Prepping For Trumpeter Salute Convention for April '14

[Sturmpioneer]

Well I've gone and committed to putting on a game at the Trumpeter Salute Convention held annually at the Bonsor Recreation Complex in Burnaby British Columbia, Canada. http://www.trumpetersalute.com/

I'm going to put on Ronin game simulating the castle assault siege on Lord Hidetora in the movie Ran.  For full disclosure my wife and I own Kingsford Miniatures and we will be using figures from our range and some new releases.

The plan is to have two attacking forces made of mostly ashigaru attacking Lord Hidetora's samurai bodyguard.  We won't follow the rules exactly nor the movie but the idea is to put on an entertaining game using fun rules and excellent miniatures.

To that end I am starting this thread to keep me motivated (or  better yet very scared!)!

[Poiter50]

Then I will followthis post with interest as I have seen what Arteis did with your figures. 

[Sturmpioneer]

First off, force selection.  I'll start with son number one's forces.  Taro has been made the new lord and not being too bright has been manipulated to turn on his father!  First few photos were taken with an iPod so they aren't the best but I'll get my digital camera going.

[Sturmpioneer]

Arteis is a great painter!  I'm a bit more pedestrian but hopefully the players will be inspired.

Now, my inspiration:

[Sturmpioneer]

Show a little bit more construction and start of painting.













So far, following the colour scheme of the movie but its a bit too dark for my tastes.  I pull out my colour wheel:



I'll try a split complementary scheme from the yellow.  I'll try a blue-violet and an red-violet on portions of the ashigaru's clothing.

[Mr. Peabody]

Following this with some anticipation! 

[Wirelizard]

Looking forward to this!

I may or may not make Trumpeter Salute this year. If I miss it it will be the first time in four or five years I won't be there... but there's a reasonable chance of work sending me off to Northern Alberta at around the same time as TS'14!

[Bravo Six]

Off to a good start Dave. More importantly, $2.49 for Bear Paw cookies is a great deal!! 

-Todd

[Mr. Peabody]

Hey Wirelizard, hope you can make it this year... Wouldn't be the same without you.

Mr. Sturm, we humbly request an update. 

[Sturmpioneer]

Okay, before people think I've done a runner.

Got some painting done.  Mostly basic colours on.  Very little highlighting was done, no inks or washes yet.  Dropped one mini and bent the sashimono!  
The black line on the backbanners was done free hand.  What I learned from this is to wait until I'm ready to do all in one sitting as I am anything but consistent in my application.  I've got more bits and bobs to paint on them but I won't do every single stitch as one, time won't allow for it and two, these are gaming pieces for the convention and are going to be heavily handled in the four sessions.  I'm thinking leaving the black armour pieces straight black is going to be a no-no but I'm not keen on doing lots of highlighting in various blacks, especially if the matt spray obliterates it.  So, do you think a light drybrush of grey would be alright?  

Will need to get these done this week as I have to move on to Jiro's forces.  He's brother number 2.

Also put in an order for a Far East Watchtower from Sarissa Precision

[Arteis]

These are looking terrific.

I presume the yellow bases is for streamlining convention play?  They look good, anyway.

And having just watched the movie RAN the other day, I'm finding this a very intriguing project.

Roly (Arteis)

[Sturmpioneer]

Yes,
The yellow bases are for convention play.  Some of the players may never have played with minis before so this should help them keep track of their figures.  In addition I want to create the chaotic feel the battle has for first time viewers.  I will do the initial deployment with figures all over the place.  The yellow and red for the brothers' buntai should facilitate play.

Painting update.  Some inks and washes applied, a bit more touch ups and highlighting and that will have to be good enough.  I can always come back to them if time allows.

[Sturmpioneer]

Now off to do Jiro's forces.  He's brother number 2 who gets totally manipulated by Taro's wife/widow into committing self-destruction.  In fact, his generals may even be worse as one of them shoots Taro in the back!  I'll start of doing the pavises because I need to make sure I am happy with the red I settle on.  Also when reviewing the photos I realized how little red was on the armour of the troops.  Just shows how one's imagination can exaggerate memories.  Now I pulled out my colour wheel and see that triadic harmony shows blue and yellow go well with red.  That's good as I am using blue for the shirts which ties  nicely to brother number one's uniform and yellow for trim and as such which will also harken back to Taro's troops.  That strengthens the family aspect of the forces.

 

[Sturmpioneer]

I will use ten figures for the band.  In the photo you'll see eleven, that's because I am going to do a head swap.

[Sturmpioneer]

Okay, next post.  Did the head swap took photos and realized afterwards I did not have the memory card loaded!  







Started trying out the reds to see what looks close enough to the movies but will also be good for the table.




This one's a master casting of the new pack soon to be released.








This is the fellow with the headswap.  Too bad I didn't record the process properly.




I'm going to use some of the decals to represent Jiro's mon from the movie.  I think it will work out alright.

We have a statutory holiday tomorrow so I'll continue with the reds, put some flesh colours in and test out the decals idea.

I did receive my Far East Tower kit from Sarissa.  I handed that over to my terrain man.  We also reviewed the battle scene together and sketched out the modular table layout, size of the gates, and the general layout and construction of the keep.  I've also playtested the scenario a bit more.  I may reduce the defenders to ten models which will mean there will be 2:1 advantage for the attackers.  However the defenders will all be samurai!

I am toying with the idea of point values for determining the victor, as it is quite possible no-one will get to the keep and kill Hidetora.  If I do this I may also put in secret objectives.