Bulk of the Han Chinese now finished

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With the Celts now converted from Galatians to Gauls, it was time to settle down and finish off my nascent Han Chinese.

I’d already completed the dagger-axe men and the spearmen, so first on the painting table were the other mainstay of the army: the foot crossbowmen. These are again Lurkio cast metal figures with 3D printed Song Chinese command figures from Ten Kingdoms via MicksBits on Etsy: three units of formed crossbowmen and two units of lights (which can convert to six and four for a 10cm grid).

As with all the Lurkio figures, I found half the poses were absolutely cracking and half were shop window mannequins: the one with the crossbow at their shoulder about to fire or slung over one arm for transport being the worst examples of the latter.

I now needed a rest from painting infantry, so switched to the Han Chinese’s rather limited cavalry contingent. Here I used only Lurkio figures (available from Gripping Beast) and completed one unit of “lancers” (cavalry with dagger-axe), two units of mounted crossbowmen, and three units of horse archers that I painted in blue rather than red to represent the fact they are Xiongnu tribesmen recruited from the Chinese’s main opposition to the north.

Now onto some fun: the officers and a camp.

The officers are all from Ten Kingdoms’ Song Chinese range sourced, as always, from the excellent MicksBits on Etsy: fast service, great prints, and Mick will willingly print “off menu” for any specials you need.

These figures specifically represent three characters from the Water Margin stories that I first encountered in the 70’s through the Japanese TV series shown on BBC2 with the narration by Burt Kwok (“Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?”) and dubbing by Mariam Margolyes and a host of others. Not historically accurate for my Han Chinese, but a must-have none-the-less!

From left to right:

  • Gongsun Sheng: a Taoist priest turned grand strategist

  • Lin Chong "Panther Head": sought redemption by helping the Song dynasty fight the Khitan-Liao but betrayed (by the evil Gao Qiu) after the war had finished

  • Li Kui: trusted bodyguard of bandit leader Song Jiang, the story’s archetypal reckless but loyal brute.

These are lovely models that print and paint up really well. Highly recommended.

Finally for today’s post, a camp:

This might look as if I have learnt to build model pagodas, but the building is a one-piece object from Aliexpress, appropriately produced and delivered from China itself. It’s part of a large range of similar products that would allow you to build the whole of the Forbidden City if you so wished! It only cost about a fiver including postage so is highly, highly recommended.

The figures outside the pagoda are from Lurkio: the “camp” pack. As you can see, you get two chaps chopping wood, two chaps cooking (includes pot, fireplace and the two racks), a straw Jong for practicing sword work and an archery target. I added the wood to be chopped (matches cut to size) and the swordsman (a Ten Kingdoms Song Chinese swordsman). I love this sort of thing, and I hope you agree that, combined with the pagoda, it makes a fine camp scene.

Just the chariots, more command and the heroes to go now…