Samurai Gallery - Royal Armouries, Leeds.

With the visit to the Royal Armouries, the main thing I wanted to see was this year's special exhibition, featuring the Mongol Empire and Genghis Khan.

But, and I know any American readers will probably scoff at this, I wanted to make a full day of it.

It is just under an hour's drive up the motorway from home, after all.

And, of course, having a day out with the Mrs was a bonus, so we were going to make the most of it.

The Royal Armouries in Leeds has five floors of arms and armour on display, along with re-enactment areas, demonstrations of sword fighting and other displays. There is even a full arena on the second floor, where they hold various events throughout the year.

Around Easter Weekend they also host a Jousting Tournament.

I am hoping to get the time off work for that one next year.

Coming out of the Mongolian exhibition, we found ourselves on the fourth floor, which houses the African and Asian galleries.

Most interesting.

Very, very interesting.

These are some of the photographs I took while going around the Samurai gallery, before the Mrs eventually decided that I had spent quite enough time staring at armour and dragged me onwards so we could actually see the rest of the museum.

I am not going to write about the individual armour sets, as if you zoom in on the photographs you should be able to read the descriptions from the plaques in the displays.

And, frankly, I was too busy taking photographs to make detailed notes!

I did, however, treat myself to some research material while I was there.

One of the projects I want to start working on again soon is the Samurai project, so it seemed rather appropriate.

The last time I visited Element Games with the group, I had been hoping to get a game of Dragon Rampant in and had taken two forces along specifically for that purpose.

Unfortunately, nobody wanted to play.

So, no game.

Instead, I grabbed some terrain from the shelves and put together an impromptu photographic setup, allowing me to get some pictures of the Samurai force I had brought along.

The plan now is to work on finishing a unit of the World Eaters alongside a unit for the Samurai, clearing the painting table as I go and gradually adding to both forces.

I think I'll start with the foot Samurai I already have for this project and then see where we need to go from there.

I'm also waiting for one of the MyMiniFactory money-off sales before purchasing any more STLs from Kyoushuneko.

They have released quite a lot more since I last bought anything from them.

Including...

A Mounted Sohei unit.

Yes.

That is going to happen.

Eventually.

There is one more Royal Armouries post to come, featuring the photographs of the European and Islamic arms and armour I saw during the visit.

Including the Armoured Elephant.

Which is always going to be a big draw.

Until next time, have nice day.