4Grounds Shogunate Buildings - Bushido, Ronin.

 

I recently sold some old bits and pieces on ebay and decided to treat myself to some new buildings for my numerous Samurai games – I have had my eye on the special deal which gives you all 4 Shogunate buildings and a load of fencing from 4ground.

The information on the 4ground website shows they’ve done a lot of homework in order to get these models to be architecturally accurate.

According to 4grounds site, one of the houses is a ‘home to a Komae family of smallholders. This lowland Minka (vernacular built) dwelling is made from Kyoro-Gumi wooden post-framing, with both partial plastered bamboo panels and timber boarded panels’.

The other house is ‘a lowland home to a Honbyakushō (literally-First Farmer) family’. It has ‘ two Hi-en Engawa (full length verandas), one each side, both with Naga-ita (wood planking) roofing. The cottage itself has a Buki (thatched) Kirizuma roof, and the mune-jimai (ridge cover) is the relatively common Oki-chi.’

Village rice barn and Peasant labourer’s dwelling
 
According to the 4ground website, these models depicts a lowland farmstead dwellings, the home to a family of ‘mizunomi’, or farm labourers. These most simple of houses were made of wooden post-framing, with timber boarded panel walls throughout. Also a lowland rice barn. All villages had an estimated field tax burden that they had to pay in produce to their Daimyo. The rice tax was collected and stored in village rice barns/large outbuildings like this one, called ‘mura bei no naya’.

Whilst the two kits are designed on the same plan, there are differences, the barn lacks the loft-vents of the dwelling, and doesn’t have a verandah. The barn has double doors, which are fully operable. And inside, of course, the barn has no raised sleeping/eating floor. The roof comes off the barn in the same way as the dwelling.

All in all a cracking set of wargames buildings, great quality and very simple to put together. The miniature is the pictures is a GCT Bushido Ashigaru Yariman and the buildings are well in scale even though the Bushido miniatures are quite tall.