Always looking for ways of keeping the painting desire going, this time, a trip to the land of the Rising Sun. The boardgame 'Rise of the Kage' was the first Kickstarter I bought into for myself. The blend of the Orient, with a Space Hulk theme was enough to get me hooked.
I tried playing the game once or twice and found the explaining to the novice ninja players a difficult task; I just put it down to my lack of knowledge of the rules, so the game went on the back shelf for a while. It appears that I was not the only person having difficulty grasping the grace and finesse of a ninja...
It seems that several other players have also found the same thing, with lots of ambiguity and a strong leaning towards the guard player. However there appears to be a version two of the rules due for release soon which should balance out and clarify the system. With over 120 miniatures to paint, I thought now was a good time to start, over the Christmas holidays.
The miniatures are a bit of a love/hate experience for me. They are full of character, but also full of soft plastic! Putting some of the figures to boiling water, rather than the sword, still leaves some yari and katanas bent. Maybe it's my cumbersome painting technique, but I also found it difficult to paint the detail precisely, with paint not flowing as smoothly as I would like.
At the start I tried a gloss undercoat, base spray, and Matt varnish to lock in the paint and seal it for the detailing. I think this worked to a limited degree, with the figures certainly presenting an interesting presence on the board, if not as sharp as their yari's! Next up are the thin equivalent of the lowest guards. Will see how these guys accept my brush attention.
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