"Works in progress for Ronin" Topic

These are mostly made up from a box of Wargames Factory foot Samurai and a box of Wargames Factory missile Ashigaru. Some parts from Perry Anasar Warriors and a couple of Wargames Factory Zulu bodies. The Ninja are Wargames Factory Persian Infantry with Ancient German cavalry heads that have had a good dremmelling. The Kasurigama chain is from the GW 40K Dark Eldar Wytch kit.

Samurai:

Ashigaru:

Ninja (still need a bit of work, but mainly adding putty cowls and finishing off the robes):

Peasants with improvised weapons (need a bit of putty work – they will have better hairdos!)

Bandits:

Sohei (some finishing work to do with putty. Either a headband or cowl for each of 'em):

Naginata were constructed using unused sword arms from Perry American Civil War Cavalry and standard poles from various kits, like so:

The spear arms from the WGF Samurai kit are designed for the thinner Yari shafts that come with the kit, so I had to open the hands out a little, and may need to tidy up the hands with putty later, but it worked okay.

I give the WGF kits about a 7/10. They're not as good as their current releases and can be a bit fiddly, although since I'm normally trying to make non-standard poses probably not much more fiddly than usual for me :) On the other hand, they are well proportioned, historically accurate for late 16th century Japan, and VERY cheap.

The Perry Anasar Warriors are, as usual a delight and a kit-basher's dream. Great source of bare arms, legs and bare heads.

I do tend to work in spurts, so I can't say when I'll get the putty stage done, let alone painting. But I'll keep you in touch!

Interesting looking conversions – looking forward to further updates!

That naginata idea is PERFECT. It is my FAVORITE weapon for the genre, and often included to a kits as an afterthought, if at all

Great work all around

Very nice

My first question was the awesome Naginata, and you explained it

Looking forward to seeing them painted, but if you paint at the speed I do …..

John

Would it be cheaper or more expensive just to order naginata from perry?

How clever of you. Good kitbash skills, sir!

And that is why I *LOVE* plastic minis. Super-easy to convert.

Good looking minis, can't wait to see them painted!

The Perry naginata are pretty cheap (30 of them for the same price as one of their metal sets) but I had the parts already from previous projects, so for me it was zero cost. If you *don't* happen to have a dozen spare sabers lying around, chances are ordering those is cheaper. However, the Perry ACW kit does have right arm options, so if you know anyone who has used that kit there's a good chance they have spares from models they've put pistols, flags and bugles on. Plastic Napoleonics should also be a source of the right sort of blade too, and often have surplus command options.

You could do it with cutting the blade from sheet styrene, too. That's what I did for the two peasants.

Thanks for the kind comments. The grand plan is to get a box of the WGF spear ashigaru as well for nagae-yari, extra bodies and the very nice large banner that comes in that kit, and some WGF Numidians as the base for unarmoured models. At some stage I'll probably get their mounted samurai, but that's low priority.

I'm planning on doing Bushi, Bandits, Ikko-ikki, Sohei and Peasants, so I'll need a few models :)

Makes sense. Why spend money when you already have the stuff.

You have done a good job or maximising use of the models to use for Ronin. Usually buying the WGF stuff is over kill when you want to make a ronin buntai but you are making several worth with these conversions. Would love to see them painted.

Putty is all done and I've started on the next few models to fill out the Sohei. Not bothering to post pictures if all I did was fill small gaps.

The stock legs on this one had ugly join gaps, so I redid the armour.

Tarted up the naginata.

Can't have matchlocks without match :) I've based the way they're using the match on modern Japanese recreation shooters.

You may notice the kusarigama chain has turned around. Damn thing keeps breaking off, but silver lining is that this way around looks better.

Was really happy with these guys until I looked up some kyudo info and discovered that OF COURSE Japanese archers nock their arrows on the outside of the bow, unlike everyone else. And the release is quite distinct, so I adjusted the models:

There will be arms :)

Okay! Some more WIP pictures – everyone is modelled unless I change my mind about something.

All your bases etc:

Previously armless Sohei, with weapons:

Redone cowl with added prayer beads:

Tetsubo monk:

Other naginata guy:

Archer novices:

Archer Sohei – quite likely going to be the leader:

Your Sohei look great. (I'm not sure about the tetsubo, though). I must say you have some enviable skills with the greenstuff. Keep the pictures coming.

great work, how did you make the tetsubo?

The business end of the Tetsubo is a GW Marauder or beastman flail with the spikes cut down to knobs. The handle is probably a bit of sprue or rod trimmed down a bit (I forget). The pommel is a bit of sprue.