The new miniatures rules set Piquet was released at this years Cold Wars convention, along with three separate modules covering Napoleonics (Les Grognards), ACW/FPW (Hallowed Ground, and Colonials (Din of Battle). This article will be a brief battle report of a Boxer Rebellion demo game put on at Cold Wars convention. Players in the game were Jim Getz, Ed Meyers (Boxers); Pat McGuire and Brent Oman (Europeans).

The scenario reguired a mixed European force to clear a large Boxer force blocking their way to Peking. The European force was organized into four command groups, three of infantry and one British Lancers. The order of march for the Europeans had the Lancers scouting at the head of the column, followed by a mixed brigade of Japanese, Russian, and US Marine infantry units (one each). Next in line was a small brigade consisting of a unit of Austro-Hungarian sailors, a unit of Highland infantry, and the expedition's lone artillery section. Following up at the rear of the column was a brigade of British infantry, Naval Brigade, and Indian infantry (one unit each).

Facing this force was a Boxer command consisting of 18 units (16 foot and 2 cavalry), primarily shock infantry armed with swords, etc., with a sprinkling of rifles. The Boxers were allowed to deploy their units around the north and east perimeter of the table at the start of the game.

The terrain was fairly close - this along with the overconfidence of their commanders, would prove to be the downfall of the European force.

As the Europeans marched onto the board, the scouting Lancers noticed large bodies of milling Boxers to their front and right flank. The Boxers to the right flank were much closer, and were also becoming more and more aggressive in their actions (the Boxers were winning the initiative, and the Boxer commander on that flank, Bob Jones, seized the opportunity to attempt to catch the Europeans in a long column of march).

The first European infantry brigade marched off of the road to the east, hoping to shake out into a firing line before the Boxers could close. Unfortunately for the Europeans. the Boxers moved with more speed than had been anticipated! The US Marines were the first to feel the wrath of the Boxer hordes as they were swarmed under. Even though several point blank range volleys crashed into the Boxers, the tide continued as they slammed into the stationary Lancers. The stunned Lancers put up a brief but ineffectual fight but they also perished. At this point, the two European players were throughly confused and wracked with indecision! The right flank had been essentially eliminated, with Boxers heading toward the flank of column still on the road.

As if this weren't bad enough, the Boxers at the head of the column began to advance to seal the doom of the European force. As the Europeans attempted to deploy from the road and form into firing lines, the Boxers to the north crashed into them. Once again, the Boxers were successful in routing the Europeans, eliminating the gun section, Austro-Hungarian sailors and the Highland regiment as effective units. (All this inspite of extremely heavy and effective volley fire from the Europeans.)

At this point the morale of the remaining four infantry units (Naval Brigade, Indians, Russians, and Japanese) finally began to waver (the Major Morale card was drawn). The Japanese routed, soon to be followed by the withdrawal of the pitiful remnants of a once proud European force. The relief of the Legation at Peking would have to wait for another day.

This entire game (28 units, 25mm figures) was played to a decisive conclusion in 2 hours and 5 minutes. Included in that time were pauses to explain the game and answer spectator's questions. At the conclusion of the game the spectators broke into spontaneous applause! That somewhat softened the blows taken by the European commander's egos. In hindsight, the Europeans erred by not deploying immediately - negating their overwhelming firepower advantage The Boxers played an almost flawless game, seizing the initiative, remaining focused and dealing out horrendous damage when the opportunities presented themselves.

Piquet uses sequence decks for each army to control the sequence of events occurring on the tabletop. This gives a very exciting feel to the games, with a great sense of the ebb and tlow of battle. Piquet also uses many new techniques that result in decisive games in reasonable periods of time. If you would like more information on Piquet, contact Piquet Inc., 165 Charles Street, Vestal, NY 13850.

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