Goblin Samurai Taisho

A realm of hurt shalt be thine!

Greetings vaqueros! Last time I showed you Odor Gobonaga, the daimyo of my greenskin samurai forces. Today we are looking at his two right-hand goblins, retainers Killa Snagahide and Smashida Hideousi.

Killa Snagahide and his faithful squig, Kubi

First up, Snagahide is a new(ish) sculpt from Kev Adams, that I got from the Greenskin Wars kickstarter run by Diego of Knightmare Miniatures (squig sold seperately. On eBay). Hopefully you will all be able to buy one from their webstore in the future as this mini is top-notch. Kev sure packed a lot of detail in there, including his trademark hum0rous faces all over the place, extended middle finger and innumerable exciting scales on his armour that were just so much fun to paint...

I thoroughly enjoyed highlighting and shading each individual goddamned scale

With his aggreassive stance and impressive dental records, this guy is the perfect, potentially psychotic samurai goblin to help carry out Gobonaga's evil schemes. His little banner is a separate piece (don't lose it) that adds that extra, perfect bit of samurai flair - and it's a neat place to paint an even smaller version of whatever fiddly design you decided to give your force that you now probably regret.

Smashida Hideousi

The other half of this duo is Hideousi, another Bob Olley sculpt from the OOP Clan War range. Much like his boss, he is a menacing figure, chock full of character and murderous intent. Like most of the sculpts in the Clan War range, a huge amount of effort was put in to realise the details of his armour, and his equipment shows all the rust and damage you'd expect from prized goblin heirlooms.

He has an exceptionally well-armoured anus

The concept behind these two reprobates is to mimic the command structure of historic feudal Japanese warlords and their retinues - the daimyo had retainers, who led units of blade wielding samurai, less well equipped ashigaru, and regiments of warriors mounted on stone temple dogs, all of which are now sadly frozen outside of ornamental gardens and your favourite local takeaways.

These three miniatures make up my first completed unit for the Dragon Rampant fantasy wargaming ruleset, a game that uses divisors of 12 to make up units, a task that dangerously challenges my limited mathematical skill. With this fearsome trio at the helm, great victories are all but assured!

These boys are ready to start some trouble...

And what's next? Well, since we're already dragging the fine and honourable traditions of the samurai through the mud, why not some samurai rats!

Their patience for your lousy cultural appropriation is whisker thin.

Adios for now!