The Potentially Simmering Rivalry of Ping-Xi and Pong-Li

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"They're just the latest fashion. Everyone, and I mean everyone at the Imperial Court has taken a pair of Chinese bodyguards into their retinue. They're just the most adorable addition to the Castle. They're strong, totally unemotional and just completely uninterested in calligraphy or the tea ceremony. They just... stand there and....and stare at me, all day long.  I tell you, I feel completely safe with Ping-Xi and Pong-Li in my apartment."

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As part of Analogue Hobbies Painting Contest XV, I needed to paint up an entry under the title "Lust".  This being a family-focused Blog, I was unsure what to prepare. I did have a lovely pair of Games Workshop Chinese (or maybe Japanese) bodyguards based up and undercoated, and a Citadel female Samurai to accompany them. And, Ladies and Gentlemen, the attraction of figures undercoated and ready to paint won the day.

So here we have Ping-Xi and Pong-Li, experienced and no doubt well-travelled Chinese bodyguards brought to the Imperial Court of Japan by Lady Machiko. Ping-Xi, Pong-Li and Lady Machiko should be perfect for another frivolous game of "When the Last Sword is Drawn", my skirmish game of swordplay in medieval and Edō period Japan. Maybe they'll prove to be dedicated and selfless guardians of Lady Machiko's honour.

Or, just possibly, there might be something in the way that Ping-Xi and Pong-Li both look at Lady Machiko as she pours some tea from a beautiful pottery tea service? I always felt there was bound to be some kind of romance lurking with two bodyguards and an attractive female noblewoman. One wonders if Ping-Xi or Pong-Li, or maybe both, have fallen for the unusual allure of Lady Machiko's blackened teeth?

I also added a 3D-printed large Japanese-style tree to the submission. There was no reason for this, other than it gave me a setting for this post, as well as another new tree for a gaming scenario. And, of course, it allowed me to take some ABBA-style "Knowing Me, Knowing You" photos of Ping-Xi and Pong-Li in front of the tree, looking in different directions before they slaughter each other in a deadly context for Lady Machiko's hand.

The figures for Ping-Xi and Pong-Li are about forty years old, being from the "Oriental Heroes" range originally created to accompany the AD&D "Oriental Adventures" supplement published in 1984. They've spent the years since 1984 in bubble-wrap until I finally painted them. The metal studs on the leather armour of Ping-Xi and Pong-Li were horrifying to paint. All of 58 tiny studs on each of the figures. Good job Lady Machiko did not employ a whole regiment in studded leather armour.

I think the sculptor may have been Aly Morrison.  How Aly sculpted the studs on the leather armour is probably a secret known only to the Sculpting Gods!

I did remember to paint one base with black edging, and the other in brown edging. Otherwise, Ping-Xi and Pong-Li might get mixed up. I hope Lady Machiko can tell them apart. Or, maybe, its more entertaining if she can't.

And finally, as this is me, here's two more ludicrously self-indulgent character cards to add to our "When the Last Sword is Drawn" card collection.  And yes, they are different figures in the Characters' photographs. At least I think they are...!

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The Limbo of Sorcery: An entry for Challenge XV

Shinkurō, the former ronin, had never heard of "toad magic" until the moment that Lord Ghoda mentioned it. The ancient sorcery that Lord Ghoda claimed he had been studying sounded to Shinkurō like the ramblings of a drunk, at best. Or the ravings of a mad man at worst.

Sorcery and spells to turn a magician into a toad, and to enable to the spell-caster to weave magic and enchantments? It sounded almost heretical to voice the thoughts in his own head, Shinkurō warned himself. What nonsense!

But then, the demon had appeared. A powerful Dai-Oni, armed with a huge war-mallet, javelins and a famous sword stolen many decades before from Lord Ghoda’s grandfather. Against such an adversary, both Shinkurō and his new Lord would be helpless. It was just a matter of time before the demon would overwhelm them both.

At least it had all seemed gloomily inevitable until the moment that the magic transformation which had been promised by Lord Ghoda, actually worked.

It was beyond Shinkurō's belief, but.....it was happening before his eyes. Lord Ghoda’s webbed feet were starting to cast the spell to banish their adversary.

Shinkurō just hoped that the incantation didn’t require fingers.

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Happy New Year, everyone!

Over the last few years, I've taken part in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge, a global community painting-a-thon over the winter months.  This year is Challenge XV, and along with the other challengers I'm looking forward to three months of frantic painting and blog posting.  

The last couple of Challenges, I've added some figures to my Japanese figures for my game of "When the Last Sword is Drawn", and to get me started, I added a couple more.  

The figures were a lot of fun to do. The demon and rōnin are both Dixon Miniatures sculpts by Mark Copplestone. They’re quite venerable, being first produced in 1984, although I bought them both earlier this year. The gigantic toad is from Crooked Dice, one of a couple of large specimens I purchased last year and hadn’t yet used.

I added some of the GW “Barbed Bracken” to the base of Shinkurō. I admit the spikey leaves do look, if you're a fan of manga, a lot more “Wicked City”, rather than strict Edō-period Japan. But I’ve enjoyed using these plants on various terrain bases, and hopefully I can use more of them as the Challenge progresses.

The bracken painted up very well, even though they are quite “flexible” (a.k.a. “bendy). I coated the plastic with PVA-glue beforehand, to add a little stability. But so far, in the games we have played with terrain and bases featuring barded-bracken, the paint hasn’t flaked off the razor-sharp thorns. A minor miracle worthy of Lord Ghoda himself (in toad-form).

I painted the submission as my entry for "Limbo". How else can one describe an indefinite transition to gigantic toad-form? Knowing this is Limbo also allows me to add a totally indulgent in-game character card for Lord Ghoda in his mythical-Japanese fauna-form, with two slightly more sensible cards for Shinkurō and the demon. If, of course, one can ever claim anything to do with demons is ever sensible or simple.

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Akiyama Tomoyuki Faces His Demons

 

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There were three of them.  No.  There were more - four bakemono, and then two larger forms, lumbering through the heavy snowstorm.  Huge demonic ogres - Oni - one with a huge sword and the other with a pair of war mallets.

“There…. There they are. There’s six more!”  Tomoyuki’s shout in the gale of the snowstorm was urgent and loud.  “Give me more arrows”.  Even so, the fierce wind stripped away his voice into the void.  Tomoyuki’s retainer, Juzo, passed his master another sheaf of needle-pointed arrows: “That’s all we have left, Master”.

Tomoyuki looked at the eight arrows in the sheaf.  Make every one count, Tomoyuki told himself, notching the first of the black arrows, pulling the bowstring back and focusing on one of the large demonic Oni thrashing forward in the snow.  

Behind him was the howl of the kitsune which had followed him and Juzo to the temple earlier in the day.  If only he had offered another prayer earlier, he might have been able to persuade the kitsune to help him in the moment of battle.  But it was probably too late now.

The arrow was loosed into the storm, but the wind took it wide of the leading Oni.  Tomoyuki took another arrow from the sheaf, and finally whispered another sutra. Perhaps the kitsune would hear his prayers this time…?

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Over the course of the winter, I've been adding a few more figures inspired by Japanese history and folklore to my collection for "When the Last Sword is Drawn" (or "Bonsai Bonkers" if you prefer).  This is the game we've been working on for a year and a half, focused on skirmishes in medieval and Edo-period Japan.  

These figures are a little way off the historical track.  There’s a selection of Dixon Miniatures bakemono and oni…. Japanese goblins and demons from the "Legends of Nippon" range.  They’re lovely figures, sculpted by Mark Copplestone in the 1980s.  Gosh, yes, they are that old, but I feel they still stand the passing of years very well as sculpts.  

The samurai is from the same vintage era of Japanese wargaming, being originally a Games Workshop archer sculpted by Aly Morrison in 1984.  I do love those older GW sculpts from the 'Oriental Heroes' range, turning back the years with their style and posing taken from Japanese Ukiyo-e era wood-block prints.  

The retainer is from the Perry Miniatures’ range of Sengoku era figures, in the Civilian’s box.  The kitsune is a Warbases fox. I removed her tail with a scalpel, and added two new (slightly bushier) ones from green-stuff.  Kitsune’s can have up to nine-tails - the more tails indicate the greater powers that the fox-spirit has.  Just two here, but enough to weave a little magical stardust into the skirmish.

The main thing I was trying out with these figures was Citadel contrast paints and shade paints on the bakemono and oni. My great friend, Curt Campbell, persuaded me to give these paints a try last year, but I didn’t get around to it until last month.  The contrast paints were used on a white base, and supplemented by GW inks (shades).  They certainly look vibrant on the (demonic) flesh, but I wasn’t quite sure I was getting the effect just right with the flow of paints into the creases of flesh. I’d love to experiment a bit more with these paints during the course of this year.  Above all, I just thought they were fun, and something which looked very different from green or brown goblins or ogres which I’ve done before. 

The samurai and his retainer and the kitsune were painted a little more conventionally.  Over the years, I’ve had this silly obsession with bowstrings.  I’ve no idea how I picked that up, but when I see a bow on a figure, I feel I have to string it, as in this case with thin wire.  I use my figures at the local wargames club and for participation games at wargames days and shows, so I wanted something more robust than just fishing thread.  Its fiddly to string the bow in this way, but hopefully worthwhile.

Finally, there are some scenic items to be scattered over the snowy temple of the game.  The terrain items are mainly 3D prints of trees, a smaller shrine, a miniature Buddha and a temple lantern.  These are really here to help set the theme, and to give the combatants something to fight around and fall over or bump into at the least convenient times.   I made the tiny dōsojin stone shrines with green stuff, carving the tiny stone kami (spirits) on the shrine stones with a nautical theme - hopefully the whale and octopus are just about visible.  They were fun to do, and hopefully add that little bit of Japanese ‘feel’ to the tabletop.

I’ve also added a few of my ludicrously indulgent character cards for “When the Last Sword is Drawn”, featuring these figures.  Here's the one for Akiyama Tomoyuki:

More from the snowy mountain fastnesses of fantasy Honshu soon, dear friends.  

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Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge IX

It is, dear friends, that time of year again. The nights in the Northern Hemisphere draw in, the weather gets colder, leaves fall from the trees… 

And from all corners and parts of our planet can be heard the varied sounds of metal being filed and sanded, flash being carved from 28mm miniature figures and paintbrushes applying Humbrol matt enamel undercoat, as participants prepare for the annual Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge.

This year will be the ninth such Challenge, and my seventh (if I am counting correctly). It is one of my favourite hobby events of the year, as wargamers around the globe have fun painting miniature figures over the winter months when the weather is chilly and unwelcoming – or sit in shorts and tshirts in wonderful places like Australia and New Zealand and wonder if their airbrushes can work in the heat.

This year, I’ve gone for an ambitious target of 850 points. I made it to 1,272 points last year – but that was a special kind of Challenge for me as regards painting. Let’s see if I get off the starting grid before getting too excited for Challenge IX.

And before I say much more, three cheers for Curt (the organiser of the Challenge), Sarah (his wonderful and long-suffering wife), and all the Challengers past and present (and their partners and loved ones) who make the Challenge such a special event.

It’s possibly not giving too much away to reveal that, with the Flemish and Spanish forces for Laarden 1688 almost finished, its time for me to paint their adversaries, in the shape of the armies of The Sun King, Louis le Grand.

For those not bored enough to have clicked away from this page (thank you, patient friends), we will have a new, French, guide to the impending campaigns swirling around Laarden in 1688. I am very sure that you will be in the best of velvet-gloved hands in the company of the Marquis de Montchevreuil, the epitome of a courtier-soldier from the salons of Versailles.

Devotees of Don Fernando de Torrescusa, Marquess de Girona, Envoy of His Most Catholic Majesty, Carlos the Second, King of Spain should not be downhearted however. Don Fernando will certainly still be featuring on the blog through the winter months, along with his somewhat picaresque companion, the Flemish cavalier, Antoine de Gautier.

So, here are possibly some clues to things which might be happening here, on Roundwood’s World, in the next four months.

I hope you can join me for at least some of the fun.  

But now, as they say, 'every journey starts with a first prep'.  There's metal to be filed, and sanded, and undercoated... 

The Laarden contingent at Breitenfeld, 1632

In addition to the old books and ledgers of accounts in Monsieur Monquisard’s bookshop on Hertogstraat in Ghent, close by the north bank of the River Leie, there is a dark leather portmanteau in one of the locked cabinets at the rear of the shop. Within the case is a collection of foxed and aged letters, plans, maps and papers, bound together with a faded blue ribbon. 

It is a singular collection of papers, some damaged, others worn and fragile and nearly all written in a near-illegible archaic Spanish, Flemish and German script. The portmanteau (and its contents) has been unsold for several years, but can be inspected today, along with other more familiar works in the bookshop such as the "History of The City of Laarden” (in Flemish) and the full five volume history of the 1688 Spanish expedition to Laarden (in Old Catalan). 

If you were interested in opening the portmanteau, untying the ribbon surrounding the papers, and wanted to read the letters (after brushing the dust and cobwebs from them), you might conclude that they have some curiosity value. You might well be able to negotiate a good price for the collection, although Monsieur Monquisard drives a hard bargain, and in my experience would be most reluctant to merely sell individual letters. 

It would take some time to work through the papers and letters in order but, if you did so, your eye might be drawn to the following letter dated the 28th February 1689.

Letters from the Marquess de Girona, Envoy of His Most Catholic Majesty, Carlos the Second, King of Spain, to the Flemish Free City of Laarden in 1688 are, I admit, somewhat of an eclectic item. 

However, considering the history of the Spanish expedition to Laarden, and the previously little-known history of the Laarden contingent on the field of Breitenfeld in 1632, such correspondence might well have some value in the hands of a discerning collector.

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I painted these diminutive 2mm brigades in this winter's Analogue Hobbies Challenge, as my "Curtgeld".  Only one of the brigades was finished by March, 20th (the closing date of the Challenge).  I finished the second brigade a few weeks ago, and added some standards.  

I now understand from their new owner, Mr Curt Campbell of Regina, Canada, that they have safely made the journey to Saskatchewan, together with the original letter (which Monsieur Monquisard was clearly persuaded to sell).  Curt will, no doubt, be adding some of his splendid autumnal themed basing to the dusty German soil on which the brigades have formed, ready to receive the Lion of the North.

More 2mm stuff to come, and with a Spanish theme, as regards figures and terrain.  (Apologies for not having finished what I'm working on in time for this week's blog post).

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Les chevaliers de Versailles, le champ de Mars, March, 1689

From the journal of Don Fernando de Torrescusa, Marquess de Girona, Envoy of His Most Catholic Majesty, Carlos the Second, King of Spain, to the Flemish Free City of Laarden in 1688. 

I could tell something was wrong immediately.

Over my months in the Free City of Laarden , Antoine de Gautier had been my near constant companion and commentator. No comment intended to praise his Flemish home, and slyly cast unfavourable comparisons on His Majesty’s Spanish Domains, had been missed. No opportunity had been neglected by him to introduce me to the frothy, childish, swaggering world of a Flemish aristocrat with more time and money than good sense would suggest is wise to grant to a young man of his age. And at no time had the grounds of good taste and discretion been evident in his personal tailoring as, day after day, he promenaded across the Grote Markt in my company, proudly inspecting the troops parading daily in Laarden's civic heart, dressed in a hundred shades of yellow and gold, his favourite colours.

So, when de Gautier’s excitable commentary of the deployment of the French enemy forces in the field before us came to an abrupt end in a very uncharacteristic silence, I immediately knew there was a problem.

At first, my instinct was to think there was actually a real problem. A swift outflanking manoeuvre by French hussars, or the deployment of the feared Gendamerie de France, perhaps?  But after a moment, my panic subsided. This was Antoine de Gautier, Flemish cavalier, bravo and fop. No, I reassured myself, the problem was bound to be more intimate, more ... personal.

I glanced at him, moving my spyglass a fraction away from my eye, and followed his line of sight. The root of his concern, etched into his fashionably pale and rouge-tinted appearance, was not hard to identify.

Our Enemy's line was barely a quarter of a league away from our foremost battalions. Standing just a few yards in advance of the Regiment de Nettancourt were two gentlemen of the Court of Versailles. Their coats of pink and purple glowed incandescently in the fog-drenched morning gloom, the monstrous splash of vivid colour matched only by the shock of blossoming pantaloons and stockings of opalescent grey and lapis lazuli. They appeared to be discussing the field of battle, hands circling in endless circles of vacuous pleasantries, doubtless arguing over the order of precedence for the attack. Immensely long wigs of coiffured hair wobbled precariously on their heads as their discussion continued, oblivious to the ranks of drab-dressed veterans waiting in the regiment behind them.  One of the chevaliers tiptoed around the field, perhaps tortured by the tightness of his impractical footwear, or merely carefully dancing around any patch of the muddy ground endangering the purple puff-balls stitched modishly to his shoes.

I was unable to resist a smile, calculating that the two French peacocks were likely to be the only two noblemen on the Field of Mars surpassing de Gautier in the exuberance and sheer idiocy of their clothing. My companion was visibly wounded, upset and distressed by this common realisation.

I waited longer then I should have done to speak to him. Everyone needs their wilder dreams dented a little, and no doubt the sight of the two French chevaliers had been a sobering experience for the young Flemish cavalier. 

"Don't worry, my Lord", I commented, trying hard to keep any tone of conspiratorial collaboration from my voice. 

"Just think of what wonderful plunder there might be in the Enemy's baggage train. They say some of the gentlemen from Versailles travel with a significant wardrobe. I mean, who on earth would wish to attend a field of battle with only a single set of riding clothes?"

And in return I was granted that most rare gift from my Flemish companion - a smile of genuine warmth.

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The final 'themed round' in the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge 2018 was the theme of "Monstrous".  I was rather stumped for anything really 'monstrous' from the 17th Century which I could build and paint off this themed round.  I'd sibmitted hussars and Croatian light horse on previous themed rounds, and I was a little reluctant to change track too much from a focus on the late 17th Century battlefield.  

I did, for a while, think about trying to create one of my favourite characters from the 1690s, and English supernaturalist, alchemist and military field commander by the name of Goodwin Wharton, but even Sir Goodwin's faery obsessed, treasure seeking expeditions in the Inner Hebridies didn't really conjure up the ideas of a 'monstrosity'.

However, a look through some of the fashion from the Court of Versailles gave me the idea for some very monstrous clothing which could be brought to bear on the enemies of the Sun King in 1688 Flanders.

The figures are a mix of Dixons (the nobleman in purple), Old Glory (the nobleman in pink) and Foundry (the rather dour matchlock armed fantassin, who I painted rolling his eyes at the nonsense unfurling before him.

I added extra green-stuff wigs, orders of chivalry on chains, puff-ball shoes and other idiocies to the Chevaliers, but not the veteran. I tried to keep the veteran very plain, so there's not much shading or highlighting. With the French Chevaliers, however, I used a white undercoat to make the colours glow a bit more, and added a purple base to Vallejo Flesh for that oh-so-fashionable pallor!

As I draw towards the end of painting the Flemish, Spanish and Imperial forces for 1688 (ideally by the end of May 2018), my next painting task is to focus on the forces of the Sun King.  I'm very excited by this opportunity, and it might well be that the white undercoat and purple face basecoat will be seen again, if only among the most refined echelons of the French commanders of Louis le Grand!