A while ago, I realized that even though I enjoy regular games of Bushido, I really don't have any dedicated terrain for it. True enough, I'm in the process of building a board for it (60x60cm; it's all you need), but on the table you'd need some modular terrain pieces to move around as well.
For those not in the know; Bushido can best be described as an oriental fantasy game. Based primarily on Japanese mythology, but with all types of Asian tropes thrown in as well.
So I went looking for an appropriately sized budha statuette on Ali Express and Ebay. There was plenty of choice, but eventually I stumbled upon a small, solar powered lucky cat thingy that cost just a few bucks, so I thought 'what the heck', and pulled the trigger on that instead.
Last week it arrived. Not in one piece though; the arm had split down the seam (it was a push fit anyway), and I had to sift through the garbage to recover both pieces, as I had immediately thrown out the packaging
I got the white variant:
And since I had some time to kill, I immediately got stuck in. I removed the simple mechanism that moves the arm (ever so slightly) and the cushion-like base. I then superglued both halves of the body back together and sanded the seams smooth. The same was done for the loose arm.
This, I then glued into position with hot glue. Once that cooled down, I set to work with some ProCreate to fill the screw holes on the back and work the loose arm into the body, so it would appear to be one piece.
Once that was properly cured, I filed and sanded those spots smooth, I carefully scribed the facial features into the plastic with a sharp tool, tracing the printed on graphics. The plastic was pretty hard, so it was a bit of a nervewracking job, but I managed without any mishaps.
Sorry for not having any WIP pics to show btw; the above (and below) was all done in a ridiculous flurry of activity, and I simply didn't take the time to take pictures...
The base was a simple affair of some MDF for the base/bottom steps and two small cut offs of XPS foam for the other two steps. Tracing out stones, cutting them with a blade and retracing them with a pen are all standard practice of course.
Glueing them together with hot glue (for speed) wasn't, since my hot glue gun has no temperature settings, so the effect of the glue on the foam was... interesting. But in the end, it got the job done.
I then gave it a very basic paint job of dark grey (mixed with PVA glue), black and brown wash, and then drybrushes of lighter shades of grey.
The cat was given a spray of plastic primer first and then a layer of black. I then painted the entire thing with bronze and gave it a dirty wash of brown and black. After that, I added some Nihilac Oxide Technical paint (first use for me) to some strategic locations, and then it was time to glue the cat to its base.
After this, I had some fun adding different kinds of foliage, sand, gravel, grass and flock to the base. All larger foliage (the fern, the ivy on the back and the other plants) are plastic model- or aquarium plants. The fern started its life as a 1/100 palm tree; I simply cut off the trunk. The ivy consists of cut off pieces of Britain's Trees Oak foliage (one piece/branch), which I managed to snake around the object.
Then it was time for some offerings, from passers by. This was meant to be some sort of rural shrine/statue, in a forest, with some villages and a larger temple nearby (I play the Temple of Ro Kan faction, amongst others
). Backstory is that for luck, passers by will leave a small offering on the steps and then touch the foot of the statue for good luck.
So that's why the foot is very bright compared to the rest of the statue; it's constantly being touched.
Accumulated on the steps are some half finished bottles of liquor, a bowl of rice, a bowl of some sort of vegetables, one with some fruit, a small bundle of flowers, a gourd cup, containing (I don't know; fill it in for yourself
) and some burning incense.
And finally, because the temple of Ro Kan is all about harmony with the elements and nature, most of its priests are often surrounded by animals, so I figured they should be here too.
There's a big, fluffy Siamese cat waiting for any passer by to leave some fish or meat as an offering.
A red cheeked turtle is finding its way along the base of the steps.
And lastly, because I had to for two reasons; a butterfly resting on the fern's leaves.
And that's it!
An odd start, but this is now my first dedicated Bushido terrain piece...
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April 19, 2024, 10:53:18 PM
May 25, 2010, 06:55:41 AM