The Marvelous Miscellany of MMcV

[mmcv]

Thanks!

Great stuff and most impressive.  However, previous posts have suggested ALL such troops should be in black armour [bar the troops of Ii Naomasa].  Is it a bit of historic/artistic licence to use blue armour?  Asking for me!  I have yet to do my samurai.

In the later periods most armour would have been black, particularly the munitions grade stuff worn by ashigaru and lower samurai, but lacquering and decorative additions were used amongst richer samurai. Coloured silk laces were used extensively to bring colour, as well as fabric panels. For my 16th Century Sengoku Jidai samurai I plan to do mostly darker armour, these guys however are for use for earlier periods (11th-15th century) where the armour tended to be more boxy (those huge shoulder pads you often see) and more decorative and colourful using a mix of leather, iron and fabrics, compared to the later mostly metal armour.

Early period:



Note the coloured lacing all over the armour.

Later period (the more famous Sengoku Jidai):



Note the darker metal base and more subtle decoration.

If you want to add colour to your samurai there's no harm in it. The reason the likes of the Ii in their red and the Date in their black (as Ithoriel mentioned) are so notable is because they dressed uniformly in that colour, compared to the more varied colours seen elsewhere. Samurai would often have decorated their armour with fabric, worn coloured over coats and used coloured lacing.

Ashigaru generally would have been more uniformly dressed, particularly later in the 16th century, in munition armour and possibly coloured clothing. Though a lot of it is still guesswork based on artwork and the odd mention in period texts.

For instance, we know in the Genpei War the Minamoto were typically using red banners and the Taira white. But did they also bear clan symbols as in later periods? We don't know for sure. And did that influence their armour and clothes? Again unsure, but I'm using a red theme for my Minamoto and a white theme for my Taira, and greens, yellows and blues for provincial clans just to give them a general appearance for identification without it being necessarily uniform. So a little liberty but not unrealistic.

From a composition perspective, earlier periods tended to be more archery focused with horse archery being the primary samurai fighting style and much simpler looser formations. Naginata were common as melee weapons and ashigaru were only supporting players. Later periods were more focused on melee, the yari spear/pike being the primary melee weapon of both ashigaru and samurai, and the gun of course growing in prominence along with larger infantry formations of ashigaru commanded and supported by samurai.

[mmcv]

Remembered I had some bases leftover from my ECW rebasing, so with a little scraping I have another base of early feudal provincial samurai:


Oops little blurry on the front ones

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Good mix and nicely done

[hammurabi70]

If you want to add colour to your samurai there's no harm in it. The reason the likes of the Ii in their red and the Date in their black (as Ithoriel mentioned) are so notable is because they dressed uniformly in that colour, compared to the more varied colours seen elsewhere. Samurai would often have decorated their armour with fabric, worn coloured over coats and used coloured lacing.

Many thanks for the reply post; very informative! 

[Techno II]

Very nice work, Matthew !

Cheers - Phil.

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Wot he said

[fred.]

I'm liking these earlier period figures, much more colourful than the later Sengoku ones (but the later ones are easy to paint!)

[mmcv]

Thanks!

Many thanks for the reply post; very informative! 

No problem, I hope you have fun when you get to your samurai!

I'm liking these earlier period figures, much more colourful than the later Sengoku ones (but the later ones are easy to paint!)

Yeah does give a bit more opportunity to be creative with the colours. Though I've mostly gone with this as a smaller base project due to this. I'm itching to do some more big base ones for the later period but awaiting an order as I'd only enough to do a sample base from my previous order. Lots of dark grey armour with a pop of colour on the fabrics and flags.

[mmcv]

August update, https://mmcvhistory.home.blog/2021/09/06/progress-update-august-2021/

Nothing new to report here, haven't touched a brush (or been about the forum much) since that last picture at the start of the month for various reasons. Nothing too serious, but just directing my attention elsewhere for a bit. My order of additional Japanese has arrived but haven't sorted through it yet.

Hopefully, this month will see me pick up the brush again!

[mmcv]

Still a slow month on the hobby front but two more units of early feudal Japanese done.





Got a new mobile phone this week, much better camera on it. Now I can't hide poor paint jobs behind blurry photography!

[Techno II]

They look really good, Matthew ! 

Cheers - Phil.

[Steve J]

Looking good to me!

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Superb.

[mmcv]

Thanks! Some more early feudal Japanese. Dismounted samurai and retainers.

[Techno II]

Very nice indeed !

Cheers - Phil.