Painted Samurai lord from Sept 2017

 This is for you Dean, as I said yours was amazing. Tap here to see Dean’s work

Cheers

Kevin

Yamagata Masakage Cavalry unit for Saga

Okay with CincyCon in just a few days you all know by now that I placed my Saurus Knights on back  burner and I've been working in a chaotic environment the last few days (baby sitting grand kids, a dog, etc.) trying to finish these last couple of Samurai Cavalry for the game I am going to present.

I am leaving tomorrow and I am pleased to annouce that I actually finished them today! Yeah me! Seal coated and all.

I am also showing the figure I presented a few days ago with a finished base. The Samurai Cavalry I chose to paint are part of Yamagata Masakage's clan. Though I had already finished the sashimono's in a cream color thinking I was going to paint them something else. So you will forgive me if they don't show a white mon on a black background. But time was a factor as well as decal choices for mon, so change-o presto I will call it artistic license;)

Here are the photo's:

First up are my boys rocking it in a wild charge (images and sounds in Japanese of Hold the line! Hold the Line!, think of the movie Gladiator)!

Next up a few shots at different angles

...and lastly the figure I showed a few days ago that I was going to use as a proxy figure for a sub general on his finished base.

Off to CincyCon I go, I will try to take some pictures of games down there.

Cheers

Kevin

The left arm pivot maneuver...

Okay my Saurus riders have been set to the side, temporarily only, because my ex-friend from Georgia has quilted me into painting some more Samurai.

It doesn't matter that we are both running a game at a convention next week. It doesn't matter that I have had 6 months to paint what I needed to bring. It doesn't even matter that my ex-friend from Georgia has painted more stuff for our game than I have. I said to myself, he can paint two more figures for me... right? Let's just say he was having none of that nonsense talk from me.

Seriously though, he is not my ex-friend.... yet.... and I have set aside the Saurus riders to paint a few more Samurai for our event. I need another four Cavalry, and a General. Perry Miniatures makes these cool messenger riders that I was going to paint up one day and make up my own house rules to incorporate them into my Saga games. What better moment than now to paint one of them up and call him a General (Warlord in Saga). This will also keep my real nice vignette of one of my Samurai Warlord's from being crushed by players at the convention.

Too much going on with my paint table so I didn't get out my light box to take pictures and the lighting wasn't that great, but it's good enough to give you a quick peek at what I came up with for one of my Warlords that should be pretty durable in unknown hands.

Well that's it for now, some flocking and four riders too paint for my Cav unit (I painted the horses up today as well). 

Cheers

Kevin

Samurai Throw down (Saga gaming)

As I mentioned in another post (Old Geezer Saga Club day), last weekend (Sept 16th) we had a mini Saga Tournament. The very next day my good friend Skip and I played Saga Samurai all day. Skip and I have been working on the Armies these past few months to get ready for this special day of gaming just between us. In past days we have played Samurai DBA and the sort, along with Saki and then having something sushi to eat. I mean if your going to game Samurai you gotta go all in right!

Well this day was planned no different. We were to game then go to one of my favorite places that just happens to be called the "Sushi House". It's all about theme;)

So while we started painting our armies we based our building of them off a site called kurpfalz-feldherren a website in Germany that a fellow put together with what looked like some cool battle boards. I had my very good friend in the UK (he's German working there) translate them for me and off we were to the races. We found the boards to be a good starting point, and a few translation problems that I simply used commonsense to overcome, but just as a disclaimer these boards aren't necessarily balanced and both Skip and I already are going to modify some of the abilities to make them give more of a period feel (1540 on wards).

Now I wanted to do the Takeda board he had designed but I was unable to get the Cavalry figures I wanted in time to be able to get project done on time. So I used his vanilla Samurai board, while my friend did his Oda battle board. Here are some photos of the two boards we used (remember we plan on making some minor changes to them after having seen how they played).

Skip was having some special decals made up for us to place on blank white dice, but we didn't get it done in time so I had to use the number symbols. These will change once we complete the dice project, which I understand Skip finished just yesterday. So when I get the images I will be able to use my art program to plug them in instead of these numbers. For those of you who are now Saga players, these battle boards are used to give your troops orders in a you go, I go format. You generate so many Saga dice but can not roll more than six dice to place on your board to start. Special abilities will let you roll more but you can never have more than eight. So I hope that helps you when you look at the Battle Boards above.

So our very first battle was fought using the scenario "Battle at the Ford". This was selected because of my interest in Takea's battles at Kawanakajima which I have included a link for your further reading pleasure.

Our forces selected where as follows:

Kevin's vanilla Samurai
Warlord
1 X Samurai point (4 X Hearthguard models mounted as one unit)
5 X Ashigaru/Ronin points (40 X Warriors made into five units of 8 models each armed as follows 2 X Yari, 2 X Bow, 1 X Teppo (Arquebus).

Skip's Oda
1 X Warlord
1 X Samurai points (4 X Hearthguard models made into 1 unit)
5 X Ashigaru/Ronin (40 X Warriors made into five units of 8 models each armed as follows 3 X mixed weapons, 1 X Bow, and 1 X Teppo (Arquebus)

At the Ford closet to Skip's Oda he placed 2 X mixed weapons of Ashigaru, 1 X bow Ashigaru, 1 X Samurai, and his Warlord. At the Ford furthest he placed his Teppo and his other mixed weapon unit.

At the Ford location furthest from Skip, closer to me I placed a unit of Yari, Teppo, and bowmen. At the Ford further from me/closer to Skip I placed my Warlord, Yari, bowmen, and my mounted Hearthguard.

[And here is the Grand view of the entire battlefield below.]

The game began with Skip pushing across across the Ford on his right and taking a defensive stance at the Ford to his left. On my turn of one I pushed across the Ford to my right and got right into his face so I can bring the rest of my troops across and advanced to meet him on my left.

[See below with camera on my side of the field facing Skip's Oda]

On my turn of two I popped his Ashigaru mixed weapon unit back across the ford and tried shooting down his bowmen that where now pinned with my bowmen with no success. Throughout this entire game Skip rolled very well for his saves and hits, and of course mine were quite the opposite. Using up most of my command dice to do this my poor Teppo unit on my right stayed well back from where it was truly needed.

[Situation at end of two]

From here on out, it was simply a battle of attrition. Skip's Oda Battle Board has some great abilities (kind of like Byzantine Battle Board) and he was able to always out number me in dice and I basically was attrition-ed done to make it a mute point to continue. Though it was frustrating for me, I still had fun. So it was on to our second battle!

For this battle we played "Champions of God", and I thought this was a good scenario to follow ford as instead of two condensed avenues of approach, you could spread the field.

The order of battle was the same except for Skip changing out one unit of Ashigaru mixed weapon unit of 8 figures for another point of Samurai (hearthguard) and combining it with his other point to have an eight man Samurai unit. 

[Below a view of the setup]

As you can see Skip deployed his Teppo, and Bow unit in the center, and his Ashigaru mixed weapons units and Samurai on the flanks. He then promptly moved up his bow unit in range of all three of my missile troops and I promptly shot them to pieces. This was an EXCELLENT start for me! I started to advance on my left flank with the idea of refusing my right but I didn't have quite enough Saga die and he walked into my bow armed unit on my right flank in the woods with his Samurai and with the support of his Ashigaru mixed weapon unit wiped them out. He then executed a skillful retreat on his right as I pressed him with my left.

[Below the situation as described above]

Boy I thought to myself I have him in my pocket now and then...... I waited one turn to bring up the rest of my troops thinking I could execute a combined coup de gras. He jumped into that rocky ground you see right behind his troops thus giving them hardcover and the time he needed to untangle his Samurai in the woods behind my lines to bring them back to support his other troops. 

Once more Skip had the luck of the Irish with him and the bastard (love intended) isn't even Irish!!!! His skillful tossing of the dice and my waiting one turn to long, was my undoing. 

Just a little frustrating, but my own fault, but again it was still a blast. Plus it helped Skip drive 13 hours back to his home in Georgia. When you drive that long with a smile on your face, I hope it hurts to do so now Skip!!!!

Afterwards we had a nice dinner, talked about our glories and defeats at the Saga table, but more importantly we spent time together as friends.

Cheers all

Kevin

Samurai Saga warband complete!

Today I finished my last group of Ashigaru archers for my 6 point Samurai Saga list. Just in time for my friend coming up from Georgia to game with me this weekend, though I do have some other units I need to add to give me some different options, it's good enough to hit the table.

Saturday I am running a local six player Saga tournament at my home, and then on Sunday I will be gaming one on one with my long time friend and his Samurai warband he just recently completed as well. I of course will try and post an AAR of all the action later in the following week.

Here are a couple of pictures of the two 8 man warrior units that complete the basic building blocks of the army.

[Above the first of two units]

[Above the second of two units]

As always thanks for looking.

Cheers

Kevin

KATO KIYOMASA: Samurai Warlord unit for Saga

I selected the Perry miniatures model Kato Kiyomasa as my Warlord and although he has nothing to do with my Takeda list (Takeda figure was out of stock) I love the giant hat and decided to use him. Another reason I picked him is because he was a pretty awesome General and soldier during Hideyoshi ill-fated Imjin War.

William Scott Wilson describes Katō Kiyomasa thus: "He was a military man first and last, outlawing even the recitation of poetry, putting the martial arts above all else. His precepts show the single-mindedness and Spartan attitudes of the man, [they] demonstrate emphatically that the warrior's first duty in the early 17th century was simply to 'grasp the sword and die'. Contemporary accounts of Katō describe him as awe-inspiring, yet not unfriendly, and a natural leader of men."

Nuff said, he was one bad ass dude, so I hope I did him justice with my latest work.

Skip you might as well throw in the towel now because....

Kato is so deadly in fact, that his enemies would be blind from overexposure to pure awesomeness!!!!

Cheers

Kevin

KOSAKA MASANOBU retainers, a mounted Samurai unit for Saga

Kosaka was known as the "Nige Danjo" (literally, the fleeing Danjo (Danjo stands for a formal title, Danjochu)), because of his cautious commanding and skillful retreats.

Hero of the fourth "Battle of Kawanakajima" as the general in command of Kaizu castle, Kosaka played an important role in this battle. He informed Takeda via signal fires of the movements of Uesugi Kenshin's army as it approached, and then led the sneak attack up the mountain Saijoyama with 8,000 of Takeda's men in order to drive Uesugi's men down to the plain where they could be surprised by Takeda's army. Even though the tactic failed, Kosaka led his men back down the hill, attacking Uesugi's army from the rear, turning the tide of the battle.

So we come to my little elite unit (hearth guard in Saga) I've painted up for my Saga warband. September 16th I will be meeting my nemesis in the field (he is bringing an Oda Nobunaga list) to battle against what was supposed to be my Takeda list. Unfortunately my other mounted Samurai that I needed are on back order so I will have to do a vanilla list (very sad face here). But it is more important to cross swords with my long time friend as we only get to see each other a couple of times a year. In the past when we had 15mm Samurai DBA armies we would drink Saki, and eat sushi. A tradition that I intend to keep going. It will be glorious and songs will be sung about our great adventures long after we have left this earth...... okay probably not, but one can dream;)

So here is my four man Elite/hearth guard mounted Samurai unit, miniatures by Perry.

I use Crystal Clear to coat my miniatures. It doesn't yellow with age and it's like nail polish sealer in that it's not easy to scratch the paint on these boys. To take the shine off I use Testor's Dulcote. It's a new formula these past few years so doesn't give them a complete flat finish look, but still I like the result. Besides they're toys after all so a little shine makes you think this;)

As always thanks for looking

Cheers

Kevin

Ashigaru Teppo unit for TSUCHIYA MASATSUGU

Well I am on a roll. Painted more figures in this last month than I have for the whole year. That's not saying much, but at least I am painting. I am not sure which is harder, Highlanders or Samurai. Tartans drive me crazy, and Samurai are so busy. I think I prefer Samurai over Highlanders, but in either case they take me a loooonnnnggg time to paint. But I am having fun with the Samurai right now and that's all that matters.

I've got three complete units for my Saga Warband. I have started in on painting a unit of Cavalry, and my Warlord. If I get those done I will have a 4 point and very playable Warband. My goal is to paint two more units (at least) so I can have a 6 point unit to face my nemesis from the South, the dreaded Torok the Terrible, in September. I think I just might have enough gas to see it through. We will see.

Here are a few snaps of my latest unit, an Ashigaru Teppo (Arquebus) unit flying Masatsugu colors.

....and below the unit together, ready on the firing line!!!

Thanks for looking...

Cheers

Kevin

DATE MASAMUNE Promo figure disaster....

Had a nervous breakdown yesterday. Got a promo figure with a magazine of Date Masamune. I was excited. Then.....

As I was mounting the nice little fellow an ankle broke off. No problem I says to myself, I'll glue ankle to base then Warlord onto that. It worked but....

As I assembled a banner man to put on the Warlord base, Date kept bending this way and that, waaaayyyy to easily. I kept saying to myself this is going to work, but as I struggled to get banner man on base it dawned on me that somebody would pick up my figure, innocently, and after all the time I spent painting it, it would break off. Soooo...... 

I ripped the cheap piece of crap off the base, made with too much lead in it (or whatever), and threw it away. I was steamed to say the least! I then tried to make my own plastic one (from Wargames Factory plastic set), became frustrated, and so gave up for the day. So I dug out the POS out of garbage to maybe one day make a fishing lure out of it (also because I felt really guilty about doing such a thing). 

[Exhibit A, POS material, but nice sculpt]

Then today happened.....

Good night sleep, a tasty breakfast, and I was off to the hobby room to see if I could make this right. Digging through my wargames factory plastic samurai kit I slowly started pulling out pieces I was going to use to assemble my new Date figure. Here is a picture of what his helmet looks like.

So with this in mind, I grabbed some plastic strut and glued on a very small piece to the front of the helmet I had chosen. When it had dried I carefully sanded it down a bit and then glued on the very cool half crescent of whatever that big ole thing is supposed to be. I used the lead piece that came with the promo figure as the plastic kit has nothing like this in it. 

I am very happy with how it turned out, and I have him in a much more dynamic action pose. "Forward you rogues! Do you want to live forever!".... oh wait I think that was Fredrick the Great that said that... anyways here is what I came up with. Hope you like it.

Cheers
Kevin