Why?
there wern't that many of them in any open battle that I can remember, certainly there wern't enough to make up one elelment I would have thought.

A lot of battles success with or against Ikko Ikky and the orders of monks....and ninja intervew in a few battles(not much of course they are ninja!)Oda Nobunaga against Sandayu? for example or Battle of Shimabara? but ninja are important in skirmish,killing daimyo(Uesugi Kenshin) and they are an important element in the japanese battle minds.
(And because I like play them in battles )

my point is do you need to represent a group of troops which numbered no more than thirty or so?
Ok they are cool but

well I agree with both poit of views. I mean they were so few and of no importnace on a pitched battle, at they same time they add colour

For this reason I have not added them in the list, but they could be added as "special" (0-1 Unit) for some games.
The Supplement will include in some cases special rules for the period, I mean special and optional rules to be used within the historical period/conflict. For example the Wars of the Roses will include some.

I think you should keep ninja out the lists as such - the so called ninja families that fought in larger battles would have been very small in number and formed up as regular units wearing light chain mail. They normally were just called 'yamabushi' in any battle report of the time. Yamabushi were 'mountain warriors' like mountain monks on the whole. Classing them and ikko monks as 'ronin' fits the scale of Impetus. Maybe when there is a specialised 'Samurai' book then the difference can be differentiated more.

Shuriken (or more properly 'shaken' as shuriken are straight throwing darts) are very short range weapons, not like a javelin at all. Also by superstition you carried 9 of them - so battle wise I would say that they would be factored into the melee capability. Samurai used shuriken (straight darts) as much as anyone, they have become known as a ninja weapon through films and books. Again I think at present it is captured in - if in a specialised book etc they needed to be differentiated then I would have it as something like the 'pilum' ability of the Romans.

Ninja as a 'weapon' should only really come into play in a campaign setting. On the battlefield it would be like having a couple of squads of SAS in a major battle - at the level portrayed by Impetus they would make very little difference.

Caveat: I have Basic Impetus rules only, so if there has been clarifications on these issues in the full game, my apologies!

What's the difference between heavy and light infantry?

I asking because from what I'm reading about Sengoku-period samurai spearmen, they looked to be deployed in somewhat loose formations. Their spear tactics were to thrust the spear in and out at the enemy and engage them individually, rather than a single mass. On the otherhand, ashigaru spearmen were trained to be defensive spearwall, keeping their spears out at a common distance and tracking enemies. Ashigaru spears were deployed on the front to keep cavalry out, while samurai spearmen were thrown in once engagement started.

Also most foot samurai during this period (1550-1600) were spearmen, and used swords as a secondary weapon. Do you think the current foot samurai in the list reflect this? Or does it assume different tactics and weapons from what I've read historically?

Thanks!

I base my samurai as having yari (spear) naginata or ken (sword) and have them looser - my ashigaru yari have battlefield yari (longer) and are in more dense formations to reflect the fighting style employed - Impetus is really set at a level that abstracts the weapons to a degree. The ashigaru stat line reflects the way they fight etc.

That's what I was thinking. I haven't based my figs yet (25mm), but when I do, the yari samurai will be in a looser formation. Maybe three per base, plus a musician and a swordsman.

What length of yari are you using for the samurai? I've been using 35mm spears but the look a little long....

Not much help I use 15mm ...sorry, however a battlefield yari would tend to be between 8 and 10 foot long - so for true 28mm I suppose anywhere between 36-48mm would be ok for ashigaru - Samurai with normal or heavy yari would have them about 7-8 foot so around 32-42mm maybe.

A few of questions concerning the upcoming official samurai army list:

1) Will I be able to deploy some foot samurai units with naginata and some with bows? Are swords (nodachi) the default weapon? (nothing under notes)

2) Will CP units be able to carry bows? or Yari? Will rules for CP-yari and CP-swords differ?

3) BI vol 34 has skirmisher longbow units, but there are non for the beta list. Will the final army list include skirmisher units, and will they be ashigaru longbows?

4) Why are militia designated FP (heavy infantry)? Whatever about actual FP combat modifiers etc, it [i]sounds[/i] wrong!

5) Is there or will there be a MEDIUM infantry unit available at some stage? (I have only seen BI troop classifications)

I am building up a samurai army 1550-1600 ad, so many thanks in advance for answers. I too would shy away from ninja units, should they become available. I don't associate them with pitched battles in broad daylight.

To Author: Best of luck with your ruleset. I hope they get the recognition they deserve.

1) Nijna: Keep them out they only belong in a fantasy skirmish game. Niether side trusted them or liked using them. They were not used on the battlefield. If you want to use them maybe for a 1000pts you get a "Ninja attack" roll. On a on they kill the enemys General. The reason they are 1000pts, keep them off the field.

2) They way I mount my Samurai and Ashigaru (Perry and Kingsford) are 5 to 7 to a base. keeping weapons system the same (Yari with Yari, Teppo with Teppo, Yumi with Yumi). For the Perry figures I throw in a couple of dead guys to give the base a little carnage feel. I have orginized each unit in clans thanks to Perrys way to cool command stand. Each clan is around 2to 3 Samurai, 2 Ashigaru with Yari, 2 Ashigaru with Teppo, and a Ashigaru Yumi once and a while.
I also have a monk unit floating around attached to Kato Kiomasa since he was a fanactical buddahist.

I have about 8 clans but togethr like this and have yet to use them with these rules but they did work well with basic impetus.

Dave

Samurai list is still under construction and at the moment I have made no further research on the list, so take this answers not carved in the stones


[quote]1) Will I be able to deploy some foot samurai units with naginata and some with bows? Are swords (nodachi) the default weapon? (nothing under notes)

for the earlier periods I think yes

2
In this latter period (1550-1600) Samurai didn't use bows anymore, but earlier list will have this option.
Don't think that CP with yari or swords will differ. I think they were mixed but any opinion is welcome.



Not sure even if in BI will remain the S option.


Probably I cannot understand the question. Do you mean why poor troops can be classified as FP? This is faor manouvrability. The are rigid troops.


Still to make research