Friday, May 16, 2014

West Wind Samurai

I managed to pick these up off of ebay for a great deal. I had wanted to sample some these figures as the lower ranking foot samurai look just like the Minamoto samurai on the period scroll depicting the raid on Sanjo Palace. These are bare-legged and without armor for their arms as in the scroll. I painted them up today using the block painting technique followed by Minwax Tudor Satin Stain. These are the first figures I've painted in some time, as I've been in a sort of painting slump.
The two on the left in the photo above appear to be in armor from a period a bit later than Heian, but not too far off. The three on the right are carrying naginata which many of the foot samurai in the scroll are armed with.

The image below shows them block painted over a black undercoat.
Next, reshly stained with Minwax. The can of stain is several years old and only a few drops are left and had to be refreshed with thinner.
Here are a couple of images from the scroll - note the bare legs and lack of sode (upper arm protection) on some.
The samurai in the scroll are from the Minamoto clan and were considered uncouth by the opposing Taira clan. In fact, the scroll shows many of the Minamoto whiskered and bare legged - as well as doing very vulgar things like decapitating unarmed individuals, and parading the heads on the blades of their naginata.
Here's a comparison shot of various 28mm miniatures for the Heian period.
For the record, I like the less-armored West Wind samurai over their more armored ones. The more armored ones (with sode, etc.) seem to be wearing later period armor which would work fine in Sengoku era, but look a bit advanced for Heian. All of them come with separate heads, which allows for slight variations of poses. Overall, the West Wind figures aren't bad figures and painted up quite quickly.

37 comments:

  1. very nice! glad to see you are getting back to painting. keep up the good work!

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    1. Thank you for your visit and kind words! I'm getting to the point of not being able to put too much effort into painting. Luckily, the Minwax stain method is working for me. Best, Dean

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  2. Nice painting and great research using the scroll.

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    1. Thanks, Neil; appreciate your visit and kind words.

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  3. Outstanding brushwork! You didn't ease out of your painting slump but jumped feet first into the deep end with challenging Samurai. All four manufacturers go well together. What is your opinion of the 1st Corps figures? Some of the ranges I have I like very much; others the sculpting seems a little crude.

    Great job and enjoyable history lesson to boot!

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    1. Jonathan: Appreciate your nice comments and interest. I agree about the 1st Corps range - a bit crude, particularly the over-sized hands on many. That said, they have a charm all their own and painted up they look fine on the table with other makes. The only make of samurai that I have reservations with is Dixon and their "pumpkin" heads. :) Best, Dean

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  4. Nice post and beautiful paint job Dean!

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  5. Very nice paint , and really detailed .
    Cheers.

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  6. I think these guys turned out really well. That was a nice touch with the scrolls. Decapitating unarmed men is so dishonorable and I'm surprised that Samurai behaved in this manner.

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    1. Thanks, Anne. The whole raid and abduction of the emperor is suspect :) Best, Dean

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  7. Great work on these Dean, I think you're out of the painting slump! Cheers, Paul :-)

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    1. Thanks, Paul. With a local convention this weekend, I hope to find some interesting figures at the bring & buy table. Best, Dean

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  8. Very nice!

    http://bacninhminiatures.blogspot.com

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  9. Some great additions to your collection and they look like they are a good match.

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  10. I adore your painting style, Dean. It's always great to see the before and after shots. The results here are superb, as always.

    I can't help but look at the Samurai with Naginata and see a bit of similarity between it and the Falx. ;-)

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    1. Thanks, Monty. The blade is basically a sword blade attached to a length of pole. Now if the shape of the sword and the falx are related - hmmm? Best, Dean

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    1. Thanks, Paul. I try to use brighter colors when followed by staining.

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  12. More Samurai? I think we need to get all of your models on the table for a HUGE game of WAB.

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  13. Great work as always Dean, I don't know if I'd ever be crazy enough to try painting Samurai. :-)

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    1. Jason:

      Thanks for the kind words; for the record, I don't think samurai are any harder than Napoleonics or Lace War stuff. Just a different approach - and the stain really works over lacing Best, Dean

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    2. Perry Minis have a great looking Samurai and Korean line. I might just have to give in to temptation someday. :-)

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    3. The Perry lines are indeed very good - most of the Koreans are pretty easy to paint up - mainly whites or blacks and whites. Some of the newer skirmish rules don't require a lot of figures to start too. Best, Dean

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  14. I really enjoy seeing your work Dean, your painting (the choices of colours) Style and Technique (preparation) before and after completing your miniatures are marvelous and with stunning results....Excellent!

    cheers,

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  15. These samurai are really something!

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  16. Thanks a lot for the visit and great comments, Gentlemen!

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  17. These are rather fine sir. I love the wide range colours you've used but at the same time you've managed to keep them balanced and not have any one dominate the others.

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    1. Thanks, Michael. I try to use a similar palette as for Dark Age types - Normans, Vikings, etc. Seems although the Japanese had a wide range of colors - they were all more on the subtle/subdued shades. That is, not gaudy - like say Hellenistic/Macedonian Successor types. Best, Dean

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  18. A smashing entry back into the brushes Dean!

    Christopher

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    1. Thanks, Christopher! I may have to invest in a new can of Minwax stain :)! Best, Dean

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  19. For the Sengoku era, you might want to take a look at the Chinese/Korean/Japanese figures from DT Models, available from http://www.Hagen-Miniatures.de/index.php/en/produkte/category/view/184

    I am not associated with them in any way, but the figures look great. :-)

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    1. Thanks so much the visit and kind words. I've actually slowed down painting figs - actually haven't picked up a brush for a long time. Appreciate the info on the DT models though. Warm regards, Dean

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