"Two possible Ronin Buntai Variations" Topic

Though the Ronin skirmish rules have not yet been released, I've been going happily going through my Japanese 28mm collection, preparing for late August. It occurred to me that it might be easy to extrapolate a couple of buntai lists that could be played and that may, or may not, be listed in the rules book.

Cavalcade Wargames produce some really nice Wako pirates:

link

I bought these when they first came out, and have been sitting on them, waiting for just the right time to organize and paint them. These might make a really fun variation on the bandit buntai.

Since the rules only call for ten or fifteen people in each buntai, that leaves me with more wako, many of them stripped to linen loin cloths. Chanbarra films often feature yakuza gambling dens, and the gambling houses seem to be run by similarly dressed denizens with a lot of tattoos.

It might be cool to use some of my leftover wako to paint these up. GCT studios is currently bringing out a yakuza clan, the Silvermoon Trade Syndicate, for their own Bushido game:

link

Their presentations of Harakichi, the yakuza boss, and his bodyguard, Manu, look like fun sculpts that might add some lovely chanbarra flavor to both skirmishing and RP games. At 30mm, they would be larger than my Perry, Black Hat, Old Glory, and North Star castings, but that would be all the more fun. Manu, in particular, should be a hulking and imposing figure.

Anyway, just some thoughts looking forward to the release of Ronin.

What about law enforcement? A Magistrate, a few yoriki (Deputies), and a number of peasants (forgot the actual term …) recruited by the yoriki as constables. The Magistrate and his yoriki would be samurai and so have have better fighting qualities and access to better equipment. However, as they are law enforcement the samurai would have to carry sai in addition to the daisho, and the peasants have man-catchers as well as clubs. Not sure when the Japanese used this structure: it may be Edo period, when the Tokugawa Shogunate could dictate how cities would organize their police forces, and not the Sengoku period.

Much, much later in the Bakumatsu, one could run the famous Shinsengumi as a buntai. Would need to look up the historical details as most of what I know about it comes from manga! (Rurouni Kenshin and Kaze Hikaru).

Though the Ronin skirmish rules have not yet been released, I've been going happily going through my Japanese 28mm collection, preparing for late August.

Wulfgar, I just picked up a copy at Historicon yesterday!

@ Ancestral Hamster
Those are excellent ideas for buntai. I'm not really sure where to find a magistrate or constables, but maybe they can be found. As for the shinsengumi, Rokurota of Bac Ninh miniatures, who is producing figures for the Boshin War, is hoping to have some of those in the future. It would be interesting to try that era out. Would Ronin work for that era, or wold it be better to try something like "In Her Majesty's Service," minus the sci-fi elements? Great suggestions.

@Bowmen
You lucky guy. When you have the chance, could you post something about the Ronin rules buntai lists? I'll have to wait until I receive my Kindle version on the 20th of August, and I'm already very curious. I hope that Historicon is a lot of fun.

Wulfgar, I'll catch you later. Book is packed away in the car already.

Wulfgar, there is no specific Ronin Buntai. It does say on page 27 that the Bushi Buntai is the default Buntai for Ronin. Various other Buntai may get "Swords for Hire", if that is what you mean. They can be hired by the Bushi, Ikko-Ikki, Bandits and Peasant Buntai.

Once the Morale rating of the Buntai becomes "Wavering", the Ronin may become unreliable, meaning that on a roll of 4+, they can begin to move full speed off the table. If he is in Combat he will withdraw. You can only have one senior Ronin, if you select two other regular Ronin.

The regular Ronin has the basic stat-line of the basic Samurai, and the specs of the senior Ronin matches that of the Hatamoto. They are priced cheaper as they come unarmoured. You have upgrade options for light, medium or heavy armour. you also can purchase different weapons too. The default is the Katana and Wakizashi.

Hope that makes sense to you.

What about law enforcement? A Magistrate, a few yoriki (Deputies), and a number of peasants (forgot the actual term …) recruited by the yoriki as constables. The Magistrate and his yoriki would be samurai and so have have better fighting qualities and access to better equipment. However, as they are law enforcement the samurai would have to carry sai in addition to the daisho, and the peasants have man-catchers as well as clubs.

Sounds like a medieval Japanese version of Wyatt Earp, his deputies and their posse.

Thank you, Wulfgar.

While a magistrate did have distinctive headgear, a samurai in civilian clothes would work in a pinch. Since the peasant constables did not have uniforms, any appropriately armed peasant figure would do. Peasants with man-catchers are more of a problem. That's not something I've seen in the Perry or Dixon lines. Never looked at any Chinese historical figures, perhaps a similar weapon could be found?

Oh, right, I'd forgotten about Bac Ninh miniatures!

As for shinsengumi, you have a good point that the "In Her Majesty's Name" might be a better fit. Same time period and the Boshin War had "modern" (19th century) rifles and not teppos which is what I guess the Ronin rules will use. One could keep the Sci-Fi elements if one wants a more anime-style game though :D

Anyway, I'm considering a purchase of "In Her Majesty's Name" for about the time Ronin is released so I could compare the rules sets and see which makes more sense for the Boshin War.

As for an initial buntai, I've plenty of samurai to test the rules with, but my eye is on the sohei starter. No monks in the collection and I find the monks and the Ikko-ikki interesting.

Sounds like a medieval Japanese version of Wyatt Earp, his deputies and their posse.wink

That's probably not far off. :)

As for an initial buntai, I've plenty of samurai to test the rules with, but my eye is on the sohei starter. No monks in the collection and I find the monks and the Ikko-ikki interesting.

Ancestral, it seems that some others share your enthusiasm. Age of Glory had ALL it's Perry line of Sohei and Monks sell out early in the weekend, here at Historicon. He was cleaned out.

I'm glad that these rules are already out at Historicon. It's fun to get any sort of information about them and how they work.

Thank you, Bowman, for taking the time to post about the buntai. Being at Historicon, you're probably very busy. It was kind of you to do that.

Ancestral Hamster, I know what you mean about the sohei. Though I had a few already from Perry (and very nice ones!), I've also pre-ordered the North Star buntai.

There seems to be a good availability of unarmored samurai: North Star, Perry, and Black Hat all match very well. Kingsford and Museum have some gorgeous ones also.

For me, having a lot of civilians available as bystanders, or even as a part of a detailed RP story is important. Perry has two sets. The Old Glory set has a lot of gems and sculpts that would make good conversions. It also seems like many fantasy ranges have good castings for geisha or Edo era court ladies.

Oh! And Blue Moon has a couple nice sets of onna bushi. I wonder about a fantasy buntai centered on them.

Has anyone seen the Dixon line of oni and tengu? Clearly there won't be any oni/tengu buntai in the new rules, but that doesn't mean we can't tinker a bit.^^

Age of Glory had ALL it's Perry line of Sohei and Monks sell out early in the weekend, here at Historicon. He was cleaned out.

Wow! Had no idea the sohei were so popular! Good news for the manufacturers though.

Though I wonder if all of us sohei enthusiasts are being carried away by the romanticized image of the warrior monks. According to Stephen Turnbull in Japanese Warrior Monks AD 949-1603, the sohei were not that effective against the samurai. The Ikko-ikki, on the other hand, were tough, determined foes.

Ancestral Hamster, I know what you mean about the sohei. Though I had a few already from Perry (and very nice ones!), I've also pre-ordered the North Star buntai.

*Nod* I was thinking a pack or two of the Perry sohei would flesh out the North Star buntai quite nicely.

Have either of you seen the Kensei miniatures? It is a Japanese-themed fantasy skirmish game with three factions at present: Kuge (Aristocracy), Buke (Samurai clans), and the Sohei. Their sohei look good, but I'm not sure what size they are. They recently had a successful IndieGoGo campaign to expand their line and add various mythical creatures from Japanese folklore.

Kensei (Main Site)
link

Naginata Sohei
link

Not-Toshiro-Mifune(?)
link

Yes, the Perry civilian sets are nice. The Villagers pack in particular with the "monk of emptiness" and the insolent little boy.

Have not seen the Dixon line of oni and tengu. I have a number of skeletons and zombies from Clan War, as well as "blood magicians". Also some BIG oni and an Air dragon. Improvising fantasy variants for Ronin would let them see the table again!

I want to say that the Kensei minis are tall. They might actually be 1/48 scale, based on how tall the minis are compared to an (assumed) 30mm round-shouldered base.

Just got a couple of the Kensei mins, they fit well with Perry, however, they have separate arms and are a pain to pin. Also way too expensive at 8.5 Euros per figure for the characters I am not going to be getting any more, however, the unit packs are more resonable.

Seems they are gonig the Fantasy figure pricing rout, so powerful figure in their game cost much much more than the regular figures. Too bad as I think they would sell a lot of the indivdual figures if they where priced along the lines of Perry etc.

William

Thank you, William, for the size information.

If you're looking for monks, we've got them here!

link

David
kingsfordminiatures.org