Painted up a few loose figs for my Ninja-type faction. They are from L to R: a red ninja from the Dark Alliance Stalker set, an Elheim survivor, a street samurai troll from the old Ral Partha Shadowrun line (as an Oni), and one of the Citadel Dark Future street warrior models as a stylin’ Yakuza boss. These characters flesh out the rest of my models to make a full Xenos Rampant Detachment. I might make the Oni character one of the rare Elite Units in my collection. It seems that might make sense with the range and melee weapons he’s packing plus oni magicks. In hindsight, I wish I had painted all my ninja models red. Oh, well.
Having painted up all the Ronin Mythical Creatures provided by author Craig Woodfield, I downloaded his Points Calculator and made a few more creatures to add a little more spice to my table.
I went ahead and picked up the Daimyo model so the group has a proper leader. Using the Osprey Ronin points calculator (https://www.ospreypublishing.com/media/by3dcjby/ronin-points-calculator.pdf) I made a Daimyo character so this unit could have a proper Buntai at 125points… the point value I’ve been playing Ronin at.
I’ve also attempted a “Spill the Sara” optional rule to better tie the unit into Japanese folklore. Essentially, opponents can make a Disarm attempt and if successful the model is Routed and must Run to the nearest water feature or table edge, where they are removed from the table. in the End Phase of the following turn they can appear along the edge of the water feature or same table edge they fled from. It may make the unit a bit more chaotic, but again, optional rule.
Been awhile. Life has been a bit wild lately, and I’d be lying if I said the geopolitical landscape hasn’t effected me. Anyway, whether I’m fiddlin’ while Rome burns or I’m an echo-chamber victim and things aren’t so bad, I’ve decide to finally push forward on a project that’s been on the burner for years… Dragon Rampant proper.
As a big fan of the Northstar Oathmark line, the original idea was to just use one box of plastic warriors (30), a blister or two of metal characters and the occasional cheap Reaper creature to supplement. It’s a pretty low cost option for a DR warband. The decision always came down to either Orcs or Dwarves and it looks like Orcs won out. Northstar recently added some fantastic wolves to their catalaog, so I expanded the original idea here and ordered a set for goblin wolf riders.
In order to get any sort of momentum on this, I’ve decided to go with my fastest paint technique which is basically just grey prime, then paint inside-out, no mistake touch-ups, and wash the skin one color and everything else Agrax Earthshade. I was never a great painter, but I would try to clean up errors and wash and highlight with appropriate shades. But now… to get though 30+ models… I’m just doing everything in Agrax and applying a little more in spots where I painted outside the lines. I don’t know how often the mood to paint will strike in these dark, modern times, but when it does I want to get through the models ASAP.
Originally, I was looking to do an old-school blue-grey shade of orc. It was suggested to me to use Vallejo Luftwaffe, but I found that to be too dark. I ended up going with that on the unit leader model above. I’ll probably use it for all the unit leader and character type models. Sorta like the black orcs of Warhammer lore being the stronger and wiser. I had a pot of Fernesian Grey that I thought looked good, but it turned out a bit more blue than I thought. Maybe because I used Citadel Nightshade? Either way, they have a Rogue Trooper-like appearance, which to be honest, is a bit of a happy accident. I’ve always wanted to do a blue Rogue Trooper like warband, but never really had a game to do that with. I guess these Dragon Rampant orcs are gonna be that.
A pair of Ronin and a Shugyosha looking for work. Any of these models could be used as either a Ronin or Shugyosha, but in my mind while painting, the two on the left were Ronin and the Ryu-looking model on the far right is the Shugyuosha looking to test his skills against the greatest warriors of my dining room table. The center model with yari (or nagae-yari) is from Warring Clans, the other two are from Bac Ninh Miniatures.
Five Perry ninjas led by a Shadow Warrior from Bac Ninh. There’s a scenario in Ronin where one side faces six ninja. Looking at the rules in that scenario, plus the Ronin point build guide author Craig Woodfield has shared, this group can also be run as its own, individual Buntai.
Almost two and a half years ago, I created a few ninja vehicles for Gaslands. At the same time, I put together some foot models to go along with those rides, but I never got around to needing them. Well, since then Xenos Rampant has come out, and we’ve started developing some light house rules for pedestrian models in Gaslands. The time was right to get some ninja on-foot models ready for Roswell ’98.
Per my last post, I’ve got a few mythical swords-for-hire painted up, but who’s gonna hire them? The Bandits is the first of my two buntais on deck to paint since I’ve got some games scheduled for nest weekend against my opponents Sohei. So, let’s see how this buntai turned out.
The core Ronin bluebook is based on historical gameplay, but there is a pdf resource on the Osprey website by the author Craig Woodfield that includes some fantastical creatures from Japanese lore that can optionally be included in games. I picked up a few that looked easy to paint, so went on a little side quest before painting up my buntais.
Wyrd Stones and Tackle Zones 