Librarium Online Forums banner

Samurai "counts-as" Empire Army?

3K views 13 replies 7 participants last post by  Deadstar_MRC 
#1 · (Edited)
I recently had the opportunity to acquire a good amount of Dixon brand Samurai miniatures, as can be seen here:

Dixon Miniatures : Wargaming Figures for collectors and wargamers including 25mm Samurai, 25mm Vikings, 25mm English Civil War and much more

I was looking over the Samurai line and realized that it could very easily lend itself towards a WHFB Empire army list. For story purposes, I could say it's from Nippon ( I still believe there's a Nippon on the WHFB world map in 8th edition, right?)

Mounted Samurai = mounted knight
Samurai on foot with katana = greatsword
warrior monks = flagellants
samurai wielding naginata = halberdier
arquebusier = handgunner
free company = peasants
I could also field a rocket battery, and say it's "borrowed" from Cathay.

et cetera. Sure, I couldn't use it in an official tournament, but it might be lots of fun for casual play. What do you folks think? If someone were to show up at your local WHFB gaming group with this kind of army for casual or friendly-campaign play, how would you feel about that?

An issue I'm having is with wizards, as there are no historical equivalent. I'm thinking about using L5R / Clan War shugenja miniatures for that, but the pictures online of those figures honestly don't look that great. Anyone else have other suggestions?

Ninja are an issue too, but I'm thinking I could field them as a unit of Huntsmen.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!
 
See less See more
#3 ·
My first thought was that Ninjas would be perfect for detachments - they just pop up and flank the enemy when they least expect it! But that may get a bit confusing and they would probably work equally well as huntsmen.

It sounds like a fantastic idea, to be honest. Who cares about tournaments anyway? :p Friendly games should be fine!
 
#4 ·
In our group it would be fine, many of us use historical armies as a fantasy counterpart.

I personally use Napolionics as empire and 8th ed has really helped it out :)
we also have
Late roman as empire
Macedonian/Greek as Dogs of war better using new comman items
Persian as chaos (warmmoth as an elephant :) )

As long as we can tell what it is we say use it I even have a hung horde using chaos models but using brettonian rules
 
#7 ·
Haha I had considered getting some samurai models because samurai are just bad ass. I figured i could use them as swordmasters or greatswords (even though I'm working on an colonial american army, samurai are just that cool)

As far as tournaments go, some tourneys only allow games workshop models others allow other ranges. Just check with your tournament organizers.
 
#8 ·
I've been entertaining similar thoughts of the same type of army. However, I don't like the look of the Dixon pieces. You've already gotten some, so I would stick with that, but I prefer the minis done by the Perry twins personally. They've already sculpted a lot of the GW stuff, so their miniatures seem to fit better with the style. My father used to collect the Dixon miniatures for a diorama of the USMC storming of Tripoli. They are a bit clunky.
You are also aware that WHFB is in 25mm "Heroic" scale, and these samurai appear to be in 54mm on the site? Not sure, as I said- I haven't seen the Samurai in person.
Here's the link to my very barren thread with links to the models done by Perry Miniatures.
LINKY
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
All right, so my Samurai minis arrived in the mail. they showed up as a big mass of pewter all jumbled together and dirty, so I spent some time disentangling the miniatures and categorizing them. This is what I believe I have, in summary:

1 unit of 20 halberdiers (naginata)
30 arquebusiers / handgunners, I can split up as I see fit
1 unit of greatswords / swordsmen (samurai on foot with katana)
1 minimum-size unit of outriders... it may be a stretch, what do you think of samurai on horseback with bow being used as outriders?
1 unit of knights (samurai on horseback with swords.. figure I'll use them as White Wolf, since they have no shield and great weapons)
2-3 units of archers (samurai on foot with bow), depending on how big the units are
1 unit of free company (peasants with improvised weapons)

Altogether, that comes out to roughly 1200-1300 points, depending on options such as unit leadership. I figure once I add leaders, mages, and magic items, it can easily turn into a 1500 or even 1750 point army. So it's a good start for a WHFB Nippon army.

I'll post pictures once I have my camera working again.. can't find the recharger, d'oh!
 
#12 ·
The mechanical dragon idea sounds awesome! I'm not sure if I'd be looking for a slightly better model; I admit I only had a quick glance at the thumbnail for that one, but with the idea in my head that Nippon = Japan/China, that dragon didn't quite do it for me.

Still, your army, your dragon! And like I said, I like the idea!
 
#14 ·
Actually, having a better look at that dragon... it work alright if you just omitted the wings. Put a banner or some mechanical gubbins in their place and you'd be set...

Sorry but I can't help you on the steam tank dimensions thing.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top