Here is a mounted "questing knight" made primarily from the empire soldiers regiment command sprue. His arms are from the empire knights set. He took a healthy dose of green stuff. His horse has also been repositioned and green stuffed to give him flare.







I've got pics of a few more models to post but I've got to upload them first.

Okay here's a couple more models. The first is a foot samurai armed with a naginata. I'll field him as a villein in my peasant units. He is also primarily made from empire soldiers.







The second is a samurai armed with a long bow. I'll field him as a villein in my peasant units. Yet again he is primarily made from empire soldiers.

Okay here's a couple more models. The first is a foot samurai armed with a naginata. I'll field him as a villein in my peasant units. He is also primarily made from empire soldiers.







The second is a samurai armed with a long bow. I'll field him as a villein in my peasant units. Yet again he is primarily made from empire soldiers.

Unfortunately Brettonians cannot have any mercenaries ever. I have made a maneating oni demon out of an orge that I would love to field with them but no joy.

The majority of the peasants will come just use bitz and a little green stuff to accent their yari samurai status.

I plan on only using GW miniatures b/c I'd like to be able to compete with this army and enter it in painting contests at GW events.

Here's that oni!


 

empire might make an interesting choice too... however the knights of brettonia mean less models to make due to their higher cost. I'm up for ideas at this point.

Making crisp detail on green stuff has taken me a bit of time to develop some techniques that work.  The most important is good timing. At different stages of curing the material lends itself to different tools better.

For these models I've done them in several stages (very frustrating to have to put a piece down when you're really excited about how its beginning to turn out). Around my work space I put up several pictures or drawings of what I want to achieve for the model(s). With the samurai it was easy to establish an idea of what constitutes a layer. Then I try to imagine how much of the model to assemble before it begins to interfere with my ability to use tools. I often pin the pieces and mount them on temporary stands until I join the model for later stages.

Now back to getting good detail on the green stuff. In addition to a set of variously shaped sculpting tools and dental picks I use several modeling files and a razor blade to help shape the green stuff. The modeling files and their handles can be used in later stage curing to make patterns by rolling or pressing them onto the GS.

The razor blade can be used in intermediate stage curing (shaped exacto are useful here) to gently press in lines or to tug flaps up and slightly over edges. The flat of a blade is a very important tool for making distinct corners and edges. Press it in but don't slide it or it may catch and drag material with it.

 Don't try to do too much and always know where your fingers are. Sometimes you can change the effect of tools by how much water you apply to them when using them. A dry tool is particularly useful for pulling out stringy strands of GS, but a wet tool can smooth and join disjointed pieces. Learning how to gently tease the material is very important to delicate work. Even more important is learning how to judge the appropriate amount of GS to add to a piece. This can vary depending on whether your personal style is to evoke a sculpture by addition of extra material (then you should start with a minimum of GS) or if you find a shape within by removal of extra material (then start with more than enough stuff.)

Here's another archer. This was actually my first attempt at the samurai theme. After the ogre demon of course.

Ixe making a briad for a forelock should probably be built around a wire support that is anchored into the model's head. The green stuff should be rolled into very thin snakes and carefully woven around the wire. If you have trouble with this then try letting each snake cure before weaving the second around it.

As to the Ashigaru samurai and the use of muskets. It has definitely crossed my mind. One thing that brettonians have going for them is the ability to really personalize a knight with traits and a dead 'ard core of warriors. The empire characters are a bit weaker but the flexibility of the list lends itself to a more full-blooded list where I can field virtually any ashigaru unit.