Not wanting my army to be entirely made up of gray clad soldiers, my Chinese forces will also be hiring on some Tibetan mercenaries. First up is a small unit of irregular infantry:
As before, these are part of Copplestone's excellent Back of Beyond range. The figures are well sculpted and cast, with minimal clean up required for my pack (basically just mold lines to file down). There are quite a few head variants (I had no repeats in my pack of 10), but sadly only two basic bodies. It would have been nice if there was at least a third type. I'm not sure why he didn't add a little more variety, especially since the Chinese troops in the range have more poses per pack. However, at least you can use a variety of colors to try to hide the similarities.
While dull clothing is seen in Tibet, my online research showed that at least with modern Tibetans, the clothing is often decorated with brilliant trims and fabrics. I thought this would be much more visually appealing, so I have incorporated it into the jackets, hats, and boots on many of the figures.
Painting these took a lot longer than my regular Chinese, and I admit I had to step away a few times to give myself a mental break. But now that they are done, I'm really glad I put in the extra effort and think they will look great on the table.
For anyone else that may be contemplating painting some Tibetans, I'm also including some of the photo reference materials I accumulated while painting.
