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http://www.wargamesfactory.com/BookingRetrieve.aspx?ID=37853
Tony Reidy
Wargames Factory
http://www.wargamesfactory.com
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Ming Chinese
Go check out the forum discussion for Ming Chinese Armoured Cavalry for images of Ming soldiers including cavalry. Here's a Ming handgunner to whet your appetites:
Ming Dynasty rocket launcher/light cannon combination
Ming Dynasty rocket battery
An actor portraying Korean hero Admiral Yi Sun Shin. His armour style is heavily influenced by Ming Chinese types of protective gear.
Another image of Ming Dynasty armour from circa 16th century.
And another style of later Ming armour...
Ming Dynasty infantryman's anti-cavalry weapon! "Pudao" literally means "horse-sword," only it's meaning is that the weapon is used against a horse or its rider, rather than while sitting on one! >;D
I happen to own a battle-worthy reproduction of this intimidating piece of hardware... it is not to be trifled with! >;D
Assorted Chinese weapons used by the Ming and later dynasties.
For clarification, the two sets of most recently added Ming armour reconstructions are (upper image) wearing chainmail and (lower) a form of brigantine armour consisting of metal or leather plates riveted to a cloth sandwich with metal rivets.
There seems to be quite a variety of styles of Ming armour, so it stands to reason that supply was on a somewhat local level depending on regional resources and the base of knowledge of local artisans.
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Some new blood:
LOL!! I figured just about everyone had the Osprey book on medieval Chinese armies....
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Luo, any pictures of conscript (unarmored) infantry? I will be collecting some Old Glory and Grumpys 15mm Ming later this year.
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Some Ming infantry to liven this one up!
Guest,
do you have a copy of the Osprey volume covering Medieval Chinese Armies?
Amazon.com carries it, and there's an excellent colour plate of members of the "Mandarin Duck Squad" that were raised to fight the "wako" marauding along the Chinese coastline.
Hope this helps!
FYI: this is a suit of armour from a much earlier dynasty, probably the Sui IIRC. Not that I have anything against the earlier dynasties...
OK. This one got a bump thanks to the Pick of the Week. So let's try and resume some sort of interest in these historical opponents of Hideyoshi's vaunted samurai armies!
Lt's assume we can get four (4) 28mm scale figures done in an "heroic" style that will fit in with the best samurai and Koreans on the market in that scale, including Perry Brothers and such handy cheap 'n cheerful figures as Old Glory. With four figures, IMHO we should have three unarmoured and one partially armoured foot figures, and a variety of weapon options to allow the building up of appropriately large units found in Ming armies.
The three unarmoured figures should look like the standard bearer in this reconstruction:
One could be barefoot, or all should have the traditional Chinese soft shoes, and lower legs wrapped in simple cloth puttees. The headgear is not a helmet, but a felt hat with a dyed horsehair tassel. Contemporary artwork on display in the SF Bay Area IIRC depicts such troops in Korea during the Imjin War, as do other sources from the period. These would appear to be the bulk of the Ming footsoldiers.
The partially armoured footsoldier should IMHO look something like this fellow:
Note the simple helmet with cloth or leather neck protector, and simple padded cloth or leather "kidney protector" on his lower torso. The chest and back could be further protected by a simple studded cloth or brigantine armour worn layered under the "kidney protector:"
Headgear could be this plate-and-chainmail style protection, the soft felt hat of the bulk of the rank-and-file infantry, or the style seen on this elite Ming soldier:
Footwear should be the boots seen in this reconstruction, indicative of either a higher status infantryman, an officer, or a dismounted cavalryman (useful for siege operations as shock troops, etc.).
Several head options would be handy, mainly the tasseled felt hat but a couple of helmet types would not be out of place. Partially armoured Ming troops wearing the felt hats are depicted in artwork from the Imjin War period, and support this configuration.
Weapons should include enough spears for all four figures, a halberd or pudao, and sword and buckler, and a two-handed sword:
Space permitting, the hand-held rocket launcher box would be a splendid addition:
Space permitting, a four-barreled handgun such as seen here would take up little space, and would add some additional ranged firepower if the rocket box won't fit, and we need to have more conventional ranged weaponry such as a bow and quiver or crossbow, but want some good old-fashioned Chinese gunpowder weaponry to bring to the party:
And there you have it! The basic foundation for a massive and colourful army that took the field against the ferocious battle-hardened legions of Toyotomi Hideyoshi - and won more often than not! Samurai vs. samurai games are great fun and challenging indeed, with colourful armies only adding to the enjoyment. If the Ming Chinese are made available, IMHO gamers will have a new and historically accurate opponent for samurai armies that were very much in their own right formidable opponents indeed, not to be underestimated or underrated by any stretch of the imagination.
Man I am such a sucker for cool looking armor of any period, my pre-order has been placed and as long as these match up nicely in scale with the Samurai and Ashigaru kits then I will just have to buy a ton of them as well lol
Man I am such a sucker for cool looking armor of any period, my pre-order has been placed and as long as these match up nicely in scale with the Samurai and Ashigaru kits then I will just have to buy a ton of them as well lol
-oninotaki
Don't miss the Ming armoured cavalry!
And spread the word on these unknown-in-the-West troops who fought so well against the vaunted samurai of Toyotomi Hideyoshi!
