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.

More Romans arrive

I recently sold an army of Romans and Pyhric Macedonians but had enough left over that I wanted to finish up an army for myself, so here they are. Above are the Velites which are by Crusader Miniatures I believe. The one in the wolf's head may be a Navigator miniature but I am far from sure on that one.

Here we have the Italian ally spear and Auxillia, probably Samnites. The miniatures are by Old Glory.

The Roman cavalry general on the right and the Itallian ally cavalry on the left, all by Old Glory.

These are the Triari, the grisseled veterans of the Roman army and are painted after an illustration in the John Warry book on classical warfare that caught my eye back when I first started this hobby some thirty years ago. The shields are hand painted and then splattered by using a toothbrush rubbed with paint.

They are a frightening looking lot!

In contrast to the Triari, here are the Hastati, the young men, armed with pila and sword which were just making their appearance at this time.

Once again the shields are all hand painted and modeled after a design in the John Warry book.

Finally we have the Principes, still armed with spear at this point, but still tough as nails.