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 Joy of Bad Footwork: creating Off-Balance markers

“In the carriage of the feet, you should float your toenails in a little and step strongly with your heels. In the use of the feet, you should walk as usual, whether the case calls for large, small, quick, or slow strides. Feet that seem to fly, float or be immobile are, all three, undesirable”.

Miyamoto Musashi “The Book of Five Rings”: The Water Chapter

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Good footwork is one of the key elements of fine swordplay. And bad footwork is something which can be introduced into a miniature wargame of sword-fighting to try and add to the fun.

In both “When the Last Sword is Drawn”, and the Three Musketeers-inspired companion ruleset “With Flashing Blades”, one of the consequences of combat can be a miniature figure becoming off-balance.

Initially, I used to mark the off-balance status on the tabletop. But with a small playing area in these games, this became unwieldy.  I then moved to marking the character card of the miniature figure which has become off-balance.  I added a place on each card which could be covered with an off-balance marker.  

As being off-balance is a circumstance which is temporary, the off-balance markers could be added, and removed, as the game progresses.

I had a lot of fun making the off-balance markers for both games. Of course, I didn’t need to make any markers at all - a simple counter would have sufficed to place onto a character's card. But part of the pleasure in creating a smaller foot-printed game is that the time saved on not needing to paint lots of figures can pay dividends elsewhere.

I hoped that smaller 20mm MDF bases, of 2mm depth, would be enough to allow some modelling opportunities. I had a number of spare metal swords, scabbards, tessen (a Japanese armoured metal fan), and fallen sashimono banners to get me started. To those items I added small dōsojin stone shrines made from green-stuff, tiny geta wooden sandals (which are quite clumsy and look a bit like wooden flip-flops), small 3D printed bonsai trees, a 3D printed Buddha, and some Zen-like towers of prayer stones made from modelling putty.

Over the past couple of years, I’ve created a “summer set” and a snow-bound “winter set”, with the same items.  Two sets were not necessary, but were certainly fun to do.

I felt that the extra work in creating these items help spread the fun from the playing board and onto the wider table.  The entertainment around the table in awarding a character a set of clumsy wooden sandals when that character becomes off-balance is more than worth the additional effort.

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"...tennis balls, my liege..." : Le Grand Dauphin's Campaign against Laarden, 1688

KING HENRY : What treasure, uncle? 

EXETER : Tennis-balls, my liege. 

KING HENRY : We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;

King Henry V, Act 1, Scene 2

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One of the things I’ve enjoyed in this strange year of lockdowns and home-working has been finishing off half-completed figures, and half-baked ideas. Saving time on a long commute has allowed me to work on some things that I never could have hoped to have painted, otherwise.

One of these was a suitably frivolous, and thoroughly French,  figure of Le Grand Dauphin - the eldest son of Louis XIV of France. A flick-through of the pages of French history books will come up fairly blank when it comes to Le Grand Dauphin’s achievements. A quiet, subdued man, he seems to have been over-awed by his remarkable father, and several dominating tutors. But that just serves to provide a perfect blank canvas for the alt-historical Dauphin of France, a character who I was hoping to create for my fictional campaign for the Free Flemish city of Laarden in 1688.

I wanted to model a command stand which was a little bit different for the Dauphin.  Something which was very French, slightly whimsical and which echoed the unpleasantly sarcastic and arrogant Dauphin of Shakespeare's Henry V, as opposed to the placid historical heir to the French throne.  One of the great scenes from the play is when the Dauphin sends the young King Henry a set of tennis balls as a coronation gift, suggesting Prince Hal's mis-spent youth.  Which, naturally enough, gave me the idea of try and represent the Dauphin as a waspish, vain, and pampered tennis-playing prince, complete with a sycophantic courtier.  

I know, I know, total and complete nonsense to float our late seventeeth century boats, Dear Readers! 

Modelling the figures - essentially non-combatants - is a bit of a challenge in 28mm.  I used a very versatile Dixon Miniatures officer for the Dauphin, and a Wargames Foundry civilian for the vacuous courtier.  I converted them with the addition of green-stuff lace, elaborate wigs and some Hasslefree tennis racquets, which I 'strung' with some 1/1200th naval ratlines!  

The tennis balls were created with green-stuff and dropped around the scene.  No doubt, many were lost as a result of the Dauphin's questionable tennis skills.  I also made a suitably-baroque bucket to fill with champagne bottles, and added a few goblets by the set of playing cards and the gold Louis d'Or wager on the surface of the drum.

I also added a scratch-built plinth for a bronze cherub from Wargames Foundry, adding a tiny bit of verdigris to the painting.  I'm sure all French (and, maybe, Flemish) chateaus had such classical statues located in their formal gardens in the late seventeenth century.  Hmmm... well, they do in my campaigns, anyway.

I finished the base with some tufts and some autumn-themed leaf scatter.  Maybe a sign of the forthcoming autumn of the royal House of Bourbon in the Laarden campaign, perhaps...?  Ah, that would be unlikely, but who know what the fates have in store for the French armies of the Dauphin and his father, Louis XIV?

I also added the Dauphin's favourite Dalmatian, sniffing at a stray tennis ball.  I had fun finding that Dalmatians as a breed were popular in the seventeenth century among the noble classes.

And finally, in the ultimate act of historical sacrilege, I created the first of a new series of Laarden Character cards for the Dauphin.  And why not - 2020 has been a challenging year for all of us.  What the world clearly needs is a very self-indulgent, history-distorting set of character cards for the "Enemies and Adversaries of Laarden, 1688".  Of which I'll play the Dauphin's card as being the first of the "Enemies" suite of thirteen.  

Stay tuned for more "Enemies and Adversaries" soon, and collect the others in the pack, Ladies and Gentlemen!  And here's a reminder of the first thirteen in the playing card deck...

A Bumper Apple Harvest

I like tinkering around with bits of terrain and scenery.  I always think this is most fun when the items being tinkered with are things you've had hanging around for a while - maybe they're even items you've been using in games and which need to be freshened up a little bit.  I've been meaning to try and produce a couple of apple trees in 28mm for some time, and the two small trees I had earmarked for the job (very nicely produced by The Last Valley) have been sitting on a shelf forlornly for at least two years.

One of the things about the current world isolation and lockdown is having the chance to pick up some of the projects we might have placed on the back-burner for some time.  I therefore "painted" the trees with very-slightly diluted PVA glue, which really made the trees a lot more solid, added them to a base (from Warbases), did the groundwork, and then started to produce the "apples" from green-stuff.

Errr..... yes, dear readers, I made the apples from green-stuff.  It's not as mad as it seems.  (OK, well, it is a little bit mad, but please - don't give up yet).  Here's some apples - Bramleys - from the trees in my garden last autumn.  Some big, some small, a great many are misshapen, and the colours are definitely non-uniform.  

So, in other words, they're perfect to be re-created in green-stuff.  They didn't take long to produce - I did about 50.  Put on iPlayer, Netflix or a DVD (I chose the very good "Richard II" in "The Hollow Crown" series) and the time flies.

Then, when the apples have set, superglue them to the branches.  I also did a few windfalls on the ground and also added a couple of green-stuff eggs for some chickens I had painted recently.  The eggs are a bit large - as some posters on Twitter correctly noted - but hey, it was Easter and that's the time for all sorts of miracles.

When the apples are securely glued on, they're easy to paint with a base of light-ish green (Vallejo Lime Green), and a glaze of red (Vallejo Red and Dark Vermillion).  I'm enjoying using the Vallejo Glaze Medium - just take Vallejo Red (or Dark Vermillion for some variety), and dilute with the Vallejo glaze medium, and the result is a (hopefully) realistic tone for the apples both on the tree and collected in the apple barrels.  The eggs got painted a shade of peachy-ivory.  (And a big shout out and thank you to Nick - Moiterei - for suggesting the Vallejo Glaze Medium on the comments on this Blog some months back!)

And that was it.  Hopefully allowing battles to take place in an orchard, and for the Flemish apple harvest to be looted for years to come!

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The Regiment of Horse of the Duc de Luxembourg, 1688

“Never allow them to move unthreatened. Always watch their lines of approach. Deny them a direct line to the flanks of your foot, My Lord.  Force them to stand.  Place them under fire at every opportunity if at all possible.  Above all, never lose your sight of their location in the Field. The regiments of Horse of the Sun King are the thin, sharp knife of His army and, unchecked, will cause the shipwreck of all our hopes.”

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.

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This has, dear readers and friends, turned out to be an unusual year.  I’ve not blogged here as much as I thought I would have done.  It’s time to redress that omission, with some of the things I’ve been painting and doing during the first quarter of 2020.

So, here is the French regiment of Horse, from 1688 of the Duc de Luxembourg. I first blogged these in February as part of the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge X – and yes, given the events of this year, that does seem a long time ago!  The details of the uniforms are taken from Robert Hall’s book on the armies of the Sun King: "Standards and Uniforms of the French Cavalry Under Louis XIV, 1688-1714" (published by “The Pike & Shot Society”).   The extract from the journal of Don Fernando de Torrescusa, Marquess de Girona, is (of course) fictional - but does go some way to reflect how nervous his historical contemporaries may have felt when the French horse took the field in number.

The figures are 28mm from the older Wargames Foundry range - this is not quite a venerable range of figures, having first come out in 1989, but with a little bit of care I still feel they can still look very fine on the table. They are perhaps more “big 25mm” than "true 28mm", and are a perfect match for Perry Miniatures and 1st Corps and Old Glory figures. They also fit very well with 28mm miniatures from The Assault Group, although the TAG horses are a little larger than the Foundry ones. They each come with a couple of arms so you can chose the pose of the arm, hand and sword. This adds a nice flexibility to the figure but does require a little fiddling with. 

I swapped out the Officer’s arm for a sword - which is more martial than his original hand which seemed to be completing a ducal wave. I also changed a couple of horses around from the ones supplied.  As with other French figures I've been painting, I added liberal amounts of green-stuff for feathers, knots of ribbons on shoulders, cravats and some extra hat lace. The French troops were known (like earlier Spanish Tercios) to be fancifully equipped with such non-martial additions to their uniform.

No doubt this was to help distinguish regiments of different combatants, or maybe to engender pride in a unit formation. Whatever the reason, I think it looks fun. And, also, there is a certain black amusement in being confronted by a six foot angry French cavalier on a ferocious horse charging at you while being festooned in more ribbons, bows and spectacular Pom-Poms than would be stitched onto any Texan cheerleader’s costume.

The standard finial is from Bicorne and the very fine flag is from GMB Designs.

I undercoated all the figures in Halfords 'car primer' - sprayed on in a couple of smooth actions.  I have no idea why I had such problems with the spray priming about a year ago.  These (and other) figures which I primed over Christmas and New Year seemed to prime very easily.

The paints I used were Vallejo, with the grey coats on the figures being painted with a base of Vallejo VMC Light Grey and washed with a mix of Vallejo inks (Grey mixed with Umber and diluted with some Vallejo Glaze Medium).  I tried to keep the horses as simple as possible.  I feel I have some work to do in that regard, particularly on the chestnut/roan horses.  I might experiment later during this year with horses which are much more basic, ideally to make the mounted figures’ uniforms “pop” a bit more.  I’ll let you know how that works out.

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