Bushido playing board

[The Voivod]

Bushido risen sun is, in my mind, the best miniature game out there. It's not my favourite setting, though I do love it, but the rules are such a wonderful mix of deep, elegant, easy and fast, it's just a joy to play. Combine this with being able to play with a handful of mini's a side on a 2x2 surface and you have amazing modeling opportunities. Ninja's, Oni, samurai figting in ricefields, caves and shrines. The small scale really opens up what you can build.

So, when I started playing, in the previous edition I made a shrine, planning on building a traditional Japanese garden to place it in for the Noble Takeshi family to protect.
Other stuff drew my attention away, but I'm finally making progress.

At this point the main board is drying with a black wash. After this it will receive a dry brush. I will be pouring water effect in the pond, but am waiting for my koi to arrive, courtesy of the missus. First I'll integrate the little zen garden into the whole, prying it hasn't cracked tomorrow. I made this using cheap air drying clay over some solid cardboard, creating the pattern with a small piece of a plastic comb.

The bamboo is from e-bay, cut to size and inserted in some high density foam. These are magnetized, as is the side of the pond. This is to make it easier to store.

Final picture is some of the stuff I collected over the years, painted up, to be placed on  the board when ready.

I made as much modular as possible, for ease of storing, but also because I want to re-use elements on other boards. I 've really found my time is limited and I have so many projects I want to work on, it's better for me to invest a little more time in some small pieces, as this will save me time, and space, later on.

[Codsticker]

Bushido... it's been around for quite awhile, no? Or am I thinking of a different game...

[The Voivod]

Long enough for a few sculpts to show their age. I picked up a pledge of their "rise of the kage" board game from BGG some years ago. It uses the same models and introduced the ninja faction to the main game. That pledge contained enough models to play 3 factions in bushido and the stat cards to play them.
So I decided to get the rulebook, which wasn't that expensive. Me and my gaming buddy where blown away by the game.

I'm really surprised it isn't more popular. Most sculpts are truly excellent. It's not that expensive to pick up and the gameplay is stellar.
It manages to make sense thematically and still have several very unique mechanics. All while being relatively simple.
The most difficult is remembering traits, as there are quite a few, but seeing as you're playing with only a few models aside and many models in you faction sharing traits because it fits their theme, you don't have to remember them all.

[fred]

Good start on the terrain

I’m just starting out on a Feudal Japanese project in 10mm, so it’s great to see what other people are doing.

[darthfozzywig]

Love the zen garden!

[The Voivod]

Hi,

Busy week, but I managed to get some more work done.
After a thin wash and dry brush over the stone work, I decided the actual stones should remain white-ish instead of the grey I was planning. It looked pretty cool and I thought it added on the garden feel. Making it look cleaner and maintained.

I've undercoated my bamboo.  Planning on hitting it with the airbrush when the weather isn't so bloody hot.

The zen garden warped a bit, but with some construction kit I got it into place. Then I made a mix of wallfiller and pva and added this along side the edge, sticking in some aquarium gravel to create to border of the garden. Some of this mixture was also used to heighten up the path between the two pieces of the garden, making it look more like a whole.

[dampfpanzerwagon]

Looking good.

Tony

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Great stuff V.

Bushido is an excellent game and very enjoyable to play. I’m not a fan personally of strict measurement and movement games where mm make a difference but Bushido is so well thought out it hardly registers whilst I’m playing. Also it’s cheap, the two player starter is great value and individual starter boxes are only £25 ish and actually have a usable force that will give you numerous fun games before you feel the need to add in more miniatures.

If you are ummming and ahhhhing about whether to join in: take the leap, you won’t regret it.
BALM

[Bloggard]

looking good and interesting to hear how good the game is ...

[Digits]

Like Codsticker...I’m also puzzled.  I played Bushido RPG some 35 years ago.  We used mainly Dixon minis for the humans....with I think Ral Partha bakimono, naga, dragons and various other creatures.  It was a very good system.

Is this current version a reincarnation of that RPG, (certainly never used cards etc) or something completely new?

[BeneathALeadMountain]

@Digits: No the bushido RPG is a different thing they’re both just about Bushido (The way of the warrior). The miniature game has been around for a while though (2011 ish maybe older) as I remember talking to the chaps who make it at Salute and I haven’t been for years. They have just released the 3rd edition: Rising Sun and this is an excellent time to get into the game as everything has been updated and bought into line. The publisher is GCT studios and they have an active and helpful forum on their site if anyone is interested.

I rarely recommend games as most people have different tastes when it comes to gaming but if you’re looking for a fun, tactical game that needs a small space to play and is affordable then Bushido is probably it.

Good luck and good gaming
BALM

[Digits]

Thanks for the clarification

[The Voivod]

There's some progress on the board, but I will post pictures at a later point.
I've hit the bamboo with the airbrush and am putting some undergrowth on it and painting on the board is almost done>

I also received my fish and other goodies from mastercrafted miniatures, so I might put the finishing touches on it this week.

For those interested in the game, this is the site:
https://gctstudios.com/

I cannot stress enough how good this game is. It really blew me and my regular gaming buddy away. It's relative obscurity is one the great sins of the hobby.
Fantastic rules, awesome models and as BeneathALeadMountain said it's really not that expansive to get into.

At the moment the only negative I can say about it is that I would like some more scenario's and background, so basicly: I want more of it.
But there's just such a book in production and the current edition is only a couple of months old.

Rules are free on the site too,

[BeneathALeadMountain]

Can’t wait to see the progress on the board V (I’m still having to shield and already being ill am not making as much hobby progress as I’d like) it’s helping keep me motivated and interested.

You are right though, I bought Minamoto as I like Samurai (30 years of being hit with sticks and shouted at in Japanese hasn’t yet put me off) and Bears and Tetsubo (Also being a new faction there were less models to buy so I could focus on the rules and interactions). The one thing I wish there was more of is background fluff though so I can better understand the roles and motives of our groups (I believe there was more in the earlier rulebook but have only been playing since Risen Sun) and why we are hitting each other.

Keep up the good work V and to everyone else consider Bushido, if nothing else the starter set has enough for two people and all the rules and bits you need.

BALM

[The Voivod]

Lazy days and little progress.

I did finally get some pictures at least. I used and airbrush on my bamboo. after painting the underside black I hit the complete top with a bright olive green. After this I hit it again from below, but this time aiming at the foliage and stalks. This created a shadow effect and made the whole look less uniform. Quite an effective way of highlighting something as this. I'm really not familiar with an airbrush and it really looks good.
Using some darkbrown I painted the lower ends of the stalks and the ground that I hadn't covered in leaves yet. This makes the stalks more natural and looks like there's some earth on them.
When I finished varnishing it I stuck on a few different groundcovers I had lying around. Not sure if this resembles any actual Japanese flora, but it looks pretty decent.

On the board itself I created a small path through the garden. This is playground sand mixed with some pigment powder. I got a handful of the mixture from my regular gaming buddy, who used it on his own gameboard.
This leave just the grass on the board and then put in some fish and resin water effect.
A prospect I admit is quite daunting, never having worked with the material before.

I made small test piece to try it first. Just need to drybrush that and see how ith works.