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Friday, December 30, 2011

Han Dynasty and Warring States Chinese

The impetus for building this army came from a purchase of a fantasy Chinese army which I realized could serve as the core of a historical force as well. Some of these are the only painted miniatures I have ever purchased, and the painter had a style similar to my own, but really lavished attention on them so I just couldn't resist.


This camp was made utilizing one of the two dragons that came with the painted army. The trees are a model railroading product called sea moss, and the lions are part of an aquarium decoration.


Here are two other fantasy elements, a magician and a hero. The magician stand came with the fantasy army, but the hero was my own addition. There is also another dragon like the one in the camp scene, only painted primarily red.


The camp scene above is for the historic DBA warring States or Han Dynasty army. The rice paddy was made by using long grass and another railroad product called scenic water. I had several water products to choose from, but I think my favorite turned out to be one made by Vallejo paints.


I had intended to create more rice shoots, but the process was so tedious I decided to pretend the field had not been completely planted yet.


Han Dynasty General by Essex. I was very pleased with how this element came out, and particularly liked the gold silk robe of the general.

Here's a better view of the riders in the chariot.


The light horse. Most of these were my additions, but two in the back row came with the original army. The Han Dynasty army has two options, one that is a mixed force and one that is primarily mounted, hence all the additional light horse and cavalry elements.

A Total of five cavalry elements were needed as an addition to make all of the necessary cavalry.


These marvelously painted chariots came with the original army. Bless the gentleman who did all the work on the diamond pattern horse blankets!


The Dagger axe men will play as spears.

A few of the warring States period armies call for warband. These are supposed to be fanatic swordsmen for the most part with the job of collecting trophy heads.


Crossbowmen formed the backbone of a lot of chinese armies. Two of these came with the painted army, but I had to add a couple more to cover all of the historic DBA options.


Last of all are a 3 blade stand and some psiloi. I never could figure out the code for the Essex halbard men. I believe large Halbards like these were used, but most heavy infantry relied on the dagger axe.

5 comments:

  1. Lovely army!!! having just painted chequers in 20mm only, I can really appreciate the effort put into those diamond patterns .
    Cheers
    paul

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  2. Brilliant work - really clean painting, and great choice of colours.

    Makes me want to get out the DBA troops again soon !

    Happy New Year ! Looking forward to seeing more great work from you in the new year.

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  3. I have been scouting for suitable pics to illustrate the headers of my armies lists appendices in The Art of War rules: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B007L9LX68 The last appendix is "Chinese, Mongol, Hun & Japanese Armies, Selected Oriental Armies". I like the chariots particularly (5th pic from the bottom). If you would permit, I would like to use it; and I would provide attribution by linking to your blog; or some other way if you prefer. Please contact me at: douglarsen50 AT msn DOT com....

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    Replies
    1. Unfortunately the chariots you mention are some of the few elements I didn't paint and I no longer remember from whom I purchased them. The single chariot is actually more representative of a Han Dynasty chariot if you could use that shot it would be fine. Thanks for your interest. Did you see the shots of the Japanese samurai Kamakura period army? Those are quite nice as well.

      David

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