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Author Topic: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?  (Read 31459 times)

Offline 88D

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #15 on: November 12, 2015, 07:40:53 PM »
I don't want to be too specific yet as plans are subject to change. The focus of the range will be the Imjin war, and will be designed to fit with the Perry Koreans, which are a bit bigger than their samurai, so they are definitely 28s.
As for regional troops; well the range will be a core of the most common types of soldier, the cavalry will suit Northern armies most closely, the infantry Southern armies. Regionally distinct troops will probably be fitted into stretch goals, like the Lang Bing/Wolf troop, or Koxinga's Tie Ren/ Iron Men, so that will depend on how the campaign goes.

The focus is not the Southern Courts period, but there should be useful troops for that.

Any chance of some design sketches or sources you plan to use we can have a nose at them and give feedback?  ;)

Offline clibinarium

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #16 on: November 14, 2015, 12:41:48 AM »
Sorry, too early for that, and I just sculpt from scratch without concept drawings, using whatever sources I have to hand. I've never really been comfortable showing WIP stuff. But rest assured I've spent more than a year looking into researching the Ming, and have been advised closely by someone well versed in the sources and reads Chinese characters, so we've built up a pretty good idea of a very under-researched army; certainly the picture that the Ospreys would give is at best very fragmentary.

Closer to launching I'll preview some figures on the forum.

Offline 88D

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  • Posts: 256
Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #17 on: November 16, 2015, 03:39:33 PM »
Cool, feel free to check out the late ming period painting I posted in the new minis for ronin thread if it helps with your research.

Offline clibinarium

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #18 on: November 16, 2015, 11:38:43 PM »
Cheers for that. I am pretty familiar with the painting "Ping fan de-sheng tu", its probably the best single source for Ming Cavalry of the later half of the 16th Century, most of the cavalry figures will be based on this illustration.

Offline Lagartija Mike

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #19 on: November 17, 2015, 05:54:26 AM »
Clibanarium, check out Robinson's Martial Spectacles of the Ming Court. Beyond its own value it's bibliography has excellent sources (almost without exception in Chinese) on the material culture of the Ming armies.

Offline clibinarium

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #20 on: November 17, 2015, 02:11:10 PM »
Sounds interesting, but potentially quite academic in outlook; would you say there is material in the book itself that would be useful in sculpting figures?
I ask because although I will likely get the book for my own interest eventually, money is a bit tight right now so if its not immediately useful I'll have to put it off for a while.

Offline 88D

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #21 on: November 17, 2015, 03:35:04 PM »
Cheers for that. I am pretty familiar with the painting "Ping fan de-sheng tu", its probably the best single source for Ming Cavalry of the later half of the 16th Century, most of the cavalry figures will be based on this illustration.

I'm definitely hyped now for your figs.

Offline Lagartija Mike

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #22 on: January 08, 2016, 04:44:29 AM »
Any updates?

Offline clibinarium

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #23 on: January 08, 2016, 08:51:23 PM »
Currently I am waiting on castings of equipment like helmets, quivers, shields etc to come back to me. I decided to 3D print those items for the sake of consistency. Once I have them back I can get stuck into the sculpting properly. Also I recently solved the issue of how to sculpt brigandine relatively quickly, which was a significant obstacle as it took forever to do the rivets.

Offline Bowman

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  • Posts: 251
Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #24 on: January 31, 2016, 02:45:01 PM »
I'm hyped for these too! Please keep us informed on your progress here. Best wishes.
"This I have known ever since I stretched out my fingers to the abomination within that great gilded frame; stretched out my fingers and touched a cold and unyielding surface of polished glass." 

H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"

Offline clibinarium

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #25 on: January 31, 2016, 11:03:20 PM »
Will do. I am hoping that those 3d printed bits will arrive with me in the next couple of weeks.

Offline clyde85

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  • Posts: 44
Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #26 on: February 06, 2016, 03:20:23 PM »
I, too am very glad and excited to see my Joseon Koreans will soon have some Ming allies to back them up  :D

I was surprised to see that there is so little representation of Ming Dynasty forces in tabletop gaming, especially considering how many different Sengoku era samurai ranges there are. You'd thing after a certain point the samurai on samurai fights would get boring after a while.

Offline clibinarium

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Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #27 on: February 06, 2016, 04:10:39 PM »
I was surprised to see that there is so little representation of Ming Dynasty forces in tabletop gaming, especially considering how many different Sengoku era samurai ranges there are. You'd thing after a certain point the samurai on samurai fights would get boring after a while.

I wholeheartedly agree. Post WW2 with the occupation of Japan and the opening of its culture Westerners took a great interest in it, but at the same time with the Communist takeover in China, the country became a closed book. While we've been soaking up Samurai history for years (look at the amount of movies/books there are), its only really since the start of the 21st century that the West has woken up to China in the same way (possibly the Chinese too have been able to look back to their past in that time too, since the emphasis was on the present and the future until the end of the cultural revolution and its aftermath).
The reason the Ming are neglected by wargamers is due to their low visibility in English language history. There simply isn't much out there for the wargamer to work from. In terms of figures the material for sculptors to work from is scarce; a couple of (rather poor) Ospreys and a few other bits. Most of what I've gathered has been through the internet with the aid of Chinese-speakers. Otherwise I'd have made little headway. Even then its not easy to be definitive about troop appearance/arms in the same way as it is for Samurai. But we are giving it our best shot.

In practical news; apparently the 3D prints are proving troublesome to master. :-(

Offline clyde85

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  • Posts: 44
Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #28 on: February 06, 2016, 05:03:17 PM »
The reason the Ming are neglected by wargamers is due to their low visibility in English language history. There simply isn't much out there for the wargamer to work from. In terms of figures the material for sculptors to work from is scarce; a couple of (rather poor) Ospreys and a few other bits. Most of what I've gathered has been through the internet with the aid of Chinese-speakers. Otherwise I'd have made little headway. Even then its not easy to be definitive about troop appearance/arms in the same way as it is for Samurai. But we are giving it our best shot.

That makes sense and I have had to dig through Chinese sources myself for greater detail on a number of subjects I've wanted to wargame (especially the Warlord period!). Though as of late I have noticed that it does seem to be getting better with a larger variety of English language works available these days. Good on you for tackling this though  ;)

I do think it is more just a lack of exposure on the behalf of wargamers that we see this period neglected, because I know once I discovered Perry Miniatures Korean range I just fell in LOVE with the models and had to build a Joseon army.

Offline Wansui

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  • Posts: 36
Re: Ming Dynasty miniatures in 28mm?
« Reply #29 on: February 06, 2016, 08:18:32 PM »
That makes sense and I have had to dig through Chinese sources myself for greater detail on a number of subjects I've wanted to wargame (especially the Warlord period!). Though as of late I have noticed that it does seem to be getting better with a larger variety of English language works available these days. Good on you for tackling this though  ;)

I do think it is more just a lack of exposure on the behalf of wargamers that we see this period neglected, because I know once I discovered Perry Miniatures Korean range I just fell in LOVE with the models and had to build a Joseon army.
Most contemporary Chinese sources rely on period scrolls,tomb murals,statues and artifacts. The main gripe I have with contemporary sources is that they depict parade armor as field armor.

The Perry Koreans are slightly anachronistic,the sources they use postdate the Imjin War.

 

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