Tuesday 6 January 2015

From DavidL - 28mm Ikko-Ikki (72 Points)

As promised, here are the foes for my samurai buntai for Ronin, as posted here: the Ikko-Ikki, the sect/movement/uprising that so bedeviled samurai lords of the Sengoku era.


Figures are a mix of Perry and Kingsford. Since this is primarily a band of rabble, there were quite a few more to paint than with the bushi, and even more fabric involved...which meant lots of patterns to hand paint. Nothing for it but to power through, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't relieved to put this project to rest finally.


As with my previous buntai, I mounted the leader figure on a larger base for easy identification. My wife actually designed the list for this buntai, and she made the leader a ronin armed with an arquebus, which gave me the perfect excuse to use this wonderful little Perry tableau of a flunky handing his master a freshly-loaded teppo. I added a pavise screen as well because, hey, it looks cool.


Just as the Matsudaira faction boasted warrior-monk allies, so too do the Ikko-Ikki; in this case, a monk from the Jōgū-ji temple. Japanese monks seemed to have favored two different color palettes with their outfits, so to differentiate this one I painted him in the "not orange" outfit.


I picked up this banner bearer from Kingsford, but ended up doing a scratch-built banner and pole - the original's banner was cast from metal and made the figure too top-heavy, plus the pole bent too easily.


I painted the bearer in the livery of Matsudaira's retainers, thinking he's perhaps a defector. Also, this makes him nicely interchangeable between factions, since, after his victory over the Ikko-Ikki, Matsudaira took this very banner as one of his personal standards! The text is a prayer favored by the Ikko-Ikki: "Renounce this defiled world and attain the Pure Land" (or such is my understanding, not actually knowing any Japanese...).


Next up is a trio of Ikko-Ikki from Kingsford. I love their looted armor, particularly the fancy (and old-fashioned) samurai helmet one of them is sporting. Clearly these guys know how to pick over a battlefield! They put me in mind of Tahei and Matashichi from Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress.


Finally, the peasant mob.


Although I gave them screen-printed fabric designs, I kept things relatively low-key: a rustic palette and simple, repeated designs. I expect these fellows to die with grim regularity, but at least they'll look good doing it.


And that's that! A total of 12 figures gives me a base of 60 points, and my Ronin project is put to rest (for now).

From Curt:As your previous work in this genre these are absolutely fabulous. As you mention in your blog, undertaking the task of painting Samurai figures is equivalent to doing Napoleonics, if not more so. I'm particularly impressed with the various fabric patterns that you've created for this group. They're all very beautiful and look be right out of a period film.  I also like the pavise and the banner bearer and his banner are just brilliant. I'm giving another dozen points for the details and as a congratulations for concluding this project. Well done David!


18 comments:

  1. These look great. It would be a pleasure to play a game with these on the table.

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  2. Simply beautiful work David :)

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  3. Great stuff, Dave, this is a group which showcases the painter's abilities at rendering armour, weapons and textiles, and you've done a brilliant job with all three!

    Well done!

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  4. Great work it's a shame (for us) that you have finished the project

    Ian

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  5. As I watched "Ran" By Akira Kurisawa yesterday I am totally in the mood for seeing more samurai/ronin figures. Excellent job on these. I have the rules but there is a club reluctance to them (they just can't be bothered to paint any hard figures I suspect). These Make me want to though.

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  6. I'm trying so hard not to get into this game and you're not helping David. Super stuff sir!

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  7. Very nice, a great painting work!

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  8. Fantastic stuff! The hand painted fabrics are eye catching and fair play to you for doing that level of painting on the lowest of the warband.

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  9. oh very nice and tempting too...

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  10. Fantastic work on these. Hidden Fortress is a great movie. I thought I read somewhere that those two were the model for R2D2 and C3PO.

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  11. Excellent work! Anything Japanese is a winner for me. I just love these.

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  12. Just wow...seeing these beautiful paint jobs is a depressing reminder of how I fry my circuits any time I even consider this period...great work!

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  13. Absolutely outstanding painting!

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  14. Excellent painting! I love the colors and the fabric, I agree it is a shame you are finished as I enjoy looking at your samurai figures...but then again, is a project ever truely done? ;)

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