This topic contains 60 replies, has 8 voices, and was last updated by 
sundancer 11 months, 3 weeks ago.
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The Armies Gather
Well, I warned everyone it would happen this week. I started this project on Monday. I now have two armies, 300+ units total, set up in a potential battle taking place in the late 2nd Century BCE.
So these “virtual miniatures” are scaled to 25mm (about 1 inch) for infantry units of 10 men each, per TSR Battlesystem 2nd Edition. The map totals 8 feet by 5 feet, with the grid measured at 1″ scale (the picture doesn’t quite capture the whole table.
Each side has just over 150 miniatures, including three commanders. At ten men a piece (for the non-commander pieces) we’re looking at just under 1500 men per side.
A little bit of refreshing on the Battlesystem rules, point up the armies just to make sure all adds up, and this full-scale Ancient Chinese Era battle is ready to throw down, one week after project start.
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The Chu (Blue) Army general, mounted on his warhorse (his piece assumed to also include his adjutants, aides-de-camp, messengers, and assorted staff) with his personal guard of sixty elite heavy infantry warriors with jian swords and shields.
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The peasant levies (required to be in irregular formation) dare not run, not with those medium infantry blade-spear “halberds” at their back.
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The Chu right wing defends the village and the stream crossing, with a battalion of 200 light infantry with pikes, and the Chu second in command to steady the men.
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The Qin (Red) Army center bristles with hundreds of pikes, spears, Chinese dagger-axes, and blade-spear “halberds.”
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The Qin left wing is stacked with a powerful offensive force of medium cavalry, led by one of the Qin generals, supported by double-ranked arches taking partial cover in that wood. If the Qin plan works, a couple volleys of archery might disorder the Chu right wing just before the cavalry charge hits it.
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The Qin commander, fronted by his personal guard of sixty heavy infantry with swords, and more heavy infantry with spears and shields. This guy’s taking no chances.
And now for the “meat and potatoes” work of the upcoming Chinese Ancients project.
With all the pieces and map templates drawn up in Photoshop, it was time to actually build statistics for these units in TSR’s Battlesystem – using not only the troop types listed in the book, but tweaking them to a less western-centric, Chinese-approximate standard with the unit construction tables also provided.
Finished Qin period mini from Watchful I Studio
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