Dixon. Dixon has two lines of figures appropriate for the Gempei Wars. Dixon castings are stumpy and stylized, but the look is good. The older line is simply titled "Early Samurai", and is comprised of a number of very good figures, including mounted samurai with bow and/or katana, foot samurai with a variety of weapons, and peasants. The more recent line is the "Kamakura Range", which is strictly speaking post Gempei, but most of the figures are dead-on. Some details/figures are 13^th Century, but they add a lot of variety, including a particularly efficient-looking professional wiping off his nodachi, i.e. long sword (presumably just having taken a head; speaking of which, headless casualty figures are also available).

1^st Corps. 1^st Corps has a line of 12^th C. samurai, which I have only viewed on their website. If I were starting from scratch, I’d take a serious look at these.

The Foundry. The Foundry’s samurai line is out of period, and probably too much work to convert (very nice figures though).

Old Glory. Old Glory also has two lines, their own plus Westwind’s (see below). The Old Glory line is very good, probably Kamakura/Muramachi rather than Heian. Most important to me is the look of the oyoroi, whether it will easily paint up to a Heian look, and the Old Glory boys fit the bill very well (some details may be off, but the form is mostly just right). The headgear also look good.

Ral Partha. These guys may be difficult to get nowadays. The basic Ral samurai line is way off period, being obviously 15^th/16^th century. But Ral had several samurai warriors in their fantasy line-up, and they were exquisite. Apart from some minor details (such as dragon crests on their kabutos), the figures are just right for 12^thC. It is a common convention of Japanese art to depict heroic figures in beautifully laced oyoroi of the Heian era, rather than the bullet armors of the age of war. Many of the figures in my Gempei army are basic Rals; these I converted by gluing larger sode, a 4-sided box of tassets and the wide flaring skirt to the kabuto, all details I made from light card. The effect is good, but these days why bother?

The Perrys. Great figures, but out of period. There may be a figure or two that would work.

Village Green. Very large, heavy figures. Perhaps larger than the Dixon’s, but both lines look good together. Good period look, but oh so rough hewn.

Westwind. Westwind samurai, distributed by Old Glory, are beautiful figures with a fantasy flare. They are designed with a particular rules set in mind, so they are packaged by fantasy clan. Regardless, there are some figures in the set that would look very good in a Minamoto/Taira army of the 1180’s. The women samurai are welcome, giving one many choices for that perfect Tomoe Gozen (I was on the verge of converting a Foundry "Street Violence" female for the part when Westwind caught my eye). The major problem with the figures are the funky themed crests (kuwagata) on many of the kabuto. These I chose to cut off and patch with a small bit of epoxy putty (Kneadakite); this is too much work for many figures. The ankles on some of the figures are too thin and too breakable (naturalistic proportions look great but don’t make for robust gaming figures). Also, the horses are monstrous steeds; most samurai horses, particularly early on, were smallish ponies. Very large figures, exceeding the Village Green castings in size and weight.

Bottomley, I. and A.P. Hopson. Arms and Armor of the Samurai: The History of Weaponry in Ancient Japan. Crescent Books/Random House. 1988.

Bryant, Anthony J. and Angus McBride. The Samurai. Osprey Elite Series # 35. London. 1991. Angus McBride’s illustratiuons in this and the following Osprey title are wonderful, especially the picture of Minamoto no Yoshitsune and Musashibo Benkei.

Bryant, Anthony J. and Angus McBride. The Early Samurai: 200-1500. Osprey Elite Series # 35. London. 1991

Jansen, Marius B(editor). Warrior Rule in Japan. Cambridge University Press. 1995. Selection of articles on bafuku government. The first article "The Kamakura bafuku" is very good, including a good analysis of the Gempei War.

Kure, Mitsuo and Ghislaine Kruit. The Samurai Recreated in Colour Photographs. Europa Militatia Special No. 14. The Crowood Press. 2000. I love this book, which uses detailed photographs of re-enactors to tell the story of the rise and evolution of the samurai form of warfare. The Gempei era photos alone are more than worth the price.

Kure, Mitsuo. Samurai: An Illustrated History. Tuttle Publishing. Boston. 2001. Repeats of many of the photos from the previous book, some additional photos and some colorful reproductions of Japanese scrolls.

McCullough, Helen C (translator). The Tale of the Heike. Stanford UP. California. 1988.

Sato, Hiroaki. Legends of the Samurai. The Overlook Press. 1995. See especially the chapter "Minamoto no Yoshitsune: A Hero Wounded".

Tompson, Rodney L. "Using Taiko! for Recreating Pre-Firearm Samurai Battles". Slingshot #225, November 2002.

Turnbull, Stephen. The Samurai: A Military History. Japan Library. 1977, 1996

______________, Battles of the Samurai. Arms and Armor Press. London 1987. Very exciting account of the battle of Kurikara, the turning point in the Genji attempt to overthrow the Heike.

______________. Samurai Warlords: The Book of the Daimyo. Blanford Press. London. 1989. Mostly out of period for the Gempei War, but well worth a look anyway.

______________. Samurai Warriors. Blanford Press. London. 1987.

______________. Samurai Warfare. Arms and Armor Press (Cassell). London. 1996. Wonderful illustrations, especially color reproductions of period scrolls. See especially the picture of Taira no Tadanori on page 26 for details of the very best of oyoroi of the time.

______________. The Samurai Sourcebook. Cassell & Co. London. 2002.

Varley, Paul. Warriors of Japan as Portrayed in the War Tales. University of Hawaii Press. 1994.

Gempei War 1180-1185

Introduction
Outline of Medieval Japanese History
Lists
Figures and References