"who makes cool Samurai figs" Topic

So, who makes cool samurai figures? I'm just looking around for either historical or fantasy figures and so far found a few.
mostly I'm looking for small packs or individuals since i'll probably use them primarily for skirmish wargaming.
Wargames Factory- cheap, but too many in a pack.
Wargames Foundry- neat and varied packs.
Perry Bros- so far the best I've seen in detail and price
Reaper Miniatures- okay, but good for heroes.
CMoN-Clanwar- pretty much the primary source for the more supernatural stuff.
Bushido- really nice, if overly stylized figures. Might clash with historicals

anything I missed?

Steel Fist steelfistminiatures.com
TAG link
Kingsford link
Museum link
Curteys link

Black Hat: link

They're listed as 25mm, but to me they're 28mm (26 to the eyes and 28 to the top of the head, not counting headgear and chonmage).

also, what kind of figures would be good for bandits?

Also forgot the relatively new range from North Star, made to go with Osprey's popular Ronin rules: link

They have bandits.

Was about to add the Northstar ones. Just received a box, and they're fantastic – the Korju ones. Basically The Seven Samurai. Only there's nine.

Perry do bandits too, I think.

The Ikko ikki figures in the Perry line would work for bandits

scheltrum.co.uk do a range of samurai and wako (Japanese pirates) which would be suitable for bandits. Their naval samurai in striped down armour would make a unusual figure or two.

Unfortunately there site does not do the figures justice.

x42

That reminds me, Cavalcade / Forlorn Hope also makes Wako that would make good bandits: link

And there's also the Dixon Samurai range in what is labelled "large 25mm" which has a little bit of everything including bandit types and Japanese fantasy figures: link

The Dixon figures are starting to show their age, but the Oni and Bakemono should serve you well, if nothing else.

Heh, I keep remembering more stuff. Eureka makes a small range including some rather peculiar ronin in hooded robes (they look almost like Jedi to me, but that need not be a problem in fantasy): link

And on the subject of fantasy, Eureka also makes antropomorphic warrior frogs and turtles that are actually based on some fantastic old Japanese woodblock prints (do a Google image search on "ukiyo-e frogs" if you're interested): link (The samurai rabbits in that same section are probably just inspired by Usagi Yojimbo, though.)

A few more Japanese fantasy figures including tsukumogami at CP Models: link

And come to think of it, there's no reason bakemono can't be tiny, in which case the ones from the new 15mm sengoku fantasy range at 15mm.co.uk are also worth a look: link (there have also been more bakemono sculpted for this range as seen at TMP link although they may be a while before they're in production.)

on a similar subject, does anyone make undead japanese?

If you can find them there were some undead in the Clan War range

I noticed there were some (really good looking but pricey) undead Ashigaru/Samurai in a Malifaux set I was browsing on Amazon recently. Can't recall the link, sorry.

You can paint North Star's Koryu Buntai box set to look like the characters in the Seven Samurai movie. (Just as seen in the link) It doesn't get any cooler than that!
link

Take a look at the wargames factory plastics. They do nice samurai, but need assembly. They also have multipart skellies, so you can easily mix and match to make undead samurai.

I've sometimes wished there would be more undead Japanese figures as well.

One idea I've been meaning to try for years is inspired by the anime film Kaidohmaru (a mediocre film, so you might not want to bother tracking it down just because I brought it up). IIRC, there was an evil sorcerer who was turning villagers into zombie-like servants in some way that involved placing masks on their faces. So I've been thinking of sculpting masks (possibly Noh masks if I could manage to sculpt one and then make a press mould of it) on some armed peasants/bandits in suitably "non-vital" poses. Whether that sort of figures count as "undead" or not might be a bit iffy but they would effectively be so in the rules. Of course, that's a whole other thing to reanimated skeletons of ancient samurai. Can't help with that one.

Darwin,
Picked up 2 clan war Samurai Archers this weekend in a mixed lot. Unpainted and I think (have to check) they are different sculpts. Have no use for them myself, so if you are interested we can work a deal.
Let me know.

karl (underscore) e (underscore) paulsen athotmail

Kev Dallimore has written an article on painting the North Star Seven Samurai you might be interested in:

nstarmagazine.com/RONIN_1_1.htm

link

Funny that no one mentioned KENSEI kensei.zenitminiatures.es
Same size as Perry.

Wow! The Assault Group (TAG) sure has been around a long time!

I was checking out their Samurai and noticed that the date the figures were added to the list was: 31/12/1969.

great suggestions, so the next question is. What are some good references for painting said samurai figures?

Funny that no one mentioned KENSEI kensei.zenitminiatures.es
Same size as Perry.

Are they really? That would be great if they were but I thought they were taller and slimmer than Perrys'.

Here is a comparison of "Samurai" from various manufacturers on the Lead Adventure forum:

link

Clan War figures are alive and well:

link

Hope this helps!

Leland R. Erickson
Metal Express
metal-express.net

We make an extensive range of Samurai figures. They are in 42mm scale. So bigger, but ideal for skirmish games. The range continues to grow with new cavalry figures and bandits being recently added. See the range at stevebarbermodels.com