Rather than create oodles of threads with my idiotic numpty questions I thought I would create one thread to rule them all, and in the darkness bind them etc etc

Here is my starter for 10.

From the little bit of stuff that I know about the Wars of the 3 Kingdoms I cannot recommend the Osprey Men at Arms books as anything other than fire lighting material.

Are the 'samurai' men at arms books equally pants?

Thank you in anticipation.

More tricksy questions when I think of them.

There is lots of decent sites online about Samurai. You can probably find copy to download online too.
This site is great
http://www.geocities.ws/kazenaga23/crests4.htm

"Everyone paints a Samurai army once..."

I tend to view Osprey's output as being a primer for people who know nothing about the period/ theatre in question. Being slim volumes there's not much room for nuance. They are almost the definition of Terry Pratchett's "Lie to children" theory" * giving a baseline understanding that isn't entirely right but which gives you the basis on which to build a better grasp of the subject. If you knew nothing before you started you will have a better grasp by the end.

Sites like the one Will linked, there are plenty of others, will give you more info on clan mons (heraldry), flags and other standards and indications of armour colours. Samurai are not necessarily a sea of black armour. I offer my own favourites, the "Red Devils of Ii" as an example.

In print, I have a number of works by Stephen Turnbull, though nowhere near his entire oeuvre! In addition to his many books he has also worked as historical consultant on a number of documentaries and the 47 Ronin film - I'll leave you to decide if that's a plus or a minus.   

There is a huge amount of information ( and therefore misinformation too) out there.

In battle samurai armies seem to have been divided into clan groupings called sonae. These were anything from a few hundred to almost a thousand strong. Sonae are further divided into kumi of 20 - 30 (-ish) men.

Right, enough prattle from me for the moment.
 

* Lie to children

I think these online sources are worth a look:
Tenka Fubu
Sengoku Period Warfare
Sonae
And our own MCMV who I hope will forgive me for posting a connection to his blog
Rules for Sengoku Jidai

Thank you one and all.