Heiho, Let's Go!

Wargames Atlantic and Helion bring us ‘Heiho: The Art of War’, a collaboration bringing nearly a thousand 10mm hard plastic figures to your tabletop for recreating the massive battles of Sengoku-era Japan. The box set includes 988 miniatures across eight frames of Ashigaru, four of Samurai, and two of Command units, alongside bases, dice, tokens, and the complete rulebook. Designed by Pauli Kidd - a 20-year student of Katori Shinto Ryu (sword fighting to you and me) and author of numerous works on Japanese history and culture and big name RPGs - the rules accommodate armies ranging from 20,000 to 100,000 warriors and support famous engagements like Kawanakajima and Sekigahara.

The game reflects the sophisticated tactical systems unique to late 16th-century Japan, including the sonae brigade formations that mixed spearmen, archers, firearms troops, and cavalry into coordinated combined-arms units. Players can opt for grid-based movement to streamline play or stick with traditional measurement systems. The rules accommodate any miniature scale but are optimised for smaller formats, 2mm through to 15mm, making them ideal for recreating epic battlefields. The box includes sculpting by Rob Macfarlane, illustration work from Marco Capparoni, and figure painting by Chris Farley of Mechs & Minis.

For anyone who's spent countless hours commanding digital ashigaru formations in Total War: Shogun, this is your chance to push actual tiny warriors across actual terrain without a graphics card in sight. We say again, up to 100 000 warriors!  A superb entry point for staging your own Kurosawa epic.

Images and text courtesy of Wargames Atlantic and Helion.