The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 19: New Officer for Imperial Chinese Krupp Mountain Gun

 When I first started planning my Imperial Chinese force for The Men Who Would be Kings, I purchased my artillery crew from Wargames Foundry before I purchased a field piece. Initially I painted an anachronistic command figure and gave the figure a linstock from the sprues accessory.

Of course I then purchased a Krupp mountain gun Model 1895 from Askari which is a breechloader - no linstock needed! I had some extra artillery crew and I added a tulwar from the Perry Miniatures Afghan Tribesman hard plastic box and Ta Dah! An instant Artillery lieutenant for the Tenacious Army.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 18: Kansu Braves from Crusader Miniatures

Kansu Braves from Crusader Miniatures

Huzzah! My third infantry unit is complete for my Imperial Chinese Field Force for The Men Who Would be Kings. I had earlier completed the Command pack for this unit and now I have finished it with two packs of BKB001 - Kansu Braves with Rifles.

The Gansu Braves or Gansu Army was a combined army division of 10,000 Chinese Muslim troops from the northwestern province of Kansu (Gansu) in the last decades of the Qing dynasty (1644–1912). Loyal to the Qing, the Braves were recruited in 1895 to suppress a Muslim revolt in Gansu. Under the command of General Dong Fuxiang (1839–1908), they were transferred to the Beijing metropolitan area in 1898, where they officially became the Rear Division of the Wuwei Corps, a modern army that protected the imperial capital. The Gansu Army included Hui Muslims, Salar Muslims and  Dongxiang Muslims, and Bonan Muslims.

General Dong Fuxiang.

The Braves, who wore traditional uniforms but were armed with modern rifles and artillery, played an important role in 1900 during the Boxer Rebellion. After helping to repel the Seymour Expedition, a multinational foreign force sent from Tianjin to relieve the Beijing Legation Quarter in early June, the Muslim troops were the fiercest attackers during the siege of the legations from 20 June to 14 August. In addition they played a key role with the Tenacious Army against General Gaselee's Relief Force. They were fierce, if undisciplined and suffered heavy casualties especially at the Battle of Peking. After the Eight-Nation Alliance relieved the siege, the  Kansu Braves guarded the Imperial Court on their journey to Xi'an.

Anonymous Chinese woodblock. Bodies thrown into the sky as Dong Fuxiang's Kansu Braves attack Western and Japanese forces at Tianjin.

For the Eight-Nation Alliance, Tientsin was the bloodiest battle of the Boxer Rebellion. Two hundred and fifty soldiers of the allied armies were killed and about 500 wounded. The Japanese lost 320 killed and wounded; the Russians and Germans 140 killed and wounded; the Americans 25 killed, and 98 wounded; the British, 17 killed and 87 wounded; and the French 13 killed and 50 wounded. Casualties for the Chinese Army and the Boxers are unknown.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 17: Kansu Braves Command Pack from Crusader Miniatures

 

I'll be honest with you. When I first got the Kansu Braves command pack from Crusader Miniatures for my Imperial Chinese Field Force (yep, The Men Who Would be Kings!), I was not overall impressed. I looked at them and compared them to the excellent Japanese Infantry from Crusader and they just looked plain. Then I started painting - wow; I'm glad that the uniforms were plain once I researched and figured out how to paint the uniforms. Once painted they look colorful and ready to take on the Western Devils (and the Japanese).

Unpainted BKB004 - Kansu Brave Command Group picture from the Crusader Miniatures website.

The great thing about Chinese armies is that you can never have enough flags! The officer with revolver has an open hand so I added a banner which is also available from Crusader Miniatures. The flags for the Kansu Braves are described as primarily yellow and red.

Musician with tradition long horn.

The (Surprise) standard bearer.

I'm assuming this is an NCO or more correctly a leader of "10" or "100", etc. This is a really nice, dynamic figures.

Now it's time to finish the rank and file.

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 16: A Painting Guide (not the definitive painting guide!) for the Kansu Braves

Chinese Muslim troops from Gansu of the Qing imperial army serving under General Dong Fuxiang; they were also known as the "Kansu braves" or "Gansu Braves".

A colorful addition to any Qing Dynasty Army of the late 19th Century (and I am all about color for this force) are the Kansu Braves in their traditional red uniforms. The Kansu Braves (Chinese: Chinese: 甘军) were a unit of 10,000 Chinese Muslim troops from Kansu (now Gansu) who were transferred to the Beijing metropolitan area in 1898. They were stationed there and were involved in numerous actions from 1895 to the end of the Boxer Rebellion. They were extremely loyal to the Qing Dynasty and were ferocious, if somewhat undisciplined, troops. They were organized into eight battalions of infantry, two squadrons of cavalry, two brigades of artillery, and one company of engineers. They had modernized weaponry of Mauser and Krupp cannons though they also had a numerous supply of traditional melee weapons. More on the organization and combat history in a later post.

"One of Tung Fu Hsaing's men Who came to the British Legation to be treated by a European doctor. He was blindfolded, and fell asleep" originally published in 'Black and White' magazine on  October 20, 1900.

Most of the figure painting I do these days are a style I call "gaming distance"; i.e., what does the figure look at gaming distance? My figures are not examined under magnifying glasses - I just want to look decent on the gaming table when I play.

Depending on the unit I am doing, I either prime in white or black. I want my Chinese troops to look colorful so I am priming them white to make them look brighter.  I glued the 28mm Crusader miniatures on soda caps with white glue.

For the skin I did a base of Citadel (C) Tallarn Flesh base, followed by a light wash of watered down Vallejo (V) Flat Brown. Once dry I did the high points with V Dark Flesh.

The basic uniform of the Kansu Braves is a jacket that is primarily red with a wide band of yellow down the right front and around the collar. Separating the red from the yellow is blue trim and piping. I used V Dark Blue to block out the area separating the red from the yellow and used V Flat Yellow for the, well, yellow.

If you haven't figured out already, I used a lot of basic colors on the figure without being to fancy. For the red I used V Flat Red followed with a watered down wash of Citadel Contrast (CC) Blood Angels Red. After I painted the figure, I found out with further research that often the turban was a darker red (see the photo of the wounded Kansu Brave). The red looks too shiny at this point, but at the end when I'm done, I spray a protective flat coat that will tone done the glare. I also painted the trousers the same way.

Have you noticed yet the mistake I made?

The wood on the Mauser or Martine Rifle rifle (I'm not sure which it is as they were both fielded and frankly, in this scale, who cares?) painted with V Mahogany Brown and the bandolier with CC Skeleton Horde. The white disc was first outlined with V Flat Black and then V Flat White. The shoes were also painted with V Flat Black.

The bandolier was then outlined with V Flat Brown.

I used CC Basilicum Grey on the metal parts of the rifle.

To make things even more complicated, and I did not do this with many of the later figures, I painted an inner circle of V Flat Red and then faked a Chinese character with V Flat White in the disc. In many photographs the character is Yung (军) which means Brave which identifies him as a member of the "Brave Ones" which were volunteers that were raised locally.

Here's were I corrected my mistake: I did not have the yellow panel in the front going all the way to the waist.

One of the most famous Kensu Brave photographs is the one that I posted first. As you look at the picture, the soldier that is smiling has his black Chinese characters on the front of his jacket that came out extremely clear. It identifies him as being from the center section of the bodyguard of the officer commanding the army (General Tung Fu-hsiang's personal guard). Don't let that smile fool you. For the characters I just do some brush strokes to approximate Chinese characters in this scale.

To give the yellow some texture, I went back and used CC Iyanden Yellow over the V Flat Yellow.

For basing material, I mount my figures on wooden discs and I use various grades of model railroad ballast that I keep in an old tupperware. I just use watered down white glue and then dip the figure and base in the mix.

If I am feeling especially motivated, after the sand dries, I will put a wash of brown on the sand. I've been just leaving the sand plain for my Imperial Chinese Army.

Next is regular ole static grass that I apply in various locations with watered down white glue.

The actual figure did not take as long to paint as it sounds. Next up is the painting assembly line process for the other figures and it will be time to expel the Foreign Devils.