Saturday, August 08, 2015

Wargaming the Water Margin - The Nine Dozen Heroes.

The latest Chinese Village project led me to think of an alternative use for the RJW village.   
Being a child of the 70's their was only one thing on telly worth watching on BBC2 - The Water Margin..... 

For those too young to remember, this is a TV adaptation (set in China, made in Japan, dubbed into English) of a famous Chinese folk legend, one of the Four Great Classical Novels of Chinese literature.  -- a kind of 'Robin Hood in China' -- hero-outlaws fight a corrupt government "in a world very different from our own", their were a minor fantasy elements.... but nothing to fantastical.

Gradually, over the 26 episodes, wicked Kao Chui the local government official forces each of the 'nine dozen heroes', into outlawry joining the rebel band living in the water margins of Liang Shan Po, forming a steadily growing force of opposition to Kao. 

Having painted up some of Black Hat miniatures range of Fantasy Chinese figures a few months back having played a number of Songs of Blades and Heroes games recently, I figured they were perfect for recreating the nine dozen heroes.


Lovely looking castings and they will certainly add some colour to future oriental outings. Six of the Nine Dozen Heroes, I shall add more as I need a break from other projects.

Lin Chung -- Panther Head

Lu Ta -- The Flower Priest

 Sung Chiang -- The Good Judge

Shih Chin -- Tattooed Dragon 

Chao Gai -- Pagoda-Shifting Heavenly King

Zhang San -- Street Crossing Rat

And remember.
"The ancient sages said, "do not despise the snake for having no horns, for who is to say it will not become a dragon?". So may one just man become an army. Nearly a thousand years ago in ancient China, at the time of the Sung dynasty, there was a cruel and corrupt government. These men riding are outlaws - heroes - who have been driven to live in the Water Margins of Liang Shan Po, far to the south of the capital city. Each fights tyranny with a price on his head, in a world very different from our own. The story starts in legend even then - for our heroes, it was said, were perhaps the souls reborn of other, earlier knights..."

21 comments:

  1. Great looking Chinese characters!

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    1. Cheers Dean - Just need to pull a couple of scenario's now.
      Thanks for posting.
      Stu

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  2. OH those really made me smile

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  3. Ah, many happy memories of this TV series...:). Oh and nice miniatures as well;)

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  4. Great TV series...loved the music too.

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  5. Some really nice work Stu I look forward to seeing more .
    Regards Gav .

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    1. Cheers Gav, got a crazy idea to playout every episode.:-)

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  6. Great looking mimins. Love their look.

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  7. Another one showing my age, it was a fun series.
    Superb looking figures to go with those great names.

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    1. Thanks Pat - another one of those minor distractions.

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  8. Showing my age too - a great series and those are some great minis Stuart :)

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    1. Thanks Tamsin - far to many choices paint the mini's or watch the DVD again.....

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  9. Oh these made me smile. I was just thinking of pulling The Water Margin off the shelf and doing a re-run. I`m currently creating The Boxer Rebellion, and was just wondering in my head if it might be possible to use any of my work for re-creating a Water Margin spin off... then I spotted your blog. Super stuff.

    Just out of curiosity and silliness; any idea roughly what time/era the Water Margin is set in?

    Steve :)

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  10. ..... I`m guessing sometime 14th century?

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    1. Hi Stephen around 1120 is my guess.
      Thanks for the comments.
      Stu

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  11. Hi Stephen

    The Water Margin was set during the Sung Dynasty 960-1179, so 1120 would be ideal. I think this offers an interesting alternative to the Samurai I was considering. Must look at the Black Hat figures.
    Jon

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    1. Jon
      You are right I think China offers plenty of scope and is often over looked in favour of the Samurai offering.
      Plenty more to come over the coming months.
      Cheers
      Stu

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