Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Adventures in the Far East => Topic started by: WatchfuliStudio on June 01, 2014, 12:50:07 AM
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Hello everyone. I was poking around my movie collection and got on this kick to watch movies based in Ancient China. I was curious if there are other players out there that have an interest in this time period and perhaps what you do gaming wise to satisfy your gaming and hobby itch. I started to investigate miniatures but there aren't a lot of choices in 25/28mm (my favorite scale).
Any suggestions of offerings would be great. Thanks ahead of time
Joe
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The two main suppliers of figures are Newline and Curtys/First Corp from memory.
Have a look at the sticky at the top of this board as there may be some more I've missed.
Actually gaming the period hasn't really appealed yet, but who knows... :)
cheers
James
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I was in the garage only yesterday looking at a pile of Han Chinese which I would love to get back on the table. They are Hinchliffe 28mm (well probably a bit smaller) and were the first metal figures I bought and painted. The figures were based on the WRG Armies and Enemies of China by Peter Green and the Han research has been discredited but I still like them.
John
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I did own a couple of warring states armies a few years ago. They were Curteys minis, nice figs and a decent selection of troop types. I know John Jenkins used to sell warring states minis, but i think he stopped selling them.
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Forlorn Hope do a few Ming infantry which are okay.
http://www.forlornhopegames.co.uk/cavalcade-wargaming/category/134-ming-chinese-unit-packs
Essex do also do a small range, with no pictures
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/25mm-ancient-tang-five-dynasties-chinese
I have wanted to do ancient China for some time but there isn't much available in 28's Renegade looked okay but they were quite limited in what they had and they are not available now, what is available is generally, how can I put this, not to my taste.
There is more choice in 15mm, Essex, some of the new stuff is very good and Black Hat do the old Gladiator line, which I like very much.
If I were to do ancient China it would be in 15mm Black Hat with a few Essex.
Some body should start a KickStarter with a decent sculptor, because ancient China ticks all the boxes for ancient wargamers, but is very much under represented.
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Didn't Renegade have a Warring States range? Though I'm not sure what happened to Renegade/whether their ranges are going to be picked up by anyone else...
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You bring up a very interesting topic for discussion and an idea that I presented to a friend of mine. What are your thoughts on creating a new ancient Chinese line of miniatures? Would it be better to release 28mm miniatures or 15mm? What era would you start with? Are there any good resources for uniforms, tactics, colors, banners, etc.? We are going back quite a ways here but I know the Terracotta soldiers have given us tons of information on the Qin Dynasty. How accurate are Hollywood's and the Chinese directors' impressions of the uniforms and weapons.
I took a look at the miniatures companies recommended and I noticed that in the 28mm versions the color palette is different from those in the movies. The movies show a lot of black and drab colors but the miniature companies and some recreations of the Terracotta soldiers show vibrant blues, purples, reds, etc.
My friend and I recently create a gaming company and have begun to discuss our first projects. Could this be it?
I am very interested in hearing your feedback as I agree that this time period in ancient China truly lacks representation. Is it because Westerners don't like, understand, or have interest in the time period or perhaps its because the gaming companies that exist don't have an interest or knowledge in the time period? Again I am speculating so I am interested to hear your thoughts?
Joe
Forlorn Hope do a few Ming infantry which are okay.
http://www.forlornhopegames.co.uk/cavalcade-wargaming/category/134-ming-chinese-unit-packs
Essex do also do a small range, with no pictures
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/25mm-ancient-tang-five-dynasties-chinese
I have wanted to do ancient China for some time but there isn't much available in 28's Renegade looked okay but they were quite limited in what they had and they are not available now, what is available is generally, how can I put this, not to my taste.
There is more choice in 15mm, Essex, some of the new stuff is very good and Black Hat do the old Gladiator line, which I like very much.
If I were to do ancient China it would be in 15mm Black Hat with a few Essex.
Some body should start a KickStarter with a decent sculptor, because ancient China ticks all the boxes for ancient wargamers, but is very much under represented.
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I would prefer either 28mm or 6mm personally. May be hard to make Miniatures that are clearly chinese at that size though.
I think they would be popular with people who like both wargaming and dynasty warriors along with pure historical fans.
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I would prefer either 28mm or 6mm personally. May be hard to make Miniatures that are clearly chinese at that size though.
I think they would be popular with people who like both wargaming and dynasty warriors along with pure historical fans.
I would prefer 15 mm and 6 mm myself :-* with the point Carlos13th making about "clearly Chinese" interesting. We seem to be able to identify western history figures in 6 mm easily enough but the difference between Chinese and other Asian should, in theory, not be that that hard to portray- except, in my case, my complete cultural non-knowledge makes his point valid for me. Would cultural clues like costume and weapons be all that hard to reflect in 6mm? That is a very good question that I am now interested in knowing if it is feasible in 6 mm. I would think so, again assuming I knew what to look for visually on the miniatures. o_o
I suppose one could 'split the difference' between 6 mm and 15 mm by using 10 mm. ;)
Gracias,
Glenn
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I would prefer 28mm, Sung Dynasty including Chinese Bandits ("Water Margin") that should also increase the popularity of the range.
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Would certainly pick up well sculpted wako pirates in 28mm to go along with my samurai.
Personally I probably wouldn't by 10mm I find it not quite small enough to do huge armies but not as detailed as I like for smaller forces but that's just me other opinions may vary and I am sure many love the scale and I may very well be misinformed about the scale.
I find with 6mm the things that stand out for samurai is the helmets the banners and the weapons. The banners and sashimono are a great help to the look of 6mm samurai.
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Would certainly pick up well sculpted wako pirates in 28mm to go along with my samurai.
Some (indeed, most) of the Perry Ikko Ikki can be used as Wako (you'll see when I send you that godamned package lol ).
cheers
James
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Some time in 2015 then Jim :P.
I will take a look. Tbh now that I think of it not entirely sure how Wako pirates should look.
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Forlorn Hope do a few Ming infantry which are okay.
http://www.forlornhopegames.co.uk/cavalcade-wargaming/category/134-ming-chinese-unit-packs
Essex do also do a small range, with no pictures
http://www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/25mm-ancient-tang-five-dynasties-chinese
Far from ancient, however.
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I have the Old Glory Miniatures range of Han Chinese in 25mm scale. They are not the best miniatures but I had originally picked them up to do a Warhammer Fantasy army representing Tomb Kings by painting the miniatures to be terracotta warriors instead of the Egyptian theme. Since Warhammer Fantasy is a out the door, I was thinking of doing a repaint of them in the future as a historical army to be used for L'Art de la Guerre rules.
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Like many others on this forum I dabbled in Ancient Chinese DBA back in the day, with 15mm Essex and Chariot Miniatures Han, but since these were based on aggravatingly inaccurate source material, they have since been sold off or relegated to fantasy DBA.
In 25mm I think the question is what aspects of the Ancient Chinese do players want to game, since it represents a sizeable investment in time and money...?
Encounters/patrols on the Silk Road/Han Great Wall vs the Hsiung Nu would be good, with a crossover with Back of Beyond - Silk road espionage and Archaeologists etc. and Pulp ranges... a la Indiana Jones / Mummy Returns etc. etc., Water Margin et al.
Much of the popular appeal will probably hinge around fielding your own Terracotta army... You'd have to be a dedicated purist to want to game the Warring States in a larger scale per se... Like others I'd probably be tempted if there was a plastic set to create the bulk of forces around.
However, much of the more popular interest in the Chinese genre hinges on later tech - fireworks, gunpowder etc. which pushes the timeline into the Medieval bracket, not what was effectively bronze/iron-age tech.
That's my thoughts on it at any rate