Welcome to the Killer Katanas Home Page

Greetings fellow Bushi, I welcome you to the support site for Killer Katanas.

What is Killer Katanas?

Killer Katanas (KK) is a set of rules for recreating the battles of the Sengoku-jidai (Warring States period) with model soldiers; Miniatures1 Miniatures2 Miniatures3 Miniatures4 Minatures5. While the rules are intended for use with 15mm figures, other scales may be used as well.

Most rulesets for the samurai are skirmish level. It was the goal of KK to allow the larger battles of the samurai to be played, such as Nagashino. There are two scales for doing this:

*1:15\40; one man represents fifteen and one inch is 40 feet, or
*1:30\80, which is intended for larger battles.

One turn represents 15 minutes in both scales.

Basing: For all infantry, 4 figures on a 1 1\2" x 1\2" base. All cavalry, 2 figures on a 1" x 1" base. Unit leaders are based single on a 1\2" x 1\2" base for Inf and 1" x 1\2" for cav. Players group bases into units--no size restrictions. Each unit recieves a leader.

Formations: There are no formations, such as line and column. Players may form as they wish, but a unit must be at least two ranks deep.

Rules Summary: A turn consists of 16 movement cards. There are 8 cards per side each composed of 4 inf and 4 cav. Cards are drawn one at a time for action. On a card it will state who may move and their movement allowance. Only during a card may a unit act. During an action, a unit may fire, reload (guns), wheel, face, melee, and so on. Once all 16 cards are drawn the turn ends. The deck is shuffled and drawn again.

Fire casualties are computed by crossing the units base factor, minus modifiers, with the number of men firing. The resulting number is expressed like 8.3, 2.4, ect. The first number is the automatic kills. The second number is the possibility for an additional kill--a player must roll that number or greater on a D6 to get an additional kill. A 3.2 would be three dead and another if 2-6 is rolled.

Melee is handled the same way. Different weapons, such as lances, allow for a greater number of figures to be included in the fight. A melee can continue from one card to another, and is only terminated if a unit breaks or pulls away from the fight. As a melee continues, further ranks are added into the fight.

Personal challenges may call one another out to fight a duel. Both sides roll 2D6 and crosses this number under their ability table. The result tells them if they wound, kill, or make run away, their opponent. Leaders who fail bring disgrace upon their unit and require a morale check.

Morale is straight-forward. 2D6 is rolled, modifiers applied, and the final number referenced for the result. Rally may be done on a player's card\turn.

What else is in the book?
The rules also include 5 scenarios with complete OoB's; 4th Kawanakajima, Anegawa, Mikata-Ga-Hara, Nagashino, and Sekigahara.

For those who wish to make their own scenarios, a points table is provided and weapon statistics, by year\clan, for converting a force into weapon classes ie. Lances, arquebus, bow, ect.

For the first time in English, all 22 battle formations have been identified with accompanying diagrams. Hundreds of Daimyos are identified; and statistics for their use in games provided.

Lastly, 38 Daimyo flags have been identified; a color picture of each is provided.

GOAL
It will be the goal of this site to bring to you additional information on the Sengoku-jidai period, as well as updates and scenarios for KK.

KILLER KATANAS NEWS as of 3/19/99
KK news

REVIEWS OF KK
Reviews

KILLER KATANAS ERRATA
KK errata
Errata for Date's Battles

SCENARIOS FOR KK
Gassen Toda Castle: Text, Map

SAMURAI MINIATURE MANUFACTURERS
Ral Partha - 25mm
Dixon - 25mm
Old Glory - 25mm
Tin Soldier -15mm
Naismith - 15mm
Gallia Miniatures - 15mm
Minifigs - 15mm
Two Dragons -15mm
Irregular Miniatures - 6mm
Miniatures reviews - reviews of other manufacturer's figures

SENGOKU JIDAI RELATED INFORMATION

WARFARE
Samurai Warfare - a overview of samurai organization, weapons, uniforms, and tactics.

BATTLES OF THE SAMURAI
Okehazama - Oda vs Imagawa
4th Kawanakajima - Uesugi vs Takeda
Gassan Toda Castle - Mori vs Amako
Anegawa - Oda/Tokugawa vs Asai/Asakura
Mikata-Ga-Hara - Takeda vs Tokugawa
Nagashino - Oda vs Takeda
Mimigawa - Shimazu vs Otomo
Yamazaki - Hideyoshi vs Akechi
Shizugatake - Hideyoshi vs Shibata
Nagakute - Tokugawa vs Ikeda
Hitodori Bridge - Date vs Hatakeyama/Allies
Suriagehara - Date vs Ashina
Ch'ungju - Japanese (Konishi) vs Koreans (Shin)
Sekigahara - Tokugawa vs Ishida
Domyoji - Date/Allies vs Goto/Allies
Tennoji - Tokugawa vs Hideyori

TOURING JAPANESE BATTLEFIELDS
Take a look at some Pictures of the Battlefields of Nagashino and Sekigahara.

LINKS
Here is some links to other websites of interest. Please note that I am still looking for the new URL's of those with a * at the end of them. If any fail to work please let me know. Thanks

SAMURAI HISTORY
Samurai Tour - Provides some great photos of historic places in Japan associated with the Samurai. There are additional links of interest, such as the Nobunaga Fan Club, but these are all in Japanese.

Electric Samurai - Visit the Samurai gallery for some great artwork of Daimyos.

The Samurai Master - Learn about Goto Mototsugu, one of the heroes of the Summer campaign in Osaka in 1615.

Japanese Culture Page - Though this is a site dedicated to role playing, you will find lots of interesting information here.

Folding screens (formerly Meihin) - This site links to the Osaka Castle museum. Check out the battle screen paintings of Tennoji, Shizugatake, Nagashino, and Nagakute.

Tours of Lake Biwa - It was around this area that that many of the Sengoku battles were fought. There are links to Anegawa and Shizugatake battle sites.*

The Tokugawa Art Museum - Has a small online exibition of the contents of this museum.

Visiting Nobunaga's Life - A very good site. There is battlefield tours of Nagashino and Okehazama, along with other places associated with Oda Nounaga's life.

Japanese Castles for Visiting Enthusiasts - This site is in Japanese, but has an English
introduction. There are many castles to visit and see pictures of.

Japanese Castles1 Japanese Castles2 Japanese Castles3 Japanese Castles4 - There are many sites related to Japanese castles, but these four will provide the most extensive collection of pictures; 100 castles altogether.*

Nobunaga's Invasion of Iga - A good overview of Nobunaga's campaign against the warriors of Iga.

Battle of Sekigahara page - Nice little page about the Battle. A map is provided here. I have been told that this link is no good. I am unable to locate them anymore.*

The Samurai House - Has pictures of Castles, swords, helmets, and armor. Ii Naomasa's and Kuroda Nagamasa's armor may be seen.

The Choson-Japanese War - Good history of Hideyoshi's Korean invasion. Be sure to check out the picture of the reconstructed "turtle boat," it's impressive.

Samurai for V&B - Mr Werner Elb of Germany has designed a variant for playing Samurai battles with Volley and Bayonet rules. He has a scenario for Nagashino. The site is well done and worth a look.

Nagakute Japan - Nice site with a time chart on Samurai history that is "clickable" for information. Other topics are talked about as well, Shoguns, Daimyos, and the Battle of Nagakute.

Sekigahara Home Page - This page is all in Japanese, but you can find some pictures about the Sekigahara festival. The city is making plans for the 400th anniversary reenactment and festival. You can email the author and he will be happy to answer any questions.

Identify the Daimyos - This is a little game of identifying the Daimyos that fought at Sekigahara. You will need shockwave to play. Again, the names are in Japanese.

Dr. Stephen R. Turnbull - This is the head Taisho himself and his page is excellent. You will find information on his books, upcoming projects, Japan archive, and reviews of other Samurai books. A MUST LOOK!

Daimyo - This is the website for the upcoming game based on the Myth engine. The game will be about Nobunaga's conquest of the Ikko Monks. The game looks like its going to be very impressive. Last I heard, this project was cancelled.

Sengoku PBEM - This is a Play by email game of the sengoku-jidai. I have not played it, but it looks like fun.

Sengoku - This is a role playing game produced by Gold Rush Games and written by Anthony Bryant (author of some of the Osprey books on the Samurai). I was really impressed with this. Check out the site--you vcan download some chapters for review. Also, the list of Samurai films is great.

Japan Travel Updates: Historical Theme Parks - This site has information on the samurai theme parks in Japan. Ise Sengoku Jidai transports the visitor back to the warring period of Japan. Azuchi castle has been reconstructed and the Battle of Nagashino is recreated there.

Nakasendo Home Page - This site has a lot of information pertaining to the most important road in Japan during the Sengoku period. Check out the information on Sekigahara.

Kurogane no Home Page - Has some nice pictures from samurai movies such as Heaven and earth.

Kamon History - Best site I have seen for explaining what Kamon is.

GURPS Japan - A roleplaying game for use with the Gurps system. The page provides some information on the game and a few links to other pages about the samurai.

Shogun: Total War - If you like KK this computer game is gonna make you drool! This game is all miniatures, but without the painting. The graphics are awesome! Take a look and check out these screenshots sent to me by the publishers: screenshot 1 srceenshot 2 screenshot 3

Die Freimontatkriegspielfreundegesellschaft Home Page - A long title for this kriegspiel page, which includes a campaign for Komaki 1584. Though the map isn't completely correct, the scenario is well designed. Take a look.

Kyoto Place - My friend Hiroshi's new site containing information on the ancient city of Kyoto. Great stuff!

OTHER SITES OF INTEREST
Brookhurst Hobbies - Southern California's leading miniatures store. Besides carrying our rules, they have exclusive rights to the Two Dragons line of historical Samurai figures in North America.

MAGWEB - A subscription site to various magazines pertaining to History, Wargames, and miniatures. I have an interview at this site. SENGOKU is available here.

HMGS/PSW - Southern California's chapter of the Historical Miniature Gaming Society. Located in the newsletters section is a old review of the first edition of KK.

The Miniatures Page - A great site if you wish to look for a ruleset for a particular period, or to find out what's happening in the Wargaming industry.

The Game Factory-War Diary - War Diary is a real-time game of Hideyoshi's invasion of Korea. I tried the demo and found it a lot of fun. Give it a try.

Nihongo Paku Paku - This site isn't related to the Samurai. However, it is a terrific site for those who wish to learn some Japanese. The site has a voice program which pronounces Japanese characters and words. Shockwave is needed to view the page.

Game Links - Not only do I play miniatures, but lots of boardgames as well. This link gives a bunch of sites where you can search for information on American and European games.

Hobbyweb - On this page you will be able to see pictures and order the Doyusha line of Japanese castles. They are excellent for 6mm games.

Historical text archive - A massive archive of World history, and yes, there is some on Japan. This is a great teacher's aid. Use of this database can aid them in their lesson plans.

This site last updated March 19, 1999

Approximately 3,700 hits for 1998

Let me know what you think about my page. Send mail by clicking here.