In early February, I was invited to the cold town of Madison, Wisconsin to run my 55 Days at Peking game for "KarlCon", or the Last Square's Invitational. I enlisted the help of my good friend and The Sword and the Flame expert Michael Shay. Our game had over 1000 painted 28mm figures. This is a very unique convention with only 3 events going on all weekend. There was also an incredible France 40 game run by Jeff Gullion and a Battle of Britain game run by Al Meulling. For a modest fee, you get to play in one of the events and all your meals are included. There is also a hospitality suite for relaxing, drink and munching. Although this year, most people were too involved in the event to make it to the suite.
All in all, over 40 people attended the event. Everyone that played in our game was a true gentleman and good sport. I will go over the game day-by-day with some pictures being thrown in to help better illustrate events in the game. At the end I will have an order of battle, map & rule modifications for The Sword and the Flame and event cards.
On Friday, we set up the event on a 6'x18' table. We broke down all the units and placed them on the table. The Boxers and Tiger Men were placed in 20-man units. The Great Powers comprised of: Great Britain, France, United States, Russia, Italy, Austria, Germany, Japan, Spain, Holland, and European Gentlemen. All have 20 figures each. (See Order of Battle) We also placed the Imperial Chinese in units of 10 off the table & 4 artillery pieces with 4 crew each.
The starting points for the Boxers and Tiger Men were on the two table edges to play the game lengthwise evenly. On the top of the wall we placed three 20-man Boxers units to make a run down the top of the wall. For the Great Powers, most troops start in their own Legation with the following exceptions: US, & Germany may place troops on the top of the wall with barricades. The Dutch can start in their own Legation or in the Gate house. Austrians & Italy have lost control of their Legation so they may be placed no further back than the Japanese Legation.
Each Legation gets one translator to place with their troops.
We also scattered around civilians throughout the table. The Baroness figure remained hidden until play began. The International gun crew starts in the British Legation, the gun in the US Legation, and ammo in the Russian legatin. All three items must come together before the gun can fire. As an added incentive to the Boxers, we laid out, on a separate table, the relief column for the Great Powers.
VICTORY & SPECIAL CONDITIONS
The following victory conditions apply for the game:
Boxers: Remove all Great Powers from the Legation Quarter.
Imperial Chinese: May not fire unless fired upon by any of the Great Powers. Also Imperial artillery must fire every turn. May not fire direct fire unless Imperial units fired upon by Great Powers. (Special note on artillery: two units will be brought in on each edge of the table. Split the table in two and use the scatter and misfire dice for fire. Have the Imperial player pick a location. Unless a hit is rolled on the die scatter the shot a random direction by sectioning off the table with a die 6. The random shot will land on any Boxer unit unless there is no Boxer unit there then it will just hit a building. If a shell hits a building, roll a d6 and on a 6 a fire will start. Artillery can only hit Great Powers on a hit roll or from direct fire.)
Great Powers: Unless stated cannot lose their Legation.
England: Is the over-all commander of the Great Powers. Has control of the supply cards for the Great Powers each turn. If they loose their Legation, it is a disgrace. Prevent any engagement of Imperial Forces. Cannot fire machine gun in support of any other troops. Recover a crate of Earl Grey tea lost to the Boxers. It would be best if you could get one of the other Legations to recover it for you. Maintain a condescending attitude towards everyone.
United States: Engage Imperial Chinese. Clear the walls of all enemy units. Send Scouts to alert the relief column. The French commander has made several inappropriate advances toward you. You wish to recover a shipment of white linen that you suspect the French want for surrender flags. You must insult the French at every opportunity.
Russia: Re-Capture the Baroness. Have troops enter the Japanese Legation to capture the invasion plans of Mother Russia. Recover a rumored hoard of alcohol in the Board of Medicine Building, and in a drunken haze insult the Japanese Commander.
France: Protect the Austrians & help recapture the Austrian Legation to ensure treaty with
Austria: Have troops enter the Italian Legation to discover any invasion plans. Must recover a large shipment of white linen (which you claim to be used for underwear) from Boxers. Insult the German player behind his back.
Germany: Cannot enter the British Legation. Cannot fire in support of British troops. Help re-capture the Italian Legation to ensure alliance. Take any opportunity to insult the French. Recover the body of the Baron to give the bargaining chip to Austrians.
Austria: Re-capture the Austrian Legation. Engage the Imperial Chinese to avenge the death of the Baron. Enter the Forbidden City. Recover a keg of sugar captured by Boxers for pastries. Must defend the French from insults at every opportunity.
Japan: Have troops enter the Russian Legation or capture the Baroness. Prevent any European troops from entering the Forbidden City. In the tradition of the Samurai, you must have one Banzai Charge. Must insult every European power at least once.
Italy: Re-Capture Legation. Not allowed to enter the French Legation. Defending the German Legation can ensure a treaty with Germany. Recover a shipment of linguini held in the corner outside of the Forbidden City. Must insult the French at every opportunity.
Spain: Will not fire in support of any US troops. Enter the American Legation and steal documents. In the tradition of Cortez and the Conquest, you have decided to use the rebellion as an excuse to steal a priceless gem. Insult the American command at every opportunity.
Dutch: Prevent the engagement of the Imperial Chinese forces. Clear the walls of all enemy units. Make sure translators are not captured. A crate of tulip bulbs is lost to the Boxers. You need to recover it to introduce at the Imperial Court.
European Gentlemen: Protect all diplomats. If no supply for the turn the unit is -1 HTH, Morale and Fire. Prevent any troops from entering the Forbidden City. You wish to throw a huge victory party and you need any three of the following: linguini, alcohol, linen, tea or sugar.
Supply Cards: Each turn determine the number of supply cards you wish to give the British player to pass out. On the average I recommend giving them three less cards than active Legation players. (Note: you want the Great Powers to work together but also have their own interest in mind. This gives the Boxers more of a level playing field.)
RANDOM EVENTS
Every turn, the GM should draw from the Random Event Deck and apply the results. You may, as the GM, force some events to happen based on the flow of the game. So you could say the events are not really that random. Here is the deck I have created for the game:
Rumor of Japanese Beheadings: enrages Boxer:+l Morale, +1 Charge, +1 HTH. (2 cards in deck)
Canal Flooded; Foot Bridge Destroyed: Units may only cross at bridges. (2 cards in deck)
Reinforcements Arrive: Roll at random to see what nationality arrives. (3 cards in deck)
Fires Break Out at Random Location: (2 cards in deck)
Low Ammo: No Chinese artillery fire this turn. (3 cards in deck)
Local's Rush To Help Boxers: Boxers may increase 2 units to full strength. (2 cards in deck)
Rumors That Western Devils Have Invaded the Forbidden City: all Boxer and
Imperial Chinese units are -1 HTH, -1 morale this turn only. (2 cards in decks)
Tartar Cavalry Arrives: roll at random to see where.
Fires Subside At Either Italian or Austrian Legation. 1-3 Italian, 4-6 Austrian.
Bessie Gun Explodes and Kills All Crew.
Imperial Chinese Units Can Advance.
What Have We Here?: All Powers supplied this turn.
Imperial Forces Recalled. See judge for details.
Low Supplies: Only five European powers receive supplies this turn.
Huzzah!: All European powers receive +1 Morale, +1 HTH this turn only
Relief Column Delayed: All Great Powers are -1 Morale, -1 HTH for this turn only.
Relief Column Is Only Miles Away: +1 morale this turn only for all European powers.
Too Much!: Boxer units with 50% casualties are eliminated.
What? Fire Where?: Each Chinese artillery fires twice this turn only.
Word From the Front: Relief Column Turned Back. All Boxer units are +1 morale. +1 charge, +1 HTH for this turn only.
Rumors of Death of Prince Wu Tan: All Boxer and Imperial Chinese units are -1 morale, -1 HTH, -1 to charge this turn only.
ORDER OF BATTLE
IMPERIAL AND BOXER FORCES
600 Boxer figures broken down into units of 20.
120 Tiger Men figures broken down into units of 20.
300 Imperial Chinese figures broken down into units of 10.
4 Imperial Artillery units with 4 crew each
1 Boxer Figure designate as Prince WU TAN. The overall leader of the Boxers.
Also for Reinforcements 10-20 figures of Tartar Cavalry.
GREAT POWERS
England: 20 British Marines and 1 Maxim machine gun with 2 crew.
United States: 20 American Marines. 4 crew for the International gun (plus gun). Russia: 20 Russian Infantry.
France: 20 French Sailors.
Germany: 17 See Battalion and 3 civilians with rifles.
Austria: 20 Sailors and I Maxim machine gun with 3 crew.
Japan: 20 Japanese Marines
Italy: 20 Bersiglieri
Spain: 20 Spanish Infantry
Dutch: 10 Infantry with carbines and 10 civilians with rifles
European Gentlemen: 20 civilians armed with rifles.
10-12 Translators.
1 Baroness figure
Civilians (we use 25-30 civilians figures that we place around the table for color. These can be used at your own discretion)
The Relief Column and Reinforcements: Use more figures from each Great Power except the Dutch & European Gentlemen. In ours, we have Bengal Lancers, Russian & Japanese Cavalry, Artillery and Infantry & Sailors for each nationality.
Other items you will need for the game:
Boxes and crates for the special items like the tea and sugar. You will also need sand bags to place around the board for the Great Powers to use and barricades for placement on the top of the wall. Also, we have some empty carts-if you saw the movie you know what we use them for. Also from the movie-we created a wooden tower for the Boxers to push onto the wall from outside the quarter. This tower has two levels and tubes for which we have the Boxers fire rockets into the Legation Quarter before it hits the wall. We usually have this come in some time during the game when the Boxers could use it and drop it behind the line of Great powers on the wall.
GM NOTES
As the GM, you must control and drive the game. You will need at least one other GM, if not two. This event can handle up 25 players. At several points in the game, you will have to stop the Boxer attack. This is to give the Great Powers a chance to go accomplish other victory conditions on the cards. When you do this, you can have the Boxer units pull back to a point on the table and replace all the casualties in the units. For the Great Powers, roll a d6 for each casualty and on a roll of 4-6, he can bring the figure back onto the table.
Give a few turns before you let the Boxer attack again. As the GM, use your discretion for how long of a break you want to have. In the real siege, the Boxers did not attack continually so this represents the feel of history and helps provide some game balance. If the Boxers were allowed to attack non-stop, then the Great Powers do not stand a chance. When picking players to command, use some good judgment. Most commands do not matter with the following two exceptions. The British: you want a very strong player in that spot because they are in overall control of the Great Powers with supply and the biggest Legation but they have to be able to withstand the constant whining from the other players about supply and the grim situation they face. The second position is the overall Imperial Commander. You need someone with a plan and that will help you drive the Boxer players to move quickly.
Allow for creative play. I always say "Ask me if you want to do something because the worst I can say is no."
The Relief Column only comes in at the end of the game. There is no point having the Relief Column in the game because the Boxers will not stand a chance. Also when you bring in the column to call the game, assess the situation and see how well either side has done to determine a victory.
MODIFICATIONS TO THE SWORD AND THE FLAME GAME
We use the Boxer rebellion expansion for The Sword and the Flame.
We do not pull cards for casualties. The leaders are the last figures to die in the unit. This helps speed up the combat system. Also for the Great Powers, we let leader figures fire like the rest of the unit until short range then they can use pistols if they wish.
We also allow if you move up to a barricade and it is uncontested instead of moving over it you can remove it for the turn.
All Boxer units can fire only 25% of the unit rounding down. This saves time and makes it easier to reconstitute units. The Boxers are designed to get into HTH, not sit back and fire.
For the Great Powers, if they are hit during any kind of missile fire roll, give them a saving throw. Roll a d6 and on a 4-6, the hit is ignored, 1-3 it is actually a casualty.
For the Great Powers, allow them to break up into multiple units. They can split the figures in the unit anyway they want. This helps to cover more ground, achieve multiple victory conditions, etc. They take morale, though, as 1 unit as per the rules.
For the Boxers, as figures are eliminated, place them on a side table and when you have 20 replace, the unit on the table. Try to keep the number of units even on both ends of the table. This goes for the Tiger Men also.
The Imperials do not get saving throws or get reconstituted.
All machine guns do roll to jam. All Artillery units also roll to jam. If the International Gun jams 2 turns in a row, it explodes and kills all the crew.
Supply cards: If a Great Power does not have a supply card for the turn, all their figures move at a half rate & fire at a half rate rounding down.
MAP NOTES
The original size of the game was on a 6x12 table. We enlarged it to accommodate more figures and spread out things more to be accurate. In all the open spaces we placed a combination of houses, rubbled out sections, temples, statues, and trees. The Forbidden City is down the road from the Chien Men Gate.
The Gatehouse can open and close the gate. The gate can also be open from below on the inside of the gate.
55 Days in Peking The Making of a Mega Colonial Game
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© Copyright 2004 Hal Thinglum
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