Available here:
http://khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/ma ... inese.html
Established by ambitious Manchurian (Jurchen) nomads in the seventeenth century, this was the last imperial Chinese dynasty. The great Manchu leader Nurhaci established the Eight Banner military system (largely made up on Manchus, Han Chinese and Mongols) and the Manchus used it to great effect starting in 1618, essentially conquering all of China by about 1644. (Some of you may recognise Nurhaci's name -- he was the chap in the vial in the beginning of Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom!)
The armies fielded by these Manchurian conquerors, more popularly called the Manchu, fielded an effective mix of armoured horse warriors (the Manchus themselves), Mongolian nomads who were unparalleled horse archers, and masses of Chinese infantry, the Green Standard troops.
The Green Standard Chinese troops fielded primarily archers armed with a composite bow, with the front ranks interspersed with men with spears or tridents. Accordingly, our infantry pack has 1/4 tridents and spears, and 3/4 bow.
Often supporting these units were men with huge muskets called jingals, so large they had to be mounted on a stand, and loaded by a separate crewman -- virtual light artillery.
Separate bodies of especially bold warriors were called Tiger Men -- so called because of their ferocity and, at least initially, because of the tiger faces painted on their shields. (Later they would actually wear tiger costumes.)
Whilst these bow-armed forces might seem anachronistic in an age of musketry, the seventeenth century Manchu Chinese were more than able to hold their own against musket armed enemies, as their contests with the Imperial Russians amply proved. Gamers fielding these men against pike and shot armies will find them surprisingly effective as they pour a hail of composite bow fire into the close ranks of the European foot, whose own weapons fire much more slowly!
Although this range was made to primarily represent the seventeenth century heights of power of the Manchu armies, students of the period will know that the Manchu remained quite similar in appearance until the late nineteenth century, and many of these models are very usable for hundreds of years of Chinese warfare.
Sculpted by Mike Broadbent, painted by Rafa Archiduque. Available now, as is everything else!
I'd use the mounted command for a foot BG and double base one stand with the 2 mounted figures and 2 foot, That way you get to spread out the spearmen figures more evenly, and the spare bowmen can be Green Standard skirmishers. You really need flags to make it look the part imo.To be honest I'm not that fussed about having the front rank all spear/trident armed anyway, since they were double armed so either speas/bow figure is accurate, comes down to aesthetics I suppose.
What I did was release enough models that gamers could field what I understand is quite an effective force in FoGR, and if I start getting bites I'd ask for input as to what else was needed, especially things that the gamers say are needed but not yet made, which I think may be the case with the artillery.
