It is a misconception among war gamers and westerners that Japanese Army composition changed little between 900 AD and 1500 AD. Indeed, there are many variations in the way Samurai armies fought during those periods. Perhaps one reason for the misconception is that, unlike in Europe, there are only minor changes to the armor worn by the Samurai, their followers and the ashigaru.

In the early period, the bow was the way of the Samurai. No Samurai would go to war without a bow. It was at least as integral, if not more so, than the Katana for the wardrobe of a Samurai. I will admit that it is difficult to adapt the fighting style of the Samurai to Western-based set of rules. Understanding that, we have to bend the rules a bit.

The first change in this list as compared to other Samurai lists written is that I do not subscribe to the belief that all Samurai in all armies were elite. The option to upgrade Samurai to elite status is there, but they do not all start "elite." Another change is the edition of artillery to the early list. Modern research shows that it was used on the battlefield until about the mid 10th century and used in sieges until the mid 12th century.

Stands	Troop Type	Armour	Morale	Training	Weaponry	Figures/ Stand	Point Value	Basic Army
1	Commander in Chief	HC	Elite	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	3	54	1
Or 1	Commander in Chief	HI	Elite	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	3	47	(1)
Or 1	Commander in Chief	HI	Elite	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	4	48	(1)
1-5	General	HC	Elite	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	3	39	2
Or 1-5	General	HI	Elite	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	3	32	-
Or 1-5	General	HI	Elite	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	4	33	-
4-30	Samurai Cavalry	SC	Warrior	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	2	4	12
0-2/3	Convert Samurai Cavalry to HC	HC	Warrior	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	3	10	-
0-36	Samurai Infantry	HI	Warrior	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	3	5	-
Or 0-36	Samurai Infantry	HI	Warrior	Irregular	Longbow and Axe	4	6	-
0-12	Convert Samurai Infantry to Halberd					Add Halberd	+1	0-12
Any	Convert Samurai to Veteran					Foot	+1	-
Any	Convert Samurai to Veteran					Mounted	+2	-
0-18	Convert Samurai to Fanatic					Foot	+1	-
0-18	Convert Samurai to Fanatic					Mounted	+2	-
12-36	Followers	UI	Warriors	Irregular	Halberd	3	2	-
0-24	Archer Followers	SI	Warriors	Irregular	Longbow	2	2	-
Any	Convert Archers to UI	UI	Warriors	Irregular	Longbow	3	+1	-
Any	-	Convert UI Followrs to LAI					+1	-
0-1	Warrior Monk Portable Shrine	-	-	-	-	As Bearer	+50	-
0-6	Warrior Monk Cavalry	HC	Fanatics	Irregular	Halberd and Longbow	3	17	-
9-24*	Warrior Monks	HI	Warrior	Irregular	Halberd	3	4	-
Any	Warrior Monks	Give Longbow					+2	-
Any	Warrior Monks	Make Fanatic					+2	-
Any	Samurai and Warrior Monks	Mantlet/Pavise	To foot with LB				+1	-
0-24	Peasants	UI	Poor	Irregular	Various	3	1	-
All	Give Peasants Halberd						+0	-
0-4**	Oyumi	Art	Warriors	Irregular	Art	4	16	-
0-12	Ships						3	-

Notes:

I have started the Warrior Monks as Warriors, upgradeable to fanatics because of their battlefield performance. It is now believed that some Warrior Monks in this period were merely Samurai who were hired as guards by temples and opted to dress with the monk's cowl, thus they have the optional Longbow. In one sense, since they are almost identical to the Samurai, they are included for color.

It is clear in almost every illustration from the period, and from many written sources, that the Samurai and Warrior Monks took Pavise (translated as "shields") to battle with them.

Because of the Skirmishing nature of the warfare of the period, I am torn as whether to designate Samurai Cavalry as Skirmishing Cavalry or Heavy Cavalry, so I have left the option for either. They certainly performed both functions.

The Oyumi is a ballista. The traditional translation is "crossbow" which has lead to some confusion, but when read in context, it seems that it is actually a piece of heavy machinery. An army until 1050 may use one. An army between 1051 and 1150 may only use them in a siege.

The Portable Shrine must be carried by a Warrior Monk guard.

[Ed. One memorable game several years ago at SIMCON pitted Jevon's Samurai against my Normans using WRG 7th. Jevon could not get any favorable terrain and sat in the open as the knights rode him down. I'd like to do this game again using MW. I think we'd have a far different result.]