I hope this thread will give some background to the project that I am developing and may encourage others to try something new. This may give you an idea why Tingtong Police are so well armed!
Bear in mind this is utterly fictional and all my own design... so historically figures and things may appear somewhat outta sink as I buy stuff I like! Mainly my FFL officer with a C96 Mauser who is too cool a figure not to have leading my FFL detachment!
I will move over the Tingting Police post so maybe an Admin could delete it and I will add all new pics to this thread.
Finally, thanks to all the guys at this forum who have posted pics. I may not post much here but you have all provided my fevered mind with lots of inspiration...
The following is taken from Professor Wilson Cartwright's "Travels and Tribulations in Tingtong"...
A History of Tingtong Province and the Cult of the Jade DragonsThe Chinese province of Tingtong has been linked with the Jade Dragon Cult since the cult came into being during the late 12th Century in the province. The province of Tingtong has always been a relatively rich province having good fertile farming lands and a seaport. The province also has two major rivers, the Ying and the Yang, that have always been used to transport goods around the province and to the port at Tingtong. For these reasons, the province has always enjoyed reasonable prosperity and its inhabitants have been spared the worst of famines and droughts. However for the same reason it has also been a prime target for invading forces.
It was during the Mongol invasions of the late 12th century, during the Song Dynasty, that the Jade Dragons first came into being. After having the province suffer at the hands of the Mongol invaders and their allies, the cult began to form in the rural north of the province, its sole aim being the destruction of the invader. The cult gained popularity quickly and began a brutal guerrilla war against the Mongol invaders. After a number of successful attacks, the cult came to the notice of Kublai Khan who ruthless suppressed it and its followers. The cult seemed to have been destroyed and was not seen again during the Mongol rule of China.
Even under Mongol rule, Tingtong continued to flourish, and this wealth may have been a reason for the lack of support for the cult. Indeed little was heard of the cult again till the mid-19th century when it again surfaced as the influx of Europeans grew. By the end of the 19th Century, a European governor under remit from the Emperor effectively ruled Tingtong city, and European traders and business flourished. While the urban Chinese in Tingtong benefited greatly from the European presence, those in the rural areas did not and as the gulf grew between the two, the cult resurfaced, again in the north of the province. This time they were opposed to European influence and control in the province and also against those Chinese who supported it.
In 1886 the first attacks occurred by cult members. During that year the attacks were limited against Chinese traders and merchants and their corpses were often found brutally mutilated and left on show as a warning to others. Despite the brutality of the attacks the Tingtong Police Force, comprised of Europeans, bolstered by native Chinese, did little to stop the attacks. This was a dangerous mistake. By 1889, the Jade Dragons had grown in strength and popularity and that year saw the first attacks on Europeans. In March 1889 the missionary family of the Reverend Frobisher, were slaughtered in their church in the north of the province. In the following months the attacks on Europeans grew closer and closer to the city of Tingtong. The Tingtong Police found it increasingly hard to apprehend cult members as they had the support of the rural population and seemed to almost vanish when pursued. In the winter of 1889 several attacks occurred in the city itself and on two occasions, Tingtong Police patrols were ambushed and massacred. By the end of the year the situation was reaching a critical stage as fear among the Europeans and the Chinese who had grown wealthy from them feared the worse as Jade Dragon attacks reached a crescendo around Christmas that year. On Christmas Day the Jade Dragons assassinated the Governor, Colonel Philip Harding, and killed his family and servants, leaving the mutilated corpses for the police to find.
This was the act that finally pushed the Europeans into strong action. As the Chinese Emperor refused to send troops to the province, the British at Hong Kong ordered Major Oswald Barclay to take command of the province and despatched him, along with the gunboat HMS Firefly, a detachment of Naval infantry and soldiers from the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry, to restore order in the province and eradicate the Jade Dragons. Despite this force, Barclay found it too small to do much than restore order in Tingtong itself and the province remained under cult control. For this reason, Barclay asked for further support, especially cavalry and more regular infantry, to allow him to conduct offensive sweeps of the countryside and begin a policy of extermination regarding the cult. Barclay also took it upon himself to approach the other European nations with interests in Tingtong and one of the first extra forces to arrive was a small detachment of the French Foreign Legion under the command of Lieutenant Rene Vallins. This unit would go on to make a desperate stand at the small post established to control the road to Tingtong city from the north of the province and defeat a much larger Jade Dragon force before being relieved by a British force.
As we visit the province it is one in much turmoil. Further British troops have yet to arrive, though they are on the way, and Barclay faces a difficult task in order to maintain order and to take the fight to the cult. Rumours persist that the Jade Dragons have infiltrated the Tingtong Police force and a number of European militias have been set up to protect warehouses and people and their property. The situation is on a knife-edge and a mass attack by the Jade Dragons looks likely before further troops arrive…
Jade Dragon Cult members march through the village of Guangxo
Jade Dragon Cultist from the 'Dragonmen' unit
Tingtong Port Police Detachment
The corpses of executed Jade Dragon cultists on the beach near Tingtong Port.jpg)
07 April 2009, 11:00:08 AM
