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.