The Advent of the Koreans

Patience, they say, is a virtue. It is not one which has been particularly to the fore in my wargaming ‘career’ to date. But, eventually, most things which are of interest are turned into models. I have referred before here to my fleets for the Japanese invasion of Korea in the late Sixteenth Century. A fair few of them have meandered across my painting table and been duly photographed and put away. Some of the pictures have appeared here, partly to catalogue which ship type is which, because the names and types of ship are, to the westerner, downright confusing, to say the least.

Further ships have now meandered across my painting table. These are below.

In my filing system these ships rejoice in the name of ‘bunes’ although that is not, of course, accurate. The ships on the right are seki bune, which medium warships of Japanese origin and design, I think. The larger ones in the middle are ataka bune, large warships. The two masted jobs on the left are kenminsen. These are a bit more slight looking than the warships and they seem to have originated as ships taking envoys to China, and then as merchant ships. Fair enough.

Now, the patience bit. Many moons ago when I was young I collected all sorts of 6 mm soldiers from the early modern period, as the reader of the blog might well be aware. As my reading extended, I acquired ‘Samurai’ armies, that is Japanese armies of the age of war. But men with swords clobbering each other can get a bit dull, and I had heard of the invasion of Korea, so Korean, Ming and Manchu armies were acquired. Well, really, cobbled together from various of Irregular Miniatures 6 mm ranges, reaching from ancients to colonial.

As I recall, a really nice campaign was enjoyed. I had a hex map drawn with coloured pencils, and three Samurai armies invading, against, initially, a single Korean force. This latter was, eventually, reinforced by the Ming and the Manchu, and the Japanese were forced back into defending a town. The final battle was a glorious assault and defence of the said town, after which the invaders surrendered.

At this point the project sort of stalled. Not only was there not much information available on the wars – if you typed ‘Korean War’ into early search engines you got a very different war as results – but I was aware that there was a distinct naval element to it and, nowhere to be found were suitable ships. Nowhere. At any scale.

A few years ago I had another go at the land wargame, recorded as the Citrus Campaign. This too rather petered out. By this time I had got my head around the importance of the naval aspects of the war. The Japanese lost command of the sea early, and never regained it. Through the heroics of Admiral Yi Sunsin and the Korean navy, including the intriguing turtle ships, eventually the Japanese gave up. They were also, it turns out, facing a massive attack from Ming China down the peninsular, and also having to try to deal with a major insurgency crisis.

Imagine, then, the feelings of interest that flowed through the veins of this crusty old wargamer when I discovered that Tumbling Dice had a range of 1:2400 scale Chinese, Korean and Japanese ships. Not only did they exist, but they were the right sort of scale for my activities. My pleasure was only mitigated somewhat by the realisation that ships usually mean having to build stuff, and, as the blog will also testify, I am really not good at building stuff, particularly ships with separate masts.

Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and the fleets were duly delivered by Santa. ‘That is ages ago’ I hear you cry, and, indeed, it was. But the Korean fleet is now finished, its assembly and painting having been delayed by the masses of 28+ mm civilians on show recently. But now, in all its glory, the Korean fleet is here.

I can see you are excited. In the middle of the middle line are the turtle ships, flanked by Korean warships of the p’anokson type. To the fore are scoutships, kobaya, which I suspect were originally coastal freighters, although some sources suggest that they were light, swift vessels designed for boarding. To the rear of the seki bune, ataka bune and kenminsen, as already documented.

I am not sure about the inclusion of Japanese types for this navy. It seems reasonable enough, granted. The cultural, trade and diplomatic links between Korean and Japan were, after all, well established. The turtle ships formed the main strike force, backed up by the p’anoksons. The Koreans had developed the use of ship-board cannon, while the Japanese favoured boarding, as just mentioned. While I am about it, I might as well mention that this seems very similar to what was going on in the West at the time, with the Spanish Armada and the English race-built galleons. But I digress.

Anyway, the first phase of the project is now finished. As it happens I am writing this blog in a different room from my usual ‘study’. The reason for this is that my desk upstairs is presently covered by Japanese ships with masts stuck on, which are drying, hopefully vertically. I dare not move them while that process is going on, and therefore have had to alter my own location, rather than risk droopy masts.

After the Japanese fleet, which is, in truth, about half finished, there is a Chinese fleet to consider. This is, in fact, mainly a Song dynasty fleet, but I will live with that. I read the other day about the fleets the Chinese put out in the late 1400s, and how their ships were technologically superior to those of the West at the time, and, indeed, for about another 300 years the Royal Navy only adopted compartmentalisation at the end of the Eighteenth Century. I am considering campaigning beyond Korea, as well. I mean, the Chinese fleets went to the Spice Islands. What if they stayed?