DBA 3.0 Three Kingdoms: Army Lists 190-202 CE
Apr 7, 2022 18:02:09 GMT
Tony Aguilar, Haardrada, and 4 more like this
Post by hoffmannsama on Apr 7, 2022 18:02:09 GMT
The original DBA army lists for the three kingdoms era are pretty inaccurate and gloss over how different the armies were. So it's been about year and a half worth of work, and I've done my academic best to give the fairest representation to these armies in DBA form. Very open to discussion, questions, and feedback, this is one of my favorite time periods and I'm glad to share what I've learned (or fix what I messed up). The list covers just the Central, Northern, and Northeastern Warlords from 190-202. Southern Warlords (Sun family, Liu Biao, Liu Yao, Yan Baihu, Shan Yue Tribes) will be coming later, currently touching up the Yellow Turban Revolt army lists and the Western Warlords like Liu Yan, Zhang Lu, Li Jue, and Dong Zhuo. I will provide a guide for further reading, which miniatures to use, and a painting guide as well.
Further reading:
Imperial Warlord: A biography of Cao Cao by Rafe de Crespigny
Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 Ad by Rafe de Crespigny
A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD) by Rafe de Crespigny
Generals of the South: History of Wu by Rafe de Crespigny
The Annals of Wei by Yang Zhengyuan trueorigin.gumroad.com/l/weiji
The Layman's Guide, a three kingdoms military history blog. classicalamateur.wordpress.com/
Dragon's Armory dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2020/11/castle-doctrine-chinese-house-castles.html
Serious Trivia Three Kingdoms Lets Talk Lore Series www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1fSVxgDWk&list=PLV2U5Ov1FXfBkXR6UWp11WK6reK0s2UXm
The Han Abolition of Universal Military Service by Mark Edward Lewrs
"Goose File" Formation: What Did It Look Like? by Tsang Shui-lung and David A. Graff
Miniatures:
Little Corporeal's Lurkio line
thelittlecorporal.co.uk/3-kingdoms-to-northern-wei-208-c.asp
Essex's Chinese Lines Han and Northern Southern Dynasties
www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-ancient-northern-southern-dynasties-chinese
www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-ancient-han-chinese
Khurasan Miniatures Sung and T'ang Chinese
khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/sung-chinese.html
khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/tang-chinese.html
Lurkio should be your main line, using them for 3Kn, Cv, Lh, 3/4Bd, 3/4Wb, 3/4Cb and Bw, 5/7Hd. CWg are command chariots, and can be bought through Lurkio or Essex's website.
Essex's Chinese Lines Han and Northern Southern Dynasties can help add some diversity to your Lurkio line above, although Essex is slightly smaller than Lurkio's, their Ji armed cavalry are perfect for Ts'ao Ts'ao's Leopard cavalry unit as well as their sword infantry.
Khurasan's has a stone thrower in their Sung Chinese line that could work for your artillery, while their T'ang line has a bolt thrower you could use instead.
Painting Guide
Below is a Taiwanese artist that has done work for some of Japan's military history magazines, and he has some of the most accurate representations of Three Kingdoms soldiers.
www.artstation.com/ginkgostory
Camp/ BUA Guide
Dragon's Armory dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2020/11/castle-doctrine-chinese-house-castles.html
DBA 3.0 Three Kingdoms: Armies of the Central and Northern Warlords 190-202 CE
Before the three states of Wei, Wu, and Shu-Han, many warlords vied for supremacy and power of the Han emperor. The country of China had been wrecked by famine and plague, and its warlords’ armies show, population and food supply were some of the main concerns of the warlords in 190-200s. It is stated by Wei Shu that armies were so short on provisions and grain, they didn’t have plans for the end of the year, and later mentions the armies that were destroyed by lack of supplies were “utterly uncountable.” Yuan Shu’s army at Jiang and Huai gathered and gave out cattails and a type of mollusk to the army, while Yuan Shao’s army once relied on mulberries to survive. The circumstances could be more extreme as well, as accounts of cannibalism were numerous, neighborhoods being described as desolate as people ate each other. A later Eastern Han Dynasty census had the population at 50 million, by the end of the Three Kingdom era the Jin Dynasty’s census was at 16 million.
Armies were centered around a core of retainers in service to great families, local warlords or officials, these retainers could be family members, men of the gentry clans, or powerful local bullies, training in arms therefore could have been in their formal education or self taught due to repeated acts of violence. Retainers and their followers relied more on the size of their followings and the weakness of their victims to achieve victory. During the early stages of the civil war, the vast majority of troops were neither disciplined nor well trained. Unless under capable officers, they might have been well drilled and trained, such as Dian Wei’s and Gao Shun’s elite shock troops, but the majority of the army was an “assembly of incoherent bodies of men. . . training, equipment, and leadership varied.”
Battles of the time could have been decided with a decisive charge that relied on weight and force, rather than formations and maneuvers. Battles that would drag out caused confusion and disruption in the armies, sometimes allowing a smaller force of retainers and their followers to spearhead an attack, and if successful, be followed up with a general attack, routing the opposing army. A tactic like above was achieved “through shock of surprise,” as the violence of the attack could shock and breach a line or kill an opposing commander, causing fear and confusion to quickly spread through an army. Ambushes could easily have a similar effect to an opposing force, allowing small groups to defeat much larger ones. Circumstance and self interest greatly impacted the battlefields as no religion, empire, or state held these groups together, and trust within had its limits as well.
Army Lists
Central Warlords- Ts’ao Ts’ao, Yuan Shu, Tao Qian, Liu Bei, Kong Rong, Kong Zhou, Liu Dai, Lu Bu (194-199), Zhang Xiu, Han Fu, Yuan Shao (190-199)
Terrain Type: Arable
Aggression: 1
*CWg are for command chariots with bodyguards
Northern Warlords- Liu Yu, Yuan Shao (199-202), Zhang Yan
Terrain Type: Arable
Aggression: 1
*CWg are for command chariots with bodyguards
Northeastern Frontier Warlord- Gongsun Zan (190-199)
Terrain Type: Arable
Aggression: 1
*CWg are for command chariots with bodyguards
Hey, if you got this far, thanks for reading! Hopefully this helps anyone as interested in this time period as I am.
Change log:
4/8/22 added WWg to Yuan Shao 199-202 for towers at Guan Du
4/9/22 added Command Chariots(CWg) to general element
5/18/22 changed a few discrepancies in dates
5/18/22 added Black Mountain Bandits 5Hd to Gongsun Zan's list
5/18/22 added foot Retainer option for Cv or Lh
7/7/22 added CP option for General
7/19/22 add Sp option for Retainers
Further reading:
Imperial Warlord: A biography of Cao Cao by Rafe de Crespigny
Fire over Luoyang: A History of the Later Han Dynasty 23-220 Ad by Rafe de Crespigny
A Biographical Dictionary of Later Han to the Three Kingdoms (23-220 AD) by Rafe de Crespigny
Generals of the South: History of Wu by Rafe de Crespigny
The Annals of Wei by Yang Zhengyuan trueorigin.gumroad.com/l/weiji
The Layman's Guide, a three kingdoms military history blog. classicalamateur.wordpress.com/
Dragon's Armory dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2020/11/castle-doctrine-chinese-house-castles.html
Serious Trivia Three Kingdoms Lets Talk Lore Series www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1fSVxgDWk&list=PLV2U5Ov1FXfBkXR6UWp11WK6reK0s2UXm
The Han Abolition of Universal Military Service by Mark Edward Lewrs
"Goose File" Formation: What Did It Look Like? by Tsang Shui-lung and David A. Graff
Miniatures:
Little Corporeal's Lurkio line
thelittlecorporal.co.uk/3-kingdoms-to-northern-wei-208-c.asp
Essex's Chinese Lines Han and Northern Southern Dynasties
www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-ancient-northern-southern-dynasties-chinese
www.essexminiatures.co.uk/collections/15mm-ancient-han-chinese
Khurasan Miniatures Sung and T'ang Chinese
khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/sung-chinese.html
khurasanminiatures.tripod.com/tang-chinese.html
Lurkio should be your main line, using them for 3Kn, Cv, Lh, 3/4Bd, 3/4Wb, 3/4Cb and Bw, 5/7Hd. CWg are command chariots, and can be bought through Lurkio or Essex's website.
Essex's Chinese Lines Han and Northern Southern Dynasties can help add some diversity to your Lurkio line above, although Essex is slightly smaller than Lurkio's, their Ji armed cavalry are perfect for Ts'ao Ts'ao's Leopard cavalry unit as well as their sword infantry.
Khurasan's has a stone thrower in their Sung Chinese line that could work for your artillery, while their T'ang line has a bolt thrower you could use instead.
Painting Guide
Below is a Taiwanese artist that has done work for some of Japan's military history magazines, and he has some of the most accurate representations of Three Kingdoms soldiers.
www.artstation.com/ginkgostory
Camp/ BUA Guide
Dragon's Armory dragonsarmory.blogspot.com/2020/11/castle-doctrine-chinese-house-castles.html
DBA 3.0 Three Kingdoms: Armies of the Central and Northern Warlords 190-202 CE
Before the three states of Wei, Wu, and Shu-Han, many warlords vied for supremacy and power of the Han emperor. The country of China had been wrecked by famine and plague, and its warlords’ armies show, population and food supply were some of the main concerns of the warlords in 190-200s. It is stated by Wei Shu that armies were so short on provisions and grain, they didn’t have plans for the end of the year, and later mentions the armies that were destroyed by lack of supplies were “utterly uncountable.” Yuan Shu’s army at Jiang and Huai gathered and gave out cattails and a type of mollusk to the army, while Yuan Shao’s army once relied on mulberries to survive. The circumstances could be more extreme as well, as accounts of cannibalism were numerous, neighborhoods being described as desolate as people ate each other. A later Eastern Han Dynasty census had the population at 50 million, by the end of the Three Kingdom era the Jin Dynasty’s census was at 16 million.
Armies were centered around a core of retainers in service to great families, local warlords or officials, these retainers could be family members, men of the gentry clans, or powerful local bullies, training in arms therefore could have been in their formal education or self taught due to repeated acts of violence. Retainers and their followers relied more on the size of their followings and the weakness of their victims to achieve victory. During the early stages of the civil war, the vast majority of troops were neither disciplined nor well trained. Unless under capable officers, they might have been well drilled and trained, such as Dian Wei’s and Gao Shun’s elite shock troops, but the majority of the army was an “assembly of incoherent bodies of men. . . training, equipment, and leadership varied.”
Battles of the time could have been decided with a decisive charge that relied on weight and force, rather than formations and maneuvers. Battles that would drag out caused confusion and disruption in the armies, sometimes allowing a smaller force of retainers and their followers to spearhead an attack, and if successful, be followed up with a general attack, routing the opposing army. A tactic like above was achieved “through shock of surprise,” as the violence of the attack could shock and breach a line or kill an opposing commander, causing fear and confusion to quickly spread through an army. Ambushes could easily have a similar effect to an opposing force, allowing small groups to defeat much larger ones. Circumstance and self interest greatly impacted the battlefields as no religion, empire, or state held these groups together, and trust within had its limits as well.
Army Lists
Central Warlords- Ts’ao Ts’ao, Yuan Shu, Tao Qian, Liu Bei, Kong Rong, Kong Zhou, Liu Dai, Lu Bu (194-199), Zhang Xiu, Han Fu, Yuan Shao (190-199)
Terrain Type: Arable
Aggression: 1
*CWg are for command chariots with bodyguards
1x | General | Cv or 3Kn or CWg or CP |
1x | Cavalry Retainers or on foot Retainers | Cv or Lh or 3/4Bd or 4Wb or Sp |
1x | Retainers | 3/4Bd or 4Wb or Sp |
1x | Trained Crossbow | 4Cb or 4Bw |
4x | Levy Infantry | 3Wb or 7Hd (If Zhang Xiu ½ 3/4Ax) |
3x | Levy Crossbow | 3Cb or 3Bw |
1x | Levy Infantry or Artillery | 3Wb or 7Hd or Art |
Northern Warlords- Liu Yu, Yuan Shao (199-202), Zhang Yan
Terrain Type: Arable
Aggression: 1
*CWg are for command chariots with bodyguards
1x | General | Cv or 3Kn or CWg or CP |
1x | Cavalry Retainers or on foot Retainers | Cv or Lh or 3/4Bd or 4Wb or Sp |
1x | Retainers | 3/4Bd or 4Wb or Sp |
1x | Trained Crossbow | 4Cb or 4Bw |
2x | Levy Infantry or Heishan Bandits if Zhang Yan | 3Wb or 7Hd (If Zhang Yan all 5Hd) |
3x | Levy Bow or crossbow | 3Cb or 3Bw |
1x | Levy Infantry or Artillery or if Yuan Shao Towers | 3Wb or 7Hd or Art or WWg if Yuan Shao |
2x | Nomadic Horse | Lh |
Northeastern Frontier Warlord- Gongsun Zan (190-199)
Terrain Type: Arable
Aggression: 1
*CWg are for command chariots with bodyguards
1x | General | Cv or 3Kn or CWg or CP |
3x | White Horse Fellows and Nomadic Horse Archers | Lh |
1x | Retainers | 3/4Bd or 4Wb or Sp |
1x | Cavalry Retainers, Nomadic Horse, White Horse Fellows | Cv or Lh |
3x | Levy Infantry or Black Mountain Bandits | 3Wb or 7Hd or 5Hd |
3x | Levy Bow | 3Cb or 3Bw |
Hey, if you got this far, thanks for reading! Hopefully this helps anyone as interested in this time period as I am.
Change log:
4/8/22 added WWg to Yuan Shao 199-202 for towers at Guan Du
4/9/22 added Command Chariots(CWg) to general element
5/18/22 changed a few discrepancies in dates
5/18/22 added Black Mountain Bandits 5Hd to Gongsun Zan's list
5/18/22 added foot Retainer option for Cv or Lh
7/7/22 added CP option for General
7/19/22 add Sp option for Retainers