Pike and Shotte: Wars of the Samurai (2025)

Overview

The Sengoku Jidai saw Japan divided into numerous warring states from the mid 15th to the early 17th century. Starting with the Onin War and ending with the battle of Sekigahara in 1600 the era saw the development of tactics and weapons by the samurai from a medieval system dominated by horse archers and heroic duels to greater use of infantry recruited from the peasant class (ashigaru) to sophisticated command and control techniques and mass use of firearms, It is a period romanticized in films like Ran and Kagemusha.

Wars of the Samurai is a supplement for Pike & Shotte with an extensive description of the history of the Sengoku Jidai,a glossary of terms, eleven historical scenarios, army lists for Daimyo, Shinobi, and Ikko Ikki forces, castle defense rules, and a theme of the Three Unifiers by D.G. Laderoute. It has special rules for the Sengoku Jidai (including the Jinmaku command enclosure, Sojutsu, Hatamoto, the code of Bushido, and weapons like the Nagae Yari), stratagems (like flank marches and Woodpecker Forces) unit profiles for use with Pike and Shotte including options for fielding cavalry either as small mounted units which can dismount to fight and can have ashigaru follower subunits on foot, or standard size mounted units that focus on charging as depicted in films like Kagemusha, a solo play bot, and a pregame and terrain placement system by Tim Greene which first appeared in a publication called Armies of the Daimyos included free with every boxed Warlord Games Samurai starter army.

Wars of the Samurai allows the battles of the Sengoku Jidai, including the larger ones such as Nagashino or Sekigahara, (scenarios for both appear in the supplement) to be recreated with miniatures using the Pike and Shotte rules. Or play out siege and castle defense games!

—description from the publisher