Yamato (Pre-Samurai) DBA Army - WIP

This is my very first 15mm project - a DBA army no less. Several weeks ago while stopping in at my local gaming store, The Game Matrix, the owner and  proprietor, Chris Ewick, talked me into my first ever DBA game. Chris is a great guy all around as well an accomplished painter and gamer. So, fueled by this experience, I turned to a range that has intrigued me since their release several years ago. The only thing that held me back was the scale/size - 15mm. I've concentrated on 28mm figures with only a brief and limited period painting 1/72nd plastics, so never thought I'd ever do anything in 15mm. Well, these Khurasan Pre-Samurai look so cool on the websites I've viewed I figured I'd give them a try with DBA. They arrived yesterday and I was overwhelmed - first by their beauty and then by their diminutive size. I did a quick internet search of painting 15mm figures, and took the sound advice of "don't try to paint them like 28mm." I ended up using washes and dry brushing and feel they look good enough for gaming. Here are the bowmen which will be based 3 per on 6 bases - I guess in DBA speak that would be 6X3Bw. The general, cavalry and auxilia will be next.

Although the Khurasan site shows some of them wonderfully painted by Steve Dean in keiko, or lamellar laced armor, I found them all to be wearing tanko, or solid cuirass armor. This eased the painted as the dry brushing brought out the details. I don't really know how Steve Dean painted the lacing on his - that must've been incredibly time consuming, but it is very impressive.

Here's an angle showing the very nicely sculpted helmets. They are of the Shokukufu, or battering ram, type. Some have the more pronounced beak appearance.

DBA calls the Yamato period Pre-Samurai and breaks them into two separate lists - the early one for the period 500-644AD and the later one 645-900AD. The break is based on the political change in 645AD called the Taika, or Great Change, Reform. Military, there probably was a more gradual change until the next period, the Heian - which is when the Minamoto and Taira rose to prominence.

Just for a size comparison - here is a 28mm T.A.G. Heian Samurai next to them.

Choson Monk and Guerrilla Commanders

These will be generic commanders for the irregular forces - and monks if I ever get some.

They painted up without a fuss mainly due to their simple garb.

And I do still need to run a game with all of these figures.

Choson Irregular Commanders - WIP

These came with the Perry set with the Kwak Chae U figure earlier painted. Figured they might as well be painted up and be used as the command for the militia guys. There was a strong contingent of monks at many of battles, but I haven't painted any up yet. Anyway, here they are after receiving a brushing of Minwax Tudor Satin stain.

And prior to the staining; a nice basic colors block-paint job. The peasant and monk attire make for very quick and easy brushwork. In fact, the majority of Korean troops have a very limited color palette.

HYW French Command Stands

Several command stands for a French Hundred Years War army. The mounted figures are the Bastard of Orleans and La Hire. They are division command stands subordinate to the Joan of Arc army general  previously based. The center stand is an army general stand for use prior to Joan's appearance - as all of the identified figures on the stand were either killed or captured at Agincourt.

A few more shots of the "Agincourt" army command stand.

The Oriflamme standard was downloaded from the excellent Warflags website.

Killed or Captured at Agincourt

Here is the flower of the French nobility that were either killed or captured on Saint Crispin's Day. They are from the Perrys' foot command set. There's actually one more figure in the set, but I didn't paint it up.

They are, from left to right: 1) Jehan le Meingre "Boucicaut", Marshal of France - died in captivity in 1421 at Yorkshire; 2) Charles d'Albret, Constable of France - KIA; 3) Charles of Artois, Count of Eu - released from captivity in 1438, and lived until 1472; 4) Jean, Duke of Bourbon - died in London in 1434; 5) Charles, Duke of Orléans - released in 1440; 6) Guillaume de Martel, bearer of the Oriflamme - KIA; 7) Lord Rambures - KIA.

They'll be based along with mounted figures for command stands.

"Those woods stink of Cossack!"

Okay, that's a pretty overused line, but still a great movie. Anyway, here are the Perry guys next to a Gorgon Ney which was a giveaway at an Adepticon a couple of years ago. My buddy Pat L. (Socal Warhammer) picked one up for me when he was there. Thanks again, Pat.

I couldn't find my tub of plaster which I used for snow on the Ney base. I ended up using baking soda, which I wasn't too happy with. Oh, well, I might end up rebasing them some day anyway.

Only after looking at the photo below, have I realized I missed a portion of the Ney base.

I may end up getting a few more figures to beef up Ney's contingent.

Perry Retreat from Moscow - WIP +1

After taking a break and watching the idiot box for too long, I was motivated to pick up the brush at about the time I should've gone to bed. But, in doing so I managed to finish the Carabinier and Cuirassier. As both are wearing riding cloaks, they weren't too difficult to finish. I wish the Perrys made a Grenadier a Cheval too - they had a really nice white cloak with frogging.

Only the Lancer and Hussar remain to be completed.

Perry Retreat From Moscow - WIP

Just a quick WIP shot of a set of Perry figures that depict various French cavalry on foot during the retreat from Moscow. The two in the front are done. They are both Chasseur a Cheval; the one kneeling is a from a Line regiment and the other one from the Guard. The guys in the rear, still needing work, are a Hussar from the 11th, a Carabinier, a Cuirassier and a Polish Lancer.

Kwak Chae-U - Choson Korean Army General

Another Perry figure for the Choson Korean Army General command stand. This is Kwak Chae-U, a commoner who raised a milita to fight against the invading Japanese during the Imjin War. He actually won the first land action against the invaders at the Battle of Uiryeong. Choson King Soenjo granted him the rank of general for this.

This is another one of the one-piece (rider and horse) castings from the range. I normally prefer separate figures, but this sculpt took to basic painting and Minwax staining well enough. Kwak was noted as wearing red robes and riding a white horse. There is even a movie made about him - which I would like to watch - "The General in Red Robes."

Here he is mounted on a command stand along with General Kwon Yul and their faithful Jindo dog, Changun.

The Kwak figure was the last of the necessary figures for the Imjin War project - still to be gamed.

Samurai Command Stands with Nobori!

Here are the command stands for a Late-Samurai army - they are suitable for Sengoku and Imjin War. The mounted guys were painted some time ago. All are Perry figures except for the Army General who is a Dixon figure. Probably the only time anyone will see the two mixed together. They are from left to right: 1) a Hojo retainer, 2) Kuroda Nagamasa - the Army General, 3) an Ii Clan Red Devil commander - Kimata Morikatsu, and 4) Sakai Tadatsugu.

Historically, these clans never served together - although some may have been present at particular battles, notably Sekigahara and the Siege of Osaka. Nevertheless, they will serve in the same army for our purposes.

Once again, liberal amounts of the fine products from Army Painter have been used to liven up the ground work.

The only other figure that needs to be completed for this project is another Korean commander. The commoner who became a general by his battlefield merit, Kwak Jae U. He'll be added next to the Kwon Yul figure for the Choson Korean Army General command stand.

Samurai Banners - Ready for Basing

So, after meeting my gaming buddy (read gaming enabler), Pat L. (aka Socal Warhammer) at our FLGS, The Game Matrix, I was able to finish up these banner men to complete the command stands of a Samurai army. I should mention that one of the things Pat so kindly gave me was a copy of DBA 2.2 by WADBAG. That is all I can say for now - but something along those lines will follow in the near future. Anyway, back to these Perry figures:

They were fairly easy to paint up - the trickiest part (for me anyway) is painting the lacing on the kasazuri - the plates hanging below the do (cuirass). The lacing is hard to make out - possibly due to the Perry's keeping things to scale. I'd rather they sculpt them larger (or higher) than scale to ease painting. A minor complaint, as they were kind enough to sculpt most of the do in the range without lacing. This is actually accurate for so-called modern armor - armor for the later part of the Sengoku period.

Once their based on command stands, the Samurai army for Hail Caesar will be pretty much completed. Oh, I suppose I need to add lanyards to the two guys with the banners on their backs.

Samurai Banners - WIP

Since the Perry order arrived as expected - about a week and a half from the UK to here in the Pacific NW - I was able to start on the banner men for the Samurai command stands. Four of the tall banners, or nobori, are from one pack and carried by ashigaru. The lone samurai is actually a Kuroda Nagamasa figure which a buddy gave me a long time ago. I clipped off the large helmet crest and also cut his right hand from where it was resting on his hip. His arm was then bent to hold a spare T.A.G. standard, or uma jirushi. His right hand was reformed a bit using Green Stuff.

Left to right, the banners represent the 1) Hojo (practically wiped out by Hideyoshi), 2) a "Five Lucky Colors" banner used by various clans, 3) a generic uma jirushi, 4) the Kuroda, and 5) the Sakai.

Once the guys carrying the banners are painted, they'll be added to the appropriate command stands.

Rebasing, Continued - Mainly Missile Troops

Rebased some of French Hundred Years War crossbowmen and cannons, as well as a couple of Ancient artillery. They were all previously based for WAB. Maximus and his faithful hound will be the commander of a small EIR army - still to be completed.

Finishing these has pretty much cleaned up a lot of loose ends for some armies. In fact, I didn't realize I had enough crossbowmen for the pavises, as I filled the rear infantry ranks of an Early-HRE army with some other crossbowmen and thought I didn't have enough for the French HYW army. The artillery crews were previously on metal washers, but found them fiddly in games, as well as the gun stands having to have a larger footprint to accommodate them.

Anyway, it's halftime for the Superbowl and knowing anything can happen, but the home team, Seahawks, are leading 22 to 0. It would be very nice for them to win - it would be their first ever. GO SEAHAWKS!

Nothing But a Bit More Re-Basing Going On

Nothing much with the tip of a paintbrush going on here - just a bunch of re-basing of various figures onto 40mm square Litko bases. The hardest part was removing the figures from metal washers using an X-Acto knife. Some of the figures, particularly the plastic Warlord Games EIR, were surprisingly well-bonded with super-glue. What was even more surprising was I managed to accomplish all of the removals without serious injury. Only the thumb of the hand which wielded the knife suffered a slight numbness for a while afterwards.

In the foreground are Crusader Saxon Huscarls, followed by a handful of Newline Sea Peoples, and finally Warlord Games EIR - LBMS transfers profusely used throughout. All based primarily for Hail Caesar - with which I've yet to game with any of them. The Saxons had been part of a Norman WAB army as Mercenary Dogs of War, and also later as Vikings in a couple of SAGA games. The EIR were originally based for WAB, but never got around to gaming them. Some of the EIR bases have three figures which allowed the units to be rounded to even numbers of stands. The Sea Peoples will be an additional Small unit for a Trojan army.

I find the multi-figure basing more organized, both for gaming and also storage/transport. I have a couple more re-basing projects which should be completed before an order of Perry Samurai and Choson Koreans arrive. These additional figures will be used for command stands to complete the Imjin War forces.