RONIN Skirmish Wargaming in the Age of the Samurai THE KORYU BUNTAI & THE SEVEN SAMURAI PAINTING THE KORYU BUNTAI INSPIRATION The Koryu Buntai box set gives you the perfect starter Although I didn’t have any illustrations for Koryu army to begin playing Ronin. This set is a particular Buntai the as such, I took inspiration for the colours favourite of mine. I think Steve Saleh has reached for their clothes from the film Seven Samurai. It is new heights with the subtle modelling of the samurai true that this is a black and white film but luckily for clothes, and they all have very characterful faces. me I was pointed to a place on the web that had Also the fact that they are not in armour, gives a great sketches of the clothes from the movie in colour and opportunity to go to town on those outfits and make these were invaluable as guidance on painting the every one an individual character. models. I spent a long time studying the designs and trying to figure out how best to represent each design Below. Koryu Buntai Initiate with katana on a tiny model! Where there was no illustration I referred to my collection of historical samurai books, all the while trying to keep my colour palate for them very much Japanese in style. UNDERCOATING It is worth going over any model carefully just to make sure there are no sprue, flash or mould lines, clean any off with a sharp scalpel and a fine file. Undercoating is essential as it provides a consistent surface on which to apply the next coats of paint, and it shows up the detail on a model much more clearly than shiny bare metal. For the undercoat I used Humbrol enamel matt black. I usually undercoat in oil based paint as I find they give better coverage on the bare metal. THE PAINT I used Army Painter War Paints to paint Koryu Buntai, mixing up colours to suit my style and preferences. The Mega Paint Set provides an adequate range of colours for almost all needs, but you will always need to mix colours to get the desired results, however I have tried to work out colour combinations to reduce mixing if possible. 1 PAINTING FLESH The figure painting follows my well known method of 1. AP-WP1122 - Fur Brown working from dark to light shaded up from a black 2. AP-WP1127 - Tanned Flesh mixed with undercoat. This three or more colour painting method AP-WP1121 - Desert Yellow uses successive tones of colour (shade, middle and light) which are added to the model in layers, working 3. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White up from dark to light. This creates a bold three- 4. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White dimensional effect of shadows and highlights, the layers of colour giving greater depth and subtlety to 5. plus a tiny bit of AP-WP1104 - Pure Red (for the model. For the facial detail and for the eyes I used the lips) an Insane Detail brush. For the rest of the model I used a Warpaints Detail brush. SOCKS, LEGGINGS & MOST SASHES THE SAME COLOURS Even though the models are all highly individual, there White were colours that were the same on all the models, 1. AP-WP1102 - Matt White mixed with which I have listed below in this preamble. I did most AP-WP1117 - Ash Grey and of these colours first and all together, to try and speed AP-WP1108 - Necrotic Flesh up the painting process a bit. 2. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White EYES & FLESH 3. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White The flesh and eyes on all this Buntai are in the 4. pure AP-WP1102 - Matt White same colours. I wanted the Koryu Buntai to have a noticeably different skin tone from Europeans so planned my painting accordingly, the skin tone is MOST SANDALS slightly exaggerated but I think it needs to be so that it is noticeable, on such a tiny model on the tabletop. Mid-brown 1. AP-WP1123 - Leather Brown EYES 2. AP-WP1123 - Leather Brown mixed with AP- 1. Whites are AP-WP1102 - Matt White WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 2. The irises are pure 3. plus more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone AP-WP1124 - Oak Brown 4. and lastly more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone Below. Painting the flesh. 2 Above. Painting the flesh. I wanted the Koryu Buntai to have a noticeably different skin tone from Europeans so planned my painting accordingly, the skin tone is slightly exaggerated but I think it needs to be so that it is noticeable, on such a tiny model on the tabletop. MOST HAIR, SCABBARDS & Steel PATTERNS 1. AP-WP1131 - Gun Metal The black was done at the end after all the other non- 2. AP-WP1130 - Plate Mail Metal metallic colours. 3. AP-WP1129 - Shining Silver Black 4. AP-WP1136 - Dark Tone Ink 1. AP-WP1101 - Matt Black mixed with AP- WP1125 - Skeleton Bone WEAPON GUARDS & POMMELS Done after the steel. 2. plus AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 3. plus more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone Brass 4. and lastly more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton 1. AP-WP1133 - Weapon Bronze Bone 2. AP-WP1132 - Greedy Gold WEAPON BLADES, GUARDS & 3. AP-WP1132 - Greedy Gold mixed with Foundry PP044C - Burning Gold POMMELS Done after the black. 4. Foundry PP044C - Burning Gold 3 THE MODELS KIMONO PATTERN I will list all the colours (even those listed above) Which I took to be stylised arrows and flights in red. with each model, in case you are going to paint each On the white kimono, I first painted the arrow shafts Samurai individually, rather than batch paint the same in the base red. I then joined them up in a sort of colours over the whole set. zigzag pattern to represent arrow the flights. Then I highlighted the whole design. Lastly I added the small SAMURAI ONE black and green design elements over that. Senior student with Nodachi He is quite a simple Red model with his massive Nodachi sword. 1. AP-WP1105 - Dragon Red 2. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White KIMONO 3. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White White 4. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White 1. AP-WP1102 - Matt White mixed With small patterns in black (as above) and green with AP-WP1117 - Ash Grey and (same as on Uwa-obi below) AP-WP1121 - Desert Yellow 2. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White UWA-OBI (sash) 3. plus more AP- Green WP1102 - Matt 1. AP-WP1112 - Angel Green White 2. AP-WP1112 - Angel Green 4. pure AP-WP1102 - plus AP-WP1109 - Goblin Green Matt White 3. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White 4. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White WARAJI (sandals), BELT CORD & SWORD GRIP Red 1. AP-WP1124 - Oak Brown plus AP-WP1105 - Dragon Red 2. AP-WP1105 - Dragon Red 3. AP-WP1104 - Pure Red 4. AP-WP1104 - Pure Red plus AP-WP1106 - Lava Orange BAGS Brown 1. AP-WP1123 - Leather Brown 2. AP-WP1123 - Leather Brown mixed with AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 3. plus more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 4. and lastly more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone Yellow 1. AP-WP1121 - Desert Yellow mixed with AP-WP1124 - Oak Brown 2. AP-WP1121 - Desert Yellow 3. plus AP-WP1107 - Daemonic Yellow and AP-WP1102 - Matt White 4. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White 4 WEAPON BLADE Steel 1. AP-WP1131 - Gun Metal 2. AP-WP1130 - Plate Mail Metal 3. AP-WP1129 - Shining Silver 4. AP-WP1136 - Dark Tone Ink WEAPON GUARD AND POMMEL Brass 1. AP-WP1133 - Weapon Bronze 2. AP-WP1132 - Greedy Gold 3. AP-WP1132 - Greedy Gold mixed with Foundry PP044C - Burning Gold 4. Foundry PP044C - Burning Gold 5 Red small circles 1. AP-WP1104 - Pure Red 2. AP-WP1104 - Pure Red plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White Tiny black dots 1. AP-WP1101 - Matt Black KOBAKAMA (tight trousers) 1. AP-WP1127 - Tanned Flesh plus AP-WP1104 - Pure Red plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White 2. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White 3. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White 4. plus even more AP-WP1102 - Matt White KOBAKAMA PATTERN I started this pattern by marking a circle of dots to be the centre of the flower, and then I painted in all of the petals for that flower. When I had done one flower I marked out the next one, far away enough from the first so the petals didn’t overlap. I repeated this process till the trousers were full of flowers. Don’t worry if the petals are a bit wobbly, that just adds to the ascetic asymmetric Japanese look. Black flowers SAMURAI TWO 1. AP-WP1101 - Matt Black mixed Quite complex patterns on this samurai but worth the with AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone effort I think. 2. plus AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone SHITAGI (shirt) 1. AP-WP1102 - Matt White mixed with AP- WP1117 - Ash Grey and AP-AP-WP1121 - Desert Yellow 2. plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White 3. plus more AP-WP1102 - Matt White 4. pure AP-WP1102 - Matt White SHITAGI PATTERN I painted the shirt white first, and then I marked on where the small circles were going to be with a soft pencil, very lightly. Then I painted the small circles in using only the main colour and one highlight. Then I dotted in the very tiny dots in black. Green small circles 1. AP-WP1109 - Goblin Green 2. AP-WP1109 - Goblin Green plus AP-WP1102 - Matt White 6 SAYA (scabbard) 1. AP-WP1101 - Matt Black mixed with AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 2. plus AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 3. plus more AP-WP1125 - Skeleton Bone 4.