Shu Han and Western Jin ("Ts'in") Chinese (II/63)
War-wagons for Shu Han and Jin
Proposer: Duncan Head
Proposal:
Add the following lines:
Only Shu Han or Western Jin ("Ts'in"):"Chariots" carrying crossbowmen – Reg WWg (O) **6-20
Minima marked ** apply only if any troops so marked are used.
Justification:
In a campaign against the Qiang in AD 279, the Jin general Ma
Long "recruited men capable of using waist-drawn crossbows with a
pull of 30 catties ... he obtained 3,500, a number he pronounced
sufficient for the task ... barbarian leaders with more than 10,000
cavalry ... intercept Long's front [and] cut off his rear. Then, in
accord with the Diagram for Eight Formations, Ma Long had
rectangular chariots constructed. Where the terrain was expansive,
he used deer-horn chariots; where the road was narrow he added
protective wooden structures on top of the chariots. Thus he was
able to fight and advance, and wherever their arrow fell, for every
draw of the bowstring a man dropped."
(R D Sawyer, One Hundred Unorthodox Strategies, Westview 1996,
pp.37-39)
These are clearly not the genuine "chariots" of Chinese antiquity,
but some sort of war-cart relying on the fire of the crossbowmen
carried in them.
Assuming 7 men per wagon (see Chinese Northern and Southern Dynasties
for a parallel) 3,500 crossbowmen would need 500 wagons, or at the rules'
25 WWg per element, 20 models. 20 men per wagon (see
Chinese Northern and Southern Dynasties again) would suggest
175 wagons, 7 elements. The text implies that this was the entire
army; it may not have been, but sounds like it was a large part,
suggesting normal scale may be appropriate for this army. The
name "deer-horn" chariots allegedly refers either to blades
protruding outwards to prevent an enemy approaching, or possibly to
separate obstacles placed in front when in a defensive formation or
in camp.
The "Eight Element Formation" or "Eight Array Formation"
that Ma Long copied was said to have been invented by the Shu Han
strategist Zhuge Liang – see
http://www.chinahistoryforum.com/index.php?showtopic=7021 – and
interpretations suggest that this formation combined "chariots",
presumably also war-wagons, with infantry and cavalry. Therefore the
use of the war-wagons should be extended to Shu Han.