Sunday, January 22, 2017

'East' from EvanH: Samurai Mouseling

After my last major stuff-up with Bonus Rounds, I wasn't going to get caught out this time! Here is my submission for the theme 'East'. On time, please note, Mr Campbell!

As usual, when I was considering the theme of the Round, I tried to find a new angle from which to approach it. Unfortunately, there was nothing in the lead pile which caught my fancy, at least until I happened upon a couple of blisters of Reaper Bones Mouselings. They're ostensibly part of Reaper's 25mm Fantasy range, but they're actually much smaller, typically topping out around 18mm.

These cute little figs portray anthropomorphic mice dressed up as various fantasy or storybook types, from assassins and thieves to kings and druids. And one contained a Sorcerer and a Samurai, this last being the ideal fig for a quick entry in the 'East' Round.



Here he is, waiting by a roadside stone lantern - who or what is he waiting for?



I could have just stuck him on a base with some static grass, but I wanted to splash out a little for the Bonus round. I sculpted the lantern from Green Stuff to give the vignette a bit of an old timey feudal period look. Let's be charitable and call it 'rustic'. As well as the usual drybrushed grey stone effect, I also added a green wash to some areas to simulate moss growing on the stonework.

Cobblestone textured paper was added to the 40mm plastic base for the road, while the roadside was built up with Vallejo White Pumice. Tufts are by Tajima1.



He's a very cute little guy - I'll probably paint up a few more of them for the grandkids just as soon as they're old enough not to stick them straight in their mouths!



I added a mon to the back of his livery to give the model a bit of interest value from all angles. Not quite as perfect as I would have liked, but good enough.

That's all for now - stay tuned!

Ev

22 comments:

  1. A lovely and well executed little vignette Evan!

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  2. Such a cool little fig, love it

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  3. A fun little figure and well-painted Evan :)

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  4. Great fun this entry Evan, and top notch paintwork as well!

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  5. Squeak squeak! That means "nice work" in mouse!

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  6. SO full of character and whimsy. The basing is quite lovely. Ronin cats beware!

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  7. Hahaha another Samurai rodent in the Bonus round (I painted a Guinea Pig), that's awesome! He's super cute.

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  8. I did one of these guys a few years ago. Very well done.

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  9. Very, very charming, Mr Hughes. I love the lantern and painted cobblestones (done that a few times myself - tedious work).

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  10. I like your "rustic" stage dressing almost as much as your mousling, Evan!
    Lovely colors you picked for him too!

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  11. A very characterful entry! Well done!

    Christopher

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  12. Thanks guys - glad you like Mousashi (apologies to SteveM!)
    ; )
    At least I turned up for this one!

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  13. Very nice mouselings! Great painting and the basing is just as effective in setting the scene.

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  14. Very nicely done. A cute little mouseling, and some very nice basework.

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