Samurai and feudal Japanese miniatures...

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Badaab

New member
Alrighty... here\'s something that\'s been bugging me for awhile:

Where can I find realistic, non-armored samurai and feudal Japanese people in miniature form, and preferrably in the range of 25-35mm?

I\'m a huge fan of the black and white Akira Kurosawa films: the Seven Samurai, the Hidden Fortress, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro (check them out on DVD, through the Criterion Collection, they have all four avaliable in a boxed set for around $80 US, which is a steal). I\'m mainly interested in miniatures I can convert with a little putty to build into a reasonable facsimile of Toshiro Mifune (the star of all four above films, and Japan\'s most famous film actor, period), and paint up for display.

Web links with pictures are appreciated.

Joe
 
I

Impernouncable

New member
Howabout 42mm? Steve Barber makes a decent few, especially if you like ninjas. Probably just about the right size to mix with Rackham if you like. ;)
You might have a look at Clanwar. It\'s fantasy and I have no idea what they might have in the way of civilians, but they\'re Japanese.
 
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Badaab

New member
I have a Clanwar miniature... I got it free after playing a demo of the game, but its an armored samurai, and I\'m really looking for the unarmored kind (since that\'s how Mifune is generally attired in the four films... only briefly does he wear armor in Seven Samurai, and at the end of Hidden Fortress he wears it again.).

Ninjas aren\'t really my cup of tea, I\'m mainly interested in samurai of the unarmored variety, and Japanese peasants from the feudal period. Although, after looking around, I\'m getting the feeling I might have to sculpt these myself, which means getting a license from Toho (ugh).

Joe
 
I

Impernouncable

New member
The only way you\'re going to need a license is if you:
A. Make a true scale model of Mifune
and
B. Cast it for sale as such

Otherwise you should be totally in the clear.
 
Q

Quintio

New member
I have some plastic samurai issued by Tamiya, although I don\'t know if they are still producing these, they were on the \"last chance\" shelf at the hobby store. They are very nice and detailed, 1/35 scale though.
For miniatures, try foundry.co.uk
They have a wide historical line, and the last time I was on there, I thought I saw a Far East section. Also, Reaper has a few Feudal Japan style miniatures I think in the Dark Heaven line. Check their site as well. Hope this helps!
 
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Badaab

New member
Thanks for the ideas...
I have all the Reaper samurai miniatures sitting right now, but they\'re not quite what I\'m looking for. They work for fantasy, but are nowhere near accurate.
 
S

supervike

Super Moderator
Criterion Collection and Samurai

First off, I found some Minis that look similar to what you have suggested.

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com/collections/SAM/1/index.asp

There is the link. Especially the minis in the SAM2 and SAM3. Hope these are what you are looking for.

Secondly, I rented the Seven Samurai a few years ago and was completely blown away by it. It was so incredible. I will definately have to check out the boxed collection. Yojimbo has been on my \'I gotta see that\" list for awhile.

Good luck with the minis and thanks for the tip on the Criterion Collection....
 
B

blackfly

New member
Ni Ten Ichi Ryu

I will echo some of the above posters\' sentiments first:

ClanWars is agreat way to approach massed formations, though i\'ve seen less of their ashigaru than i have of their samurai. a unit pack is generally 8 figures, with 4 poses. Good detail, good quality, and historically viable.
I\'m using some of their Akodo Death Seekers to complete a vignette based on Ogami Itto and Yagyu Retsudo from Lone Wolf and Cub, and they are perfect. - these are unarmoured, as you say you\'re looking for. they also have some other unarmoured unit packs. I\'ll happily digi-pix a few of mine if you\'d like to see them.


Old Glory has some great looking stuff in their 25mm Historicals range:
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/search_results.asp?txtsearchParamTxt=&txtsearchParamCat=222&txtsearchParamType=ALL&txtsearchParamMan=ALL&txtsearchParamVen=ALL&txtFromSearch=fromSearch&iLevel=1

and their Samurai Wars Range:
http://www.oldgloryminiatures.com/samurai_wars.asp

1000Kingdoma Bushido has a small number available, but a few of them look quite good, though i\'ve never seen them in person.
aside from ta few charachters, they all seem to be armoured though.....
http://www.100kingdoms.com/store/group_listing.cfm?CID=44&PID=125

Though I generally like Foundry figures, I dont like their old samurai range. They are too stumpy-looking for my taste, same with the old Games Workshop Asians.
Foundry does have some really nice unarmoured chinese pirates in their sw]ashbuvklers range though, that might be of use to you.

http://www.wargamesfoundry.com


But! The Perry Brothers, who are responsible for a fair amount of that old work, are now responsible for some of the best samurai figures available ever:
http://www.perry-miniatures.com/

i hope that offers a litlte help. :)
 
E

Errex

New member
The Clan War range has some Personalities blisters that often are unarmoured, civilian looking types. I remember eyeing a magistrates blister on my shop, and it had an old guy in a kimono, and a geisha-looking chick.

Also, Ral Partha had these unarmoured samurai blisters, along with armoured and unarmoured ninjas and monks.

Sadly, this lines are no longer being made, but you might get the minis from albinorhino, or New Wave.
 
borg

borg

Administrator
Off the top of my head, Clan Wars have a ton of the miniatures that you are describing and 100kingdoms also have some too, I think they are called Bushido... beyond that you wuld have to look at Historical stuff...
 
B

blackfly

New member
more unarmoured samurai!

badaab- dont know if you\'ve found what you\'re looking for or not, but i jsut came accross a range of nice looking 25mm samurai, with a bunch only in kimonos etc, no armour.

http://www.bbminiatures.karoo.net/samuraiphoto.htm

hope it helps!
 
B

Badaab

New member
Thanks a lot for all the suggestions and ideas, this thread was more productive than I thought it might be.

Currently though, I\'ve undertaken the task of sculpting my own version of Mifune as Sanjuro (the character from the movies Yojimbo and Sanjuro). When I get to the model\'s head I\'ll decide on if I want him to be Sanjuro Kuwabatake or Sanjuro Tsubaki.

Anyway...

Joe
 
V

vincegamer

Active member
Someone\'s nice (if old) page

I was looking for something else the other day and stumbled across this site
samurai stuff

It hasn\'t been updated for quite a while, but it actually reviews with commentary many of the figures that are available. It specializes on clan war possibly, but whoever set this up is a pretty good painter and has looked into a lot of samurai miniatures
 
V

vincegamer

Active member
similar and fun!

Oh, and I really liked 7 samurai too.
When I was in college one year my house acted as the \"american\" house for a multi-house multi-national party. We served burgers and showed a western on a big-screen TV. It was the Magnificent 7! I thought that rather ironic.

And if you\'ve had fun watching the movies and looking at samurai minis, you\'ll enjoy reading the Usagi Yojimbo comic book and looking at these:
Usagi miniatures
 
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