Japanese adventurers

Hoshi the Hammer
15 mm

Who is this beefy brawler waving an enormous mallet?  An ex-Sumo seeking his fortune?  A sinister thug seeking to brutalize and rob?  His double-line arm tattoo marks him as a two-time convict under the penal system of the Edo period, but men run afoul of the law in so many ways...

Forehead tattoo for murder, arm for theft.

Red Ronin
15 mm

Masterless samurai whose daimyos had died or discharged them, ronin roamed the country, offering their services to lords as mercenaries or guards.  Some engaged in banditry or other less-than-honorable trade as well.  This ronin still has his armour, but lacks the traditional samurai's pair of swords, either through choice or the desperate necessity of selling them...

Both these miniatures are from Alternative Armies' "Sengoku" line of Japanese fantasy figures.

The return of Spacejacker!

 

Http://Spacejacker.blogspot.com

Look who's back!  After a years-long hiatus from blogging, punctuated by other musical and artistic endeavors, and a involuntarily long pandemic stay in Australia that was well-chronicled on his Instagram, Ben "Spacejacker" Lee has returned!  I followed his blog Tiny Solitary Soldiers for years, and he always produced appealing 15 mm sci-fi and solo gaming material that was always worth a look.  The blog is long gone now, but an idea of the kind of great pieces he posted there is visible here.

Ben Lee, 2012

I know he's going to be painting up some good stuff now too, not only because he's already posted some, but also because I sent him a sizable 15 mm sci-fi care package a little while ago 😁. So hit your sidebar links widget and add him again...

Shock to the System

Cyberzombie Revolutionary
15mm

It was a night
Hell of a night, L.A., it really was
Oh what a riot
I said yeah, come on
It makes my life feel real
Fear police and civil corruption oh yeah
Is there a man who would be king
And the world stood still

In 1993 Billy Idol released his fifth album, "Cyberpunk".  Its questionable musical merits and cultural impact aside, it gave us the absolutely bomber song "Shock to the System"... and its slightly cheesy but enjoyable video.

The video's loose storyline is of a civil riot of some kind.  A lone camcorder-wielding man witnesses a group of police beating somebody. When they discover that he's seen them, they badly beat him in turn.  The smashed fragments of his camcorder incorporate themselves into his battered body to produce a lurching technological monstrosity with an enormous camera protruding from one eye socket. Totally not a metaphor for anything...

"It'd sure be weird if everyone could record what's
happening around them at any time..."

 

This conversion is based on a Khurasan zombie.

"This won't seem so farfetched in 2021, folks."