Takeda Samurai 28mm

I ended up putting three to a base, I can't really see them being any more crammed. It was important to make sure those thin spears are all safely within the base. It might help to protect them.

The very best part of painting these Samurai is painting gloss varnish over the armour. This gives it the great lacquered look, so characteristic of the samurai.

Takeda Samurai surge forward.

Glossed armour does make the figures pop and adds a lot of interest to the bases.

I gave a couple of helmets a wash of blue ink, this added variety and looked good when glossed.
 

UPDATE: 

Right! When in doubt, get the brush bristles out!

I remembered some very thin bristles I had collected many years ago, these matched the size of the plastic weapons.

Once cut to length I flattened and shaped the ends to become blades. The offcuts I made into katanas. I will add a blob of gel superglue to these to make a hilt.

Added homemade weapons makes me want to paint them even more. These bristles are bombproof so should be more battlefield friendly.

Making katanas is a skill that takes many years of practice and patience...

Painting Samurai 28mm

My fine line pens were wheeled out again to do the patterns.

I have to say although I've spent ages researching the gear, when it came to painting it, I had no idea of what I was doing. The reference on the box proved too small to really see the details. Also there is no rear view. I had to wing it as I wanted to get these painted quickly.

The fine line pens were fun to use on the materials and allowed for some more detailed designs. Mud got splattered all over them, but they were nice...once.

The Takeda clan emblem was really simple to paint and was a fraction of the time compared to decals. Luckily there are quite a few simple clan emblems that lend themselves to being painted.

I gave the figures a wash of black just to bring out the details. I think these will pass muster but I must do some more research.

 Little circles would of been a nightmare with a brush.

Warlord Games Samurai

Last year I almost got lured into the Samurai wars after watching a certain Netflix series, but managed to resist. This year I thought I would just dip my toe in and see if I liked it. I saw some very nice boxes by Fire Forge games that got me very excited, however they won't be out for a few weeks. So that said, I thought I'd buy a box of Warlord Games' Samurai just to get the ball rolling.

I was really blown away at the amount of detail on the figures. These are old Wargames Factory figures and that scared me a little knowing their other ranges can have soft detail. However these don't seem to suffer from that and the armour is very nicely sculpted. At first I thought the lines were mould lines, but on closer examination they were the intricate helmet ridges. For once a nice discovery with mould lines.

There are a load of different arms with empty hands, so you can choose your own weapons. A spear or sword basically. The box comes with a diagram of the sprue and labels each part, however, there are no actual instructions for putting the figure today. So at first you have to try things out until it finally starts to make sense. Working out the arms could be annoying, but I quite enjoyed messing around and trying to make certain poses. The trick was to think of a classic pose, then see if you could create it with the arms.

Stunning detail on the armour.

This was a pose I thought of and managed to create after a bit of messing around.

Although the extra helmet crests are nice, personally, I think I like the basic helmet look the best.

The box also comes with some decals for the Takeda clan. I'm not sure I have the patience for these and might try to paint them instead.

I stuck them on plastic to help with the basing. I'm a little worried that the thin plastic weapons might snap like the spears of the old WF orcs. These spears do seem to be rather bendy rather than brittle, so that's encouraging.

I did think of basing these in my normal six to a 60mm base, but the poses are quite energetic so may not work for a close infantry base. Basing them three to a base might be better, maybe on a 60x40mm base. This way they can be ranked up to form different sizes units if needs be.

Very nice detailing on the helmets, well, all over really.

Bases of threes might look better. I have a few cheap Samurai rules coming so might hold off until I've looked through them for ideas.

Painting the banners is going to be interesting. I've been doing a lot of research but as with any new era, there is so much to learn.

Modelling wise, they were quite fiddly to put together, just because of the separate weapons. I ruined a few trying to force them through the hands, again this is a learning curve. I eventually found it easier to stick the weapons in the hands before sticking the arms on. The spears though have to be worked out then glued once in place.

The torsos and arms all go together like a 3D puzzle so that aspect is a joy. There are still many arms that I have yet to try and the box art does help with seeing the options available.

Altogether a nice box set and one that really surprised me at it's quality. I think it was £21 off eBay and it has 20 men inside. Not quite the old Wargames Factory bargain but not that bad either.

 I see the new Fire Forge Samurai sets are £32 for 24 figures... maybe we have seen the end of the plastic cheap armies. Lets hope not.