Japanese terrain

[nickdives]

Folks, I have resurrected a Samurai project now I have managed to get a load of 1:72 Ashigura. Could anyone give me any pointers as to the type of terrain I should aim for, cheers.

[Battle Brush Sigur]

I know little about the whole thing, but I think that it's generally a good idea to decide on what you would like to depict and then work towards that. If you have a load of Ashigaru I assume you wanna do battles or larger skirmishes rather than small warband stuff?

[Mike Blake]

I'll be interested in ideas too, especially self-build. I'm doing 7 Samurai but in 1/30 scale, IE 60mm.

Have just rewatched the classic film. It's b&w of course and the final battle is in rain and mud. Has anyone considered/done in b&w??! I must say I'm tempted...

[nickdives]

Hi Battle Brush, yes the aim is to fight larger battles, none of the skirmish nonsense!

[FierceKitty]

I wish you luck. Too many Japanese "armies" out there have three samurai (two unarmoured), one ashigaru, a geisha, and a cherry tree.
For terrain, try Hobbylink. Japanese railway stuff, but they have lots that can be used for Sengoku battles (my source for mikoshis and a few sumo wrestlers in the camps).

[Osmoses]

Obviously depends on where in Japan you're fighting the battle, but some general thoughts:

Lots of rivers and streams

Steep hills, which may or may not be wooded, depending on your view of how much deforestation there was. Less wooded nearer settlements possibly.

Flat land was heavily cultivated, even in the medieval period. I tend to cover a lot of flat land with fields and village bases that are effectively like scatter terrain. They delineate an area of cultivated land and you can move the actual pieces out of the way of troops.

[Cat]

Films featuring big battles will give you a better artistic overview of terrain for big battles than the great many skirmishy movies that generally take place in tighter packed terrain.
 
Heaven and Earth (1990)
Kagemusha (1980)
Ran (1985)
Sekigahara (2017)
 
Even if they don't help your terrain building, you will have watched some great movies!
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