"Help needed! Can't start painting my samurai" Topic

My samurai project has hit a major crux-point. Samurai rules bought – check! Japanese terrain made – check! Samurai miniatures bought, assembled and undercoated – check! But what colours to paint them???

I now know how a newbie to Napoleonics feels when he's faced with the daunting array of uniforms, flags and formations that need to be researched if he's going to get it right.

That initial step of dabbing the first spots of colour onto my Japanese samurai figures seems to be such a huge yawning abyss to cross.

Here's the story of where I've got to so far on my samurai project:

link

Can anyone help?!

Take into account that I have no historical basis for this :) However maybe find a clan Mon you like and go from there. Research that clan and maybe they have a standard of colors you can use. Or just paint them too look cool and don't play any history professors.

Generally, armour is most commonly black, then red, russet brown and very rarely amongst high ranking officers have blue or even gold. (I've heard rumours of green armour but never seen any evidence) For the most part the samurai wore whatever they pleased, (with the exception of some clans like the Ii who went for all red) and the lace and clothing colours could be just about any colour or pattern, the wealthier the brighter. The ashigura in the later part of the period might be issued plain uniform clothing. Mons are important and appear on banners, ashigura helmets and sometimes the chests of armours. These are very general outlines.

Yea, blue, black, red, brown – various colors of ribbon.

Black armor with blue detailing (or a red and black combo), and clothing looks very nice.

Yes to all of the above. It is a great period because you can do almost anything, keeping in mind the armor colors already mentioned. In the later stages of the period there could be some standardization within a clan if the lord issued armor to his ashigaru and rank and file samurai. And the lace colors/patterns in the later period also got a lot plainer. There are a number of good Osprey books on the subject.

I know how you feel… I paint since one decade my early samurai army….

Some remarks: If you paint a samurai army from the late period of sekigahara the armors are all black and the bands and tassels are red.

If you go earlier you are completely free.

One important info is that the samurai have not used european heraldry and have therefore a another cultural understanding of color harmony.

A European color harmony matches and separates a base color always with white (silver/ argent) and yellow (gold/or). The samurai don't know this concept and therefore use all base colors on top of each other without yellow and white as counter color.

So my advise is that you paint all your figures in these two concepts:
Type one: all the colours of the rainbow not NO yellow and white.
Type two: only white and yellow and no other color.

These rules are also valid for pattern on the fabric..

That's it… I don't say that white and yellow was not matched with other colors but only by accident and not as a rule.

Greetings

Choose your favourite film and go from there. Having said that, a couple of large Baccus 6mm (yet to see any larger scale figures to beat them on quality)Medieval armies waiting a few years

Take a look at this. I book marked it just in case I ever decided to jump into the period.

link

Cheers,

Kev

The earlier the armor, the more lacing you will have on the armor (I'm rather terrified for my Gempei War samurai, since their armor is almost all lacing).

But it looks like you have late armor on those minis.

Low-ranking samurai would have plainer robes than high-ranking.

My preferred way of painting samurai is to prime white, paint the lacing first, and then wash with black to paint the armor.

I would do a heavy drybrush with white since you've primed black. Then paint the laces first and use a black wash to paint the armor underneath the lacing.

You can get really crazy on the lacing, 5-7 sections of color, but I'd go simple with red or orange lacing over black armor, especially for the lower-ranking samurai and ashigaru.

Kagemusha by Kurosawa is a good film for inspiration! And a good film to watch or Ran.

I agree with Kagemusha and Ran as sources for painting ideas. Both can be purchased on iTunes. You can play them and then save scenes as pics on your iPod for references.

David
kingsfordminiatures.org

Thanks for all the ideas, guys. I think I'm feeling a bit more ready to start.

I'm now just waiting on a couple of Osprey books I ordered for reference, before I start dabbing on the paint.

All the best samurai are in black and white

there was a good soldiers and strategy issue last year with samuri painting guide.