Dracula's America - Shadow Empire Cultists

A weird one today. Three miniatures that went from being very low down the priority list to absolute must paint. Let me give you a little backstory.

Cheetor has been evangelising about Dracula's America: Shadow of the West for some time now. Set in 1875, Dracula is now president of the United States, and all manner of hell is breaking loose. Quite literally. It's essentially the weird wild West. So, what has this to do with the fellows above you might ask? Well, recently the first expansion, Hunting Grounds, was released, and in this is rules for the Shadow Dragon Tong, Chinese crime lords. This caused my ears to prick up.

I've been building a Chinese force for Dragon Rampant based on Big Trouble in Little China. The Arcanist from the Tong posse is literally the same model I'm using for LoPan. I had some Wing Kong gang members already. So these lads were, all of a sudden, bumped right to the front of the queue. I love that, when an unexpected game or whimsy causes long neglected minis to suddenly become rockstars that must be painted. For those of you who don't remember, the Wing Kong are these guys:

There was one more wrinkle though, our version of Dracula's America took place is the future. In space. So a little more thought was required. The cultists needed future tech. I considered LoPan coming across a trove of arcane weapons buried long ago by an advanced race. He might retro-engineer the technology to suit his purpose.

Or depending on the setting he could just be mates with an eldar trader with loose morals. In any case, here's the posse so far:

I have one more set of minis to add to the gang to complete it. You can see the little capsules on the cultist's belts? More eldar tech. It allows the wearer to control a wraith-machine with their mind. In ancient settings (like the Dragon Rampant army) this will be unfathomable arcane technology. In future settings like the Firefly-like one we are planning for Space Dracula's America, it'll be a remote control device that humans aren't really meant to use. Hence the unhealthy pallor of the Wing Kong cultists.

So what are they controlling? Well, to keep with the theme of the gang AND the theme of my Dragon Rampant army AND the Big Trouble in Little China thing I needed something pretty niche. But lo, the internet, it provides. High tech ancient Chinese robots? Here you go. What flavour sir?

I have three of these to do. This one is out of the box, bar some face-plate mangling. The others are getting some conversion work with dark eldar weaponry. Stay tuned for these shortly. I have a week to get them done in time for my first Dracula's America game.

Shadow Empire - Guardians Unit

Close on the heels of  my test guardian come the rest of the unit. From Macrocosm, these are awful fun things to paint. I'll be using these as a unit of scouts for Dragon Rampant. I have a healthy five units for the Shadow Empire now, with another three or four left to do.

I stuck to the same palette as the test model, which worked just dandy across the models. I particularly enjoyed painting the eyes, giving them bright blue eyes to give them some pop and tie them into other units. I added some gloss to each one, which really does the trick. I may come back and add a second scout unit in time, or a dead deflated guardian for an objective or casualty marker.

Now that the guardians are done I'm going to take a break from the Shadow Empire and head over to Khornetown to work on an AoS Skirmish warband. After that though, it'll be either vampires, the three storms or terracotta cavalry for the next addition to the army.

Lo Pan looks right at home with these lads. Right, that's my lot. May Ching Dai have mercy on you until next time.

Shadow Empire - Guardian

Here we have the test model for a unit of guardians for the Shadow Empire. He's from Macrocosm's range of Ball Monsters, which have a huge selection of gribbly balls. Big, small, even deflated, (and at the time of writing are on sale). There will be six, but for now there's just this fella. I'm taking the line that hundreds of years ago Lo Pan had a few more of these guys floating about than just Mr Lonely there below.

I took the scheme partly from the movie version, mostly for the darker extremities, but I changed the skin tone to make him more ruddy. The super-blue eyeball gives him a nice focal point. Painting faces is one of the most satisfying parts of painting a model, so this guy was quite pleasant to paint.

I added some veins and liver spots to break up the skin a little. With the liver spots, I found about a 70/30 water/paint mix was about right. Usually I want to avoid tide marks like crazy, but for this effect that's what I wanted.

Yeah. It's like something you'd be afraid to show the doctor, isn't it?

The rest of the guardians are a mix of Bruegel-like grotesques, one-eyed, two-eyed, pitted skin, boils and so on. More when they whole gang is done, but I'll leave you with a final shot for scale.

'A guardian. What it sees, Lo Pan knows.'

Shadow Empire - Lo Pan

It's been a while, almost 2 months in fact, but I have returned, and I bring with me the darkest magic.

The main man himself, Lo Pan, is now complete. I needed something groovy to drag my out of my hobby mire, and you don't get groovier than this guy. He's one of my all time favourite villains, so adding him to the collection is most gratifying. I've really enjoyed painting the vibrant Chinese robes on him and his Yaoguai, and they contrast very nicely with the terracotta warriors.

Lo Pan lays down a sick rap while his man bangs out heavy percussion. Or concussion.

I trawled the net for reference, and I took a rough palette from some of the images. I reduced down the decoration on the robes to just lining on the hem and sleeves, and boiling the rest down to a few main colour choices. Lo Pan flavoured rather than a direct attempt at his exact outfit. He loves his bling, does Dave Lo Pan.

Gonna magic you good.

I decided to give him glowing eyes, because it's cool. I'm keen to get him on the gaming table, as he's just so damn quotable. I'll be wary of any enemies with decent reflexes and good knives though. I think Lo Pan has spent enough time in the hell of those killed by idiots.

Lo Pan and his bros.

With Lo Pan finished, I'll be moving onto a unit of guardians. I reckon back in ancient times he had a few more in his service than just the one lonely dude floating about his lair. I may in time add some cultists so I can use him in a more modern setting. The three storms are in the queue as well.

Lo Pan and his loyal Yeren.

So, now I am returned from the wilderness I'll be lashing up more painty goodness soon. Rejoice!

Shadow Empire - Lo Pan's Yaoguai

The first miniatures of 2017 are finished. Three Yaoguai (demons) join the retinue of Lo Pan. The colour scheme is much brighter than I've been used to painting lately. I wanted them to look quite vibrant and for the saturation to make them seem slightly otherworldly. I added some silver into the highlights for the sash to make it look more like silk. Not too easy to see here, but the shine on the sash is pleasant when the miniatures are in hand. The robes got some heavy glazing treatment until they were extremely vibrant. The flesh then had to be fairly neutral so that there wouldn't be too many competing colours. The horns and hair followed suit. In the end I'm very happy with them, though I did see a wee chip on one of the demon's robes! (It's been repaired since.)

With these guys finished, I only have Lo Pan himself left to add to the unit and they are done. I have the next unit for the army already prepped and primed, a unit of six floating guardians.

The Shadow Empire - The Yeren

I initially had some trouble locating the main characters I wanted to use for the Shadow Empire. LoPan and the yeren were particularly bothersome. That was until I was made aware of 'The Demons' set from North Star Military Figures (thanks Colin!) for a Fistful of Kung Fu. This was a set that solved all my problems and gave me a few extras to boot. So armed, I could field some of the main villains from  Big Trouble in Little China.

Hey baby.

The Yeren always intrigued me in the movie. No explanation is ever offered as to why this hairy niutball is wandering around LoPan's hideout, he just kind of shows up and does his thing. He seems to be in thrall to LoPan though, so it makes sense to add him to the retinue.

The Yeren, or Chinese wild man, is a kind of demon/orangutan/gorilla/hobo combo. He's a curious wee fella with his sloth-like claws and too-wide mouth, and he adds some much needed colour to the army. I kept the colours pretty close to the movie character, though it took me a couple of attempts before I was happy with the face.

Check out his monkey buns.

That then gives me two of LoPan's retinue done with four more to go. Next up will be a triumvirate of demons, Ching Dai's enforcers. Before that though,  I'm taking a short detour for something Heroquesty and something a little seasonal.

The Shadow Empire - Liu Sheng, the Jade Prince

The first of LoPan's retinue is finished. Liu Sheng, the Jade Prince. 

Buried with his wife Dou Wan one hundred years after the first Emperor was interred in his tomb, he was awoken by LoPan to find tomb robbers had stolen Dou Wan's body. They would have taken him too no doubt, but the thieves warding stone failed them, and one of Sheng's tomb guardians awoke in time to scare off the looters before they could ransack the tomb further.

Something of a hedonist in life, Sheng's focus was sharpened by undeath. His suit ensured he was not bound fully to LoPan's will, and so Sheng resolved to find his lost wife and restore her to her rightful resting place, a quest he pursues relentlessly when not attending his new master.

I've had this guy for years. He's from John Jenkins Design, and has been OOP for some time. It's nice to finally get him painted up, it's a nice variation on the mummy theme. There isn't a terribly huge amount of reference around for jade mummies. There was enough to give me an idea of the kind of colour I wanted the jade to be though, quite pale, so that the individual tiles could be picked out. The pale jade suits (hah!) the undead vibe anyway. I chose a dark brown for the wrappings to give some contrast to the suits sections. There is a load of it around the back of the suit, as you'll see below.

I added a fair amount of targeted green glazes in the recesses, and finally painted the small amount of exposed flesh a dead grey with blue and purple washes.

I've been looking forward to painting this guy for some time, and I'm happy with the result. Next up, the beastly Yeren.

Shadow Empire - Terracotta Warriors Complete

After a lengthy delay, my final unit of terracotta warriors is done. The crossbowmen give the army a little ranged ability, and fit nicely with finds made in the warrior pits. The Chinese crossbow of the time was incredibly advanced, mass produced, simple and reliable, so it would be remiss to omit them from the army.

With this unit my clay painting technique has moved on again. I've stippled more colours over the basecoat before washing and drybrushing to give the impression of the remains of paint. The original warriors would have been very brightly coloured, gaudy even. I added some flowers to the bases to give them a little more colour. After some discussion with the Scale Creeps, I went back and added some to my other units too, the colour varying for each unit.

With the crossbowmen done, that give me three infantry units, the halberdiers, swordsmen and crossbowmen, the guts of the army. It was a bit of a slog near the end, but I'm delighted they are done, and I'm very happy with them.

Here they all are, emerging from a hidden tomb entrance at LoPan's foul bidding, ragged pennants blowing in the wind as they await their new master.

Speaking of their new master, then next unit up is LoPan's retinue, which consists of LoPan himself, a jade mummy, 3 Yaoguai (demons) and a Yeren (beast). After painting so much pottery, I'm dying to paint something colourful!

Shadow Empire - Terracotta Warrior Swordsmen Unit

Today sees the second unit of terracotta warriors for the Shadow Empire army finished. I had a little trouble finding command figures for this unit as I only had one set of the John Jenkins Designs command, and alas they are no longer available. After some searching I found an excellent source of Chinese Qin era miniatures at Renegade Miniatures in their Warring States range. I had previously sourced my Qin shields, halberds and swords from them (okay, the swords are Saxon, but nobody will notice, Shhh.) Not only do they have plenty of infantry and command figures, but also a good range of cavalry, so I guess those terracotta warriors riding bronze horses is going to be happening now.

On another note, Renegade's customer service is exemplary, they made sure I got exactly what I was after and then some, I can't recommend them highly enough.

Here's the Renegade command set below. There are a couple of officer models, the other one with the fabulous moustache will be leading the crossbowmen.

I particularly love the standard bearer. I made the standard from steel rod and a printed flag (repainted once attached and folded/torn) topped with a plastic skull for garnish.

The John Jenkins sculpts are a lot of fun, the definitely have a nice sense of humour to them. I love the guy on the left here who's using another warrior's arm as a weapon. His back is entirely caved in, as is the warrior's back on the right, who has given up his shield in favour of holding his torso together. They probably secretly hate Mr 'All in one piece' there in the middle.

So onto the crossbowmen. Once they are done, it'll be onto the non clay-based portions of the army such as LoPan's retinue and the vampires. I will be adding the aforementioned cavalry and a chariot to the terracotta contingent down the line as the army grows.

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.

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.