12th Century Japan Campaign

[Lagartija Mike]

I'm putting together a large scale Late Heian Japanese with five regional powers: the Taira in Kyushu and Shikoku, Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Yamato region and adjacent areas, Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Kanto and the East, and the Oshu Fujiwara in Mutsu and Dewa. The forces of the major temples, Koyasan, Kofuku-ji, Onodera, Enryaku-ji etc.. will also be represented.

Looking for a quality range of period correct figures. Not a big fan of the slightly squashed Curteys or the massive old Dixons. Any recs?

[rokurota]

http://www.theassaultgroup.co.uk

[gary42]

Not sure  if  they're  12th century  or  not but they're  beauties!
http://kingsfordminiatures.org

[carlos13th]

The assault group and West Winf are the only miniatures I know of for that period.

[Lagartija Mike]

Thanks for the suggestions. I've checked them out and, for whatever reason, they don't do it for me. I'm not sure why more manufacturers don't do ranges for the period, the full panoply o-yoroi are made with truly luxurious fabrics and alloys, they paint up beautifully. Even the more restrained gear of the retainers has a lot of visual flash to recommend it. I don't think I've ever seen figures done of the "Imperial Guard" in dress robes and court caps.

[Arundel]

There is also the range from 1st Corps: http://www.1stcorps.co.uk/buy-online/c/1st-corps-figures/dark-age-and-early-medieval/samurai-c12th-13th/page/1/ I painted up dozens of these a few years back and have to say they turned out quite well. They were nice sculpts and I find they have a lot of character.

Like you, however, I've never understood why the Sengoku Jidai period gets endless ranges while the much more interesting early period of the Gempei Wars is largely neglected. Perhaps it's Kurosawa's fault.

(It sounds as though you want 28mm, but if 15mm is acceptable, you might like the range by Essex. They are very nice: http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-samurai-900-1450ad)

Hope this helps!

[Arrigo]

To be quite honest I am partial to TAG and... Curteys...

here is my latest Heian period effort:



http://forwardhq.blogspot.it/2015/06/in-far-distand-land.html

[Lagartija Mike]

Arundel, Asia in general is underserved. There are endless EIR legionaires and Successor phalangites, but try to find an authentic looking Nambokucho bushi or even something as pure eye-candy as a full Mamluk Egyptian range, nevermind Southern Han elephants, Seljuq Agulani, Khwarazmshah cataphracts or Gokturk tarkhans. I"d pay good money for an Medieval Indonesian range.

[Durruti Mike]

I'm putting together a large scale Late Heian Japanese with five regional powers: the Taira in Kyushu and Shikoku, Minamoto no Yoshinaka in the Yamato region and adjacent areas, Minamoto no Yoritomo in the Kanto and the East, and the Oshu Fujiwara in Mutsu and Dewa. The forces of the major temples, Koyasan, Kofuku-ji, Onodera, Enryaku-ji etc.. will also be represented.

Looking for a quality range of period correct figures. Not a big fan of the slightly squashed Curteys or the massive old Dixons. Any recs?

As far as 28mm is concerned I've been looking out for something very similar for a long time but none of the available ranges appealed - either poor anatomy or poor research (Osprey has a lot to answer for...). I did buy some TheAssaultGroup horse and foot, as they seemed the best of a poor bunch, but went off them after a while. The helmets just look all wrong for this period for a start - the bowl too square and the neck guard too small and not sweeping up as it should. Other thing s annoyed like tachi sidearm swords not being included with horse-archers and crude molded-on arrow quivers. At the end of the day I also just don't really like the prevalent 28mm sculpting style with bulky bods and oversized heads, hands and weapons...

Now if you consider 15mm things are a lot rosier. Even the old Minifig range features one of the best realisation of a bulky O-yoroi I've ever come across on their horse archers. Eureka also make some excellent sculpts but make occasional errors like the O-sode shoulder guards hanging like they're strapped to the arm rather than corded to the torso armour (might seem like minor nit-picking but it's like nails on a blackboard to anyone very familiar with the O-yoroi and spoils so many different ranges - damn you Osprey!). Essex Miniatures also has a large decent range (same problem with the O-Sode on some figures though). Naismith Design has a couple of nice foot warriors and attendants with naginata. A problem to consider is that older 15mm are...well 15mm whereas the newer ranges are bigger.

Nice examples of Eureka and Essex on this blog:
http://swampster-danteswars.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/the-way-of-horse-and-bow.html


Lastly, as my eyes get older and those 15mm get harder to see, I've started to look at the 1/72 scale (24mm rather than "true 20mm") options and was please to discover the Tumbling Dice range   http://www.tumblingdiceuk.com/product-category/172/early-frankish-c1200/early-japanese-c1250 which are great, especially as things such as O-Sode, quivers and heads etc. are separate so you can put together a very non-uniform looking early samurai warband. They are also very compatible with plastic 1/72 figures so can be used with some Zvezda Sengoku-jidai that are suitable for earlier periods (including some minor conversions like replacing jingasa hats with eboshi caps, yari with naginata) and Warrior Monks from Redbox. Of course, this is also the cheapest option.
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=448
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=888
http://www.plasticsoldierreview.com/Review.aspx?id=1073

[Arundel]

That's a great first post, Mike. I'm not the stickler you are, though I've certainly shared your frustration in the past. The thing that bothers me most is that figures never seem to show the backwards sweep of the helmet plates so typical of kabutos at the time. Believe it or not, some of the old Dixon actually did it best, I think.

[Durruti Mike]

Thanks, Arundel, I literally have been lurking around for a while, meaning to join, and finally got around to it.

Totally agree on Dixons (bought some in the 80s) as well as the very similar (now-defunct) "Bushi" range from Village Green/Stronghold. Nicely researched but ohhh those pumpkin-heads...

[Arundel]

Welcome, Mike,

I loved the Village Green range and painted buckets of them was I was working on my samurai project. Soft detail and some slightly wonky anatomy, but they had a real presence to them: big chunky fellows and some of the few figures I've seen that looked like they stepped out of a Japanese scroll painting. My favourite was the shrine model being carried by yama-bushi--a real show stopper of a piece...

Daryl

[Durruti Mike]

My favourite was the shrine model being carried by yama-bushi--a real show stopper of a piece...

You mean this one? 



Really must get around to painting it...

I don't think I've ever seen figures done of the "Imperial Guard" in dress robes and court caps.

Just remembered that Old Glory have an Imperial Guard like figure, as well as Heian type noble, in their "Villagers" pack (despite the name). The rest of the pack are all pretty much Sengoku/Edo era though:

http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/proddetail.asp?prod=SUM-17&cat=53

[Arundel]

That's the one! It's a superb piece (great fun as a morale booster/objective in games) and paints up very well. Please share photos if you ever get around to it.