Painting Challenge Theme Entry - "East"

Mounted Samurai warrior, 28mm size, from Perry Miniatures

Curt's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge has bonus theme rounds every two weeks.  The first was "Armour", and the second one this past weekend was "East".  For this theme I rummaged through my "pile of shame".  This pile is comprised mostly of figures and models I purchased thinking they would be so awesome, and then balked at painting, for whatever reason, once I received them.  It follows me around when I move, mocking me when nobody else is around...

In the case of this figure - a 28mm Samurai from Perry Miniatures - the issue was the subject matter itself. Samurai wear very ornate, complicated armour, and the era of their conflicts is one I am utterly unfamiliar with.  Research can address these challenges, but I find in the case of the Samurai it was all too much.  I painted exactly one Samurai for Curt in a previous painting challenge years ago, and put the rest of these figures away, not wanting to paint them but unwilling to simply get rid of them...no wonder my basement is such a mess.

Anyway, this theme round offered an opportunity to try another Samurai.  It was as frustrating to paint as before, mostly as I had no idea what I was doing and I tried to simply imitate some images of painted figures I saw on the Perrys' web site (I assume those painters would know their sh*t, after all). 

In the end, I'm glad I stuck with it, as he looks OK, ready to cut someone down to size. Damn, I wish I could figure this period out...it would sure be fun.

Apparently there are some skirmish rule out there for Samurai, so who knows, maybe I can finish a few more of these figures and actually use them in a game? For now, he'll sit on my shelf as a stern reminder to at least occasionally try and think sh*t through before I make an order...

There are some really great entries in the "East" theme round, including some pretty amazing stuff from Byron.  Be sure to visit the page, and vote for your favourites (might I suggest this one? I like prizes!).

Happy Holidays - Painting Challenge Underway

28mm Samurai from Perry - another amazing Perry sculpt

Nothing says "Merry Christmas and Happy New Year" like a Samurai.  Right?  Actually I painted this figure for a reason - our friend Curt in Regina has kicked off another one of his painting challenges and each of the 47 participants has been asked to send in one painted Samurai (part of a "47 Ronin" project) as a sort of entry fee.  You can see more about the challenge here at this link.

Colours courtesy of a google image search and guesswork

The mandatory stuff is always the least fun, so I thought I would start off the challenge by painting the Samurai first.  This is a model from the Perry Twins' mind-blowing Samurai collection - "Mounted Samurai with Katana drawn".  This figure came from a pack I ordered years ago in a moment of delusion that I would try painting Samurai.  As soon as I got the figure, and as soon as I tried to read about Samurai armour, I was lost.

Samurai all had custom armour and weapons, I think - when you are that cool, you wear whatever colours you want

The "warring states" period of Japan, and Samurai that are part of it, are amazing, but very different for me, and the more I tried to read or learn about it, the less I actually understood.  Dave V even loaned me some wonderful books but the intricate laminate armour is incredibly tricky to paint.  Then try to understand the clouds of clans and sub clans etc. etc. and within moments I knew this was not a period I was going to dive into.  This gathered dust until Curt's challenge gave me an excuse to give it a try.

That speaks to the fun of these painting challenges (the Fawcett Conscripts did one of our own a few years ago) - they are a useful prompt to get painting something you otherwise would not, or would leave to languish.  Getting this darn figure out of my lost project pile is already a win for me.

The challenge has been underway since December 20, and the submissions are coming in fast and furious from all over the world.  I encourage you to check it out on Curt's blog.  I will post photos of my submissions here a while after they go up on Curt's page.  I hope I can crack the top five this year!

There were three Samurai in this package from Perry - I may screw up the courage to try and paint the other two before the challenge ends in a few months.