Equipping for Battle

To fight effectively, armies must have adequate equipment and supplies from the following key categories.

Weapons

In Rokugan, most samurai already own the paired blades of a daishō: the longer katana and the shorter wakizashi. These are deadly weapons, but they are usually secondary weapons on the battlefield, where bows and polearms offer extra reach. Further, many samurai are hesitant to wield ancestral weapons in the chaos of open battle, where they can become broken or lost. Most samurai still carry their daishō, should the opportunity for single combat with another leader arise. For honor, for their clan, or simply to save the lives of their troops, samurai will put aside other weapons to cross blades when challenged in the midst of battle.

Many samurai, and all of the ashigaru, wield more basic weapons in battle. The iconic weapons of a Rokugani army are spears and some types of polearms, because they are suited to massed ranks of troops. Beyond their extra reach and their ability to present a threat in tight formations, spears and certain polearms are inexpensive to make quickly and in large numbers, and they are relatively low maintenance. Further, troops with limited training can be drilled to effectiveness with spears in a short period of time. More specialized weapons, such as bows, longer spears, and oversized swords for fighting cavalry, can also be obtained, though they require more training to use and more resources to manufacture.

Many clans have even more specialized weapons for particular circumstances. Crab warriors wield a variety of heavy weapons, such as hammers and clubs, to crack open the chitinous carapaces of the Shadowlands monstrosities they face. They also favor weapons inlaid with jade, a sacred substance inimical to Tainted beings. Likewise, troops expected to fight aboard ships, or to engage in other close-quarters combat, employ compact weapons. These are often adapted from more mundane tools, such as the kama, a small sickle used by farmers, and the tonfa, a club derived from the handle of a millstone.

Armor

Just as they typically own a daishō, most samurai also possess armor. However, while daishō are generally reserved for single combat, armor is viewed in a more utilitarian way. Many samurai wear even very valuable armor, with a lengthy history of family ownership, in the midst of heavy melee. A warrior must wear their armor regularly to maintain their ability to fight in it. Moreover, ancestral armor is believed to provide samurai with their ancestors’ protection and guidance. More pragmatically, a samurai can be recognized by the armor they wear, enhancing their glory and reputation in battle.

However, few of the ashigaru who make up the bulk of Rokugani armies own armor. Even some samurai need their lord to provide it, especially if they have not inherited any. Other samurai simply deem most armor too cumbersome in the swirl of melee combat, especially the heaviest of armors, such as ō-yoroi. Samurai employed in scouting, skirmishing, and archery roles favor light armor, as they value mobility over protection, and mounted samurai require armor suited for use on horseback.

Accordingly, clan armorers produce a variety of light- and medium-weight armor designed to be quick and easy to make with readily available materials, as well as to be simple to maintain. Such armor may incorporate wood, bamboo, and stiffened, laminated layers of linen or other cloth. While lighter armor does not provide the same degree of protection as more elaborate and sophisticated heavy armor, it may offer a better balance of defense and encumbrance for its wearer.

Mounts

Mounts play three primary roles in Rokugani military forces. These are:

Carrying their riders directly onto the battlefield, so these samurai can engage in battle while mounted, as cavalry.

Carrying their riders to the edge of battle, where the riders dismount to fight. This use of mounted infantry often also includes commanders and their staff, who need mounted mobility to observe and direct the flow of battle.

Carrying troops on support missions, like scouting or foraging ahead of the army, or pulling wagons full of supplies and injured soldiers.

For the first role, most Rokugani ponies are unsuitable; they lack the stature and strength to be good cavalry mounts, and they lack the temperament to be ridden into harm’s way. They are, however, well suited as infantry mounts (and as beasts of burden if other animals aren’t available to fill that role). Prior to the Ki-Rin’s return to the Empire as the Unicorn Clan, cavalry essentially did not exist in Rokugan. The Unicorn brought with them several breeds of horses, including fast, powerful, and much larger animals ideal for use as cavalry mounts. The descendants of some of these horses became the basis for cavalry forces among all of the other clans. The purest and most robust bloodlines, such as the famous Utaku steeds, are an exception; the Unicorn stubbornly reserve these for themselves. On the rare occasions they do offer these magnificent animals to those outside their clan—as gifts, for example—they are normally gelded, so they cannot breed.

For the last role, that of beasts of burden, Rokugani employ a variety of animals, including donkeys, mules, oxen, and water buffalo, animals suited to labor that favors strength and stamina over speed.

Fortifications

Rokugani armies make liberal use of defensive devices in battle. Most common are large, freestanding shields, usually made of light wood or wicker, that provide concealment and limited cover against enemy archery. An army invested in a longer fight often deploys support troops to build earthworks and palisades from stone, earth, wood, and other materials found on-site. Building these requires appropriate tools, like axes, picks, shovels, and hammers—as well as laborers who must be protected from enemy archery and spoiling raids.

Occasionally, armies build even more elaborate field fortifications, including walls and towers, also often constructed from local materials. However, these fortifications may instead be partly or entirely prefabricated, then transported in manageable sections and assembled wherever needed. The shiro-chi— essentially a small wooden castle—may be carried and deployed in this manner. Such elaborate works are only used during large campaigns and sieges of enemy fortifications.

Special Items and Equipment

Armies employ a variety of specialized equipment chosen to match the expected terrain, seasonal conditions, and tactics used by the enemy.

Command and Control

Commanding an army in battle requires communication more robust than the commander’s voice. War fans, horns, drums, flags, and banners—and more exotic devices such as signaling mirrors, firework-like colored rockets, smoke pots, smoke arrows, and carrier pigeons—are all tools that a skilled commander may use to wield their army like a surgical instrument rather than an armed mob.

Siege Weapons

Rokugani military doctrine avoids protracted sieges. Commanders instead prefer direct assault of fortifications. Ladders and battering rams are useful on the assault, while more challenging fortifications may require more elaborate siege weapons, such as catapults, stone throwers, and siege towers. No clan has more experience with siege engines than the Crab, who must use them against monstrous Shadowlands creatures attacking the Kaiu Wall.

Other Equipment

Sometimes, the needs of a campaign require even more specialized equipment, often dictated by terrain or weather. Armies need boats, barges, and pontoon bridges to cross rivers and other bodies of water, and they need ropes and climbing gear for traversing mountainous terrain. A late fall campaign may catch the enemy by surprise, but could require cold-weather gear and heavier tents, while extremely rare instances of winter battles require sledges and other equipment for crossing snow.