3d-printable terrain for all your samurai wargaming needs
Something a little unexpected for you today, as this was a quick and easy design I thought might enhance our gaming tables - a wooden sake cup!
▲ This is what the genuine article looks like, and although they are found everywhere in Japan, they are probably much harder for you to come by in the rest of the world! And I thought that was unfair, as they make brilliant cups for randomly drawing game tokens or even as a dice cup. So I decided to try and make as accurate a replica as possible...
▲ So I did some print tests with various woodgrain patterns, and this is the end result!
The cup is a 90mm square wooden box, with an open top. I modelled curved surfaces inside, so it's easy to grab tokens, and the 60mm depth inside (70mm total height) is enough to prevent players from seeing inside when drawing.
Three patterns are included; a blank wooden version, a version with a 30mm circle inset on the front (for inserting your favourite clan crests), and a version with the kanji characters for bushido (samurai warrior code) engraved on the front.
▲ The 30mm crest symbol for the Yamato Clan (also known as the Imperial symbol) is included in this set, but you might like to match your cup to your army's crest?
But here's another interesting option for you..... this cup makes a great gift, as it's ideal for embossing your own club/shop logo or name on the front, using free 3D modelling software. Tomorrow's blog will show exactly how to do that in just a few minutes! Honestly, it's much, much easier than you might think.
▲ Just one final pic to show you... the box on the left was printed at 0.2mm layers, but I printed the box on the right at 0.1mm layers, curious to see the difference. The kanji engravings might perhaps be slightly neater for the higher resolution print, but to be honest the rest of the wood-grain pattern is almost identical! That was a surprise.
The new design currently printing in the studio is the Samurai Lord's House, and it covers a massive 4'x4' (120cm²) area! So it looks like I'll need to build some extra tables to give it enough space to be assembled.
* I need YOUR suggestions as to what to carve into the tabletop!!! Help!
▲ I already have a couple of 3'x4' tables ideal for Test of Honour, which can be placed together to make a larger 6'x4' table suitable for Warhammer. But this time I wanted to make two smaller 3'x2' tables, which can be placed separately around the studio as display tables, too!
So I started with some cheap 1x4 pieces of pine, laid on top of the existing larger table to make sure the dimensions matched. This produced 2 tabletop 'frames'.
▲ Two thicker 2x4 beams were screwed inside the frames, lifted up enough to fit more 1x4s later.
▲ Next it's time to create some simple legs. I decided to make these simple box shapes from 2x4s, so that the tables would match the shape of the existing tables. Perhaps overkill in terms of wood, but never mind!
▲ Two leg squares were connected for each table, with a thick 2x4 beam on each side.
▲ The tabletop frames were then screwed down onto the leg structure, to make sturdy tables.
▲ The last phase of construction was to cut 1x4s to make the table tops. I just glued these down inside the frames, because they won't be taking much weight.
▲ And there we have it - two completed mini tables!
.... but now I need your suggestions!
I'd like to make the tables a little fancier by carving a couple of small designs into the table surfaces. Any suggestions?
▲ This is a large twin-tailed comet motif I carved into a full-sized gaming table a few years back, when I was making a Warhammer-themed gaming room. It looked pretty nice when finished and wood-stained, so that's why I'm keen to try again on these smaller tables.
If you have any suggestions, please drop them in the comments below? Thanks!
Okay, it's time to reveal the new BIG project for the samurai collection...... the Samurai Lord's House!!!
This is going to be of a similar size and complexity to the large Samurai Castle, but spread out on (mostly) a single level. The model will be based entirely on a real samurai lord's house in Oita prefecture, that I was lucky enough to visit recently and spend a busy few hours taking hundreds of reference photos and videos!
Let's take a look at what's going to be involved....
▲ This is the tourist map provided by the ticket office, and shows just how large this model will be - an entire battlefield in one set!
The main gate is roughly in the centre of a large an imposing outer wall, which will be a new design compatible with the stone walls! The main house is used for welcoming guests and is basically a slightly tall and very large single level, with balconies on 3 sides overlooking a garden.
A narrow corridor to the right leads to the separate residence building, where the Lord and Lady would have lived and slept. Adjacent to the Residence building is the two-storey kitchen building, with access to storehouses and a water well.
At the top left we have 2 guesthouses, which will be connected to the main house by walkways.
Phew! That's a lot of models - 8 buildings, plus extensive walls and gardens!
▲ Oh look! Street fish ponds!! What a coincidence :)
These ponds actually act as a moat for the Lord's house, and are something I just had to make in miniature too!
These outer walls are an eye-catching half-timbered design, and will be compatible with existing wall sets.
▲ The main gate is a pretty substantial structure, with a smaller pedestrian door either side of the main gate doors.
▲ Once through the main gate, this is the view ahead of the main house. It's very ornate, and rather resembles a temple building with those fancy roof lines.
▲ The main house is not actually used for 'living' in, but rather for impressing guests with its grandeur. Lots of open spaces for deadly sword duels!
▲ The main house is connected to the kitchens and Lord's residence via this long, thin corridor. There are numerous rooms and doorways branching off to the sides.
▲ The back of the main house (on the right of this picture) has a long wrap-around wood balcony on 3 sides, which offer great views of the traditional garden. The Lord's residence, where the Lord and Lady slept, is the building on the left in this photo.
▲ To the other side of the main house are two smaller guesthouses, connected via covered walkways. These will also be new building designs included in the set.
▲ Hmm, a very traditional Japanese garden, don't you think? I reckon it's about time to design some suitable trees and bushes to include in the set, too....
▲ This photo puts us back at the main gate again, but this time looking to the right, where a small path leads through an inner wall towards the servants quarters and the two-storey kitchen building. With all those inner walls, it might be a quite defensible position, don't you think?
▲ This is the outside of the Residence building where the Lord and Lady sleep, which again has wooden decks on two sides, offering good views out onto the garden.
▲ Here's the first of 3 storehouses. This is a traditional building, solidly built, and currently being used as a mini-museum.
▲ Another slightly larger storehouse, again with two levels. Similar in design to the previous one, and currently being used as a cafe.
▲ The third of the storehouses, which sits next to another inner wall and gate, and close to the kitchens.
▲ A water well is of course a useful feature of such a large house, and sits close to the kitchen, under this large tiled roof. This will be another new design included in the set.
▲ Work is already well underway on the 3D modelling, and the first job was to match the layout of the real buildings. Including the outer walls and gardens, this layout of the set should cover an area about 120cm x 120cm (4ft²)! It's massive!
Keep your eyes on our Facebook page for progress pics over the coming weeks!
Our new (pretty big!) top secret samurai project is well under way, so while you're waiting, why not take a look at the little terrain set being released today for the samurai collection... a set of street fish ponds!
▲ Old Japanese towns often have extensive water channels running alongside the streets for drainage and fire-prevention, and you can sometimes find koi carp swimming there. This set of modular water channels can add unique authentic details to your samurai board.
▲ The water channels are 25mm wide (approximately 35mm including the stone edges), and include straight sections, wider pond straight sections, and 3 sizes of corner section. 
▲ Here's a popular street scene, with some decorative fish ponds surrounding the town's temple bell.
▲ Also included in the set are small wooden bridge sections and some end stones, so the fish can travel through tunnels under roads and junctions.
▲ These street ponds are super popular with tourists in modern-day historical towns.
▲ Each section can be printed with or without the low bamboo railings.
▲ To make these water channels look realistic, I recommend continuing them from block to block via bridges and (imagined) tunnels, so the whole system looks interconnected.
▲ It really enhances the authentic feel of any town board you play over, and is a truly unique feature of Japan!
▲ Yes, children in old samurai towns would have loved them, too!
▲ The Street Fish Ponds set is available from today!
Research trips are great fun, and great sources of inspiration! I recently took a trip to a historical samurai town to take plenty of reference photos for the new [...TOP SECRET PROJECT!!...] design I'm working on, and nearby I came across a truly unique feature of old towns, and just had to try and recreate those for the tabletop!
So here's a little explanation and background....
▲ Old Japanese samurai towns quite often had narrow water channels running alongside the streets in residential areas, and these were typically used for drainage from nearby farming and also as a convenient water source in case of fires.
▲ Some of those water channels are very clean and attractive features of the towns, and some tourism boards in historical towns have recently started repopulating the channels with koi carp, as in the photo above. The channels themselves are usually quite shallow (30cm or so), but enough to support large numbers of the colourful fish so popular with tourists.
So before I cracked on with test prints for the main [TOP SECRET] project, I got a little sidetracked with designing some modular sections of these water channels....
▲ Each section features a 25mm-wide shallow water channel, with edging stones on both sides. The water channel is only about 4-5mm deep, but is ideal for a thin layer of clear resin or thick gloss varnish. To make pouring resin a little easier, each section also has a thin 3mm-high lip at each end to contain liquid.
For anybody who would prefer not to have those lips on their water channels, they can be easily removed with a couple of quick cuts and then snapped out using pliers, as in the photo above.
▲ Here's a straight section where the end wall has been removed. Nice and neat!
▲ All of the sections are included with two versions - with and without a low railing. This low bamboo railing has been carefully designed to connect up with adjoining sections, and also to print without additional slicer supports.
You can simply print the file as is, and then cut out the built-in print supports circled in red in the photo above.
▲ Here's a selection of pieces I printed out for my town board. We've got straight sections (120mm long), some other straight sections featuring wider ponds (you can mirror these for more variety!), all 3 sizes of corner section, several wooden bridge pieces, a few end stones, and plenty of fish.
In addition to the individual koi carp models, the set also includes an easy-to-print 25mm circle of fish, which is ideal for showing the fish frenzy you'll sometimes see at feeding time! I even printed some of those circle groups at 35mm size, to be used in the wider pond sections.
▲ This photo shows the sections as they could be used alongside a residential street. The water channels would connect underground between each section, with small bridges over them leading to each house. I chose to print mostly the versions with the bamboo railing, purely for aesthetic reasons.
Don't worry! This layout will make SO much more sense when you see it painted and combined with other terrain!
▲ 3 sizes of corner section are included in the set. The smallest is just a 35mm square of water channel, which can be combined with other 120mm straight or pond sections to fit the corner sections from the Castle Walls set, as shown in the photo above.
These will also fit directly up against building walls such as the 120mm-long shop buildings.
▲ The biggest corner sections of the water channel (100mm) are designed to fit the corner sections from the Stone Walls set, so they can run alongside many types of residential walls.
▲ The middle size of corner section is designed to fit the corner pieces from the canal set, as shown in the photo above. Just in case you didn't already know, these canal pieces can also be used on dry land, as low platforms to lift up buildings, gardens and walkways.
The Samurai Street Fish Ponds set is just about to hit the paint desk, and will be ready for release in a few days! Get ready to enhance your tabletops!
Samurai Street Fish Ponds 
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