The Dancing Cake Tin: HotT Army Showcase #8

Friday 25 July 2014

HotT Army Showcase #8 - Carry On Oni.

This is as close to a Workshop of Games army as I'm ever likely to come. Certainly the prices involved were not at all eye-watering since the figures were sourced from a charity shop find as discussed in another Oni related post.

The army. It comprises:

1 x Behemoth general

2 x Behemoth

6 x Warband

1 x Demon Gate Stronghold

This is not a subtle army. Expect charging, crashing, smashing and bashing whenever it gets a game. I'm quite looking forward to using it.

The legends state that Oni come in a variety of colours with red and blue being the most common. Not wanting to anger anyone's Pantheon I went with reds and blues. They also are known for wearing tiger skin couture and using big-ass iron clubs to get across their point of view. Some of these figures have axes. An axe is merely a club by other, sharper, means. Other colours are leather and horn. I made the horns from cocktail sticks. They vary in length and angle from the head. This is nature's way. In addition some of the horns are shorter than the other on the same head. I put this down to fair wear and tear during the Rutting Season. Do Oni have a rutting season? They do now.

I painted the bases green and left it at that. They are mounted upon thick board for ease of storage and use. I went with 25mm basing conventions. I do this with all my armies because it makes getting figures of various scales on board (ha! smell the pun!) a lot easier. I think of them all as 15mm scale armies even though they are not. This is fantasy after all. I considered flocking, rocks, filler etc on the bases. On reflection I decided that they looked more toy-like with basic bases so I went with the easy option. I can always go back if I change my mind.

The stronghold is a piece of volcanic rock (it's resin - Editor) from a Tenerife gift shop. It did have a metal devil stuck on it. I removed that and then added a couple of trees and tidied up the jewel outcrops. The stronghold represents The Demon Gate or Kimon or Ushitora which is situated in a North East direction. I think that the black outcrop looks sinister enough to fulfill this. It also has some demonic precious stones littered about to trap the unwary and the greedy. Japanese legend says bad luck and Oni armies come from the North East. The Japanese say this, not me, just in case any Geordies, Mackems or Smoggies are reading this!

The Army of The Oni