Animal Yokai

I thought I'd share a variety of animal yokai I've painted for SMH - first up the Onikuma, a demon bear.  I've gone for dark fur and the classic evil eye colour of red to show his supernatural side:

He'll tower over the monster hunters in games; quite an intimidating beast!

Next up a pair of Nobusuma - this is what happens when a bat lives a long time... (a common origin for all sorts of yokai it seems!)

Finally a couple of different Kamaitachi miniatures - first the paired version:

And a pair of the single variant:

I went for a golden fur like the Japanese Weasel (well kamaitachi is literally 'sickle weasel' after all!) and applied gloss varnish to their claws to reinforce their sharpness.

These are all available from Alternative Armies Sengoku Monster Hunter range.

The Cucumber* Crew

Next up are some more monsters for Sengoku Monster Hunter - the famous Kappa!  These amphibious dudes are a staple of Japanese mythology and folklore so it's great to see them represented on the tabletop!

There are three versions available from Alternative Armies as part of their extensive range to support SMH - first up is the Sasumata-armed version:

Next are a trio armed with a type of Eku (paddle weapon):

And finally the Ōtsuchi wielding Kappa - these warhammer swingin' turtle-dudes are my favourite of the three!

Although I suppose this means I need some waterways for the SMH terrain collection... 🤔

*and if you were curious about the title of this post - the most famous favourite foodstuff of the Kappa are cucumbers!

Sengoku Skeletons

Another common enemy type in Sengoku Monster Hunter are the skeletons - for these I went with red and grey for their clothes/armour as part of my attempts to make each monster type (those that there are multiple of at least) have a different colour.

Anyway, first up the archer skeletons:

And a trio of naginata wielding skeletons:

And finally the katana armed skeletons (complete with blades stuck in their skulls!):

The SMH collection is definitely taking shape now! 😀

Sengoku Snakes

The last of the more numerous enemy type for Sengoku Monster Hunter is the Snakemen.  I researched a little into snakes from Japan - I knew I didn't want any complex patterns to try to replicate across multiple miniatures, so instead I took some inspiration from the Okinawa Habu and went with a golden look (I made mine brighter to highlight their strangeness).

First, a group armed with katana:

And some with tetsubo:

And a group of archers too:

Finally, one with a naginata.  I might make some special rules for her and treat her as the second in command to the snakemen!

For the iron fan wielding Snakeman commander I went a little different and made him an albino:

It doesn't photograph very well 😓 - it's much better in reality I promise!

And finally for the snakes - the Snake Demon.  I liked the clearly unnatural colour used on the Alternative Armies site and went with my own take on it:

Keep an eye out for more SMH stuff soon!

Sengoku Tanuki

Like with the goblins I posted previously, I've tried to make a dent into the SMH collection and tackle the more numerous enemy types first.  So, next up was the Tanuki!

First up a Commander (L) and Shaman (R).  I went for a traditional art-inspired cloud to add some detail to the Shaman:

A little posse of sword wielding Tanuki provide the bulk of the melee chaps:

And a few different types of Archers to provide some ranged threat to the Monster Hunters:

Finishing off the melee Tanuki are some armed with kusari-gama (the chain weapons) and a couple with clubs:

Finally, although not a warrior, I painted the Tanuki Merchant at the same time, using some of the same palette as for the others:

As you might have noticed, I went with blue as a unifying colour for the Tanuki (the Goblins had purple). Wouldn't want to mix up our enemy types in the middle of a game!

Sengoku Goblins

It's been a couple of years in the making, but I've started working my way through the Sengoku Monster Hunter collection! First up, the most common enemy - the goblins.

Providing the goblins with some leadership - a commander, flag bearer and shaman:

The bulk of the goblins are armed with various polearms - first up, with jūmonji yari:

And some with naginata:

Finally for the polearm-wielding goblins, some with kama-yari:

I also painted some archer goblins:

I also had a selection of goblin cavalry - two archers and two katana-armed goblins each on two different types of mount.  First, the Uma-no-Jaku:

And Kutsusura-mounted cavalry:

I'm really pleased to have gotten stuck in to the Sengoku Monster Hunter collection - if you are interested in getting some for yourself, the range is available from Alternative Armies.

Cobra Car Pool

Finishing up the Ion Age stuff (for now) is a selection of vehicles I received - one for the Prydians and three options for the Yordan force.

All the vehicles are taken from the range of 'Cobra' vehicles - which come in three flavours (tracked, wheeled or hover) and then different designations depending on weapon loadout.

First up, a Black Adder - an anti-armour variant equipped with a railgun:

I had a spare battlesuit shield so added that to the front as a decorative piece to include some kind of heraldry on.  This will join the Prydian force.

For the Yordan side - I received three Cobra Combat Cars (the wheeled style).  First the Red Cobra variant - armed with a rotary cannon:

Next the missile pod-armed Yellow Cobra:

and finally the Orange Adder which features a grenade launcher turret.  This one had a very small air bubble in the resin at the back of the turret piece - rather than fill it as normal, I used it as the start of a small hole to add an antenna cut from a paper clip:

All of these came with the main body in three parts (hull, left and right) and turrets (I left mine loose in traditional style so that they can be blown up in battle).  Some feature metal weapons and three have small metal hatch covers on the turrets.  All easy enough to build and look really cool - they are also great value!

Yordan Reinforcements

I've already covered the reinforcements for the Prydian side of the Game Pack; now it's time to cover what I got to bolster the Yordan side!

First up, Retained Lance Command Charlie to provide some HQ stuff - and, as with the pack covered previously, a casualty that will be a good objective marker:

And to round out the troops options Muster 2nd Patrol - 10 troopers armed with a mix of weapons.  These represent troops tasked with scouting and reconnaissance missions:

Like the rest of the 15mm Ion Age stuff - I'm really happy with these!  They'll all get the standard texture dip prior to priming (some fine day!) then it's onto the paint queue!

Journey into Kitton

So, it's Daishо̄/Ronin with a twist now... I received some stuff from Alternative Armies' Kitton range - yes, a feline take on Samurai!

First up, I received a selection Ronin - enough unarmoured masterless warriors to make a buntai! First up, three armed with katana - the right-most one needed his katana and saya attached but the others are single-piece:

And two with yari (one has a drinking cup too for extra ronin-cool) - both of these are single-piece:

For an opposing buntai I received minis wearing armour - clearly the forces of the local lord looking to keep these rowdy ronin from causing too much trouble!  First, a pack of Ashigaru armed with yari - the sashimono needed to be attached and they came with daishо̄ that I chose not to attach:

And to lead them, a couple of armoured samurai - one with naginata, one with katana.  Again, these had sashimono/saya to attach:

Finally I also received the pack of villagers for objectives/scenarios:

I think these will be a fun little side-project to the mainstream Ronin/Daishо̄ buntai!