Miao and Nien - Allies of the Tai Ping

The Heavenly Kingdom of the Tai Ping had two important allied groups.  These were provided by the Miao tribesmen and the Nien rebels against the Manchu.  Both groups brought something valuable to the Tai Ping cause.

The Miao fielded two types of infantry.  Some were simply spear men of which the Tai Ping had a near endless supply.  Others were armed with a Chinese version of the jezail.  The latter were very useful.  They provided the Tai Ping with accurate distance weaponry that was otherwise in short supply.  

 

There were two main groupings of Miao, the black and the white. So named for their clothing colour choice.   

 

 

The Miao were capable and well-motivated soldiers.  Using Taiping Era I’d rate them as Committed Chinese Troops.  Here are the stat’s for them that I will be using for Field of Battle 3.

Troop Type	Unit type	Unit class	Defence Dice	Combat Dice	Arms	Formation
Miao ‘jezails’	Infantry	Regular	D4	D10	Rifle	Line, Skirmish
Miao Spears	Infantry	Regular	D6	D8	Spear	Attack Column, Line, Square

The Nien, bandits to the Manchu authorities, controlled an extensive territory.  They secured this by placing garrisons in fortified villages and via the use of an extensive cavalry arm.  The Nien cavalry were mainly lancers and once again were good soldiers. These proved to be a useful asset to the mainly foot slogging Tai Ping.  Using Taiping Era I'd once more opt for Committed Chinese Troops. In FoB3 they will look like this.

 

Troop Type	Unit type	Unit class	Defence Dice	Combat Dice	Arms	Formation
Níen	Cavalry	Regular	D6	D10	Lance	Attack Column, Line,

Every now and then the Tai Ping deployed a unit of European manned modern artillery.  Should you want to emulate that rate them as European regulars-that's what most of them had been. The British Royal Navy sailors were particularly keen to desert. One battery only.  I'd suggest 9 pounders.  In reality the available ordinance varied considerably.