"What's the easiest way to paint 15mm Samurai?" Topic

Hello all I have a fair amount of 15mm Samurai,Monks and Ashigaru that are not yet painted and i'd like to know the best/easiest way to paint Samurai?

For me painting Samurai is kinda hard but i need get these done,now painting Monks and Ashigaru should'nt be that hard since i've done it before.

But Samurai another matter now let me say that i'm an okay painted,so any help would be grateful.

Thanks
Captain Gideon

Well, it depends on whether youare looking for a representational paint job or extremely accurate. I choose the former for my smaller scale Samurai. I would suggest using black, red, green, orange or yellow for the primary armor colors. Then the cloth a differing but complimetary color. Maybe yellow cloth with green armor. Red armor and black cloth and so on. I then would ink wash (with Future) and use a satin sealer on the armor. Should turn out decently.

Thanks,

John

Get someone else to do it?

The rank and file Samurai should not be too bad in the Sengoku period. The earlier Samurai from the Heike vs Genji era are more difficult because of all that colored laceing.

It appears that Sengoku armor was mostly black lacquer, with an occasional red, green, etc. One style was to purposely allow the surface to oxidize and produce a rusty shade.

So if it were me doing the painting, I would portray most of the retainers in black armor, with some other colors to add interest, clothing would in some cases have patterns. The ashigaru would also get black with more drab/plain
clothes

I would lavishly paint the daimyo and generals with multi-colored lace, more colored armor, etc.

Other more colorful samurai would be the champion-types who get individual back-banners. Those wearing the daimyo's mon are most likely to have whatever armor their lord issued to them, so likely the plainer style

Spray gun for the basic colors, and then detail and highlight, as suggested, above.

Send them to Sri Lanka.

I've sent Samurai to Sri Lanka before and have had very good results with them,but right now i'm short of extra cash but it's a good suggestion.

Captain Gideon

If we are talking post 1500: Basecoat black. Then for armor, only red, black, or rust brown (Yes, besides the very rare Gold lacquered armor those are the ONLY colors armor were ever painted, despite what you see on tables). Then add in silk threads, which may be any color, but red, blue, green, black and purple were most common.

For pre-1500 armor follow same rules as above but ALL armor is lacquered black. Leather portions are most commonly painted white.

Here are some examples of my pre and post -1500 and a real life picture that compares the 2 styles:

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My Samurai is the only army that is painted by a professional and not me. It is a Two Dragon army with each Samurai and ashigaru painted differently. Not the easiest way to paint. A Monk army would have less diversity.

Just curious Rudy why would you have all the Ashigaru painted differently?

I ask this because the Ashigaru(for the most part)were done up the same way per group.

The armor for the most part was the same color(mainly Black),but Red was used as well.

The clothing underneath the armor could be almost any color.

For example i have a unit of 16 Ashigaru with Black armor and some with Blue clothing,while others had Green underneath the Black armor.

The one thing that all the Ashigaru in the unit has is the Sashimono with the Clan's Mon on it.

I can sorta understand why you're having your Samurai all painted differntly,but the Ashigaru i don't know why.

Overall just how many Samurai and Ashigaru do you have in your Army?

Captain Gideon

On the Ashigaru, the differences lay in the back banners, sashes and underneath clothing. I did have them painted for a era earlier than the uniformed styles of the 1400-1600s.

I can see the discussion for the unit concept but in the Fields of Glory, there are not many units of only Ashigaru. The last I understood was the infantry are mixed with the mounted Samurai on a 40x30 base.

Cpt. I have more than enough for a 1500 point Fields of Glory army. Plus I have some Ashigaru that I picked up later (still 2 Gragon) but only partially painted and still that way.

Rudy I don't know much about Fields of Glory since my rules i use now are Killer Katanas II,and in some cases Taiko.

My Army i don't know how many points it's worth but i can tell you that i have over 2,000 figures(mostly painted)and it's a mix of Samurai,Ashigaru and some Monks.

Since with 15mm it's really hard to do the large historical battles of that era,so what i mainly do is divide it up and fight with it that way.

Just curious how did you have the Ashigaru painted?

As for the back banners i really don't know if they used back banners in the early period.

For me the bulk of my Army is made up of Ashigaru.

Captain Gideon

I agree with most of the posters. My army is mostly spear and musket ashigaru. I only diverged from 'reality' (osprey/Turnbil) by painting them up like the yellow army in Kurosowa's RAN. I used the ran character as the armies mon as well.

At that point it went from a chore to fun. My steady opponent then opted for the blue army.

As for the technique, it's up to the scale and detail. For my 15mm 2 dragons stuff- skin,pants,shirt,armor with drybrush lacework. Maybe a simple pattern for the silks. Repeat 80 or so times.
Stay from yellow, it looks sharp but it makes you men lose.

As for my Ashigaru figures it's a mix of Spear,Naginata,Bow and Gun.

While my Samurai figures(foot) are a mix of Spear,Naginata,Bow and some guns.

One paint job that i was thinking of was to be Red for one side and Black for the other side,if you saw Heaven and Earth you know what i'm speaking of.

For myself my painted Samurai Army is a mix of paint jobs from several people,and alot of my back banners are Takeda Mons since he's my favorite Damiyo.

And for some Samurai figures which i had painted up i call them the Irish Samurai,it's very simple the armor is Green and the banners have a Green Shamrock on it.

And this was due to a song i heard called The Irish Samurai.

For me what painted Samurai and others i have have whatever paint job on them,since i've no plans to repaint what's already painted.

So i just have to deal with the unpainted figures now.

And if i was starting over i'd have the figures painted up by a professional,but i can't complain.

For me my biggest problem is finding people to game with me with regards to my Samurai.

Captain Gideon

Captain I agree about finding local players. Funny thing is, every Samurai game I see at shows is usually packed. go figure.

Thanks,

John

I agree with you John as i too have seen this and not just with 15mm,i've seen it with 25mm and with 10mm as well.

But the thing is that most of these gamers don't live locally,but i can still hope.

Captain Gideon