The Zhao and Ch'u Show

BASED ON A TRUE STORY!

"He's a plucky crossbowman from the south kingdom of Ch'u. And he's a fierce crossbowman from the northern kingdom of Zhao."

Together they fight the Ch'in.

There!

Done the two uniform prototypes for the Warring States project. I will be doing both the Ch'u list (1x HCh (g) 1x HCh, 1x 3Cv (most likely) 2x 4Sp, 2x 3Wb (dare to die!) 4x 4Cb, 1x 2Ps)

and the Zhao/Chao list (1x HCh(g), 1x HCh, 2x 2Lh (the real reason to do this list), 4x 4Sp, 3x 3Cb, 1x 2Ps.

My enabler and partner in many crimes neldoreth will be doing the Qin/Ch'in and Yueh. It should be glorious.

Here's the Ch'u crossbowman. The scheme will revolve around a light blue and grey uniform with a bronze/brassy armour finish.

Here we see Mr. Zhao. Red and grey clothing with steely armour.

Both are easy paints and should look distinct on the table top.

Renegade Warring States Chinese figs come with either a top knot or a toque. I'm going to try to give all my Ch'u guys the toque and Zhao the top-knot. I really don't have much more to go on other than I think the top-knot looks spanky and the Osprey shows the Zhao guy with a top know. It further more elaborates that the Ch'u were frequently derided by being called 'monkeys with hats' which we must accept as 'fightin' words' from ancient China. So if you wondered if I had some historical back-up, yes I do.

On the whole I am pretty pleased. The skin tone bugged me the most. Obviously we don't want them looking like my Irish, but too exaggerated 'yellow' skin tones will make them look more like The Simpsons than warriors of China. I used Privateer P3 Idiran Flesh as a base. Then used Vallejo Medium Flesh, once over the base, then a second over a GW wash of Sepia (can't live without that stuff). I'd be very pleased to hear your feedback.

Another is the sculpting of the faces, which was brought up by the eloquent and uber-informed vonBerlichengen in the thread on Fanaticus. http://www.fanaticus.org/discussion/showthread.php?t=9365

The Ch'u guy really looks more like an Englishman than an Asian. Look at the nose! A conk that size belongs on Alfred the G.

On the other hand, this guy's very exaggerated 'Asian' features sort of give me a creepy 'Charley Chan' vibe. I've yet to meet anyone with eyebrows like that.

But consider some of the actual terracotta warriors, who have stylized facial features. We might wonder if Renegade was trying to model after that example instead of being rather being dippy.

I haven't met this guy either...

Another pic for those who like that sort of thing...rear view!

Those shoulder plates give them a GW Space Marine feel. (Not that I have EVER painted such a thing...cough...cough...) I like these figs. And should Renegade get their stuff moving and crank out a chariot I will be very happy.

In short I blame neldoreth and Tim in Saskatoon for enticing me and my already weak will into 28mm. I hope N gets his mojo back http://www.hourofwolves.org/?view=newsArchive and gets painting and I can't wait to bring the completed Zhao/Ch'u force out to 'Toon town and devastate Mr Tim's fancy pants fantasy forces with a HoTT morph. (suggestion on that composition welcome as well)

Thanks for reading. Have fun and don't get in the way of the Hadron Super-Collider.

-Sean

Technicolour Reconstructions

A quick post today.

I need to go make supper (curried chickpeas and pappadums!)

and don't have anything too fresh in the painting department.

I came across these colour restorations of Greek sculpture and again was impressed by the vivacity of the colours.

You can read about the exhibit and process here:

http://www.archaeology.org/0801/trenches/colorgods.html

I contrast this with the discussion on Fanaticus regarding Skythian pants and other aspects:

http://www.fanaticus.org/discussion/showthread.php?t=9290

My next hoplite force (probably LHG Thessalians) is going to be packed with bling.

Cheers,

-Sean

Cymric Flashback

It's St. David's Day honouring that crusty ol' church guy who knocked some saintly holy stuff into the thick skulls of 6th Century Wales.

So I'm making some leek and potato soup for the crew at Chateau Visigoth. Dinner is at 6, bring wine.

http://veganvisitor.wordpress.com/2008/01/07/potato-leek-soup/

Also thought I'd post some pics of my mighty Welsh army in action. All these images come from Neldoreth's fantabulouso site http://www.hourofwolves.org/ you are encouraged to check it out.

The above pick is one of the games I'll crow about for ages. Getting stuck with my back to the sea and facing down Neldoreth's Vikings. My boys pulled off a 4-1 rout. My secret? Charge and roll 6's! (Also getting him to break his line prior to combat didn't hurt)

My Welsh seem to find more time to fight Norseman and Irish than the dreaded Saxon. The above pic comes from last years Viking era campaign. It's end of the game and I've shattered the Saxon's line. Roger picked a hill to die on, but I rather messed up his lads in the open. I painted the Early Saxon force as well. I've only played it once, destroying Mike's Picts 6G-2. I'm scared to touch them now.

This was the hardest fight, against Patrick's Norse Irish. Warband against Auxilia and Blades? Yep, tricky indeed. That said I had horse-shoes up my butt that day and managed not to get my general (styled Owain Daneslayer) wasted on the first turn of the first year of the campaign.

Forget the score, but it was close. Here we see Owain away from his troops (for some reason) ambushed by deadly paddies.

I painted my Welsh back in 2004, just after my separation and poured a lot of angst into them and produced them in two nights. Good mojo or bad? I dunno. They've lost only once... They're all Essex from the redoubtable Welsh line and the horse guys are from the Dark Age line. I only did the 'a' list, perhaps I will do the other options as well. These guys are in for a touch-up as their wear and tear in starting to get noticeable so bow and spear might happen then.

Notes: For the stat geeks I think the Welsh are 14-1. Recollections are misty and they predate any serious attempts at record keeping on behalf of the CCF and the NAGS. Most battles have been historical with the exception of repulsing of the Han Chinese from Cambria.

The loss was to Mike J's Vikings. It was 6-5 cluster-funk. Heaps of dead for sure.

I've added this in as it was left off after the previous day's post.

The soup was good.

Cheers, -Sean