Review: Bad Squiddo Games Onna-bugeisha

Rating:

Bad Squiddo Games have released the first three packs of what promises to be an expanding range of Onna-bugeisha miniatures for Feudal Japan.

The first pack contains three miniatures wielding katanas and is priced at £10 at time of writing. The detailing on the figures is very crisp, which gives painters the potential to really go to town on the armour braiding. Of the three poses, the miniature in mid-draw is my favourite. The pose with the katana above her head looks a little awkward, possibly because the miniature is a little ‘flat’ (a limitation of casting – I think if the sword was more naturally raised above the models head, the sword hand would have had to be cast as a separate piece).

The third pose with the figure moving forward with the katana behind her has fantastic detailing, but I’m not sure if it is leaning too far forward – I had to use a spot of blu-tack under the base when taking the photo to stop the figure falling over. This shouldn’t be a problem when mounted on a round base, but I think it the figure looks slightly unbalanced, although that same pose gives an impression of dynamic movement.

The second pack has two figures armed with Naginata and one armed with a Yumi (longbow). This pack is also priced at £10 at time of writing.All the figures are in interesting, balanced poses with excellent armour detail and crisp casting.

I think the two Naginata armed miniatures are my favourites in the whole group – both poses give a lovely impression of movement and/or threat.

On the down side, the Yumi armed model has been sculpted without a quiver, which is an oversight I wouldn’t have expected.

The third pack of figures contains two command figures and is priced at £7 at time of writing. One is wielding dual katanas, whilst the other has drawn their katana and is gripping the scabbard so that it juts out from the body. Again, both miniatures are crisply cast and have nice details, but I think they suffer slightly from the ‘flat’ nature of their poses.

All the miniatures stand between 28mm and 32mm tall.

Overall, these Onna-bugeisha miniatures are very good. The details on the figures are well sculpted, and the casting is crisp and clean, with very little flash and mould lines to contend with.

Onna-bugeisha are available from the Bad Squiddo Games website.