First batch of Tang troops done for ADLG

Some of the elements completed so far

Over the past few weeks I’ve been painting up some of the Outpost Tang Chinese figures I reviewed in the last post. So far, that’s all the melee infantry plus crossbow infantry for a planned 200 point list for L’Art de la Guerre. Still to go are cavalry, archers, and some Essex javelinmen as Tribal Auxiliaries, plus the camp and ambush markers.

Polearm/halberd infantry based as Heavy Infantry

The figures are nicely detailed and paint up well. First up are eight bases of infantry armed with polearms or halberds. For the Sui and Tang list, these will combine one base each with bowmen to serve as fubing, mixed infantry units which formed the core of the army. However, they also work as spearmen or polearm-armed heavy infantry for a Tang and Five Dynasties list. The figures themselves seem to be based on an illustration of a Sui infantryman in the distinctive double-breastplate corded armour, in CJ Peers’ Imperial Chinese Armies (2) 590-1260 AD, from Osprey, which I also used as inspiration for the colour scheme. The same scheme was used for the similarly-attired crossbowmen, based as two units of medium foot and two of light infantry. Basing once again used Geek Gaming Scenics’ base ready, here Taiga Hillside with a little Patchy Plains mixed in.

Crossbow-armed medium and light infantry

Finally, I completed two elements of polearm-armed medium infantry. CJ Peers suggests red was the general colour of uniforms in this era, so I followed that. The shields are based on another illustration from that book (albeit of a later Song-era soldier), plus designs illustrated on the very helpful website Dragon’s Armoury, and Great Ming Military which has a useful potted history of Chinese shields. I have no idea how plausible my designs are but they were fun to paint. I’ll post more as the army progresses, but for the next week it’s on hold while I finish some goblins for an upcoming Age of Sigmar tournament…

Medium infantry with polearms