A fishy tale in Warlord China, Xiao Yú, 192x - 193x

[WarlordFish]

The countryside of Xiǎo Yú, like with most Chinese provinces during this era, is plagued with bandit gangs. Ranging from small ragtag groups of thugs to large organized but poorly disciplined hosts they are countless and unending. A constant stream of destitute peasants, craven deserters, and those just looking for an easy meal keep these gangs flush with manpower. Two major gangs prowl Xiǎo Yú, one of which is known as "The Yellow Locust Gang." Yellow representing power and prosperity in traditional Chinese culture, and locust referring to the gangs ability to lay waste to all they descend on. They are lead by "Four Eyes" Chin, a smart and capable man believed to once have been a junior officer in the now destroyed Anhui Clique. Chin's nickname stems from his poor eyesight, the man needing glasses to see beyond the end of his nose. It is said that the primary goal for his gang is to ensure he has enough glasses to last him the rest of his life, and while this is laughed at as simple gossip among his men, he does handsomely reward any bandit who turns in a pair of glasses at the end of a raid, and severely punish those who attempt to hide any found from him. Despite this, he is a competent and clever leader, having made connections with the White Russians in the province for information and weapons. Chin's gang fly's an old banner, said to have been brought home from Tonkin by Chin's Great Great Uncle who had served as a banner man in the Black Flag Army insurrection against the French, in Viet-Nam some 40ish years earlier.

This gang is organized to be ran as a Horde Squad for Fistful of Lead.



The entire gang, Chin pictured with glasses to the right of his banner man, next to his Russian supplied lewis gun, and his bodyguard. 



The melee element of his gang. Two grunt groups, one with spears (and the tough as nails trait, gaining it +1 grunt) and one with hatchets and cleavers.



Chin's riflemen grunts, two groups.



Chin's regulars. Chauchat LMG and MP20 both supplied by the White Russians. I only just recently discovered, upon rereading the rules that LMGs (Rules as written assault rifles) and SMGs are NOT specialist only weapons, as I had once thought!! Only MMGs, (Such as Chin's Lewis Gun) and Sniper rifles are (Well rocket launchers too, but.. in 1920s china? hmmm.. what can I kit bash)
As well as some pistol wielding regulars, no doubt gang bosses intended to keep the grunts in line!

He also has an old cannon! I hope to swap out the gunners eventually for models from Gringo40's.

Shout out to Gringo40's, flag and banner man supplied by them, delightful casts all around.  Sorry for the dodgy photos, my camera is acting up something fierce. I'm thinking about throwing my phone in the lake..

[frd]

Loving all the updates and looking forward to see the next AAR. If it was my campaign, the sailors that survived would have been taken prisoner by the bandits so my next game would either be an escape or rescue mission for them.

[lgsimons2014]

Well done!! Both the story and the pictures. Those buildings look great, and I think they really give you a feel like you're in Back of Beyond China. I love your narrative story as well, well written out and thought out, and chock full of interesting factions all vying for power against each other. Heck man you're going to have a heck of a little fight on your hands.

[Grumpy Gnome]

It all just keeps getting better and better. Inspirational work!

[WarlordFish]

Thank you kindly chaps, I appreciate it. Right now the whole project is in limbo, all packed up as I have to move. You never really realize how big a project has gotten untill you have to box it all up. The village takes up an entire foot locker! And all my models, paints, and other sundry hobby supplies take up 9 reasonably sized boxes!! I hope to be back at it and set up again some time in mid August. It's a little sad to pack it away.. ah well. It's for the best. Time to conquer a new provence! 

[lgsimons2014]

I hear you about moving, we were nomadic for about a year, and it's amazing how much space and time it takes to do some of these projects, and how much you miss it when you can't do it! Hopefully your move went well, and your getting everything unpacked. Man I've been borrowing alot of inspiration from your storyline, I really, really like it!!!

[Ignatieff]

You are, of course, mad.  But mad is good. Mad is why we do this. Superb my friend, thank you for sharing.  Keep going.  Madness is a cavalry charge, and you are in the front rank.  Huzzah!

[WarlordFish]

Rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated. I infact still live! It's been a harrowing journey, fleeing Shanghai just before the Japanese invasion, hiding out in an opium den in Kunming, spending time meditating with the lamas in Lhasa, living in a yurt on the vast steppes of inner Mongolian, and yet here I am..

The good news is I'm here, the bad news is that my project is greatly diminished. I have lost massive swaths of the most precious resource for our hobby, that of space. My table is gone, my terrain deep in storage, my armies, tanks, trucks, boats, and planes packed up and tucked away - some a bit dinged up and broken. I'm going to do what I can to get back to this in any capacity, but for the foreseeable future it will have to be on a much much smaller scale.

I'm going to try to build a 3x3 or 4x4 game board soon, something I can easily pack up and put away, as that's about all the space I can muster at current. Thank you for the kind words and saber rattling. I hope over the next few weeks to take stock of my BoB projects and figure out where I can get back to work. These past few months have been both tough and busy, but that light and joy that is our hobby has been missing for too long, and it must, in some shape or form, be reignited.

[flatpack]

Good luck with your further adventures.

[marianas_gamer]

Looking forward to your further endeavors.