Sunday, January 22, 2017

'East' from GregB: Mounted Samurai Warrior



For my submission to the "East" theme category, I decided to look into my pile of regretted purchased (which, regrettably, is kind of large).  Prime among that sorry segment of the hoard are a few packages of Samurai stuff from the Perry's mind-blowing 28mm range of Samurai metals.  I thought a Samurai, fabled warrior of Japan, would make a fitting submission for the "East" theme.


These figures have been sitting around my basement for years. At the time I ordered them, I had thoughts of maybe doing Lord-of-the-Rings-rules-style skirmishes.   Samurai are amazing, and those games would be a lot of fun.  Unique as well, as nobody in our group does this period or setting.


But I did not find Samurai easy to paint, and they were even harder to research, so I have ignored the figures and they sit unpainted and unassembled in my pile of shame.  I painted one figure years ago in a prior Challenge (veterans of the Challenge may recall the year of the '47 Ronin' for the Curtgeld) and I never wanted to paint another one.  But part of the fun of the AHPC is to try and push your boundaries a bit, so I thought I would try again.  This theme submission was the perfect chance to experiment a bit.


This Samurai was not much easier to paint...the sculpting is amazing, I love the Perry's work, but the bottom line is that I was just not too sure what I was doing...so I squinted a lot at some photos on line, and gave it my best shot. At one point I wanted to just throw the damn thing into the nearby Red River, but I'm glad now that he is finished that I ignored my inner-juvenile frustrations.  He looks pretty scary on the horse, ready cut someone down to size.  Damn, it would be fun to game this stuff.

This was an interesting diversion - but who knows, maybe I can at least finish the other two Samurai from the package as part of this Challenge? We'll see..


23 comments:

  1. Frustrating it may have been but that is gorgeous work Greg! Really very impressive. I think I'm going to have to get some of those figures for myself

    Might I suggest you grab Osprey's Ronin rules? Very easy to play, fun and only small factions. With less than 10 figs required per see, you might some takers at the club.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hard to paint for sure, and then add a horse to it? :-) lovely work though Greg! I am with Paul on this one, do up about 10 modles and we can do some Ronin or Daisho, Mike Steve Dave and I all have armies (gangs) for it already.

    ReplyDelete
  3. A real work of art, Greg, extremely impressive stuff!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Beautiful work Greg :)

    *fellow Brush Ronin from AHPC3

    ReplyDelete
  5. Really nice looking warrior. Great colour choice that makes him look more brutal. cheers

    ReplyDelete
  6. Absolutely lovely work, my friend.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Yes, I know the Samurai struggle: it's the main reason I abandonned Clan Wars, painting hundreds of Samurai is the worst.

    But you did a great job on him, love the pants pattern and both the horse and the basing compliments the piece perfectly

    ReplyDelete
  8. Well you know that after doing so well on this one, you will have to finish the others in your pile right? :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think you are correct Sander...if I don't, I might face some seriously bad miniature painting karma...

      Delete
    2. Just think, Greg, if you paint two more it'll be three which means you'll only need FOUR more for "The Seven Samurai"! Then you'll just need a couple more and a bucket of Bushi for the bad guys! ;)

      Delete
  9. Well I think you did a very good job Greg!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Nice painting - when you have some Perry Samurai you can appreciate the detail of your painting. Love the basing to .....

    ReplyDelete
  11. I did some curtgeld samurai and I swore I would never do more, but I am glad you stuck with yours, he is lovely. The contrast between the dark of the armour and the lush basing works really well. Great casting, well painted.

    ReplyDelete
  12. He looks magnificent, Greg. The dark armor suits him well and the lacing pops perfectly on it!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Magnificent work Greg! I'm really glad you didn't give in to the desire to just thrwing him into the river. The black of his armour looks ace and somehow I can imagine him scaling some wall or pagoda roof in a stealthy night attack... well, without all the armour and banner stuff that is.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Very well done Greg. I hope you decide to churn out more samurai at some point.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I am also familiar with the Japanese Samurai painting nightmare. But I am so glad you kept going, because he's wonderful.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Your hard work paid off on this for sure!

    ReplyDelete