Yokainoyama (now with Jubokko)

[Metternich]

Simply wonderful (and vaguely disturbing).  Loved your narrative too.

[rokurota]

Well done mate!

[Andym]

Simply wonderful (and vaguely disturbing).  Loved your narrative too.

What he said!

[von Lucky]

Painting of the kimono and skin has been beautifully done.

[Nimrod]

An excellent choice of colors for kimono and great conversion work!
It is interesting to read background stories about all of these creatures too.

[The Voivod]

So, being new in having interest in this particular neck of the woods of the forum, I'm blown away by the first thead I happen to open on a whim.

So many characterfull mini's and such amazing paintjob.

an absolute joy to see

[Juxt]

Thank you guys  Now, what says Christmas eve more than a visit from a big red guy with some white fur on his boots, and erm... a big iron club?

Large, brutish, quick to anger and invariably wicked, Oni are Japan's answer to the ogres that appear in nearly every country's mythology, and the oni that inhabit the mountains of Yokainoyama are no different.  Born from the most evil of humans, when a murderer or particularly brutal bandit flees into the hills and hides out for a long time evading capture or justice, their bodies and minds slowly change into the hulking, dim-witted form of the oni.  The rage, fear and guilt build up inside until they are too great for a mortal body to withstand, and the longer they go unpunished, the more bestial the end result.  The cruellest oni- created from the worst of humanity- are often armed with great iron tetsubo and recruited into the service of Great Lord Enma, the ruler of hell, while the lesser oni are left in the mortal realms to roam around aimlessly, pillaging villages and destroying anything that gets in their way.





The oni miniature is from the Zenit Kensei range, a lovely sculpt with great details, but a slightly annoying cast with some large gaps between pieces and some shoddy mould lines.  Rarely for me, this model is 100% unconverted which makes a nice change.  With oni being the most well known yokai and well represented by many manufacturers I was able to pick and chose my perfect oni with no need to alter it  

[von Lucky]

Lovely painting. What colours did you use for the red skin tones?

[commissarmoody]

The Zenit Kensei range is pretty cool. I have been eyeing some of there figs for awhile now. Just don't know how well they size up with the Perry Bros figs.

[Mason]

Lovely brushwork, especially on that flesh, that is a great choice of colour.
 

[Juxt]

Thanks guys 👍🏻

The flesh is all GW paints- Mournfang brown with a dab of black and a dab of green, blended up to mephiston red and a final highlight of evil suns scarlet mixed with a touch of light skin colour to knock back the brightness a touch.  Glazed with druchii violet and nuln oil in selected places.

[von Lucky]

Green? Intersting - something I'm going to experiment with when I get the chance. Thanks agsin for these lovely photos and back stories.

[rokurota]

Amazing work!

[GeKi]

Amazing work mate, can´t believe I missed this for so long.

[Juxt]

As the ruthless leader of the local bushi started to grow old, his attitude towards the past and his military conquests soured.  No longer was he proud of the hundreds of people that he had slaughtered, both in war and in the quest for recognition by his lord Nobuhira, rather, feelings of guilt and shame grew in his aging mind.  The unnecessary deaths of countless people, all lesser warriors than himself, started to haunt him day and night- wherever he looked he saw the skulls of his victims, stones in his garden taunted him with grinning teeth, flowers no-longer bloomed for his pleasure, instead taking on the appearance of dead children.  Eventually the souls of all he had vanquished coalesced into a physical form, a giant rotting head which followed him everywhere, impossible to escape from no matter how hard he ran.  Growing weary of the spirit, the once noble warrior turned to fight it, finding it a greater foe than any he had ever faced, the Mekurabe struck him down with one swift blow, ending his life and bringing justice to the families of those he had slain.






One of my regular gamers has a habit of bringing overly powerful characters to games where they don't belong- a rank 5 character has no place in a battle between rank 0-2 warriors and tends to dominate.  The mekurabe is my equaliser, a hard counter to this annoyance  .  If I feel one particular model is unbalancing a game and causing too many deaths then I might summon this beasty and place him in combat with the culpret.  I tend to make the mekurabe an exact copy statwise and weaponwise for its opponant so that it's a fair fight at least, but if the overly powerful character already has a light wound from a previous combat then his chances might be a tad lower...