Solving A Problem .

About five or six years ago I painted up a couple of 'Peter Pig' 15mm Samurai armies to go with his set of rules 'Samurai Battles' . For years I've had a phobia about painting Samurai figures - very complicated and strange colour schemes and so this was an attempt to conquer a deep seated fear . Once I got started I rather enjoyed the process - about two thirds of the armies are actually Ashiguru which have a much simpler dress and armour and tend to be in uniform colours anyway and I got used to painting Samurai having consulted several Osprey books on the subject . The problem was the rules - now I like the old type 'Peter Pig' rules but they can be a bit long winded and not laid out very well - so after a couple of games the project floundered.

I was a bit sad about this as I've always been interested in Samurai warfare and a big fan of the Kurosawa films . I considered selling them on - then I recently had a thought !  could I use them with the ancient version of 'Black Powder' - 'Hail Caesar' , I looked on the 'Warlord' forum and found somebody had done all the work for me (Huzza !) and there were a set of lists for Samurai using 'Pike and Shotte' the rules I was using for the TYW ! .

He had made subtle differences and added rules to reflect the rather odd approach to battles adopted by the Japanese, even has a campaign system ! .

So I've dusted off the two armies and set up a smallish battle to try the rules out .

Each side has a command centre or 'Maku' where the C in C or 'Diamyo sits and issues orders via a system of messengers guarded by his body guard or 'Hatamoto' .

The objective of the battle is to capture a Buddhist  shrine (which has a sacred pencil sharpener hidden in the base).

The battlefield with the forces of Honda on the left and Mitsubishi on the right . The buildings and 'paddy fields' were from a defunct Vietnam project . The battle report will follow soon ......