Having recently acquired and painted a 15mm Han Chinese army, it occurred to me that it would provide the basis for a pair of armies based on one of the most compulsive bad TV series ever. Do not despise the snake for having no horns, for:a) Who is to say it will not become a dragon?
b) It might turn out to be a venomous beastie whose bite can kill a man in 8 seconds?
Depending on your preferred answer to the above question, you will either want to use the Heroic army of Liang Shan Po (aka the Water Margin), or the Evil army of their oppressor, the Emperor Cao Chiu. Liang Shan Po army:1x Hero General @ 4 pts Lin Chung, the Chinese ‘Robin Hood’
1x Hero @ 4 pts Shih Chin, the ‘Tattooed Dragon’
1x Behemoth @ 4 pts Lu Ta, the ‘Flower Priest’ (a Friar Tuck character built on the lines of Obelix)
6x Riders @ 2 pts Sundry secondary heroes (see note 1 below)
Alternatives: Cleric General (Sung Chiang, the Good Judge) @ 3 pts ; Female Hero (Hu San-Niang, the token feminist) @ 4 pts; Water Lurker (A hornless snake
Cao Chiu army:1x Magician General @ 4 pts Cao Chiu (see note 2 below)
1x Dragon @ 4 pts Chinese wingless variety (see note 3 below)
14x Hordes @ 1 pts Imperial Guardsmen (seen note 4 below)
Alternatives: 2x Blades (Chinese specialists – one armed with chopsticks and wok ladles, the other with laundry baskets and steam irons) @ 2 pts; Artillery )Rocket launchers. Whenever they shoot, all spectators are required to chant “Oooh! Aaaah!”
Notes
Note 1 “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.” See what I mean? Note 2 He must be a magician, because otherwise nobody in their right mind would be on his side. He really is nasty! Note 3 As we all know, dragons cannot be deployed at the start of the game. In this case, it is because he is busy evolving from a hornless snake. Note 4 A leading contender for the title of “Worst ever elite troops in the Universe” (other contenders include Darth Vader’s Imperial Stormtroopers, and Servalan’s Federation Guards in Blake’s 7).Their preferred tactic is apparently to surround one hero with up to two thousand guardsmen, and then to attack him one at a time (or sometimes two at a time, so he can dodge to one side and watch them impale each other). Consequently, these elements are not allowed to provide flank support to each other.
One final note – while using these armies, players must continually quote Sage Oriental Axioms such as “The sea does not care which part of it becomes the wave” (my favourite from the TV series) or “Point to the mulberry, and curse the locust” (From the 36 Precepts of Sun Tzu – honest!)
