From AdamC: More Japanese ships (10 Points)

 

Here we have 5 more Japanese's ships 4 Asashio class Destroyers and the Cruiser Mogami in her late war configuration with a flight deck of all things. 

The Mogami was badly damaged off Midway in 1942 and was rebuilt with a flight deck to carry sea planes to boost the recon assets available to the fleet.

Here you can see a photo of the sea planes , They are a handy assets but you might want your 4 8 inch guns back.  Hybrid Cruiser carriers were an idea that got tossed around a lot in the 1920, very few were made Japan did it here to save time an money rebuilding the aft turrets or so I believe. 

This one was printed for me by accident I wanted some early war versions of these but it could be useful later. 

The Asashio Class were a design of the late 30s Japan's first design of greater than 2000 tons Displacement.  They were fast, 35 knots, with 6 five in guns and a pair of 4 torpedo launchers (with reloads). They were also the First Japanese destroyer equipped with Sonar 

The Asashio were considered a very useful design and became the basis for both the Kagero and Yugumo class which were basically larger versions of the same design. 

We have 5 ships of 1/2400 Scale for another 10 points

 

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Sylvain: Great little squadron! Your Japanese fleet seems to be coming along quite nicely. Génial!

 

From Kent G: 28mm Feudal Japanese (pts 120)

Well here we are this is the start of my new project

I went a little crazy earlier in the year and bought 

84 boxes of Perry Samurai and Korean metals

now I finally get time to focus on the and 

give them the attention they deserve.

I kind of painting them in sets for playing TOH

but also looking towards painting for larger battles

I have to admit I still know very little about the period

so please forgive me if I make a few mistakes along the way.

The general in this picture is from one of the sets I purchased

so I painted him exactly as the Perry site

I bought so many sets of these larger banners, and I love them

I have plans to do some highly detailed version but thought I'd start off slowly

I've started my next Clan and hope to show them off in a week or two, 

I got side tracked by another project past couple of days which I'm also 

excited to present this week fingers crossed.

Next up a couple off cool figures from another command pack.

You probably can't see it but the red and purple on

 the horses have five layers of colour, just part of my madness.

For points 20 x 28mm @ 5pts = 100pts

2 x 28mm cav @ 10 pts 20pts

Grand total of 120 pts

From Millsy:

Very nice indeed Kent. Hearing you talk on and off for a while about your Japanese project has been tempting to say the least and these are not helping maintain a level of resistance I have to say.

The bold colour choices and detail you've packed in here really suits them. Lovely stuff!

Another 120 points for your total!

Cheers,

Millsy

From Curt: A Trio of Villains for 'Hametsu' (27 Points)

Hey There!

It's been a bit of a stretch since my last post. I blame the Challenge's 'The Squirrel Effect'. My hobby space is currently littered with all manner of stuff, spanning genres and periods. Like Bilbo, I feel like too little butter scraped over too much bread! Fun, silly and always part of the Challenge it seems. 

Nonetheless, I did manage to maintain enough focus to get these three figures across the line.

This trio of villains is for our Hametsu adventures. Two bosses: a Shikigami a Nogitsune, and a Oni Captain. In Hametsu the Bosses enter play when the heroes find enough clues to their whereabouts, and/or when they've dispatched the lower-level minions. As you'd expect, the Bosses are VERY tooled-up and are designed to provide a unique and tough end-game for the players. 

First up is the mysterious, willowy and floaty Shikigami. This is a 3d print from the very talented Cobra Mode. I really like how elegant and otherworldly this model is. Its been sitting on my paint desk for months while I pondered how to approach it. In the end I decided to keep it simple, with just a few bold colours, trying to mimic with its robes opening like flower similar to a tulip. 

For its war fan I used the airbrush to put in an unstructured rising sun motif along with kanji script on each side symbolizing Earth, Wind, Fire and Water. 

The Nogitsune (Spectral Wolf) is from DM Stash on MyMini. Again, another beautiful sculpt. Fairly straightforward paintjob on this guy. Fun to work on with all the deep-set textures, a veritable playground for Contrast paints. 

This fella has already seen action on the tabletop with today's Minion having been its unwilling chew toy. :) 

Finally we have the Oni Captain. Another 3d print from Cobra Mode. He has a sort of a Hell Boy vibe going on which I just ran with. 

Yeeash, that Kanabo he's toting is something else! You're not going to walk it off if he taps you with that thing.

A final shot of the three villains set against some heroes that I painted last year.

As to points, the Oni Captain is around 40mm and the other two are over 54mm so let's call it 27 for the trio?

Aaand another Squirrel point for me...

Thanks for dropping in for a peek!

- Curt

Sylvain: Subarashii! I suspect you got your inspiration for coloring this group from ukiyo-e, (japanese woodblock prints from the Edo period) especially on the Kanabo. It gives the figurines some kind of eerie look, in addition to their sculpt and poses. A great demonstration of your mastery in painting. Keep feeding that squirrel!

From IanS: 15mm Japanese Infantry 1943 (38 points)

Dear All,

This is my first post for this years Challenge, and it has been delayed as the orginal set of figures is still being based. So the Japanese have got in first. These figures are from Eureka and they are lovely sculpts that take paint well. The figures are to be used for the new Far East version of the Chain of Command rules from Two Fat Lardies.  First up is a section of infantry for the 1943 Platoon orbat. This section has a squad leader and to identify him for the games all my squad leaders will have rifle flags. In addition this squad has two teams. The first team is all rifles with nine figures and the second team is the LMG team with a Type 96 lmg and three riflemen.

Next up are two snipers, not sure I am happy with these but I have based them, so no going back.

Then we have a flame thrower team of three figures.

The basing style is a new one for me and consists of army painter swamp tufts and dried thyme. The thyme idea for jungle litter came from a recommendation from the Storm of Steel blog. Although the wife has insisted I have my own jar when she saw me putting in spare thyme from the bases back in the jar she uses for cooking (Bad me). 

 So pointswise: 19 x 15mm foot figures at 2 pts each - 38pts.

Welcome aboard, Ian! Glad you have managed to avoid the cut. Some nice Japanese you are showing us, I think the basing looks good and I really like the little rifle flag. Perhaps you would be well advised, however, to get your own thyme jar, depending on the planned sizes of your new jungle armies. Anyway, it is good to see you kick off with 38 points!

As a side note, please remember to resize your photos and add your labels...

Martijn

From SidneyR: Lord Ghoda's Limbo of Sorcery (37 points)

 

Shinkurō, the former ronin, had never heard of "toad magic" until the moment that Lord Ghoda mentioned it. The ancient sorcery that Lord Ghoda said he had been studying sounded to Shinkurō like the ramblings of a drunk, at best. Or the ravings of a mad man at worst. 

Sorcery and spells to turn a magician into a toad, and to enable to the spell-caster to weave magic and enchantments?  It sounded almost heretical to voice the thoughts in his own head, Shinkurō warned himself.  What nonsense!

But then, the demon had appeared. A powerful Dai-Oni, armed with a huge war-mallet, javelins and a famous sword stolen many decades before from Lord Ghoda’s grandfather. Against such an adversary, both Shinkurō and his Lord would be helpless. It was just a matter of time before the demon would overwhelm them both.

At least it had all seemed gloomily inevitable until the moment that the magic transformation which had been promised by Lord Ghoda, actually worked. 

It was beyond Shinkurō's belief, but.....it was happening before his eyes.  Lord Ghoda’s webbed feet were starting to cast the spell to banish their adversary. 

Shinkurō just hoped that the incantation didn’t require fingers.

********

A small posting to start my entry for Challenge XV. I had a busy December, and was going to paint more figures, but an unpleasant virus ended up with me missing out on bits of Christmas - and as a result, I've only got three figures for this submission.

All that being said, these figures were a lot of fun to do. The demon and rōnin are both Dixon Miniatures sculpts. They’re quite venerable, being first produced in 1984, although I bought them both earlier this year. The gigantic toad is from Crooked Dice, one of a couple of large specimens I purchased last year and hadn’t yet used.

I added some of the GW “Barbed Bracken” to the base of Shinkurō. I admit the spikey leaves do look, if you're a fan of manga, a lot more “Wicked City”, rather than strict Edō-period Japan. But I’ve enjoyed using these plants on various terrain bases, and hopefully I can use more of them as the Challenge progresses. 

They paint up very well, even though they are quite “flexible” (a.k.a. “bendy). I coated the plastic with PVA-glue beforehand, to add a little stability.  But so far, in the games we have played with terrain and bases featuring barded-bracken, the paint hasn’t flaked off the razor-sharp thorns. A minor miracle worthy of Lord Ghoda himself (in toad-form).

I painted the submission as my entry for "Limbo". How else can one describe an indefinite transition to gigantic toad-form? Knowing this is Limbo also allows me to add a totally indulgent in-game character card for Lord Ghoda in his mythical-Japanese fauna-form, with two slightly more sensible cards for Shinkurō and the demon. If, of course, one can ever claim anything to do with demons is ever sensible or simple.

And for the Challenge XV points:  5 points for Shinkurō, 7 points for the demon (who checks in at a dramatic 40mm), and I think 3 points for Lord Ghoda**.   And 20 points for visiting Limbo itself.

Total: 35 points.

** (I had a lengthy debate with myself about the points for Lord Ghoda in toad-form.  Is he prone, or not?  Do we count his toad-form, or the fact he is, in essence, human? I suggest 3 points is sort of right, as it is a “prone figure” - although, I admit, toads are usually on all fours. Who knows? Maybe Lord Ghoda can provide more answers when he returns to his former form.)

********

First, welcome back to the Challenge Sidney! I'm sorry to hear of your illness over the holidays but am delighted to see that you've bounced back and have this wonderful opening post featuring another set of characters from your 'Until the Last Sword is Drawn'. What a treat! 

As is usual, your brushwork is absolutely exquisite with all the precision and vibrant colours that expect from you. I also really like your use of the GW 'Barbed Bracken' to further accent your basework. I'll have to pick some of those up after seeing your work here. And the bespoke game cards. Wow. They look tremendous and packed with character.

It would be churlish not to give the brave Lord Ghoda his full 5 points so we'll go with that. 37 points for your Challenge opener, Sid. Again, welcome back!

- Curt

From Curt - Oni Shamans for 'Hametsu' - Sarah's Book Cart (34 Points)

 

Another small addition to my fantasy Japanese collection for 'Hametsu'. Here are two Oni demon shamans.

These are 3d prints from MyMiniFactory. I scaled them to 40mm to fit in with my other Oni baddies. They will provide some much need spell-casting for the Oni villains.

This rather elegant female shaman is from Lord of the Print. Unfortunately the facial detail was a bit soft, and I tried my best to help it along with the brush, but to no avail. Still, a lovely model to work on.

I will claim her for a trip on Sarah's Book Cart to the Giftshop where I'll be meeting up with Lady Sarah for a co-authored entry!

This hipster male oni shaman is from Kyoushuneko Miniatures.

These two 40mm villains will give me a base of 14 points plus another 20 for Sarah's Book Cart, for 34 points total.

Thanks again Martijn for shoehorning me in for this entry!

- Curt

It is always a pleasure to have you dropping by, Curt, and this contribution is no exception. Both figures are great, I think you did a very fine job on the female shaman, but the hipster villain really takes the biscuit for me. He looks like he's on his way to yoga class, doesn't he? A very nice figure, and an expert paint job as always. Off you are to the Gifts Shop then, with another 34 poinys in the pocket!

Martijn