's idea and it actually works really well, allbeit with some suspension of disbelief about the existence of a French and an English Santa. 

This year, Father Xmas got me a Bolt Action Japanese Starter Army with some extra bits and the Armies of Imperial Japan supplement, so you can guess what I'll be up to in 2014, at least in part. The Japanese will be one of my 28mm projects this year, primarily for Chain of Command but with Bolt Action as a fall back. I'm hoping to add some terrain construction to this project too.

I was also allowed to get the classic Foundry Miniatures British Commandos that I had my eye on over the holidays, with enough figures for a couple of squads, a command group and a support team or two. These will be for raiding purposes only, so firmly at a skirmish level rather than a full on platoon set up, with rules as yet undecided. 

I also bought myself a copy of Henry Hyde's Wargames Compendium, as it was less than a fiver on the Kindle e-book store and looked like an interesting read for a rainy day. I like his style of writing and, in particular, the series of 'imagi-nation' articles he has written on wargame campaigning, so I thought I'd find some inspiration in this pretty comprehensive book.

This year, I have a number of intended projects but I'm keeping my options open, with the focus being firmly on 28mm WW2. I enjoyed painting up my 28mm US platoon last year, so will be building at least one more force for Chain of Command and Bolt Action in 2014. I also want to get at least one other 28mm army completed, with the Tribal Villagers for In the Heart of Africa at the top of the list, possibly followed by the Ronin skirmish project which I didn't get started in 2013.

In 15mm, I'll be completing the AK47 army for the club campaign, but that's probably going to be it for 2014. I have some plans up my sleeve for a 15mm French Resistance game based on the AK47 rules system plus a long term goal to paint up an ancient or medieval army for Impetus, but these will probably not be happening this year.

In 1/285th, I have big plans for a Soviet mid-war air force for Bag the Hun 2, using the models that I picked up on the bring and buy at Colours. This will be a pretty comprehensive collection of fighters, ground attack, light and heavy bombers, either in winter camouflage or in a summer scheme. I will also be adding some mid-war Luftwaffe planes to complement the late war fighters that I completed in 2013.

To round things off, I will definately get around to painting up the 1/600th scale ships for the WW2 coastal warfare project, with both British and German coastal forces plus some merchant ships. I have meant to do this for many years but it's time to crack on and actually finish what I've started. As a second but much smaller naval wargaming project, I really want to tackle at least a couple of the Peter Pig pirate ships, if I can squeeze them into the schedule.

Finally, the club participation game will need to have some new 1/72nd scale aircraft, which I've promised to kit up. At the moment, this is looking like a 1915-1916 early war multiplayer game, so I'll be digging out the old kits in the loft in search of Morane Saulnier N's, Fokker EIII's and Bristol Scouts, all of which I have stashed up there somewhere along with a few other suitable model kits.

...anyway, I hope you have a Happy New Year and lots of fun in 2014!