Chinese Boxer Rebellion / Black Flag Pirate gun crews

I’m working on building armies for both Boxer Rebellion and Black Flag Pirates. Though they are distinctive and separate forces my research has shown that some of the figures can be used for both armies, IMHO. Here are some Chinese gunners converted from 25mm Old Glory Boxer Rebellion minis from their colonial range, codes CBC-01 & CBC-02 Boxers attacking with Swords and Pole Arms. Figure codes below  

I cut away the existing weapons and inserted gun crew tools in place. I left the sword in the hand of the gun commander as any self respecting Chinese gun crew commander must have a suitably large and sharp sword. I added a bucket from the bits box to make him look more part of the gun crew rather than just another sword armed Boxer fig. 

   

                   

                                             

I build all my gun crew teams as (4) man gun crews for my favorite rules system The Sword And The Flame. 

I removed the weapons that the other three figs were cast with and drilled out their hands with a small drill bit to allow me to insert the gunner tools. I made a sponge from .032” steel piano wire rod from Hobby Lobby, a bead, and green stuff, a worm from a Foundry Miniatures Crimea era gun crew set, and a linstock / match from I don’t know where, some of which I fabricated. 

I slightly altered the one fig to add a turban with green stuff to make him more useful to use as a Black Flag Chinese or Vietnamese pirate as well as a Boxer. Not my best work by far, but it would suffice when painted. 

 

                                              

                           “Tools of the Trade”

Here is the completed gun crew. I made grooves in the bamboo hats more pronounced by using a simple exacto knife and layering paint.  

I based these as I always do with painters gels from Michaels Craft Store. I’ve also used Renaissance Inks flocking gels. I mix the desired texture(s) with Delta Ceramcoat Burnt Umber acrylic paint in a small container using a mix of Extra Course, Medium, and Soft Gel to get the texture I want, sometimes adding railroad ballast and sand. This is applied with a small gel pallet knife and a cheap hard bristle brush. It’s left to dry for 24 hours and then I dry brush with the colors below in succession. 

This crew is manning a very large 17th-18th century artillery piece for the spares box, mfg and origin unknown. Here is the painted cannon without weathering or my usual Polyshades Minwax Tudor Brown dip which is a combo weathering, shading, and sealing / protection.

This next gun crew are from Wargames Foundry which I’ve had sitting around for years. They are from 3 different packs of Chinese troops.

Loader:

For the loader I used a lead shield from one of the Chinese Tigermen packs attached with a steel rod drilled through the head to mimic a commonly used Black Flag Pirate headgear.

I was going for headgear similar to this Black Flag Pirate from Gringo 40’s Miniatures.

Gun crew commander: 

I added another bucket for the gun crew commander and  a bamboo hat made of paper card superglued to his head and textured it slightly to give a bamboo /straw feel.

Bore Cleaner with sponge:

I added a sponge from the spares box, most likely from another Foundry gun crew set to this suitably upright standing fig with arm in the perfect pose from the Ever Victorious Army gun crew set, see below. 

Here are the (3) packs of Wargame’s Foundry Chinese

that I sourced figures from for this gun crew.  

 The Black Flag Army used a variety of artillery, here they are pictured with a 3-D printed 28mm age of sail naval cannon that one of my buddies gave me!

In action, “Break the Boom” scenario by Last Stand Dan at an HMGS-South con. 

陷阱与钟摆（The Pit and the Pendulum）Xian Jing yu Zhong Bai - Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge #11

My take on the next chamber, "The Pit and the Pendulum" is a Chinese version  of the tale. I thought about the theme and not having any medieval or fantasy figures in my collection this would suite the bill. My good friend Mad Guru from Maiwand Day blog fame asked his wife to translate for me. This is her translation, thank you Xinhua. 

          陷阱与钟摆（The Pit and the Pendulum）Xian Jing yu Zhong Bai 

A WIP shot with reference in the background

The merciless execution (Woo Ching Choo Jue) vignette comes from the Wargames Foundry China Range. It is originally made for the Tai Ping Rebellion, however I think it can be used all the way through the Boxer Rebellion. I intend to use it for the Tai Ping Rebellion, Tonkin in the 1880's, and the Boxer Rebellion 1900. Pictured here is one of my motivational reference pieces.

The standard is an image I researched and captured from the net, copied, flipped, sized, printed, cut, and glued to a .032 Piano Wire rod from any craft or hobby store. The finial is a bead from Hobby Lobby where I purchased the piano wire.

The figures are based on washers to sit in their magnetized boxes. I used wood glue, ballast, sand, and old coffee grinds for the basing materials and painted with craft store paints. Burnt Umber, then Honeycomb, then highlighted with Bamboo.

                                            Here's some close ups.

Painting challenge points scoring for this entry: (4) 25/28mm figures x 5 Pts each + 20 points for the chamber = 40 Pts + standard pts - ?