It takes a child to raise a village

In this case, my son needing someone to assist/supervise him with his homework.  As sitting there, staring at the ceiling until he needed me isn't my thing, I took my cutting mat, some tools and a batch of mini's along:

Luckily (for me, not for him!) he had enough homework that I could also get around to basing them:

So, I have been a good parent, had a nice father-son chat as we both worked on our own things and I gained a batch of mini's ready for primer and (start of) paint tomorrow. Win-win-win!

These are a sort of spontaneous collaboration with Gunbird, as he has enthusiastically started building a samurai village. As we both have an interest in medieval Japan wargaming, I might as well provide the population!

The project is (unsurprisingly, seeing my track record) threatening to escalate a bit though. My original plan was to limit myself to the Gempei War miniatures from The Assault Group, with some supporting mini's from Perry to fill the gaps, but I've already ordered a Koryu Buntai from the Ronin range by Northstar Miniatures, and find myself eyeing other buntai and more "modern" samurai figures from Perry, Kingsford and Northstar... We'll see how far this goes...

See you next time!

Geta job!

Job done, that is! 😁

With the help of my lovely wife (and her fabric collection and sewing machine), the geta got finished:

I just need to fidget around with the straps, get them neat, and find out the right length before I permanently attach them.

The wood is  "steigerhout" from a local DIY, which seems to be a low grade of pine. It's light, but not very sturdy, and hard to get really smooth and neat.  I finished it with boiled linseed oil, in the hopes of protecting them from wet and dirt at least a little bit.  The straps are terry cloth wound around sisal rope, held togehter inside a black cotton tube.
These are just a quick test of concept and construction, to see how they would be to walk on. If they work well, and I actually manage to wear these out, maybe I'll make a pair of decent wood. Maybe, someday.

They're a bloody hazard to walk around with on wooden flooring, but on carpet I can manage a (careful and nervous) run. Hopefully I'll get to try them outdoors sometime, the type of terrain they are intended for. We've got some inland dunes nearby so I might get to test them out on both woodland soil, some light mud and loose sand. Plus I get to confuse the locals...

See you next time!

I feel like sushi tonight.

Our  DnD Campaign set in mythical Japan has picked up steam again, which has gotten me looking at my medieval Japan references again. At the same time Gunbird started building Japanese houses and a second hand copy of Daisho came along on the LAF. Apparently Samurai are in the air... So why fight it?

Especially as I have a Pappis box full of the belligerent little dudes. :D A couple were already paint in progress and I had a basecoated Torii. As good a point to start (or continue) as any.
Here's the results of a day's painting:

 I tried to get the Torii to look like a simple, weathered, rural one, the design just lent itself to that. No idea where it came from, it was a gift from Gunbird.

And more of a close up of the Samurai themselves:

The mini's are from The Assault Group, Gempei Wars era Samurai.
I've got a few more primered and ready to paint, but those will have to wait for another weekend.
Once my Daish rule set arrives, I'll have a root through my box and assemble a warband/Buntai. I should have some ashigaru as well. And if I have the right mix of weapons and gear, they may even visit Frostgrave?
For now, it's just fun to be doing hobby stuff again and sharing enthusiasm with Gunbird.

See you next time!