Master of the Gardens

Oniwaban means ‘the one who is in the garden’ or ‘the gardener’. During the time of the Tokugawa Shogunate, each Shogun had in his service a personal gardener that belonged to the elite of a Ninja clan. The Oniwaban was the Shogun’s link with the Ninja.

While I've always been a bit ambivalent about space ninjas I really like the Oniwaban miniature! The design is great, but what really takes it to the next level is the pose. He just looks appropriately awesome and ready to cut some poor Pan-O troopers into teeny-tiny pieces.

Since I have a kind of grey-blue thing going on with my Yu Jing I thought I'd try to continue with that theme and decided to paint him blue instead of the traditional green. I'm not entirely sure it was the right decision since the blue-grey is a bit too close to the black/grey of the rest of his outfit. The green creates a great contrast while the blue creates a... not so great contrast. However, he still looks pretty good and he does fit in very well with what I've painted so far. Oh, and the glitter effect is from the spray varnish I used and let me tell you, from now on I'm using paint on varnish! Anyway, some more snaps:

Next up some Celestial Guard I think. Although that Shang Ji is looking mighty attractive as well. Decisions, decisions...