Welcome to the Strelets Forum. Please feel free to discuss any aspect of 1/72 scale plastic figures, not simply Strelets. If you have any questions about our products then we will answer them here.
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.