The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 21: Phase 2 Complete

Captain General Nieh Shih-ch'eng of the Tenacious Army 

Huzzah! Phase 2 of the Boxer Rebellion project is complete. Phase 1 was the building of an 8 Nations Field Force for The Men Who Would be Kings based on the General Gaselee's Relief Force and Phase 2 is the Imperial Chinese Army component of the forces that opposed them.

1. Chinese Imperial Infantry Unit.

    Irregular Infantry: 4 points.

    Poor Shots: - 1 point.

    Total: 3 points.

2. Chinese Imperial Infantry Unit.

    Irregular Infantry: 4 points.

    Poor Shots: - 1 point.

    Total: 3 points.

3. Chinese Imperial Infantry Unit: The Kansu Braves. How can you not have a Chinese army without the Kansu Braves!

    Irregular Infantry: 4 points.

    Poor Shots: - 1 point.

    Veteran: +1 point.

4. Imperial Chinese Artillery.

    Well drilled: 6 points.

    Total: 6 points.

5. Phase 3 will be two units of Boxers of 16 figures each. They will either be metal Boxers from Crusader Miniatures or hard plastic from Wargames Atlantic:

Chinese Boxers x 2.

    Tribal Infantry: 3 points.

    Fierce: 1 point.

    Total: 8 points.

Total Force: 24 points.

I'm not exactly sure when I will start Phase 3 as I promised myself I would finish what I have started with Leval's German Division for the Peninsular War and the planning of a return to an old favorite but in a new scale for me. I'm sure I'll start the Boxer's no later than the beginning of the new year.

Confederation of the Rhine Battalion Number 3 (Frankfurt). Figures from WoFun Games converted by me.

Commander of the 3rd (German) Division: General Jean François, Baron Leval.

On to the Iberian Peninsula!

The Boxer Rebellion Project, Part 20: Imperial Chinese Odds and Ends

 I had a few figures leftover from my Wargames Foundry order so I am not putting them to waste. First up is another artillery figure carrying an artillery round into a flag bearer. Chinese armies were known for having lots of flags in their units so the more flags the better.

Now that I am looking at the photos I need to do some touch-ups on the flag where I made the cuts. Next (posted in the previous blog) is another artillery figure that I made into an artillery lieutenant:

Speaking of artillery, I originally had the figure of the Imperial Chinese General Li Shimin from the Taiping Rebellion as the artillery officer for my gun holding a linstock. Since I purchased a Krupp breech loader, I have now made him into a banner bearer. His armor is outdated for this period - but so what? It looks cool. He will either go with a unit, be an objective marker, or just look neat on the tabletop.

Original role.

New Role.

Next up is another figure of General Li Shimin that maybe a leader, objective, etc. Th color and patterns are based on a uniform in a museum at the British Museum.

Phase 2 of the Boxer Rebellion poject is just about finished!

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.