Shadow Empire - Terracotta Warrior Halberdier Unit

My first unit for my mythological Chinese/ undead Cathayan army for Dragon Rampant is done, a unit of terracotta warriors. A four point heavy Infantry unit with the 'Undead - No Feelings' rule. Lo-Pan's rank and file.

I'm really rather delighted with how quickly I was able to get these done. The fact they are mostly one colour helped quite a bit. I managed to pick up a large coffee table book on the tomb of the first emperor recently, which has as much reference photos as I could ever want. It did give me the idea to add some cavalry though, so expect some terracotta warriors riding bronze horses at some point. Hopefully I can source a war chariot too.

I plan on three units of the warriors ultimately, one with halberds, one with sword and shield and one with crossbows. The second unit, the swordsmen, is on the assembly table, I just need to procure some command figures, as sadly, John Jenkins no longer sells the terracotta warrior range. Renegade Miniatures warring states range looks like a likely source of models for replacement officers and such. A little conversion work and slight mutilation with the solder pen (wearing a mask) and they should be good to go.

So that's four points down, twenty to go.

New Gaming Magazine - The Golden D6

The Golden D6 is a new hobby fanzine that has been increasingly popping up around the gaming community grapevine. Curious, I took a look and was impressed at the level of hobby love crammed in there. Battle reports, gaming articles and showcases of lots of delicious miniatures fill the pages. (The evil 40k clown army in issue 4 being a favourite. A jokaero in a top hat is always a good thing.) It gives me the old White Dwarf vibe, it even has stories in. It's always nice to get a magazine looking at a wide variety of miniature lines and gaming systems, and the D6 collects a lot of goodness from around the industry and community so my lazy ass doesn't have to go looking for it. Definitely worth a look.

Issue 5 will have an article on my Frostgrave deadites, which is pretty cool. So if you fancy giving it a look you can click the old link here and away you go. If you use the link and buy an issue or subscription I'll get a tasty cut, which I'll spend on miniatures, which I'll paint, and then post here. The circle of life. Beautiful.

Shadow Empire - Terracotta Warrior Officer

This guy is the test model for a new force, my first army specifically for Dragon Rampant, the Shadow Empire of Lo Pan. He was a "shadow emperor" appointed by the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Lo Pan was put on the throne as an impersonator because the Emperor was afraid of being assassinated. However, Lo Pan tried to take over and was cursed by the Emperor to exist without flesh for 2,000 years until he could marry a girl with green eyes.

Lo Pan, of course, is most well known to me from the film 'Big Trouble in Little China', a magnificent pulp movie where Lo Pan attempts to finally escape his curse, but is thwarted by Jack Burton, truck driver. If you haven't seen this film, you really are missing out, and the rest of this post won't make a lick of sense.

Seen it? Great, read on.

My take on this army is based on Lo Pan not long after he was cursed by the emperor, maybe a few hundred years. He commands a variety of Chinese horrors, first and foremost of which are the terracotta warriors, which he has been able to steal from the emperor's tomb by virtue of the fact that he did sit on the throne himself, if only as an impersonator.These clay warriors are supported by jade mummies, hopping vampires, guardians (the weird ball monster from the movie) and other nasties. I'm hoping to include a Xing Tian, a headless giant. Lo-Pan's unit will have the sorcerer himself as well as his hairy, bestial servant, some demons and a so on. The three storms will operate as a unit on their own. If all goes well I might even try a terracotta warrior war chariot.

The officer here is painted as if he's been in the tomb several hundred years. By pure chance I picked a huge coffee table book published during the warriors exhibition in London a few years ago, which was packed with great photo reference. The bronze sword took a little work, but after conferring with a mate on the level of age to apply to the bronze I think it works, and provides a point of interest on a pretty monotone model. Many of the real warriors are mottled with different colours, so I may try that on some of the unit.

So there you go, the humble beginnings to what I'm hoping will be an interesting 24 point force for Dragon Rampant.