The Yakuza are the third faction for my Miami Vice game. When deciding what other factions to use in the game, I originally planned to use several that I already had painted such as bikers and the mafia. I happened upon the Yakuza by accident in May 2023 when I was ordering some paint and really liked the look of them. The 1980s was full of stories about Japan business overtaking the US, so I thought they would fit in well thematically and also provide a distinct group that would be easy to identify on the table. After thinking about it for a day or two, I ordered them from a seller on eBay. They are packaged as a 7-miniature set from North Star's A Fistful of Kung Fu range.
For the skin I used a basecoat of Howard Hues Oriental Flesh, a coat of GW Contrast Gulliman Flesh, then highlights with the original Oriental Flesh. Five of them are dressed all in black and white, so I used contrast black and white to do a quick job on them. I like the facial expressions and the slightly different clothing each is wearing. As a nice touch, one has a missing little finger joint, which is a traditional Yakuza punishment.
The boss on the left with a sword and his ex-sumo wrestler henchman on the right. I wanted to do a tattoo on his chest but many of the examples I found on Google were fairly elaborate for painting freehand. I searched through my stash of decals and found some 15mm Norman shields by LBMS that were leftover from a project at least 10 years ago. Several had dragons, with a hole for the shield boss, which allowed me to cut them up into 4 sections: head, body, wings, and claws. Cutting them up was necessary to fit the available space. I mixed parts of 2 different decals, applied them, then painted in a longer neck to connect them. I think it turned out pretty well.
