Showing posts with label samurai. Show all posts
Showing posts with label samurai. Show all posts

2 Apr 2023

15mm Samurai Bowmen

ADLG v4 introduced some Light Infantry skirmishing archers to the Samurai lists, adding a much needed troop type to the Samurai roster - however the idea of adding in a few more figures to the only army I have ever had professionally painted was a bit of a challenge, as I'd need to paint them to sort of match the professional paint job on the rest of them!

Most of my Samurai army were also Old Glory figures which come in large bags, so even choosing a comptible range was a challenge - but eventually I settled on these really clean Ashigaru archers from Museum as being both the right height, and also simple enough to be easy to paint to a reasonably close standard to the rest of the army.

Being Ashigaru really reduced the level of detail needed

I also took an ADLG-specific approach to this set of 4 bases, choosing to paint them all in slightly different colours and uniforms to allow them to operate as single units of skirmishers in different commands. 

The pattern of 3 or 4 dots on their clohing fits in thematically with the rest of the army, and is a very simple way to generate a bit of a Japanese vibe (at a 3 foot range!) 



 I'll now have to look out for an event where they can be used!

And here's the army they will be playing as part of:



13 Jul 2019

Ninja Time!

Whist my 15mm Samurai army is already too extensive to really use in one go, that doesn't stop a steady drip-drip of additional units and, well, cool toys being added to it from time to time.

The latest incremental unnecessary items are a Japanese folklore-inspired replacement Stampeding Herd ("Expendables" in ADLG terms), and some good-at-hiding Ninja ambush markers as well.

These all come from Philp Mann's recent Kickstarter project, and were obtained by "ADLG-R" guru "Aussie Simon" on my behalf.

Oni are basically Japanese Troll/Demon things, with a long tradition of being generally unsubtle and violent - and most usually bright red as well ! As such a herd of Oni seemed a great way to represent a more mythic retelling of the use of a stampeding cattle herd in the Battle of Kurikara



The Oni's flesh is all painted with the new Citadel Contrast Paints - Blood Angels Red, Akhelian Green (the blue coloured one oddly enough) and Creed Cammo for the Green ones. There's more Contrast Paint malarkey coming soon ...





Oni typically carry these types of iron clubs called kanabō. In Japan the expression "oni with an iron club" means to be invincible or undefeatable - not something my cattle herds have really achieved all that often it must be said!



The ninja figures are really nice, with a lot of variety but are a smidge large to use alongside or mix in with my Old Glory Samurai -  but being ninjas, they are good at hiding and sneaking around so I have press-ganged some into service as ambush markers. 



 I've colour-coded the three 40x40 markers using the flower grass tufts - each base also has the ninjas with a small bit of the same colour on their inner-garment sleeves



The Red markers above, and below the green ones



Here are the sets of figures next to the Old Glory Samurai for scale comparison.






As you can see, the Ninjas are not too far off, but just a bit too far for using together with the Old Glory figures for my taste.

20 Jun 2019

Some day my Ninja will come...

June 2019 - The NEC, UK Games Expo and one of the bigger UK events I will manage to get to this year. So, why not take an almost legendarily unusable army into a theme where it is certain to meet opponents it struggles to deal with?

Well, if that army is a Samurai force that hasn't seen light of day since it's almost-win in Burton last year, the answer is of course a resounding YES!!!


The end result is five full match reports, packed to the sushi-tasting gills with pictures of Samurai figures far better painted than I could ever hope to manage myself, as well as all of the usual videos, jokes, witty banter (some of it from headless ex-warriors serving as markers), and half-baked tactical theories.


In fact, there's even a herd of cows. What more could anyone want in the height of BBQ season eh?


Read on to find out how the Samurai fared against the Song Chinese, Sicilians, French, Ottomans and a properly colourful Samurai Civil War as well (just one) in these 5 fully ninja-tastic reports.


30 Apr 2019

Roll Call lists on the ADLG Wiki

The lists from the top five placed players in the 2019 15mm Roll Call period have now been added to the ADLG Wiki, along with my 25mm Medieval list, the lists of my 5 opponents over the weekend and a couple more.

15mm Lists:

  1. Mike Bennett Sui & Tang Chinese
  2. Hubert Bretagne Mérovingian Franks
  3. Paul Johnston Christian Nubian
  4. Peter Webb Christian Nubian
  5. Clive McLeod Maurikian Byzantine

25mm lists 

18 Mar 2018

Slice n' Dice - The Samurai are in Action!

Only quite literally moments after taking delivery of a 15mm painted Samurai army from Lurkio (which you have already probably seen on this site) himself, the brave guys (and their probably less enthusiastic cattle) were placed immediately onto the table and pitched straight into a series of brutal battles at Burton Doubles 2018.


This resulted in a fiercely contested Samurai Civil War, two invasions of Europe which saw the Japanese warriors pit their katanas against the historically contemporary bearded axes and knightly lances of the English & Irish, and a return to South Asia for a final showdown with the Elephant Kingdom of the Tamils.


All 4 battles have their own unique write-ups, and this time also come with dedicated Podcasts (available in both Video and Audio formats), either of which will provide you with a running commentary on what approximated for the "thinking" of the two joint Samurai commanders.


The full Samurai spectrum of photos, captions and Hannibal analysis is also - as usual - provided for your delight and despair!

22 Feb 2018

15mm Samurai - and Samurai Terrain as well

A near-unique event today, as I post pictures of an army that I haven't painted myself... but don't worry, the usual bog-standard finishing is then in evidence with some bodged-together and over ambitious terrain !

The army is a 15mm Samurai force for L'Art de la Guerre. Mostly composed of Old Glory figures from Timecast, they are supplemented with a handful of Baueda Emeshi cavalry and a Dixon 28mm Great Commander.

All of them have been painted by Lurkio




The Samurai Village has already been posted online but this time there is also a self-made "ADLG Waterway" Samurai Castle wall to marvel at the amount of spare time I have to do stuff other than paint figures !




 The Walls come with a walk-through construction guide as well.

28 Jan 2018

A Samurai Town for L'Art de la Guerre

With my first-ever "I paid someone to paint it for me" army of Samurai currently on the basing table with Simon from Lurkio, I've been preparing some suitable terrain to go with the army for use at Badcon in a few weeks time.

First up is a small town, which has an extension to it;s base to make it a maximum sized piece for a 300 point game as well as the core 200 point version.

All of the buildings are from Oshiro Model Terrain, painted by me with a black undercoat and then drybrushed Army Painter Leather Brown for the wood, and white for the panels. The trees come from Model Tree Shop - a little more expensive than usual, but they do need to be as good as the houses.



Look carefully and you may see that the pond has some Koi carp painted in it.




 The terrain cloth is from Tiny Wargames



All of the buildings are just placed on the mdf baseplate, which has had some sand glued to it, a spray coat of ArmyPainter Desert Yellow followed by a dusting coat of Skeleton Bone.


 And, of course, the trees are also held in place with rare earth magnets. Because, well, why not go the whole hog eh?

The smaller section turns the main 200 point baseplate into a 300 point sized terrain piece, and with all of the pieces able to be taken off, it now works for the game as well as aesthetically.



I did need to drybrush the cherry blossom tree as it was a bit violently pink when I got it originally.

And, here are the men who will defend it...


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