Starting the Samurai Terrain Collection

 If I'm going to play games set in Feudal Japan, I should have some terrain that looks the part. Six or eight months ago I bought a few MDF kits from Things From The Basement here in the US, and today I've got two of them - if not "finished," at least in playable shape.

 

 

First up, a truly towering torii gate; these gates are placed at the entrance of Shinto (and some Buddhist) shrines to mark where the mundane world and the sacred space of the shrine meet. This one's a full 6" tall.

Next to it is a kit that Things From The Basement lists as "Prayer Wheels" and while prayer wheels are a thing that exists in Japanese Buddhism, they don't really look like this. This arrangement looks more akin to how offerings of sake are placed at Shinto sites as an offering to the spirits, or kami.  

The red was all done with spray paint, while the bases were sprayed black and sponged with browns and grays for stone work. The roof tiles are corrugated paper painted black and drybrushed with gray. 

Nothing fancy, but off to a good start! My initial plan with these was to incorporate them, along with a temple kit, into a single 12" square terrain tile, maybe with some trees, but I think this particular torii is simply too big - it towers almost 2 full inches over the roof of the temple!  So let's treat these as scatter instead. 

 

Miniatures Acquired: 186

Miniatures Painted: 195

Terrain Acquired: 2

Terrain Painted: 8

Scatter Acquired: 8

Scatter Painted: 12