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.
Great piece. Where's the mini from?
ReplyDeleteIt's a John Jenkins Designs Terracotta warrior zombie, from the command pack. OOP now, sadly.
DeleteThe Shonen Knives sharpen their blades in anticipation.
ReplyDeleteAssuming that bladed weapons work on stone/ethereal opponents...
Correction: The Shonen Knives sharpen their minds in anticipation.
Thats better. Cant wait to see a horde of those guys.
The Knives will bend the knee before Lo Pan.
DeleteAny ah... any Shonen girls with green eyes about?
Should be a really interesting army. That's a great start: plenty of character for a (mostly) monochrome miniature.
ReplyDeleteThanks Preacher. I'm pretty excited to get into it I have to say.
DeleteDon't forget to make the dude with the massive basket on his head too :DDD
ReplyDeleteThe three storms are already on order, can't have Lo Pan without his main muscle!
DeleteThis is a refreshing as a centuries old clay guy can be really, It's cool to see something different and with your talent all over it, it will no doubt be a tremendous pleasure to see and fight against.
ReplyDeleteThank you kindly JB! As an army project it's bigger than most things I've been doing lately, but the mojo is really high to get into it.
DeleteOh please Drokk I hope this gets finished sooner rather then later!
ReplyDeleteI am sure you will get it finished as it's all in the wrist!
I hope so too! I'm going to do the three terracotta warrior units first, so with those and Lo Pan's unit I can actually start to play. Then I can add the hopping vampires, storms, guardians, chariot and xing tian to that base army.
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