Old School Warriors: Qin Dynasty Infantry.

We visit ancient China in this post. I've had an interest in the Qin Dynasty warriors for some time but had never really gone and did more reading up on it.




At the Asian Civilizations Museum here in Singapore, there's a Terra-Cotta Warrior exhibit. Since I have an interest in really old military things, I took the opportunity to head on down to see the Terra-cotta statues in real life. I got more than what I bargained for. The setup wasn't terribly impressive given the size of the space - but they had one of each type of soldier, from the General standing out front, to the kneeling crossbowman. So it looked like a good opportunity to learn more. And it was.







As I walked around, the whole concept of having references for your artwork being there in front of you is reinforced deeper in me. You simply cannot beat having the real thing in front of you. I could walk around and get a 360 view of what I could never get off the internet search. I could see the leftover red pigments on the lanyard reinforcing the flexible parts of the soldier's armour (they were brightly painted in ceremonial colors as noted by archeologists). I could make out they had different footwear, the Cavalrymen wore something drastically different from the infantry. I could even make out how their tunic underneath the armour was layered. Though they may not be very accurate, I could get a genuine idea how the lamellar plates were layered and where the stiff and flexible areas of the body armour were.







I was gonna reach out and touch them (like I did years ago with a genuine Van Gogh :D) but I can't really be sure if I won't get kicked out - there were several security personnel around at all times.





Also I read on a history buff forum. I believe it was the China History Forum that the Qin army did have shields, and they probably looked very similar to the Han shields that came later. The theory made sense, technology went backwards after the Qin Dynasty collapse, not forward. So there wasn't any reason to believe something used effectively by the mighty Qin army previously would be discarded so soon after the fall of the dynasty.



It was a pretty good exhibit for its scale. I also got to test out the new fountain pen I bought for sketching pretty thoroughly. The exhibit is only 5 bucks, plus its not likely I'll head on down to Shaanxi anytime soon to see the actual dig itself and see the warriors in the thousands, so this will have to do.....for now.

More information on the exhibit at the Asian Civilizations Museum can be found >>HERE<<

Old School Warriors

Couple of digital sketches for this update.

Medieval Saracen Warrior


One of my favourite units, the mercenary Landsknecht - this here is a Doppelsoldner in full armour.

That's all for this update. Not enough sleep....or caffeine.

Balearic Slingers - And Off To The Army

Balearic Slingers come from the Balearic Island chain off the coast of the Iberian Peninsular. After being absorbed into the Roman Empire, the Slingers were used as projectile troops in the Auxillaries.



More information on the Balearic Isles >>here<< Information on Sling can be found >>here<< **** Also, headed off to do my reserves training for a week. Yaaaayy conscription. **** update **** I'm back from my reserves training and here are a couple vids from Youtube of launching the sling in Balearic style. This guy davidmorningstar is pretty cool and has a channel on youtube >>here<<

More Historical Stuff

It feels great to be doing historical units with watercolors.

One more piece of Roman Auxillary Trooper



Norman Knights maile coif study - they put on a quilted padded cotton arming cap before wearing the coif.


Subsequently with better metallurgy technology the medieval armourers were able to fashion bigger plates and the Great Helm was born. Full faced protection comes at a price - no peripheral vision.



I've been doing some reading on the Terracotta Warriors too - what intruiged me was really their armour. Instead of simply being overlapped in sequence like Lamellar armour, the Qin era plates were arranged in a way that would have less of a weakness if struck directly from the front.


What's also interesting was the plated helmet that was found in a separate site. That goes to show the Qin soldiers did not go to war bare headed. The Terracotta Warriors in the mausoleum were posed in parade dress rather than full battle dress.


If you compare the Qin bodyarmour to the modern infantryman....


...the design seems timeless.


Of course our anatomy hasn't changed at all since modern humans came about, but bodyarmour has gone through a great amount of changes via available technology and a compromise between mobility and protection. So its kinda interesting we've come full circle. If you look at the internal plate structures of today's bodyarmour - with front and back plates + optional side plates, its very close in layout to the Persian Chahar-Ainé. Ideas remain the same - technology and materials change....but war....war never changes. (October can't come soon enough)

History Weekend - Medieval Military Update

Trying out some watercolors. Getting back into it with a Daler Rowney pocket watercolor set. Also ran across several BBC documentaries on the Normans and the Norman invasion of the British Isles. And I dug around a bit on the earlier Anglo-Saxon invasion and I've been reading up on the Arthurian legends which were kinda placed in the short span of time after Roman withdrawal from Western Europe and before the Anglo-Saxon invasion/immigration. All very interesting.

Here are some sketches on those topics.

Late Roman Era Infantryman


Equipment of an Infantryman


Granted its not really accurate - The Pilum isn't really in use by the 4th to 5th century just before Roman withdrawal from Western Europe. The course of warfare has evolved by then with the Romans so effective and technologically superior - it makes no sense to train and equip expensive troops when the frontline brawlers could win the day.

On to the Normans - I was intrigued by the written description of their hairstyle. I've given it a modern spin here - when I first heard the description I thought they must've looked a lot like modern infantrymen with crew cuts.


Norman knight 1066AD


There's a lot more freedom when it comes to accuracy of the uniform in this 1500 year stretch. Most soldiers paid for their own equipment and each piece is customized to some extent. Gives room for creative freedom :D


Pretty cool exercise - I need more practice. The Holbien Waterbrush is great if you're working on a more intuitive level as it always stays wet as long as you have water in the well - but sometimes for detail work, I have to switch back to a normal brush for dry brushing. Still, its quite an interesting piece of equipment.

Swiss Army Knife - Not an Original Idea.

The Roman Army Knife! Predating the Victorinox by 1800 years. Original Article from Daily Mail UK HERE via the excellent blog Soldier Systems.

Historical Military Units - Polish Winged Hussars

Cavalrymen are some of the most feared units on the medieval battlefield - all the way up to the 19th century where cavalry still charged against lines of enemy outfitted with firearms. One of the units I find extremely interesting are the Polish Winged Hussars. Known as Husaria where they are from, the Polish Hussars, like most hussar type units across Europe, were first conceived as light cavalry slowly evolving over the centuries into heavy cavalry. Hussars as light cavalry were particularly useful mopping up loose infantry units that were seperated and routed, as well as charging field artillery pieces to render them useless. The Polish-Lithuanian hussar units were reorganised in the 16th century and equipped with long lances and heavy plated armour. This evolutionary path was what made the Winged Hussars stand out over the rest of the Hussar units in Europe. The wings on their backs were a nod to their roots - the hussars originally have painted wings on their shields.

The wings on the hussars backs were either attached to a frame that goes over the cuirass, attached directly to the cuirass or fixed onto the saddle. There are several theories about the wings, like its used in battle to make them seem more intimidating, or it makes a whipping and whooping sound during a charge so it scares the bejeezus out of the enemy's horses, or it prevents lasso attacks and so on - it was even theorised that the wings were only bolted on during parades. So far none of the theories were proven conclusive, but it doesn't take away the fact they are DAAAAMNED COOOOOOL.

So here are the Winged Hussars...








If you want to read up more on the Polish Winged Hussars, check these links out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Hussars
http://www.myarmoury.com/feature_hussars.html

Historical Military Units - Landsknecht

Landsknechts are German mercenary pike units reknowned for their colourful costumes. I'm particularly drawn to them because they're mercs but they're considered professional mercs and they fight wars for feudal lords in Europe in the medieval periods. They are primarily pike and spear units - drawing their tactics from Swiss pikemen who were some of the best in Europe during their heyday.

The most amusing units in a Landsknecht formation are the Doppelsoldner, or Double Soldier. These are more experienced soldiers who take the frontlines, hence the riskier jobs. For that they are paid double - hence the name Double Soldier. Their primary armament is the extremely large, 5 to 8 feet long Zweihander - or Two Handers. The romanticized version recounting the use of the doppelsoldners were that they charge in with the zweihanders breaking spearheads of enemy pike formations so the rest of the Landsknechts can break through. Truthfully zweihanders were probably a pain to handle on the battlefield - tossed away after the initial contact and drawing their common use sword - the Katzbalger - for close combat when the enemy lines are broken.

Find out more about the Landsknechts here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landsknecht

For now, here are the sketches.