Japanese diorama, part 3

I’ve painted up two samurai for my diorama. They are made by Footsore Miniatures and are from their Warring Clans range of figures. The right one is cast as one part. The left one came with two separate swords, that were a little finicky to attach. The miniatures are supplied with nice thin laser-cut MDF bases that I much prefer over the much fatter bases used by GW.

I really like the sculpt and the poses of the figures. One is hunched forward with his sword loosened from the scabbard, ready to draw in an instant. The other takes on a more nonchalant pose, simultaneously wielding his katana and wakizashi like the famous Miyamoto Musashi. My only gripe is that there seems to be a slight difference in scale and one is clearly a bit more chunky than the other. Then again, people aren’t all the same size.

I had a lot of fun painting these figures. It was my first attempt at painting a fabric pattern and I think it turned out pretty good. The pattern was applied using the tip of a pin, which was quite tricky. I messed up a couple of times, but mistakes can be rubbed away and painted over easily enough.

Painting of the shrine - I’ve decided that it’s a shrine - is coming along well, so the next post will show the end result. It was supposed to be a little one-off thing, but I had such a lot of fun that I’ve decided to get some more miniatures and make some more scenery so that I can play samurai-themed skirmish games.

The two samurai side by side for a scale comparison. Also, samurai were not afraid to wear socks and sandals...

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