3d-printable terrain for all your samurai wargaming needs
The modular Samurai Temple Walls set has been available for a couple of months now, and since then we've brought out a few smaller pieces.... the Ruined Castle Wall, the Ruined Stone Wall, an updated version of the Wooden Lantern, and most recently the Jinmaku Curtains set.
But now it's time for something BIG!!!
Today we're showing off final previews of the Temple Outer Gate building, but first let's take a quick look at the temple walls set it's designed to fit....
£ This is the existing Temple Walls set, comprised of 3 sections - a straight section, a corner section, and a doorway section.
Well, you could use those little doorways to get in and out of the temple area, I guess, but every proper temple complex in Japan tends to have a very ornate and very LARGE front gate in the middle of those walls. So without further ado, here's the new outer gate building we'll be releasing very shortly....
£ Here's the front view of the gate building, mounted on its optional base. Those steps are almost 22cm wide, and the building itself is 24cm wide at the balcony! The roof is slightly wider, because it overhangs everything else!
Technically, temple gate buildings don't usually have functioning gates (it's merely a gateway between everyday life and the spiritual), but it seemed odd not to include a way to defend a temple in war-torn feudal Japan. They are of course hinged, so you can choose to have them open or closed.
Behind each open gate there is a small (fixed) door in the wall, one of which leads up to a trapdoor to the second level. Again, technically the second level and balcony of a rōmon temple gate building would be purely ornamental, but it seemed too good an opportunity to miss, so I've included a playable interior and surrounding balcony.
£ The rear of the temple gate (the 'inside' side) is where it gets very cool - to either side of the central gateway we have a bay with a large Niō deity. These statues are included in the ZIP file, scaled to a perfect 80mm height to fit the bays.
Supported and unsupported versions of the statues are included, and as you'll see from the next blog post, it's entirely possible to print them on an FDM printer successfully.
Stay tuned for a guide to printing those awesome statues!
It's hard to photograph white curtains, I found out, but I gave it my best shot! Oh well, hopefully you'll enjoy the photos anyway?
The latest addition to the samurai collection is officially released today - the Jinmaku Curtains!
£ If you've been following along on the progress of this set, you'll know that I printed two versions of the curtains (see previous blog) - the first at 100%, and a second at 120%. For these photos, I have chosen to paint the larger 120% print, because it also featured the horizontal line sculpted on the model.
Anyway, here we see Lord Kowai sitting in his command post, awaiting his generals. Let's hope they don't displease him by arriving late!
£ Here's a more intimate strategy meeting, with battle plans and scout reports laid out on the map table.
The horizontal stripes along the top of each curtain are sculpted into the model, and this makes it very easy to quickly and accurately paint them in.
£ The nobori flags (available separately) make a great battlefield display when combined with the curtains set.
£ Lord Kowai awaits your arrival.....
£ This was my attempt at painting a message scroll (on the top right corner) and then drawing in a map around the four markers sculpted onto the table.
£ The Jinmaku Curtains set is available for download from today.
£ MODELLING TIP: Here's the model I used for Lord Kowai. With a tiny bit of filing, you can neatly fit a plastic cavalry model onto the stools. I had this extra pair of legs left over from the Warlord Games mounted samurai set, and just stuck on some spare body parts from my bits box.
£ With that mask over his lower face, he'd be a pretty intimidating character to face, I think!
We have something new for our samurai range to show off to you today - the Jinmaku Curtains set!
Battlefield curtains, or jinmaku, were used by feudal-era samurai as temporary structures for commanders and military meetings. Jinmaku are also used in festivals and theaters, especially for open-air performances.
£ The main piece of this set is of course the curtained area. This prints in two pieces, without any supports. As you can see, assembly is pretty easy - just glue the cross beam over the entrance, and you're done!
£ The set comes with some stools and a table too, and the table comes in 3 parts, as shown in the photo above. The table legs are these tall foldable stool pieces (supports not required), and should just be glued to the underside.
£ Here's the completed table, with a map and some military force markers, and perhaps a messenger's report?
£ Here's the whole set together, ready for a battlefield strategy meeting.
£ I'm planning to use a spare cavalry samurai model to sit on one stool as the 'lord' in charge of the army. The stools, by the way, don't require print supports either!
£ IMPORTANT NOTE ABOUT SCALE - These curtains measure 123mm x 123mm (5"x5") when printed at 100% scale (as shown in the photo above), which is the historically accurate size, however you may find this a touch small for wargaming compared to some 28mm figures (because of the bases).
£ So if your print bed is big enough, we recommend printing at 120% scale for a larger jinmaku area of 150mm x 150mm (6"x6"), which just seems to fit 28mm gaming models better. As you can see in the photo above, scaling your curtains to 120% gives them a little extra height and width, which helps balance them against size increases from bases on models.
£ Here's a comparison photo, with both scales. The blank version is on the left (at 100% scale) and the horizontal striped version is on the right (at 120% scale). Both blank and striped versions are included in the set.
£ So if you can print slightly larger, then we recommend 120% scaling. If you can only print up to 125mm² models (i.e. 100% scaling), then don't worry - it'll still look great!
£ Here's one final close-up photo of the textures on the curtains. They are sculpted with gentle ripples on the fabric, and you can even see the rope strands clearly. This photo shows the model printed at 120% scale in 0.1mm layers, and is the horizontal striped version of the curtains.
This will be hitting the paint desk this week, and should be ready for release very shortly!
The samurai wooden lantern has been available now for quite a while, but it recently occurred to me that I could update it slightly to make it even easier to use!
Version 2.0 features a vertical slot for the battery, instead of the horizontal slot in the old version, and this means that no print supports are required at all. Even better, you don't need an extra paper clip for the wiring of the new version, AND it's even easier to insert and remove the battery!
£ This is everything you'll need for the new version: the body and top of the lantern, a C2032 button battery and a small LED. You'll find these in super cheap LED tealights, and if you're lucky you can get one that flickers!
£ Simply slot the LED's two wires into the holes in the top.....
£ ... and then slot the battery into the bottom. It will only work one way, so if it doesn't light up, try removing the battery and turning it around.
£ That's it! You're done!
£ Writing that super-easy guide took me a couple of minutes, but actually doing it can be done in under 15 seconds!! Don't believe me? Take a look at the video below....
See? Easy!! Version 2.0 has been added to the ZIP download file for the wooden lantern, but if you've already purchased this item in the past, don't worry.... just send us a quick email, and we can send you the new version of the STL for free!
We have a new print partner to announce this week, MONTY'S TABLETOP TERRAIN, from Queensland, Australia. They are now selling print versions of our sci-fi Necrontyr terrain on their store!
Samurai Jinmaku Curtains 
Blog
5 Comments :
Vaughan
2021-06-05 (Sat) 7:23AM
Incredible!!
2021-06-05 (Sat) 8:20AM
Thanks, Vaughan!
Roy
2021-06-07 (Mon) 4:32AM
Can't wait! Already have the Sohei monks and other encounters painted for this setting. Hope it comes out really soon.
2021-06-07 (Mon) 7:59AM
Don't worry, Roy - the test model is now fully printed, so it'll be available in about a week (once it's painted!).
hugo
2021-06-11 (Fri) 1:27AM
Great work David , I hope to print this soon
Write a comment :