From TomS: More 28mm Koreans, Japanese and Burmese! [History][Art][Sarah's Book Cart] (415 points)

It may have been a few weeks but hi again!

This week im posting my collective work since my last post, and its very delayed mostly down to to drive to want to paint more models rather than actually base up what I have (I've still got some painted but unbased ready for, hopefully next week). 

First things first, the rest of my Lion Rampant Korean army, if you remember my handgunners from the 18th of Jan, and to mark this occasion I thought I would claim those 20points for history as it, like my Japanese represent forces for the Mongol/Goryeo occupation of Tsushima in 1274. 

 

Nothing too special here just 12 Korean archers hoping to stay out of harms way on the table, Like my last post I decided to keep the colour palette the same across the whole army to give it a sense of disunited uniformity, and again some snowy/autumnal bases as the invasion was in November and I couldn't pass up some pretty/different bases. 

and keeping those archers safe we have some 'Hyup-Do' wielders which I'm led to believe means "Spear Sword" usually only 4ft long and seemingly used somewhat like a sword rather than the polearmy spear it may resemble (but shhh don't tell anyone I play against as I'm using the models for a spear unit)

The first of my two heavy cavalry units, is predominately armed with bows although they can still pack a punch in melee! Painting these I was mildly surprised how much fun I was having painting horses in 28mm, something that I utterly despise in my native 15mm. These sculpts from Perry Miniatures were very detailed on the musculature of the horse allowing a painters best friend, Washes, to highlight the depth of the model. 

The final unit for my Korean warband plus their General sporting a (I hope) pretty fan that we'll get to later. Now I'm sure youve spotted the fact that these guys are dual wielding swords on horseback! and while this was very uncommon, it does seem to be a practise that the Koreans used and even had a name Masang ssanggeom, like the Hyup-Do this comes from the Muyedobotongji a book on Korean swords and their techniques written in 1790 based on an early text known as the Muyesinbo.

This Picture illustrating the technique from the Muyedobotongji.

The General for this force is loosely based on one of the Korean commanders during the attack on Tsushima but due to lack of artwork that I could find on most of them I have decided not to claim any real famous person reference, instead focusing on his fan to try an emulate some of the beautiful decorative fans of the region that I would never be able to come close to properly copying! 

I used a green for the hand hold as I had already got a few light browns on the model and didn't want it to blend in with his arm guard. The artwork itself is trying to be cherry blossoms falling off a branch in the foreground and flowing in the wind, while some birds fly in the background, drawn obviously in the easy childhood fashion of a swooped v. It didn't come out perfect nor could I get a good enough photo of it but I blame that on the small surface area and it being covered in grooves! 

but yeah, that's the Koreans a project I had no idea I would start even in early to mid December but now in February the full force is based and painted!

We're somehow not done yet! next is the start of Japanese warband and also my bookcart to get me from room 2(which I will get onto later) to the room with art and literature!

10 female archers using warlord Onna-bugeisha models that I just adore and could not pass up painting! from the reading I have done these will be based on the Onna-musha common in the Sengoku era. Whilst my army is not in this era, I thought that it would make sense to theme my army based on the survivors/guerillesque forces left on tsushima to protect temples homes or villages before the Mongols and Koreans left some days or weeks after the invasion commenced. Each set of colours is meant to represent a family and i will hopefully try to mimic this in the small Samurai contingent of the warband to tie it all together, although ultimately they will all fall under the banner of the So Clan. 

And finally, gosh this has gone on for a while. A surprise entry even to me, a 28mm Burmese elephant for my WIP Nanzhao army purchased  by my Fiancee as an early valentines present, which I thought would make a lovely model for the romance section!

For historical context, I have not been able to find much at all linking the army of Nanzhao to having elephants, let alone the platformed ones of Burma. But due to the proximity of both states and historical nations love for mercenaries I have been harping on about this model for a good week or two which is why I would assume my Fiancee purchased it for me! Whilst not being massive in size, the side platforms allow this elephant to carry a whooping 8 archers as well as the Mahout allowing it to be used in a completely different way to how Elephants in wargamming are often viewed, massive killing machines, and more of a somewhat mobile but tanky archer unit.

I look forward in the coming weeks to hopefully finish off the Japanese and Nanzhao warbands and if there is time I may be able to sneak in my Tibetans as well! 

(Library so far, if I've done this right, I had already unlocked room 2, then used the book cart to pop into the art room)

So Points claimed:
12 28mm Cavalry - 120pts
34 28mm infantry - 170pts
1 28mm Elephant with 9 crew - 56pts (Im led to believe its 20pts for the elephant and 4pts for each crew?)

Romance, history, Book Cart and Art - 80pts  

so 426 overall! not too bad for 3 weeks of painting considering my target was 300pts :) 

TeemuL: Always difficult to predit the points target, especially for the first timers. Would you like to change your target in order to have some challenge for the rest of the Challenge? Your colourful basing really catches the eye and your artistic fan is a great emulation of the real thing in 28mm scale. I really am en elephant person and the one you received from you fiance is a great animal and nicely painted (and I counted it as a 28mm vehicle as done in the past and given full 5 points for each crew), but even though the miniature is a romantic gift, I am expecting a bit more for the location. I'm looking for something romantic in the miniatures itself, if you understand what I mean. The total points value is thus 415, a hefty amount still.