Commands & Colors: Tokugawa Foot

I’ve been continuing the miniature builds for the custom Commands & Colors forces I’ve been doing for some time. These 15mm forces are small groups of stands for use in scenarios. Thus they are specific units under specific leaders. The latest has been a Tokugawa force. I’ve done the pike ashigaru and Tokugawa himself already.

These are the foot troops finished so far. Like the other forces, they’re the odd stand of various troop types. These serve under Tokugawa Ieyasu, shogun of Japan. They carry his mon on their sashimono, most wearing the same red armor.

First we see the mixed foot troops, with Samurai in front and the Ashigaru bringing up the rear.

The Samurai are divided into yari (spear) and yumi (bow). The yari Samurai wear newer European-inspired armor types, incorporating steel breastplates and solid helmets. Tokugawa was a real fan. The army-wide red armor shows up in the Samurai, but I wanted them to stand out a little, so there is more of a mix of individual colors.

The second pic is the Ashigaru. These are the ranged units, either teppo (arquebus) or yumi. Being mere Ashigaru, every member wears the army colors.

Next up the Samurai Cavalry and leader stands. Once the Tokugawa are done I’ll move on to a small scenario force for Oda Nobunaga.

Commands & Colors: Tokugawa

I’ve added small sections of miniatures for the samurai miniatures version of the Commands & Colors armies I’ve done for a friend.

Tokugawa Ieyasu was the first Shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate. He was one of the great unifiers of Japan after the conflicts of the Sengoku jidai era. Here he wears a quite reserved set of armor, influenced by European plate.

Alongside their lord, I painted a section of Nagae-Yari Ashigaru. They carry longer pikes compared to the standard spears. They present a nice hedgehog of spear points. I painted all 5 stands in red armor and helmets to show a unified mass.

Commands & Colors: Ikkō-ikki

The samurai-themed armies for Commands & Colors that I’ve been working has a new faction- the rebellious Buddhist Monks of the Ikkō–ikki.

Like the rest of the armies I’ve created, these are Old Glory 15mm models, collected on bases for use in the custom miniature version of Commands & Colors. The small force will be used for specific battle scenarios.

The first part of the force are the Monks themselves. The army includes Sohei Monks bearing naginatas. Most are dressed in the yellow or safron-colored robes, with a few armored members mixed in.

Next are Monks with yumi. They look good en masse, though I would have liked more sculpts to add variety.

Last are Monks with teppo (arquebus). These look more militant, all wearing armor. Once again, I only had 2 sculpts to use.

The next pics are the commander stands for the army. Like the other armies, there are Foot and Cavalry Commanders. The Foot leaders are Sohei Monks, also bearing naginatas. Their followers carry standards with a Buddhist prayer, and a stylized Buddha on red, respectively.

The Cavalry leaders are a little more well-equipped, wearing full samurai armor and helmets. They would either be Monks themselves, or samurai who had joined the cause. Their banners bear the crane mon of the Ikkō–ikki on yellow, or another Buddhist prayer.

The Buddhist script on the banners was achieved with a Micron 005 pen. The size needed to fit on the banners certainly taxed my kanji skills.

The rebellious Warrior Monks would not have gotten as far as they did without help from the peasantry. With that in mind, the force is bulked out with 14 stands of Peasant Levy. While poorly armed and unarmored, they could overwhelm an unprepared samurai.

The first group were posted a while back, while the second was finished recently. They have relatively simple clothes, with mostly drab neutral tones. Few carry any type of real weapon, though some have acquired tetsubo and actual yari. Most make do with farm implements and bamboo spears.

The Red Devils

I’ve finished a small warband sized group of 15mm Samurai to accompany the previous armies for Commands & Colors. I’ve already done the Uesugi and Takeda, so now its time for the Red Devils of Ii clan. The previous forces used the colors and mon of the overall respective clans, but I also included the subordinate clans on many stands for some variety. In this instance, the whole force uses a single clan colors and mon.

The army is the force of Ii Naomasa, the famous Red Devil of the Ii clan. He was one of the Four Guardians of the Tokugawa, directly serving as daimyo for Tokugawa Ieyasu during the Sengoku Period. He was a fierce combatant, always at the forefront of battle. He and his force wore blood red armor, with red banners of the Ii (pronounced ee-ee).

First is the Red Devil himself, Ii Naomasa. He wears his red armor, and his great golden devil horns. He is the mounted commander for the army. I gave him a variant of the nobori banner, with the flower mon on a white and red field to help him stand out more. The foot commander uses the standard # (ii) kanji, used throughout the army.

Alongside are a Bodyguard stand, as well as a pair of mounted Yari Samurai stands. Not that Naomasa needed a bodyguard- the man was a beast.

The Ashigaru also wear the blood red. I’ve done a group of yari spearmen and a second group of ranged Ashigaru. They carry yumi and teppo respectively, giving the force some ranged power.

I still have plenty of models to paint, so other smaller themed forces will be in the future.

Commands & Colors

I finally got in a game of Commands & Colors. I’ve spent the last year painting up 2 custom armies for the game using 15mm bases instead of the counters normally used for the system.

The armies are the Uesugi and Takeda clans, two powerful samurai clans during the Sengoku Period of Japan. After all the armies were painted, I had one final piece for both- the leaders themselves!

These are ‘official’ models for Uesugi Kenshin and Takeda Shingen. Kenshin wears his yellow robs and head scarf, befitting his status as a Buddhist monk, while Shingen wears his lion helmet, with a mane of white and golden horns. He also carries his iron war fan, which he famously used to defend himself from Uesugi Kenshin’s attack during one battle. Each is accompanied by a loyal retainer. These bases will only be used for specific scenarios in game.

The system for Commands & Colors is quite fun and really fast to pick up. The cards for activatiog units in the left, right, and center zones of the table give lots of flexibility for both players. While there is a good amount of strategy, it moves fast enough we finished 2 scenarios in only about 2 hours.

Here are some pics during the games. The board and terrain are also custom made, since the normal game uses cardboard counters to represent terrain. The first pics are the setups for the battles- starting points and forces are defined by the scenario. We played the starting fights of a multi-stage battle. Each stand represented a whole unit (instead of the 4 separate blocks used for the regular game). We kept track of unit damage with the red circles- 4 circles is a dead unit, replaced by the corpse counter. We used those instead of the banners as per the usual rules.

The first battle was a close-fought 5-4 win for me playing Uesugi, while the second was a more lopsided affair with a 6-3 win for my guys. I played as Uesugi since that’s also the army I’m working on for myself for Clash of Katanas. I got lucky with some deadly fights, even accounting for a couple Takeda commanders. The cards I got for one game meant I concentrated my attacks on the right flank repeatedly, then pushed through the center for a few turns, hammering at the weakening enemy line. The other game was a more even front in the center, weathering bow and arquebus fire as my troops closed in.

I had fun with my first games, and I got the strategy fast. Looking forward to more, and love when all the armies on the table are painted by me!

Commands & Colors: Takeda Shingen!

The Takeda force for Commands & Colors is finished! That brings an end for the Uesugi and Takeda armies. Phew.

The units in this post are the Takeda Camp, Bodyguard, and Cavalry.

First off we have Takeda Shingen himself, daimyo of his clan. Like Kenshin in the Uesugi army, Shingen sits in his camp, flanked by subordinates and guards. I based Shingen off depictions of him in art, so he wears elaborate armor, with a lion’s mane kabuto. The ‘mane’ was added to the generic miniature using flock glued on, and then painted.

Various retainers join him- a second-in-command, 2 guards, a retainer with a conch shell, another subordinate directing the troops, and a messenger (with a centipede on his sashimono). The last member of the camp is a samurai bearing a subordinate lord’s mon (Oyamada Nobushige, white water blossom on blue). He bears a severed head, presenting it to his master.

Shingen’s camp is completed by his Fūrinkazan, his battle standard. It bears text from the Art of War, ‘as swift as wind, as gentle as forest, as fierce as fire, as unshakable as mountain’. This was freehand, so I had to practice my rusty kanji skills at 15mm scale.

Next are the Bodyguard unit for Shingen. They bear Kenshin’s sashimono, with one carrying one of his battle standards. They wear nicely decorated armor.

The other unit is the yari-armed Samurai cavalry. Like the yumi cavalry, they bear the colors of their respective lords, especially featuring Obu Toramasu, the leader of infamous ‘Red Regiment’.

The last pic are casualty markers, which will be used by both armies. They show fallen Samurai and Ashigaru, all missing their heads, taken by triumphant enemies. These will be used in Command & Colors to represent destroyed units. Since they are generic markers, I used a variety of armor and clothing colors, but not favoring any specific heraldry or unit colors.

Done!

Takeda: Command

The Takeda force for Commands & Colors nears the end. Here are the commanders for the army. These represent the elite leaders of the Takeda Clan and its subordinate vassal clans. The only leader unit left is Takeda Shingen himself, which like Uesugi Kenshin will be placed in his camp.

The first group are the Cavalry Commanders. Here we have Anayama Nobutaba (three black circles on blue), Takeda Shingen (black diamond on red), Naito Masatoya (red diamond on white), and Obu Toramasa (red disk and crescent on red). The models could be the lords themselves, or at least a senior samurai under their command.

The other group are the Foot Commanders. These represent Takeda Katsuyori (the kanji dai, meaning big, on white), Ichijo Nobutatsu (white diamond on red), Okudaira Sadamasa (red stripe on white), Takeda Nobukado (white diamond on blue), and Tsuchiya Masatsugu (white kami gate on black).

The models are a mix of original commander sculpts, with a scattering of small conversions. A few head swaps, weapon swaps, and some ‘basic’ samurai models allowed for unique looks to the units.

Takeda: Bow and Spear 弓と槍 (Yumi to Yari)

The Takeda Clan builds for the Commands & Colors custom army. This batch is most of the Samurai, and the last of the Ashigaru.

First are the foot Samurai, bearing Yari and Naginata. Their armor is bright and colorful, befitting members of their class. I also allowed them to be a little more colorful compared to their enemy force, the Uesugi, based off references of the difference of their respective lords’ characters.

Like their counterparts in the Ashigaru, they wear sashimono with their individual lords’ colors and mon. From left to right, they are Anayama Nobutaba, Takeda Shingen, Baba Nobuhara, Takeda Katsuyori, and Sabada Nobutsuna. They again have a bit more variety of colors compared to the Uesugi, including an unusual mint green for Sabada. In every group of unit types I try to include one of the Takeda lords to keep them ‘on-brand’, in the same way that least one member would always be a Uesugi lord in that force.

The next group are the Yumi Samurai. They wear the colors of Tsuchiya Masatsugu, Takeda Nobukado, and Obu Toramasu. The unit for Obu are infantry embers of his infamous ‘Red Regiment’, each wearing armor and banners the color of victory.

Here are the Yumi cavalry Samurai. They wear the sashimono of Ichijo Noutatsu, Kosaka Danjo Masanobu, Obu Toramasu, and Itagaki Nobukata. I made sure the units included both Masanobu and Obu, whose cavalry both were pivotal at the 4th Battle of Kawanakajima.

Last are the final unit of Ashigaru, carrying yumi of their own. They wear sashimono of lords we’ve seen already, with one unit an outlier, the white and red stripe of Sanada Yukitaka.

Just the Yari Cavalry and commanders left of the Takeda force. I can see daylight…

Commands & Colors: Takeda

With the Uesugi Clan army finished for Commands & Colors, I turn now to their rivals, the army of Takeda Shingen. The armies are nearly mirrors of each other, with Ashigaru, Samurai, Cavalry, etc. The only difference is that Takeda has 1 fewer Ashigaru Teppo unit, but 1 more Yari Samurai Cavalry.

I’ve finished the Ashigaru armed with yari and pikes. This matches the Uesugi composition. The Takeda sashimono are more colorful than the Uesugi units. The stands follow the same design, with each bearing the colors and mon of their respective lords. The Takeda diamond is a common element.

Starting from front left: Naito Masatoyo (red diamond on white), Baba Nobuhara (white waves on black), Takeda Nobukado (white diamond on blue), Okidaira Sadamasha (red stripe on white). Takeda Shingen (black diamond on red), Itagaki Nobukata (yellow crescent moon on black), Sanada Yukitaka (red), and Tsuchiya Masatsugu (white kami gate on black). These sashimono will show up in the rest of the army.

The other grouping is the Teppo Ashigaru. They bear the sashimono of Sanada Yukitaka (black circles on red), Takeda Nobukado again, Takeda Katsuyori (the kanji dai, meaning big, on white), and Kasaka Masunobu (black sunburst on yellow).

The Takeda units were more or less colored the same way as the Ashigaru of Uesugi, with primarily black lacquered armor and helmets over mostly white sleeves and blue and brown trousers. I did add a bit more color here and there. The warriors of Shingen himself got red armor to further distinguish them, while Baba Nobuhara’s men got blue armor. The handgunners under Kasaka got violet armor which offered a nice contrast from their yellow sashimono.

On to the archers!

Commands & Colors: High and Low

The Uesugi clan samurai army for Commands & Colors is complete!

It’s always fun to actually finish a project. Some would say an army is never really done, since there’s options and extra units, et cetera, but in this case the force has been built to specific ends and numbers. I saved the overall Commander stand to the end.

First is the field camp of Uesugi Kenshin himself, daimyo of the Uesugi Clan. He ruled Echigo during the Sengoku period, dying in 1578. He had a great rivalry with Takeda Shingen, with the Battles of Kawanakajima (1553-1564) becoming the stuff of legend. I’ll be painting Shingen’s army next.

Here we see Kenshin sitting in his field camp, with the gunmaku (軍幕) wrapping around. The curtains bear his personal kanji, including the Bi kanji of Bishamonten, the Buddhist god of war. Kenshin himself is a simple conversion- I swapped the standard helmeted head with a monk’s hood wrap, since Kenshin was a devout Buddhist and wore the costume of a monk. His other set of armor is displayed behind him, as well as his hata-jirushi war banner. His second sits beside him, and both are flanked by guards.

With the amount of space the base afforded, I decided to add extra details of interest. An officer passes on orders, directing the horn-blower to signal. A messenger crouches to the side, ready to carry orders to his lord’s subordinates. In the center, a samurai has arrived to present a head taken from a vanquished enemy, an important ceremony following a battle.

Most of the samurai carry the Uesugi sashimono (blue with red sun), while the head-presenter bears a Kenshin variation (blue with white stripes and the Uesugi mon). The messenger bears the Bi kanji, befitting a personal courier.

Next is the Bodyguard unit for Uesugi Kenshin. They are armored samurai with yari, and one carries the hata-jirushi. I had to recall my Japanese calligraphy to create the banner.

Finally, from the heights of the daimyo, we descend to the peasantry. Here are Peasant Levies, simple farmer militia carrying spears. A few are fortunate enough to carry real yari, but most have humble bamboo spears. They are all dressed simply, in neutral tones and washed-out colors. They also get to be the few stands that aren’t studded with sashimono.

Next, I tackle the force of Takeda Shingen. It will be an almost exact mirror of the Uesugi force, with only a few stands different. The color schemes will be different, as the Takeda banners have much more color variety than Uesugi.