Nippon Samurai Unit Complete – 25 Ashigaru/Ronin for Warhammer

Once again I've been working on again/off again Nippon mercenary force. I have got a lot of stuff on the bench right now but as we are in the waning month of summer here in North America my thoughts turn back to painting. So with that I finally finished up a unit for the Warband of Nippon: a unit of 25 samurai.

As with all of the units of this army I am making them flexible enough to be used in varying editions of Warhammer via the 2nd Edition Ravening Hordes to using the 6th Edition Dogs of War rules for later versions/

• When used in 2nd Edition they will be fielded as ashigaru with hand weapons.
• In 3rd Edition they fall under Empire as a "Count As" force. From that list they use the stat line for Eratzsoldier with light armor and hand weapons.
• For a true 5th/6th Edition Dogs of War force? Well they do not really fit at all unless I used them as Norse Marauders but the base sizes do not really work. With that said I do not really think I can use them as is in any form really as the Core choices for Dogs of War are pikemen and crossbowmen. The only thing that comes close for the 20mm bases in the Special Choices are dwarfs. Not really helpful there GW.

So without further delay here are the ashigaru/ronin/lower class samurai as promised. They are not the best unit I have ever painted but considering the stop start nature of them at least they are complete. I tried to keep the colors somewhat muted for most of the warriors as some later units will really stand out. These guys I wanted less flash but still painted a few brighter colors.

Anyone else with a Dogs of War or Nippon army force? I know of this very cool army here. 

Building My Nippon Castle for Warhammer Part I – A Long-Term Terrain Project

Hello all — Been a bit busy of late, but I’ve been working hard on Warhammer terrain. Case in point: over at Dogs of War Online, work on my Nippon Army continues. Or more accurately, work on my Nippon Castle continues.

At this point I’m so far into it that I can’t really stop (nor do I want to!). But I’ve also come to realize that it probably would have been cheaper to just buy some already-made terrain from various outlets online.

But therein lies my main argument against that: I work on the castle when I want to, at my own pace, and I’m having a lot of fun doing it. It’s relaxing and something completely away from technology — which I get plenty of Monday through Friday working in IT.

I originally started on the castle back in Spring 2013 and I’ve worked on it in fits and spurts ever since. About a month ago I picked it back up and have been diligently chipping away at it.

Here is where it stood around that time frame: 

What really kicked things into gear was taking a step back and starting on the outer walls, which are admittedly inspired by the walls from Siege & Conquest in the Warhammer Historical range. Strange as it sounds, that’s what spurred me on. I then went back and fixed some flaws in the main structure, and it keeps getting better and better.

Of course, here are some photos (this morning I started working on more of the roofs for the outer walls).

Here is where it stands as of about a week ago:

 

Here is where it stands as of a last night after about one week week of work between the photos. It may not look like much but I spent a lot of time fixing the roofs of the castle and strengthening the whole roof structure as well.

Why I’m Obsessed with Ninjas and Nippon in Warhammer

 

As I blogged about here I've been working on my Warband of Nippon in an on again, off again fashion. Currently it is in the on mode, huzzah.

I have just completed a few far eastern/Nippon/samurai type major purchases and will be rounding out two units with enough minis to have a sizeable force to play with. I have currently been tracking all activity on this particular army over at Dogs of War Online. As you can see I have made substantial progress with the ninja. For those inclined here is a picture from the blog featuring my first unit rounding into form.

I have been having a lot of fun scouring eBay for these guys and I am nearing the end of my quest to have one of each of the ninjas from back in the 1980s (there were 48 in all).

But only recently I stepped back and wondered just why? Why the interest in ninjas? No it was not the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles either (I missed that by a few years). The roots of my being smack dab in the middle of the 80s Ninja Craze was this awesome great/bad movie, American Ninja!

I mean c'mon what 12 year old in 1985 DIDN'T want to be a ninja????

Of course, after watching it on HBO I wanted to be a ninja so of course I then proceeded to make some ninjatō, painted them silver and proceeded to whack the crap out of my friends with them. I also had some ninja stars to fling around too with my main target being the garage drywall. Of one thing I know for sure, I also dressed up as a ninja for Halloween one year too, probably seventh grade. My mom has a picture of it, but I am not letting that out to become the next internet meme.

So there you go. 80s Ninja Craze, 3rd Edition Warhammer a few short years later with some vestigial traces (and the let down of no Nippon army from GW) and then going full bore later in my life. I guess what was once old is now new again?

As a final thought one does have to deal with a Inverse ninja law.

NOTE: Games Workshop teased at Nippon on page 194 of the 3rd Edition Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay book: "For the moment we shall pass over these lands, leaving their exploration to others. A complete guide to the lands of Nippon is already under development." Looks like that became never with the move to 4th Edition Warhammer Fantasy Battle and then Herohammer.

Dogs of War Online 3.0

EDIT: Since Late December 2025, the Dogs of War site has been superseded by a new one: The New Dogs of War Tavern.

Just a quick heads up, and sort of a shame-less plug... (hey it's my blog , right?)

I've been spending a lot of time dusting off the forum over at Dogs of War Online After years of neglect in my very busy life, the forum has been updated to the new version of MyBB, the CSS theme updated and new features added to the site with the Wiki and User Map functions updated as well.

Now, this may seem like a fools errand as Dogs of War was/are probably the least supported army for Warhammer Fantasy Battle out there and with the changes to the game via the Age of Sigmar, but... I look at the situation as no different then the state chaos dwarfs around 2007. For years we had a very vibrant community and were quite content to create tons of material on our own all free of GW, now that is even more magnified. Warhammer Fantasy Battle is now free of GW stifling anything they don't like, the community can really create what they want.

So with all this said the site has been dusted off after years of neglect from me. We still have a small cadre of folks who post there but are looking for more, to build up the community of like minded individuals. But its not just Warhammer or even Dogs of War, stop by and participate in the OT forums, discussions of other RPGs even. So whether you pay Kings of War, Age of Sigmar or 9th Age or even some other war game, stop on over.

I'm still an administrator over at Chaos Dwarfs Online and in a lot of ways we're "sister-sites" of a kind, sharing similar goals and outlooks. But given my newly freed up time I figured it would be best to devote my time to building a great community at Dogs of War Online as well.


As a personal note: its the only place you find my army blog as I assemble my force of Nippon using 2nd/3rd edition rules. I've blogged about Nippon here and here, as I've wanted a Nippon force since the late 80's and have been working ever so slowly to assemble one. Now with my renewed interest in Warhammer it's really gathering steam now. I'm building the force under 2nd/3rd edition rules, but I'm also looking to configure them to be able to be used in Kings of War, and 9th Age, possibly even as a 3rd edition "Count As" Empire force . Or even a 5th Edition Dogs of War force! Sky is the limit.

So as the bard said "Cry havoc and let slip the Dogs of War!"

The Dogs of War Nippon Army Style

Years ago I created a Nippon army list, its fairly crude and I have updated it a few times, but never really play tested it.

Somewhat because of this I starting to formulate a strategy for my own Dogs of War force, but one based on Nippon.

I've been a big fan of the Nippon forces since back in the 3rd Edition Warhammer days and always liked the look of them. Plus I've never really seen a good assembled force or really many at all. It's always been a shame that Games Workshop never released an actual army for them. But no matter, between the old range being available (somewhat) on eBay and these guys from Curteys Miniatures I think I'm going to be OK for the kind of force I want to assemble.

While the GW range was/is nice for 5th/6th edition Dogs of War its never really held my interest. Plus add to the fact that in order to get them now its either crazy prices off of the GW UK website or crazy prices off of eBay. Not willing to do either really. As I mentioned that's where these Mounted Samurai from Curteys come into play: 12 metal minis for $47? Yes please, GW should take note.

One of the coolest artillery sets in Warhammer

 

So with all that as I noted above I'm formulating a plan as most of my Warhammer stuff is packed up in anticipation for a move to a new house. So what I'm doing is seeking out all of the parts that I'm looking for before I start my force. This will be a novel idea for me as I usually acquire minis as I'm painting. Starting off I'm going with the Nippon Rocket Crew from Games Workshop back in the 3rd edition days. and thanks to a few chaps over on Chaos Dwarfs Online I think I'm set with that part. I will be getting the Rocket Launcher and 3 out of the 4 crewmen which is fine with me. Fine because when I run these guys as Dogs of War I plan on using it as a "Count As" Halfling Hot Pot, when used as a "Count As" Empire force I'll use it as a undersized Hellstrom Rocket Battery.

My buddy Baggronor over at Chaos Dwarfs Online (now Chaos Dwarfs Online) also has informed me that he has some 3rd Edition Games Workshop Ninjas as well. After all, even a renegade warband of Nippon mercenaries is going to have some ninjas squirreled away inside of it!

Other ideas include: a mounted Geisha for a wizard along the lines of the PC game Shogun: Total War; a band of mercenary dwarfs, a converted unit or from (Curteys line) of crossbowmen from Cathay. I don't see the Nipponese Samurai or their retainers using crossbows but a mercenary force? Sure in the right hands. This opens up possibilities of a renamed Marksmen or Miragliano renamed as well. Other ideas are a giant, but not as a Eastern giant per se, rather painted up like normal. The reason for this is I want to tie into the Old World as well. This as yet unnamed force has been fighting all over the continent and is made up of various parts. At its core is the Nippon forces yes, but other elements as well. It will be weird painting the giant in such a manner will make him appear unusual because his supporting troops will look so different.

That's it for now. Drop me a line ion the 3rd edition Citadel Oriental line of miniatures or the army in general.

Gold and Glory #4 Released – Ezine Layout and Design Thoughts

Once again I go insane by actually designing and laying out not one ezine, but two. 

In this case I am talking about Gold and Glory #4 rather than the Word of Hashut. As soon as I finished it I had to immediately start working on Word of Hashut #9, which is now very, very late as a result. It was fun and it was nice to do something different.

This time around I tried out a few new things in terms of layout and it brought me back to the Winter of last year when I did Gold and Glory #1 (February 2010).

One thing is for sure: there is no way I can do two, so I am sure that the Gold and Glory crew will be looking to hire some folks to work on it.

Also a nice touch is TwilightCo's cover for this issue, his second in a row.

Issue #4 can be found here. Enjoy!

Definition of Insanity – Starting the Darkside Blog (2010)

 As if I do not have enough to do I figured I would actually use my blog space that I created nearly two years ago! 

The blog will mainly focus on the comings and goings of my websites that I am either an Admin or Co-Admin for: www.chaos-dwarfs.com and www.dogsofwaronline.com; plus my work on the Word of Hashut ezine. Gold and Glory the ezine of Dogs of War Online may figure into here as well.

So be sure to stop back as I get this up and running.

Also, some non-Warhammer related items may appear here from time to time.

Onwards!

(EDIT: as of 7-7-26, Chaos Dwarfs Online can be found here and Dogs of War Online found here.)