SAMURAI SWORDS...

These are some pictures of the Samurai army I constructed out of pieces from MB's Shogun (later Samurai Swords) game, with some spare parts from the Airfix Little Bighorn set.

Zvedza now makes a samurai set, and some day paerhaps I'll add some to my collection.

First, the general's element (when he is on foot as a DBA Blade element):


These the only conversion here is a Sashimono for one of the warriors.  Maybe some day I'll add them to everyone, like the battle scense in Korusawa's Ran.  



This is the general when he is mounted -- DBA Cavalry.  The figures were cut in half and fused to the lower halves of some unfortunate 7th cavalry figures.  The horses are from both the US and Souix.  To make the join secure, I drilled a small hole with a pin vise drill up between the rider's legs and into the torso of the top half.  I  inserted a bit of florist wire, and left some extra which I inserted into a hole drilled into the horse's back.  A bit of glue holds it all together -- I think I used "Household Goop" or maybe supeglue?

Next, some  standard cavalry troopers -- a Samurai with some loyal retainers.

Again, these were cut and spliced.

I did use both kinds of foot samurai, of course -- here are some swordsmen on foot (more Blades):



You can see that I based my troops in two ranks.  Most elements have a standard bearer, since so many came in the set.  I may still convert whatever I have left to pikemen.

Of course I needed lots of archers.  Standard bearers helped to stretch them...I think I'll rebase them as one-rank on 60x30mm some day.


If you've noticed the little white bits on the left of the bases above, they are for unit type identification. The discs are the leftovers from a three hole punch, with the DBA abbreviation for each unit type written on it.  This helps identify my figures to other people, and is especially helpful to new comers.

Lastly, some more "Bows" -- Arquebusiers!  The Samurai Swords game came with a ton of them.  



Once again they are in two ranks, and a spearman and commander help give them some variety.  I use them as Bows in my DBA armies, or Shooters in HOTT.

Lastly, some lead (old Grenadier) figures:

This is the Camp follower element -- a seated Samurai with two banner bearers.  I also have the Grenadier cannon with Japanese crew, although the DBA list doesn't cover the gunpowder era.  As these are "true" 25mm figures, they are a bit bigger than the plastics but since they are never right next ot each other, it is not noticable.