Aside from all my more typical geekery, I have long been a huge fan of the
'Romance of the Three Kingdoms'.This is a Chinese Epic, in similar vein to the Arthurian Legends and the Song of Roland. Recently, I managed to pick up a pretty cheap local copy of the full version (they produced a wimpy, half-length, version for Western audiences) of the film '
Red Cliff', which is about the
pivotal battle of Chi-Bi.
Of course, you can't watch a war-movie and not want to game it!
There is an Impetus Beta list for this period. However, what has been rescuing me from yet another period is that I've just never liked the boring style of the metals that I've seen so far. The thing I like most about suppliers like Warlord Games is that they bring a real sense of fun to historicals and include in their range such pieces of
whimsy as this, or
movie tie-ins like this (I have both foot and mounted versions).
Then one, after randomly trawling the net, I found reference to these:
A few of those would make for some cool infantry units - and Chinese units are all LF (6 figs), T (5 figs) and S (3 figs) - not too bad under our 8cm frontages. Best of all though:
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| Sworn Brother to Liu Bei: Zhang Fei |
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| Sworn Brother to Liu Bei: Guan Yu |
Or the big bad guy himself (the Romance of the Three Kingdoms is once great piece of propaganda!):
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| 'Prime Minister' Cao Cao |
These are all plastics for a Chinese produced battle game. They are produced by 'Flying General Workshop' and sold in the west by
Michigan Toy Soldier Company.
Mighty, mighty, tempting. More tempting than 28mm Napoleonics?
A few of those would make for some cool infantry units - and Chinese units are all LF (6 figs), T (5 figs) and S (3 figs) - not too bad under our 8cm frontages. Best of all though:
No! When will the diversions end?...stay on target, stay on target :P
ReplyDeleteSeriously cool. I am pretty sure I have seen the full version? Sub Titled one right? About 2 1/2 hours long. It was epicly cool, especially the final fire ship assualt across the river...
I will have to pass on this one, or delay. I currently have WAY too many projects in my back log.
Well, there is still the aforementioned Arthurian, and Roland seems pretty cool, now I think about it...El Cid?
ReplyDeleteI was just planning on (if I can even get the models) a ROTK army in 28mm for Impetus. They can fight the Romans, people are always obsessed with Romans ending up in China!
And you saw the wimpy Western version :P Part I (of two) is pretty much two hours long on its own. I hear they actually put an intro in the Western version too. In the full version, you are dropped right into the Imperial palace and supposed to know just what the deal is between the 'Prime Minister' and the Emperor and just what the history is between Cao Cao and Liu Bei.
As an adaptation, it is a funny mix of the ROTK (Guan Yu, Zhou Yun and Zhang Fei are badass) and the actual history (Liu Bei is is a bit of a tired and peripheral character and Zhou Yu (different from Zhou Yun) is the pivotal character.
Where did you find the full version.?
ReplyDeleteI got the cut down at the warehouse last week.
Would love to get the full.
Cheers,
Hi Stan,
ReplyDeleteI got it from an importer on trademe.
I don't remember the trader ID but you'd want to be searching the full site anyway, since availablity fluctuates a lot on there.
Cheers