Standing Firing Arquebusier

At the moment a Sengoku arquebusier squeezed his trigger, the burning match cord swung down into the priming pan, the priming powder flashed, the main charge fired, and a half-ounce lead ball left the barrel at about a thousand feet per second. The smoke from the burnt powder cloaked the line; the recoil drove back into the shoulder; the next man in the rotation stepped forward to take the firing position. The Sashimono banner mounted on this arquebusier's back identifies his unit — at Sekigahara, where eighty thousand soldiers from dozens of clans were intermixed on the field, the banner was how a commander knew which of his units was firing where, and a Sashimono-bearing front-rank shooter was a man whose firing position commanders could see at a glance.

This figure is a Western Army ashigaru arquebusier in the standing firing position — matchlock shouldered, weapon aimed, finger about to release the trigger. He wears the typical Western Army kit — yellow sleeved garment, lacquered cuirass with the daimyo's crest, blue-and-white dotted hakama, blue tabi sandals — and the jingasa war hat. The yellow Sashimono banner mounted vertically from his back armour matches the one carried by the standing archer reaching for an arrow, confirming he is in the same Western Army unit. He pairs naturally with the sitting arquebusier ready to fire and the kneeling priming arquebusier — together the three matchlock figures depict the firing-cycle stages: priming, loading-ready, and firing.

1/30 scale, matte-painted, single figure boxed. Catalog number SW010. As with the rest of the King & Country range, the painting captures period detail intended to read well in display.