Last of the bunch .

Finally finished off my 'Unlikely Allies' box , here is the Devote Monk .

The Watchman with his lantern 

And last but not least the Tea House Hostess , she was a challenge to paint, I've always found it difficult to paint female figures convincingly and rather delicate Japanese ones especially so . Her face took a couple of goes to get right .

The whole box set finished , it has taken me a week , but I have enjoyed the experience immensely - so different from painting uniformed units of all the same figures and uniform . 

Four more 'Unlikely Allies'

Been painting more figures from my new 'Test Of Honour' box , here we have a Ashigaru deserter looking rather dishevelled and a Blacksmith .

A Wise old man (or is he a Ninja ?) and a Ronin marksman . These are rather nice models full of character and I'm enjoying painting them and when they are done I hope to incorporate them in a scenario for 'Test of Honour'.

A work in progress and a change in painting style .

After painting lots of O.S. 42mm and plastic Jacobite figures I felt like a change so I decided on some Samurai personality figures . There is a newish box of figures for 'Test of Honour' call 'Unlikely Allies' and this figure is the Clan Envoy , I have shamelessly pinched the colour scheme from the box art as I can never think of convincing coloured clothing for Japanese figures . I used my wet palette and Liquitex artist acrylics to paint him . I going to paint the others up in the next week or so and I am liking the change of painting style and pace . 

Onna Bugeisha.

These figures have been sat in the 'corner of shame' awaiting being painted for a while , so I'm very pleased with myself having finally got around to getting them done . I always find it hard to paint female figures and Japanese females even more so , the delicate  faces and dress is a challenge to get right . Again I have borrowed the colour schemes from the 'Warlord' miniature site .

Painted Ladies .

One of the hardest things to paint when it comes to figures are females , the average male figures has a somewhat craggy face which with a bit of shading and a touch of stubble can look convincing . Females however especially if they are done convincingly I find hard to do justice too (most females in wargaming are predictably portrayed with large out of proportion boobs and so somewhat a caricature) . Warlord have just done a set of female Samurai figures ( Onna- bugeisha ) for the 'Test of Honour' skirmish game and being a total 'fanboy' I had to get them . They are very nice indeed , slender and well proportioned and actually look like Japanese girls . Having got them I had to think of painting them , I must admit I was a little intimidated by the prospect . I looked at various illustrations and Google-pics which showed how hard it was going to be to get it right . Upper class Japanese woman tended to wear heavy makeup which whitened their faces and the eyebrows were drawn on , cheeks heavily rouged and very red lips , hard to get right in 28mm and not make them look like Coco the Clown. Here is my first finished figure and I'm happy with it , I pinched the colour scheme of the clothing straight off the Warlord advert , Well that's one down another six  to do .

Strange Searches On Google .

One of the interesting things about our hobby is the strange subjects and paths of enquiry it leads us down , so it was I found myself looking at pictures of Japanese kimonos to paint up a female figure for my 'Test Of Honour' Samurai project. The one thing that struck me was how bloody complicated they are both in pattern and design with lots of complicated folds and pleats , needless to say I chose a simple one to paint onto my figure . It took two attempts to get it half right, the problem is the designs disappear into the folds and  getting the general layout of the flowers on the dress to look right was hard work . Japanese Geisha's also painted their faces white (another Google search) and sort of drew their eyebrows, lips etc. onto this background . I'm glad I've got it done and equally glad I haven't a unit of them to do ! . Starting painting Royal Horse Artillery for the Crimea an altogether simpler subject next . 

Japanese Bandits.

Finished off painting the Warlord Bandits from their 'Test of Honour' range , they are very fine figures - some of the nicest I've seen for quite a while.

I must admit I borrowed heavily from the paint jobs on the Warlord web site , keeping the colours very earthy and muted as befits outlaws and brigands . I'm quite getting into these tube paints , not sure that I would use them for massed battalions but I painted these figures one at a time and enjoyed using them .

A Thinga-Mayjig .

I'm playing a linked campaign using 'Test Of Honour' Samurai rules and several of the scenarios need the turns counting , now I normally put a dice on the table top to remind me of the turn number - BUT I always seem to either mislay or end up using the dice for rolling and so loose count ! . So I hit upon this idea pinched from a Board Gaming site and made a dice holder . I printed off a suitable Samurai image from Google and stuck it to a piece of fine Oriental wood - well MDF actually , I then glued four small pieces of MDF onto it to hold the dice and gave the whole thing a couple of coats of gloss varnish .

Here we see it in action !

A Potpourri From The Painting Table.

Here are a selection of models I've painted in the last couple of weeks , a bit of a mixture as I'm trying to clear up some of the things that have been on my 'to do' list . First a selection of markers for  my 'Test of Honour' Samurai skirmish game , they are Perry Miniatures .

The Six Samurai - the other one must be on holiday , again Perry Miniatures for 'Test of Honour' .

Hodge interrupts the photo shoot , trying to ingratiate himself after being cursed for killing and eating a baby bird .

American Civil War early war Militia, Perry Miniatures once again - think I have been  contributing to the Perry retirement fund of late .

Mars plastic TYW light artillery , these have been waiting to get painted for ages . This set of figures got a right slating on the 'Plastic Soldier Review' , but I don't think they have come out to bad , sadly the double barrelled gun may be fictitious but I don't care ! .

Solving A Problem .

About five or six years ago I painted up a couple of 'Peter Pig' 15mm Samurai armies to go with his set of rules 'Samurai Battles' . For years I've had a phobia about painting Samurai figures - very complicated and strange colour schemes and so this was an attempt to conquer a deep seated fear . Once I got started I rather enjoyed the process - about two thirds of the armies are actually Ashiguru which have a much simpler dress and armour and tend to be in uniform colours anyway and I got used to painting Samurai having consulted several Osprey books on the subject . The problem was the rules - now I like the old type 'Peter Pig' rules but they can be a bit long winded and not laid out very well - so after a couple of games the project floundered.

I was a bit sad about this as I've always been interested in Samurai warfare and a big fan of the Kurosawa films . I considered selling them on - then I recently had a thought !  could I use them with the ancient version of 'Black Powder' - 'Hail Caesar' , I looked on the 'Warlord' forum and found somebody had done all the work for me (Huzza !) and there were a set of lists for Samurai using 'Pike and Shotte' the rules I was using for the TYW ! .

He had made subtle differences and added rules to reflect the rather odd approach to battles adopted by the Japanese, even has a campaign system ! .

So I've dusted off the two armies and set up a smallish battle to try the rules out .

Each side has a command centre or 'Maku' where the C in C or 'Diamyo sits and issues orders via a system of messengers guarded by his body guard or 'Hatamoto' .

The objective of the battle is to capture a Buddhist  shrine (which has a sacred pencil sharpener hidden in the base).

The battlefield with the forces of Honda on the left and Mitsubishi on the right . The buildings and 'paddy fields' were from a defunct Vietnam project . The battle report will follow soon ......