History of Japan Podcast on Warrior Monks

Isaac Meyer’s History of Japan podcast has two episodes on ‘warrior monks,’ which do a good job of summarising Mikael Adolphson’s argument that the archetypal warrior monk, or sōhei, image so beloved of figure designers is an invention of the Edo period. In fact, the armies of Buddhist temples were really no different in appearance…

Tenka Fubu Army Generator

I've added a simple army generator to the downloads section. I made one ages ago for Tenkatoitsu, but hadn't got around to making one for Tenka Fubu. I should say that I haven't actually used it as I tend to generate armies 'by feel' for specific battles or scenarios, so there may be a lot…

The Battle of Inō with Ningen Gojūnen

I’ve finally got around to getting some figures on the table to have a go at my small battles rules Ningen Gojūnen and try out some changes I want to make to them. The battle is the Battle of Inō, 1556, which I’ve talked a bit about before. It’s a battle that’s described in a…

Turning Feudal Contingents into Wargames Units

A bit of a long time since the last post, but I’ve been having a bit of a break from the Sengoku to do some other things. When I get back to it, it’ll be to have a go at the Battle of Inō. As all the units in the armies will be feudally organised…

Hōjō Commanders.

To add to the honjin for Hōjō Ujiyasu, I've made some commander stands. I've done 5 to begin with, but will have to add another 2 or 3. I'll then be able to improvise a Hōjō army for club games similar to what I've done with the Uesugi, by adding specific command stands to the…

Lords of the Kantō

Following on from my Uesugi command honjin base, I've now made honjin for the other 2 great lords of Eastern Japan, Takeda Shingen and Hōjō Ujiyasu. As described previously, I've stuck to the banners mentioned in the Kōyō Gunkan for Takeda Shingen, along with two banners from one of the Kawanakajima battle screens. For Hōjō…

Modular fort sections

As I noted in the previous post on the fort construction, I also decided to make some modular fort sections in the same style as the 'Arato' fort. These are 10cm squares and can be used to make forts of different sizes. Again, the buildings are by Leven and Oshiro, with some modification. I'll probably…

It’s The Fort That Counts

One of the first things I wanted to do when I complete enough command stands and command groups for the Uesugi and Takeda was to try out Miike Yoshimasa’s alternative theory for Kawanakajima. This sees the battle starting with the Uesugi attacking Takeda forts and killing Takeda Nobushige in the process. Obviously, that game would…

Kawanakajima Game

We played another game of ‘Tenka Fubu’ at the club last night. This was a based on one of the alternative theories for the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima. I’ve written previously about the issues that some historians have with the narrative derived from the Kōyō Gunkan, and briefly described an alternative scenario, but for this game…

Takeda Shingen’s ‘Sun Tzu’ Flag and Wargaming Aesthetics

Probably the most famous flag of the Sengoku Jidai is Takeda Shingen’s ‘Sun Tzu’ banner, bearing a quotation from Sun Tzu, meaning something like “"as swift as the wind, as calm as the forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as a mountain." There is, unsurprisingly for the Sengoku period, no contemporary evidence that such…