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Having purchased a set of Zvezda Mongols on a whim, I now don't know what too do with them. I was wondering could I use them as some kind of Sarasans and place them alongside my Italeri Sarasans. Or could I maybe place them alongside my Persians, they look so colourful they may look like some far eastern contingent of the great kings vast army. Anyone got any ideasm or reasons why my own ideas are no use? All thoughts wellcome.
but mine are going to fight Caesar's or Redbox's Japanese Infantry for a Satsuma Rebellion in Japan 1877, like in the movie "The Last Samurai". The 1877 Japanese uniform is very similar to the Japanese uniform of 1900 Boxer Rebellion and 1904-05 Russo Japanese War.
yes, but the dress and weapons were the same........
for the 19th century. I think they purposefully chose not to use 'modern' weapons. They stuck with their tradtional way of life. Part of the reason for the conflict. Japan wanted to be 'modern'.
oops!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Now I understand the confusion!!!!!!!!!!!!
All this time I thought you were talking about Samurai!! I saw the word 'Zvezda' and thought you were all talking about the Samurai. Duh!!! Forget what I said, I am only referring to Samuria being used as opponents to Japanese Infantry.
Isn't Zvezda's set a reissue of someone else's set?
Although I'm still a little confused as to why you yourself were confused....
The Mongols tried to invade Japan (during the early days of samurai rule). You could do that? Of course, most samurai sets are from 1600 or so...not 300 or more years before that.
But that was a very pivotal event in Japanese history. That's why they started using swords as their primary weapons, and where the word "kamikaze" originated. So the Mongols, although never conquering it, shaped even Japan!
Thanks for the ideas men, I like the idea of the huns, and also the siege of vienna would be fun. Civil war dinosaur's idea would be cool, but to the best of my recollection there was no actual fighting between the forces of japan and the Mongols, the invasion force was destroyed at sea by bad weather, the Kamakazi or Divine wind as they called it. What do you think of my own idea of putting the Mongols with my Persian army or could they even pass as saracens?
What exactly do you mean by "Persian army"? Persian and Mongol armies fought each other from the 13th to 15th centuries AD or so. I do not assume you actually want to place Achaemenid Persians or Parthians against medieval Mongols (or are there any other figures of Persians on the market?). Medieval Persian arms and armour were heavily influenced by Turkish and Mongol fashions so, perhaps, you could turn some Mongols into Persians?
I'd also not use them as Huns. Hunnish and Mongol arms and armour were not at all the same (e.g. different swords - straight for the Huns, curved for the Mongols, different saddles, no stirrups for the huns, different styles of lamellar armour, possibly no horse armour at all even for the heavy Hunnish cavalry). If you want some acceptable Huns, you'd better try and make some conversions from HaT Goths, late Roman cataphracts or, for the bowmen, Italeri Saracens.
As for Mongols passing as Saracens, I'd say that if by Saracens you mean late Ayyubid ghulams or early Mamelukes (both of Turkish origin), you may use them with minor modifications. E.g., I'd replace the Mongol heads with Italeri or Caesar Saracen heads.
Concerning "Mongols" (actually "Tartars", very late descendants of the 13th to 14th century Mongols) at Vienna (1683), I'd say that only the light cavalry bowmen are useful to some degree. Forget about the heavy cavalry, the Ottomans didn't use heavy Tartar cavalry (actually, there was none).
Yes, you are quite right about the kamizaze, or "divine wind." If I am right I think it was two or three times that it destroyed the Mongol fleet and saved the samurai from the horrors of Mongol invasion.
However, I have heard (maybe I'm wrong--after all, I wasn't there ) that they did make at least some landings. This is what I meant about the samurai sword.
In the early days of Japanese history, samurai warriors would not fight as they did later in their history. They would ride out onto the battlefield and call out to the enemy, reciting their heroic exploits and lineage (basically a pedigree). this would challenge an enemy warrior of similar status to fight with him. They would duel one-on-one with their bows, the most important weapon for the samurai at this time.
However, when the Mongols invaded Japan (I guess they did make some landings?), the samurai quickly realized that the new important weapon to be used was the sword. Thus, over time, swords (the longer katana and the shorter, smaller wakizashi ) became the main weapon, and even a symbol of samurai status.
So perhaps you could create a beachhead diorama or something of that sort? I have no ideas for Mongol boats however....
The Mongols landet at one of the Japanese islands and fought the Japanese there. So there was fighting in the first invasion. Tumbling dice made a nice range of Mongols and Japanese for the first invasion.
The Mongols used a lot of Korean infantry troops for the invasion.
I used the non armoured mongols for the napoleonic period too. They are useful as Bashkires and Tatares.
In fact I find it therapeutic for me to talk about these sorts of things, my passions and all. I rarely get to have intelligent conversations, so really enjoyed it.