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

Rel-Axe Time

I'll admit it.

I've been stalled out on painting.

I've yet to finish my IV/5c Sicilians, despite the campaign has been going for months now and they've rewarded me with two victories over Cory's Western Sudanese. Those 2 elements of 6Kn remain a bit of block. Sure they've been block painted and partially flocked, but the final touch eludes me.

So I do what I do when I stall. I switch course and do something different. For myself. Not for any army or project. Just something to remind me that painting is fun and worth doing for its own sake.

Case in point. Curious about HaT's entry into the 28mm plastic figure category I picked up their El Cid Spanish Heavy Infantry. Again...Spain. I was wondering if they'd be useful for 28mm Hordes of the Things as bulk out units for a fantasy army and as perhaps something the pre-Teen Visigoth could cut his teeth on, as he's getting pretty good at this painting thing.

I've painted lots of the HaT 20mm soft plastics in the past. 20mm is a favourite scale of mine and I've painted lots of HaT figs, their best and their stinkiest. I'm no 'metal uber-alles' hobbyist and am pretty pleased to see plastic coming into its own.

So on to the project. Here's what you get out of the box:

Interesting, if not truly inspiring. But as I have ranted about in the past, miniatures are raw materials. It's the hobbyist who makes the magic, not the miniature itself. Lets see if I can live up my philosophy.

I pick the axe guy for my first project. I like the two-handed axe. Nothing says to the enemy 'I'm going to whack your bloody noggin off and nothing is going to stop me, even you poking with your puny spear'. It's the weapon for people with a dedicated approach to person combat. So this guy is first.

Here's the finished product.

I really liked painting this guy. It was quick easy paint and really therapeutic.

The paint goes on easy. The figure has fairly deep cuts and flat surfaces. This is an artifact of the medium. The chain mail is not little holes, rather a raises textured surface. Finished it with a wash of black ink. for paint geeks, I used mostly all the Privateer P3 line, which are my new happy paints. Also the newer GW washes worked really fine.

I was happy with the results.

Axe-guy is pretty happy here as well. Been fighting dragons since I pulled him off the cork.

He's also taking care of my Elf infestation. But also useful for a scale comparison. He's pretty close to the LotR figures. A little slender and short next to the freakish mesomorphic lugs that inhabit contemporary 28mm figures.

Lots of fun. I look forward to the Almoravids.

http://www.hat.com/Curr28/Bx28007ALH/Bx28007ALHb.html

Thanks for reading.

(edited for spellling, yikes)