"ronin: mongol list?" Topic

hi all:
any thoughts on a mongol list for ronin? i am leaning towards the bandit list based on figure availability vs. published lists.

i know almost nothing about this era so any information would be appreciated.

thank you in advance,

-clark182

I would just modify the Ming Chinese list to contain more mounted archers.

Mongols fought on foot in Asia, so they don't always have to be mounted.

They were also professional warriors, so bandit list would be rather insulting to their history.

Traditionally, up to 1/3 could be heavily armored, 1/3 light to medium armored and 1/3 light although you could also go 1/3 armored and 2/3 light.

They all would be trained archers as they learned since childhood, but they were also adept with spears, polearms and swords.

I would go with mostly light archers w/swords and a few armored fighters with polearms for a mix.

thank you all.

moron that i am, in the back of the ronin rulebook there is a short guide for mongols. oddly, i did not see it with all the browsing through this rules set.

not as detailed as the info from cwlinsj.

-clark182

First of all, Ronin is a skirmish game so compositions are merely an extrapolation.

Secondly, how could you claim that?

Mongol armies have been described in contempory works of Europeans, Russians, Byzantines, Turks, Mamluks, Arabs, Persians, China, India, Japan ,etc. The abundance of contemporary artwork also illustrates compositions of Mongol forces in the field.

Quite detailed records exist in Chinese of the Yuan (Mongol) Dynasty, including compositions of both armies that invaded Japan. (This is source of infantry components of Mongol armies not seen in West.) Later Qing Dynasty records the details of Mongol Banners who fought for the Jurchen/Qing from the 1600s up to 1911.

I was already an avid wargamer while an undergrad at UC Berkeley, one of my favorite classes was the semester I spent studying the Nomads of Eastern Asia where my professor shared his research in the steppe people and how they contributed troop types based on individual wealth. The wealth (based on horse & cattle) dictated what one had to bring on campaign. This showed that Mongol Tumens were composed of around 30-40% armored lancers with the remaining being bowmen wearing either felt/fabric coats or some form of leather/padded leather.

On campaign in the West, records show Mongols fighting in 5 ranks, the first 3 were horse archers and the last 2 were composed of lancers wearing differing levels of armor.

Over time, as the Mongols fractured into their separate Khanates, they tended to adopt organizations of their conquered lands/peoples/climates, also recorded for history.

Depends on the time period(Mongols on the eve of Genghis's conquest,Yuan invasion or the Ming/early Qing).

Late Ming(Chongzhen era) Mongols adopted the three eyed spear and fielded artillery.

Armaments include metal helmets,segmented metal armguards,brigandine neckguards and lamellar armor which isn't too far off from Ming border cavalry.