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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Samurai Battles: Test Units Completed

After seeing Jake's 15mm Samurai figures, I could not resist the temptation to paint a few for myself.  With a quick turn-around from Brookhurst Hobbies, I held in-hand a number of Peter Pig Samurai packs.  Two packs from my order are on back order as often happens with orders placed through Brookhurst.  Oh well, I have plenty of figures to paint in the meantime.  The Peter Pig Samurai range is much better sculpted than the photos on both Brookhurst Hobbies and Peter Pig websites suggest.  Detail on the figures is crisp and the figures are well-proportioned. 

 What begins as a small set of test figures often spirals out of control into a new project. Well, that may be the result of my samurai figure test.  The figures are excellent and produce a very colorful army en masse.  It would give me great pleasure to field an opponent against Jake's hordes.

Off the painting table are two units based for Samurai Battles and compatible for use on a four inch hex map.  While Jake used a two inch by four inch base for each of his units, I didn't have any bases that size.  I chose to improvise using two 50mm Litko hexes glued together to make a double hex base.  The double hex base has a footprint that is slightly less than than four inches in length and about 2.25 inches in width at the hex apex.  This double hex base should fit within the four inch map hex.  As a bonus, the double hex basing allows me to use my two inch hex map for use with Samurai Battles.  Of course, the double hex base will span two hexes rather a single hex.

As seen in the photo above, I kept Jake's original basing scheme of two ranks for missile troops and three ranks for shock troops.  I increased the figure density for both shock troops (21 figures including two officers and one standard bearer) and missile troops (19 figures including two officers and one standard bearer).  To me, the figure density looks about right but actual number of figures per stand is irrelevant for game play.  Notice the black receptacle on the back right of each base.  These will be used to accommodate Jake's nifty, interchangeable banners.

Ashigaru spear
   
Ashigaru bow


 06DEC2012: Added two photos of the bow and spear taken on a white background.  Is the white background preferable to the landscape background?


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4 comments:

  1. DartfrogDecember 6, 2012 at 4:08 PM

    I look forward to facing them. The Peter Pig sculpts look a lot nicer than the Minifig units I have. The crisp detail along with the individual Sashimono really makes the unit stand out. Even the pikes look better. My stuff looked good in 1998, but I am leaning towards updating something fierce now...

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    Replies
    1. DartfrogDecember 6, 2012 at 4:09 PM

      Also, if you are looking for a great source for bases, Home Depot's Allure flooring samples are 4" squares.....

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  2. DaleDecember 25, 2012 at 7:40 AM

    To me the white background is no more preferable than a landscape one. I typically use a grass green fleece blanket as a backdrop. It tends to produce less shadow than stark white. But, white allows the light to bound and reflect better, brightening the paint scheme.

    Good looking troops by the way. Does that mean that if the base spans two hexes you will wheel units and use unit facings?

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  3. Jonathan FreitagDecember 25, 2012 at 2:20 PM

    Thanks for the feedback regarding photos backdrops, Dale.

    I built the two-hex spanning units to fit within Jake's four inch hex game mat. When used on my own two inch hex board, I have been considering exactly that; wheels and facing Unit facing and flanks might add an extra level of tactical interest to the game. Perhaps, allow flanking units one extra die?

    Still untried in game play but worth considering. What are your thoughts?

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