Statues!

Hi all

another Bushido post, although these statues could be used in a number of settings.  Although I have built a couple of boards for Bushido and have two more planned (when I can find the time...) I have very little scatter terrain to decorate them and for those sneaky ninjas to duck lurk behind.

When I was at Broadside earlier this year I managed to grab a couple of "Ainsty's" blisters from Col. Bills, I had no specific use for them but they were clearly oriental in origin and would fit my Bushido collection somewhere.  Due to painting commitments and other projects they slipped further and further down the painting queue until they dropped off and ended up in my storage (for shame!).

Anyhoo, I was having a root around the other day, thinking about the next board that I'm going to plan when I stumbled across them again and here they are.

As you can see I got the "Buddha Statue" which I think was £4 and the "Temple Dogs" which were £6 for a pack of two.  After giving them a quick scrub, I sprayed them with a cheap grey primer.  I then liberally coated them with Vallejo "Medium Sea Grey" before washing them first in a very, very watered GW "Nihilakh Oxide" and then a generous coat of Army Painter "Strong Tone".  I then gave then a drybrush of the base coat.

I wanted the Temple Dogs to have the suggestion that they could animate in the manner of the Oki Shisha.  This is the blurb from the GCT website,  there is a use for Oki Shisha in Bushido and they can be a part of the Temple of Ro-Kan faction....

The defence of the oldest temples and most sacred shrines is often entrusted to the great Oki Shisa. Mountains of ever watchful stone, still and silent for decades but always ready. None know how many Oki Shisa there are but these holy wardens are the bane of those who would attempt to manipulate their Ki against the Temple or hold sway over the land. The enchantments that gift the Shisa protection also imbue the stone with a keenness akin to a Masamune blade.

With that in mind I painted the eyes of the statues with GW "Teclis Blue" and highlighted with GW "Lothern Blue" and then a further pure white highlight. However I wanted to make them look like they were glowing so I tried my hand at light sourcing again.  Using extremely watered down paint consisting of a mixture of the two blue colours I built up some very thin layers around the upper most surfaces that would be hit by the light of the glowing eyes.  As light travels in straight lines in meant that any surface that was tucked away would not be glazed (if that makes sense?).  Any mistakes were quickly corrected when I applied the finer highlights on the stone faces with a lightened base colour.

not a great photo but it should show the glowing eyes

Finally I added some homemade moss which consists of PVA mixed with flock and green ink and brushed onto the model

Now I know that they aren't made up of the same sandstone that my Temple board consists of but I wanted these to fit into multiple settings, so I stuck to the more traditional greyish look (sorry Zab)

 Hope you enjoy
dGG

because i'm a good guy...

Hi all

on my last post I said "you wouldn't want a picture of  ALL my Bushido collection to date....would you?"

It would appear that the majority of you would, those who regularly comment on this blog anyway.  So for them and as I'm a team player I've tried my best to get pictures of literally everything that I have finished for this awesome game.

my Yagura, dojo, 8" control zone, bamboo grove, Prefecture of Ryu faction

my buddha shrine, shinto shrine, 4" control zone and multi-faction models 

dice trays and faction dice, homemade status tokens and card box

my temple board and Temple of Ro-Kan faction

all of my Bushido minis together

There are some works in progress and my next post will show a few new things that i'm working on and i'm scheduled to face off against Damon next week for my first competitive games, so expect an AAR in the near(ish) future - these things take time to write up.  Friday of course is the concluding part of our "Tale of 4 Gamers" at least for the painting part, again there will be AAR's to follow and all of that stuff.

I'll leave you with a quick video of the collection in it's entirety (if it works, it didn't in the preview) you won't need sound as I do not talk at all. I hope this is satisfactory to those who wanted to see the lot....

But for now -
hope you enjoy!

dGG

More temple warriors

hi all

I promise that the next post on Wednesday will be part one of a Bushido AAR, but I still have models waiting for review for Bushido including some on order with Wayland Games which should round out both of my current factions nicely.  So if you're waiting for me to get back to the zombie wargaming you'll have to wait a bit longer i'm afraid. If you're waiting for or wondering why there is very little Warhammer wargaming despite the title of this blog, then i'm afraid you'll be waiting even longer as that has slipped right down the pecking order.....

so to the post then I'm going to review some of the recent additions to da Grotto, Aiko and her Guardian are some of my favourite models for Bushido - right up there with Mizuchi. I love the background for this little lady and her very protective simian. 

The Temple of Ro-Kan gain some real punching power, the mighty fists of a Gorilla. Fiercely protective of Aiko, the Gorilla is a fearsome opponent at the best of times, when he is imbued by Aiko’s blessing he becomes almost invincible

There is a cracking story that provides an excellent background for this pairing on the GCT website and I'm not sure I would be allowed to replicate it here so I have attached a link for you to the website here. In fact all of the stories give a good insight into the game and are well worth a read (here's a link) 

With the Guardian I googled silverbacks in order to try and replicate the colours and patterns of gorillas.  Although I have seen many gorillas as I'm lucky enough to live close to two wildlife parks with amazing facilities and conservation efforts for Lowland Gorillas I 'd forgotten that they were not just black and silver and that often they had brown patches mostly around their foreheads/crowns but some on their flanks.  For my beast I stuck with just the forehead and crown to break up the rest, as I wanted him to be a big Alpha he had a liberal covering of silver from shoulder to thighs.  

Aiko was dressed in initiate robes for the Temple and as part of my faction she had the purple inititate's stripe to her traditional orange.

As for playing these guys, it really is a case of protecting Aiko at all times so she can control the big beast and blessing him with her Ki feat either increasing his strength or armour and then healing any wounds post fight.  The beast will wade in and just smash up most opponents enhanced by her blessing and maybe a card or two.

Also high kicking their way into da Grotto are a pair of young monks. First up we have Riku...

A favourite of the temple elders and new initiates alike, Riku personifies what it means to be a Monk. His mastery over water allows him to achieve awe inspiring feats on the battlefield, creating walls of water out of the very air to hinder his opponents

Hotaru thanks the Kami’s for guiding her to the Temple of Ro-Kan and Master Ekusa. She has learned to contain her powers but still fears unleashing her full potential. Hotaru’s desire to control her innate abilities provides little comfort for opponents left ablaze by her fiery attacks. The Temple have found a welcome addition to their order in Hotaru.



Riku was a joy to paint, really enjoyed the figure and the same with Hotaru, I had a chance to practice my elemental paint palette.  i do struggle a little painting water effects as I tend to go a little bit too blue! but this water is being dynamically drawn from the air using a Ki feat so wasn't going to be anything other than pure water! i did try to add some greeny blue tones but they suffered in the poor photography.  I particularly enjoyed painting Hotaru's flames with blending of tones from Vallejo light sand up to orange brown, i wanted the source of ignition to be almost pure white with the ferocity of Hotaru's "flame on" attack.  Both monks get either white stripes or a white sash to indicate their status in the order.


hope you enjoy

dGG

97:60 (-37)

figs bought:painted (difference)

Multi-faction fighters

hi all  (apologies for the longish post)

In Bushido like all other Wargames, miniatures fall into certain factions. As gamers we choose a faction based on the look of the models, the style of play and/or the history and mysticism that surrounds it.  For Bushido I love the idea of high kicking, mystic monks fighting for balance and harmony AND samurai and high Japanese society, hence my choice of factions - Temple of Ro-Kan and Prefecture of Ryu. I also love ninjas so I guess at some point I'll be looking at Kage Kaze at some point in the future (probably the end of this year), oh and pirates so Jung as well.....ooh demons and zombies - Savage Wave and Yurei.....erm 

But there are some models that cross the faction lines and can actually fight for several different factions (the rascals!) although by doing so their rules change ever so slightly.  I like this as it allows the gamer to dip their toe into another faction and see how it plays, it offers a player different options and tactics not normally associated with their chosen faction and it presents different painting challenges for those who like that part of the hobby (there's only so many orange robes a guy can paint ya know!)

For me I went out and splashed the cash at Salute on these guys...

First up we have "The Grey Pilgrim" there is no blurb for her from the GCT studios so my thoughts are that she is a messenger of Raijin - the God of Thunder, with her lightning bolt ranged attack and "electrify" Ki feat. She is classed as a "Seshin no goei" who were a group of highly skilled warrior women and her stat line and traits reflect that.  Pilgrim can fight for either my Temple faction or my Prefecture faction so was a total must have.

Next we have "Bikou", She was a special character bought at Salute and produced for the show. She is my first ninja and looks bloody awesome!! Armed with her Kasari she trips and slows her opponents while striking from the shadows. There are two versions of her and as I said I have the 2016 version which is great, I might at some point find the other version too as I like it so much.  This is her blurb from the Prefecture faction entry.

 Bikou is a highly trained ninja. Skilled in the arts of stealth and distraction she strives to strike where her enemies least expect her.

but over Salute, GCT revealed Bikou to be a double agent see the revised blurb.

Her true affiliation is now revealed, an agent of the Kage Kaze Zoku right in the heart of the Prefecture, her true mission unclear, but it only goes to show the ninja can infiltrate anywhere. A ghost and skilled assassin, almost impossible to pin down in melee she is as elusive as the morning fog, as deadly as the Takifugi, her enemies can never know when or where she will strike. The danger only increased further as part of a Shadow Wind death squad.

so there we have it Bikou can be played as part of the Prefecture and as Kage Kaze operative which will probably be my next faction.

Next up is "the Golden Sentinel".  This guy just looks the business, tough and competent - which he most certainly is.  He will act as bodyguard to some of my weaker but important characters that influence the game without getting into combat, acting as their sword and shield. He is very useful as he can fight for Temple, Prefecture as well as Ito which I don't have or plan to have...... just yet :-)

The Golden Sentinels are the bodyguards of the Emperor’s clan, guarding the family on their travels, in their homes and in court. They also serve as escorts to his Teishin as they journey his Empire spreading his holy word. If the Teishin of the Imperial court are the Emperors voice in distant more barbaric lands, then the Golden Sentinels serve as his shield, all proven warriors, sworn to protect their charges with their lives if needed.

Lastly we have "the Kappa"  Again GCT haven't put out any blurb regarding this fellow but he looks to be based on the Japanese Yokai bearing the same name.  Kappa translates as "River Child" and is a Suijin or water deity. In folklore there are several conflicting ideas about the level of malevolence that the Kappa possess, ranging from the trickster to rapist and murderer.  Because of this GCT have opened Kappa up and he is available to all factions in the game and therefore ideal for me! There are more than eighty other names associated with the Kappa  in different regions, including kawappa,  gawappa,  kōgo,  mizushi,  mizuchi, enkō,  kawaso,  suitengu and dangame. Along with the oni and the tengu, the kappa is among the best-known yōkai in Japan. Important to note is that the name "kappa" is not the official name for the creature or even the most commonly used name so much as its the name most well known outside of Japan.

All of the above I painted more or less in line with how the Studio had them depicted (although not to that standard obviously) with only a few little deviations to tie them into my factions, hence the Grey Pilgrim has an orange sash as well as a blue stripe to her robe, also encouraged by some of the messages I received regarding kanji on Genji's yari, i replicated it on hers albeit with the kanji for lightning!  Bikou was a fairly neutral black combo as befits a ninja, there was an issue with a missing part - the ribbon sash flowing at the back of the miniature but a quick email to GCT and with some excellent customer service, quickly dispatched it out to me.  With the Golden Sentinel and Kappa I left the deviations out as they had to cover the most factions....

Another little side project that I've been working on is a safe place to roll some dice, i've been getting fed up with losing dice off the table, cocked dice and all the other misfortunes you can have and after seeing Bryan's (of Vampifan fame) excellent Goki Wooden dice plate earlier on this year, which you can see here, i decided to do something about it.  The project got sidelined with other priorities coming to the fore including my obsession with Bushido, but with another uni deadline coming up my procrastination skills rose to the fore and the dice plate became a distraction....

So with that in mind I cast about for a suitable vessel when I found the perfect thing.  A large (empty) coffee container i found lurking in my loft that I had chucked up there thinking one day it might come in useful (i don't even drink coffee, i think i'm part womble....lol). Now in Bushido both opponents roll dice at the same time, so as the container is so big, i thought why not do two!

I used gaffer tape to mark a straight edge around the circumference at the top and the bottom of the container and to provide an extra level of strength to the cardboard body.

Obviously one end had a bottom already but for the other I had to cut a bottom out of a piece of cereal box. Which I then gaffer taped in place using the lip of the top of the container to hold the card in place.  I also cut a circle of my favourite foam which is nice and soft and will absorb some of the energy of the rolling dice and prevent them from bouncing out ready to line the bottom of the trays.

Ok, so I can't just leave it all rough and ready like that, although it will certainly do the job I do prefer to have things a little neater.

Using a stone effect spray I had over from a different project, I gave the trays a coat inside and out and sealed it with a sealing spray I had over from my Temple project.

So we have the tray, I could just add the foam to line the bottom and it being black it would look neat and tidy but i took it a step further...

and added a grass mat that I've had lying around for years and have been chopping up for various projects including my terrain boards for ATZ and Bolt Action.  This looks aesthetically pleasing and has the added benefit of adding that extra energy absorbing power!

The finished pair...

and with my Bushido dice in play. So there we have it a pair of dice trays ready for my first games. Thats all for now....

hope you enjoy
dGG

61:56 (-5)

figs bought:painted (difference)