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Author Topic: Yokainoyama (now with Jubokko)  (Read 28867 times)

Offline Juxt

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Yokainoyama (now with Jubokko)
« on: May 28, 2017, 11:30:43 AM »
Deep in the Northern mountains of Honshu, there is a village known as Yokainoyama.  Unremarkable in many ways, it is inhabited by a small number of subsistence farmers struggling to survive week to week, unsustainably large amounts of their crops are taken by the men of the Daimyo, Tsugaru Nobuhira in return for protection from the Tsuchigumo- gangs of bandits who are the scourge of Mutsu Province.
Unable to defend themselves from the bandits, and unwilling to keep paying the daimyo's men, the villagers of Yokainoyama have started turning to the many creatures that call the mountain home for assistance.  Creatures that are already aggrieved by the expansion of Nobuhira's clan encroaching on their woodlands and the countless acts of destruction caused by the bandits.  Tricky creatures, perhaps ones you should not try to bargain with...


Unhappy with the miniatures available for kappa (except for the amazing ones from Tengu miniatures, which have vanished into thin air) I set about making my own kappa- a kappa wielding a shakujo stolen from the village's shrine, and a recently removed shirikodama, possibly wrenched from deep within the priest that the staff was taken from.





please forgive the quality of the images, they have seriously washed out the brightness and colour from this guy, I need to sort out a better photography set up I think.  The kappa started off life as a monopose Games Workshop goblin from the Hobbit game, a bit of green stuff for a beak and shell, then a shakujo made from styrene and florist's wire.  I made a quick mould of the shell before painting the kappa so I can reproduce more quickly and easily.

Hope you guys like my first yokai.
« Last Edit: May 01, 2018, 11:20:32 AM by Juxt »

Online OSHIROmodels

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #1 on: May 28, 2017, 04:06:04 PM »
Splendid work and a great conversion from such a simple base figure  :)

cheers

James
cheers

James

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Offline Codsticker

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #2 on: May 28, 2017, 04:08:47 PM »
Models and pictures look great!

Offline Juxt

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #3 on: May 28, 2017, 06:01:37 PM »
thanks guys :-)

Here are a trio of Hitodama for use in the same games.  Hitodama are the visible souls of humans which have detached from their host's bodies, they are completely harmless yokai that illuminate graveyards at night... unless of course you've misidentified them and you're actually dealing with a trio of onibi, who are a type of blue vampiric demon fire that drains the life energy from anyone who strays too close.  I guess you'll just have to guess which ones they are and take a chance.



the models themselves are made from some Plascraft Japanese gravestones and some flaming skulls from a Games Workshop undead kit, no conversions here, but I'm pleased with the glow they give off- almost too bright to look at under the right conditions :-)
« Last Edit: May 28, 2017, 06:06:57 PM by Juxt »

Online OSHIROmodels

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #4 on: May 28, 2017, 06:49:13 PM »
Splendid  :)

cheers

James

Offline gnorhk

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #5 on: May 29, 2017, 09:58:00 AM »
That is some awesome work you are doing and is a great source of inspiration. I aim for a similar setting (yokai and yurei).

Offline FierceKitty

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #6 on: May 29, 2017, 10:18:58 AM »
thanks guys :-)

Here are a trio of Hitodama for use in the same games.  Hitodama are the visible souls of humans which have detached from their host's bodies, they are completely harmless yokai that illuminate graveyards at night... unless of course you've misidentified them and you're actually dealing with a trio of onibi, who are a type of blue vampiric demon fire that drains the life energy from anyone who strays too close.  I guess you'll just have to guess which ones they are and take a chance.



the models themselves are made from some Plascraft Japanese gravestones and some flaming skulls from a Games Workshop undead kit, no conversions here, but I'm pleased with the glow they give off- almost too bright to look at under the right conditions :-)

Nifty.  lol
The laws of probability do not apply to my dice in wargames or to my finesses in bridge.

Offline Juxt

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Re: Yokainoyama (kappa)
« Reply #7 on: May 30, 2017, 12:50:50 PM »
Tsurube Otoshi- a giant disembodied head that waits in the top of the tallest cedars in the forests that stretch along the boundaries of Yokainoyama.  The locals all know not to venture near these trees, too many of their friends and relatives have been squashed by the tsurube otoshi, some of them eaten, others just squashed for fun.  The men of local daimyo Tsugaru Nobuhira however have not heard of the legends, meaning that the occasional spy might mysteriously vanish while out on a scouting mission deep in the woods.

Acting as a sort of trap/dangerous terrain in my games, I've finally finished painting him up.  He's made from an old Alan Perry sculpted head from the 1980s, and a more recent samurai casualty from the same hand.  They blend together stylistically very well I think, and they only took a bit of putty work to build the neck and mould them into one another.  The photos don't really capture it that well, but there's a string of drool coming from the giant head's mouth, hopefully adding to the big dumb brute feel that the sculpt has.

(buddhist manji on the sashimono has been blurred out)






Offline Mr Tough Guy

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #8 on: May 30, 2017, 01:36:36 PM »
These are all brilliant, The kappa is an excellent conversion, and I totally agree it's a shame the Tengu once were never rereleased, last I heard was that Kurasan had picked them up, but they've never done anything with them afaik. But the conversion is great, might have to try to do something similar, although I would be tempted to cut of the ears, it's a shame I just finished painting my TMNT or I could have pressmoulded their shield.

They're all great conversion, with excellent painjobs to match, looking forward to what you come up with next. I really like your approach, are you planning on converting everything or will you also use the few Yokai that are available as is?

Offline Hupp n at em

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2017, 02:50:55 PM »
Wow, really cool stuff.  I was not familiar with most of these creatures, but I'd say you've done them justice!  8)

Offline Juxt

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #10 on: May 30, 2017, 03:03:15 PM »
thanks guys :-)

I really like your approach, are you planning on converting everything or will you also use the few Yokai that are available as is?

I've got a few of the commercially available yokai, it mostly depends on whether they meet the classical descriptions or not, a lot of the sculptors/designers have taken some artistic licence and deviated from tradition.  I have a couple of sets of tsukumogami from cp miniatures, an oni, genbu and misuchi from kensei (actually have my eye on a few of their other creatures too) and I'm on the lookout for a very old kitsunegami made by citadel in the 80s.  Some of the Malifaux range are quite tempting too.  Anything that isn't properly represented I'll convert if possible- on the workbench I've got a raiju, tesso, a tsukumogami of a taiko drum, a nukekubi and a few others, but they're all in the very early stages at the mo'.

Offline Timotl

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #11 on: May 30, 2017, 05:49:55 PM »
All top notch work! I love the dripping blood....

Offline Duke Donald

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #12 on: May 30, 2017, 09:52:41 PM »
What a wonderful collection of creatures! I'm impressed by our creativity and skills!

Offline rokurota

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #13 on: May 30, 2017, 10:05:20 PM »
Amazing!

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Offline Juxt

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Re: Yokainoyama (now with Tsurube Otoshi)
« Reply #14 on: May 31, 2017, 05:29:35 PM »
thanks guys, you're all too kind :-)

Next on the field guide to the creatures of Yokainoyama is the mighty Daidarabotchi.  Late at night, deep in the forest you might hear a sequence of earth shaking thudds, perhaps the tearing of tree limbs or the creeping of vines, this is the Daidarabotchi.  An elemental creature embodying the kami of the forest, so powerful that it is said to have lifted the rocks and dirt to shape the very mountain that it resides upon.  A great boulder strewn with shimenawa at the center of the forest marks the whereabouts of the Daidarabotchi during the day, only the profoundly ignorant would be foolish enough to interfere with such a sacred stone, and those who have in the past have all met a terrible fate at the hands of this enormous beast.


Miniatures this big are always a bit of a nightmare to photograph, even more so than regular infantry :-P  This mini, if it can be called such, started off as a Mierce bog beast (an excellent range if you want some interesting, realistic monsters) I removed a bunch of minor elements and added the rock with shimenawa, a few trophy elements taken from some samurai, and a few extra vines and skulls, nothing too major.  Again, a Perry miniatures casualty on the base- I love that line of injured guys.  The strings of goo on the black hand are made by mixing black ink into UHU glue, then stretching it between the tentacles.  Once the glue is dry, I applied a few layers of gloss varnish over the strings to toughen them up.