Ronin

Today I put the finishing touches to a pair of Ronin... for Ronin, the Osprey skirmish game!  These are two of the figures from North Star's Koryu Buntai, of which seven of the figures are based on the iconic ronin from Akira Kurosawa's 'Seven Samurai'.  The characters of my ronin suggested themselves to me as I considered the sculpts before deciding on paint schemes.  The one with the nodachi (great sword), with his pouch of coins & smart appearance suggested to me a fairly wealthy ronin.  A brash, showy character who splashes his money about on drink, gambling, & women.  By contrast, the more circumspect-looking ronin with the ragged-edged cloak & bare feet suggested to me a down-on-his-luck ronin, perhaps with an edge of bitterness about him.  I'm thinking that he may have been expelled from one of my other buntai, the Koryu (Sword School) in dishonour, & resents this treatment.

The wakazashi (short sword) on the ronin in the fancy white kimono is one of the 3D-printed katana that I bought for my figures that have them in the rules, but not on their sculpts (e.g. my Yakuza thugs with arquebuses).  I trimmed & filed it to a suitable length, & sculpted a sash loop for it using Green Stuff putty.

Most buntai in Ronin can make use of Hired Swords such as these wandering ronin, but I will mainly be using them as hired muscle for my Yakuza gang.