Boxer Conversions

 Here are the painted Boxer conversions. As I mentioned, in an earlier post, I decided to convert two American Indians to Boxers as the firearms stocks reminded me of matchlocks and some Boxers or Chinese troops, generally, had these antiquated firearms.

  Those ammo belts are powder charges rather than cartridge loops.

   I left the bare-chested Indian with the machismo look.

  To the right is an Armies in Plastic Chinese. AIP are great and economical figures. However, I would have liked some equipment on the Boxers. His weapon is possibly a percussion musket. (Historically the Chinese also used bows, flintlocks and magazine weapons a real hodgepodge. For wargame purposes I will probably just give them reduced range and ballistic skill). It is obvious that the AIP figure is smaller than my conversions, but the variation is withing the possible human size range. Of course, it does make my creations also unusually large for Chinese.

  I just realized, from the AIP figure, that he has a kind of nodule or nipple on the top of the hat. Should I have added that to the conversions; I am guessing there was some variation in the coolie hat shape.

     The rear view shows the added pigtails. The one at left was modelled with Green Stuff but the one at right was just painted on. I also added a Green Stuff haversack for one figure.

I'll base and varnish the two new figures and add them to my AIP unit. (The standing AIP firing Boxers have more modern firearms, reminding me of Martini-Henry rifles).

  What I am wondering now is if I should add some ammo holders to my AIP figures and what kind? Also some of the figures are already painted so do I want to mess around with them. But the ones unpainted will surely be modified.

 Skin-tone: The difference between Chinese and European skin-tone is subtle. Those of the Mongoloid race have an extra layer of fat, which gives the 'yellow' tone. This does not mean one should paint them like 'The Simpsons', (although that would be fine for some Wizard of Oz races!) Some commercial paints that are labelled 'flesh' already come close, so much so that I tend to add a little red to the mix for painting Europeans. I generally start with an acrylic hobby flesh paint and add colors to it according to the type of skin tone I want. Europeans serving in a hot climate get a little reddish brown added. For the lighter skinned Orientals I add a little yellow and ochre until I am happy with the shade. American Indians have a similar mix but also with a little red brown. I check out some picture references if I am unsure.

  My goal is to have a reasonably sized Chinese army to use in my Funny Little Wars battles, my fantasy campaign, as possible inhabitants of newly discovered lands, and, one day, a Boxer Rebellion game.