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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 11:12:33 GMT
This one is a long term ongoing subject for me. I want to create units for RONIN and other SAMURAI rule sets but as normal nothing out there really suitable so it's back to converting. Converting figures of anything into SAMURAI either armoured or in civilian is a bit more of a modelling project as there is so many unique items to produce, however there is some standardisation of weapons and armour pieces which could be made separately to fit onto figures later, so it's not completely daunting a prospect.
So I started of with the basic SAMURAI in civilian clothes as seen on the numerous Japanese movies ,my thinking being if I duplicate the figure with a new head I could make a unit/group that looked diverse enough to pass muster. Of course it won't work out that way as I'll want to change things up right away for variety Here is an older Samurai with classic haircut wearing the 'HAKAMA' ,over trousers used to protect clothing form wear and tear when travelling. They look quite baggy but studying many movie still and illustrations I would say that the bulk is about right. This is how I created the figure and the pieces of other figures I used.
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 11:17:39 GMT
With some success here and the start of a SAMURAI/RONIN unit I continued on with the start of another unit SOHEI MONKS ! I came across the illustrations in an OSPREY book and liked what I saw but how to create all the robes and layers took some thinking through, I managed BUT I don't think I'd like to make more than a units worth , 8 figures as it would become a chore and so much putty!! Using the same process to show the progression of the build here is what I used to create this fighting Monk.
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 11:33:42 GMT
Two units started but a long way!!! to go to get them ready for any kind of a game. Next I thought that uniformed ASHIGARU ,the standard foot soldier in light armour, and probably the most iconic 'look' in any of the big battle scenes of the SAMURAI movies should be attempted. This conversion takes more pieces that have to be created and duplicated to give that standardisation required for the body armour and 'jingasu' hat. I checked through the entire AIP range of sets and decided on the EGYPTIAN INFANTRY as the base figure, the set has the 'standard' poses required to make the three troop types - YARI (Spear), YUMI (Bow) and ARQUEBUS (gun) plus no equipment to remove and useful heads for other conversions down the line. I converted a AIP Boxer head into the slightly wider Japanese version of the war hat and made a duplicate of it. I then cloned parts from some of the TECHNOLOG Armoured SAMURAI figures, to save time. Mainly the armour skirt which is required on every man, 6 pieces for each figure. My first efforts in producing the body armour isn't really successful as it will take quite a while and putty to get to a standard that will satisfy me, so I have re-thought the whole problem to make it quicker, but I'll show you the initial idea first as I have the pics available.
I decided to give the figure a solid colour spray just to unify the model and see what was missing, if anything or what needed to be altered. The spear is simply a cut down bamboo skewer which slides into the hands. I decided that a loose spear will make it easier for replacing any damaged ones and for storage. Also many were quite long like ECW pikes so this means if I want that longer length I just give the figure a longer skewer. The overall appearance seems O.K. and I think a line of these guys with some head variation should work quite well.
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 11:44:08 GMT
The bulk of the ASHIGARU were spear armed and apart from this lunging pose the EGYPTIAN set has a nice charging and standing ready pose that work for moving and static blocks. The butting with rifle pose should work for bowmen and the standing and kneeling firing will do for the ARQUEBUS.
Here is a more simplified version of doing the armour. As you can see the 6 piece armour skirt is made of separate pieces, but the breast plate is still too complicated. I'll choose the simplified plain front version which should be much quicker to produce. The uniformed 'look' is beginning to take shape and a group of these guys will give the appearance I want and by painting them in different colours I can have many units. The Armour was made in BLACK, BROWN and RED and the cloth items can be any colour so doing several units just with different coloured clothes works.
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 12:02:21 GMT
Apart from the figures the other thing that has to be thought about is scenery appropriate for Japan. There are a few kits available by a company called AOSHIMA that were produced a few years ago but they are not easy to find however they do have many of the small accessory pieces that would work as street furniture on a board, they were 1/35th scale and do include many figures. I prefer 1/32 myself which has given me more work!! If I stuck with the smaller scale even TAMIYA has re-issued their 47 RONIN sets, which are convertible into different poses. I like to make life difficult So on the scenery front I found out that PLAYMOBIL did an Asian Zoo which included a perfectly scaled TORII GATE, the entrance to every town and village and a requirement on any game board. Then I discovered that plastic BONSAI trees were available from EBAY, that are a perfect fit. They come in a small base dish but when removed and have a actual flat base added work out just fine. Here they are for scale.
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Post by tradgardmastre on Jun 25, 2019 13:31:11 GMT
Fascinating and inspirational conversion work. I really look forward to seeing more.
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Post by gonefishing on Jun 25, 2019 13:46:40 GMT
You are highly talented. I'd have neither the patience nor the ability (!) to do things like that. Please keep us posted on your future progress! (As an aside, it's always surprised me there aren't more samurai-themed figures in 1/32. There is the small set by Tehnolog, some metals by Irregular and a few other options, but it still feels like rather unexplored territory. Odd.)
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 15:50:44 GMT
Thanks guys for your comments. Over the years there have been many SAMURAI figure made but naturally mainly only offered in Japan. The most recent being the collectable SHINSENGUMI range for the Boshin War by the FURUTA company. Unfortunately as collectables they don't stay on the market for long and these that do rise in price as stocks get low. A single figure pack with a figure in the light blue robe sold on Ebay when thye first came out for $ 1.99 plus shipping, now if they are listed at all you are looking at $ 14.99 plus shipping. There have been GASHAPON machine egg figures available too but only at the famous castles around Japan in their souviner shops. Since they are collectors items normally referencing famous samurai they look good as stand alone pieces but don't lend themselves very well to be used as game pieces.
AOSHIMA the kit company had the best range although some of the sculpting left a lot to be desired and the figures were very complicated to assemble, some had glue on toes to get the feet right and even individual fingers, so pretty fiddly. The good thing they had going for them is a constant 1/35th scale and ALL troop types available plus camp scenes, street scenes civilians, artillery , other siege equipment. They produced about 20 different sets mainly of 4 foot figures but some larger scenes with up to 12 figures.
TAMIYA turned up at the Nuremburg Toy fair in 2017 with their re-issued 47 Ronin sets, in 1/35th scale. 2 sets are currently available one with 4 poses and one with 8 poses representing some of the famous 47 Ronin. With some fore thought you can assemble them in several different ways so easily make up more than the 12 offered poses.
They could be converted into different outfits too, maybe add some headwear. I expect it should be possible create enough figures to do a 13 assassins scenario.
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 16:16:34 GMT
TECHNOLOG are the easiest plastic ones to find and are quite compatible with the AIP Japanese Infantry should you want to try a LAST SAMURAI game. However they do need some work to get them reasonable as accurately armoured Samurai. I prefer the soft plastic ones as I find them easier to work with and move the pieces around. Changing one of the poses into a more realistic yari one to start.
The First effort at a Mounted pose using the useless pose from the set. Just working out a pose by moving the arms around.
The metal ranges that I have found are too expensive to game with, for me anyway and they are not available as castings which would be helpful. Some of the Russian tin toy soldier sellers on EBay have nice NINJA castings, which would make a great little contingent in a night raid like on the Last Samurai movie. Of course plastic would be better. I'll be trying my hand at a couple soon.
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Post by gonefishing on Jun 25, 2019 17:00:53 GMT
There are more options than I was aware of. However, the prices on the one, and the fiddly assembly on the other eliminate them from my book! Also, I seem to be one of the few that much prefers the Taira/Minamoto conflict to the later Age of Wars period. I blame Kurosawa! ;D
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 18:32:17 GMT
There were a lot more options for figures in the past but they just don't turn up in the west. Jaoanese collectors don't collect figures in the same way we do and tend to go for single pose or sets representing a particular subject. There is an excellent set of the 7 samurai actors in costume with a model of Kurasawa with his Camera that was produced about 10 years ago, it turns up on Ebay occasionally. The figures are all standing around as they do as if a still from the movie. Figures for the earlier wars that interest you were done but due to the intricacy of the armour some of them don't actually look that good. The GEMPEI WARS set has the armour you like, I think but the poses don't lend them selves easily to be grouped together. The figures are PVC however so I suppose could be converted. Stand alone metal castings are easily and cheaply available from most of the Russian tin soldier sellers on Ebay but again the poses are very static. They are mainly of the earlier period armour styles, which I staying clear of because of the tons of extra work it would mean painting all that coloured lace ! I like the MONARCH models for style and action, but only available painted and glossed, plus cover the Warring States period and after.
I had mentioned this subject to Expeditionary Force some time ago and was told that he hadn't thought about SAMURAI but had no objections to creating figures for that era so maybe down the line somewhere he will produce something.
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Post by leswhite on Jun 25, 2019 18:38:05 GMT
Here is another idea for creating more action in the poses and to being able to add more units to a game. Arab robes are helping in creating the civilian dress, so I'll stick with that and look at more figure makers for variety of pose. I fancy making a pirate group and have sourced some illustrations in an OSPREY and find that many of the AIP Dervish bodies will work for bare feet sailors/pirates. Many of these characters only had minimal clothing and weapons and some had acquired bits and pieces of captured armour. The leaders being the only ones that might have full set of 'borrowed' armour. I intend creating some more head types that I can duplicate and get fitted quicker as it is this hairstyle and headgear that gives the impression of a SAMURAI.
When I picked up DAISHO and RONIN rule books I scanned through to get a feel of the number of figures needed to get a good game started and it appears that 8 - 10 figures per side works as the starting point. So not too many figures to produce. I have 5 different Monks on the go at the moment, 4 Ashigaru, 6 Ronin , 5 armoured Samurai , 2 pirates and I've sourced some Ninja starting points. So it won't take long to get something on a game board.
Also looking at doing something for the BOSHIN WAR but more about that in another thread.
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Post by jhonpog on Jun 26, 2019 3:20:02 GMT
your conversions are awesome Les! Very nice work as always and looking forward to seeing some units
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Post by leswhite on Jun 28, 2019 19:02:24 GMT
Gonefishing, Just as a matter of interest I noted that almost the complete range of the old AOSHIMA Kits are currently offered by a seller on EBAY USA. I realised that you mentioned that they would be too fiddly for you but I thought you might like to see what the range looked like and the number of options that this company produced. Just put 'AOSHIMA KIT Japan historical' in the Ebay search engine to get the listings. AS you can see the prices are pretty high. Also a seller has the MINAMOTO series of 60mm SAMURAI fighting Pairs on offer, but at $ 360.00 for the set they really are expensive. They were $ 5.00 per boxed pair when they first came out.
These FURUTU figures sets are probably the set that has been re-issued most often over the years so it may turn up again. Some of the poses are useful for unit building. The figures are PVC and 1/35th scale.
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Post by aducknamedjoe on Jun 29, 2019 6:13:52 GMT
These are awesome! I've been playing the Shogun 2: Total War video game recently and really wish someone out there did some mass production of Samurai and Yari troops...
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