Manchu Gold:
Battle Report

Warlord Wars of China
20th Century

by Mike Huskey

The following is a short battle report of a recent game our local group engaged in using a variation of some rules by Matthew Sparkes and 15mm figures painted up as Chinese Warlord Armies of 1916-28. We fought on a table 9'X 5'.

Terrain included a large river split into two major branches crossed by a total of six bridges; a couple of ridgelines; a city; three villages; a railroad track running across the table and through the city; and five wooded areas.

The plot for the battle was fictional although with a slight basis of fact as background. One warlord actually did try to put the Mahchu Emperor back on the throne after the Republic was already in power for awhile, but received very little support and the coup fell apart quickly. From that grain of truth I developed the scenario.

The defending player (Mike S.) played the rebels, a remnant of the failed coup plotters, who were holding a small city some distance from the capital where the real action had taken place. The rebel player knew that other warlord forces would be coming at him from three directions on the map and the only other side of the board he could not flee off of. Supposedly that led to the capital where mobs of Chinese citizens were looking for any rebels to kill!

His ace in the hole though was that he had possession of a hunk of the ancient Manchu gold reserve, loaded up in heavy crates on some trucks. His force of three regular battalions, two batteries and some militia would be gravely outnumbered. He was told, however, that he did have an armored train coming to help rescue him and his money later into the game. His victory conditions were to have the command survive the game (his personal command stand) and to keep as much of the gold as he could. His troops were considered expendable - one could always recruit more later; manpower was not an issue in China.

He could get the gold off by train or by truck but only off a railroad line or road on three of the four sides of the table. He could try to get the gold off by himself or arrange a deal with an enemy warlord. To communicate with the other players, an officer figure would have to be touching another officer by their stands. He remarked that things looked pretty bad for him and his rebels. I pointed out that he volunteered for that command in the game.

Coming from three sides were three other warlord factions (Dave F., Dennis K., and myself who ended up playing because another guy couldn't make it). They weren't outright enemies but also had the victory conditions of survival and getting a chunk of that gold. In the prebattle conference, it was decided who would approach from which direction and that "we would meet over his dead body to share the gold" Yeah, right!

To stir things up further, I then informed Dave F. that it was he who really controlled the armored train when it came on the table as the train commander had switched sides and joined the victors in the coup. But the rebel had no idea of this happening - he still awaited his rescuer, the train!

The battle turned out to be areal close one and very exciting, with the players enjoying the game, not arguing and a fun evening was had by all!

One warlord came on from the east side of the table and could place his support fire weapons on a couple of good ridges, but had to try to come directly over a railroad bridge (although he did ignore another bridge further to the north) to get into the city. He sent two battalions across into the teeth of heavy fire and both soon were shot to pieces.

I came up from the south and had the first airplane available in the game. I immediately used it to strike at the warlord (Dave F) coming in from the west, trying to knock out the railbridge on that side of the city while killing some of his advancing infantry. However, a random event caused the plane to develop catastrophic engine trouble and crash into the riverbank!

The rebel warlord tried sending an officer and part of a unit with a white flag of truce to the western warlord but Dave let him get close and then opened up with small arms fire. Negotiations immediately fell apart.

I sent an armored car ahead with a white flag waving from it's turret and the rebel wisely did not open fire. Meanwhile heavy fighting was going on in the west side of the city as the western Warlord's troops crossed the river into the city districts. The train then came on the table as well, and when Mike S. tried to use it to fire with it's two cannon turrets on his enemies, Dave then informed him that it wouldn't do such a thing because it was now in his pay. Needless to say, the rebel was not happy.

The eastern Warlord's assault got even worse now as I had sent a battalion against the ridgeline with his artillery battery on it to take it at the point of bayonet. My cunning plan fell apart then when his cavalry regiment thundered upslope and a huge melee occurred about the battery. The guns however were now silenced.

Another airplane bombed the train and hit it but did some damage only. The western Warlord's machineguns however shot it down as it swooped low for it's bomb run.

By now the trucks with the precious gold reserve had made their way out of the city proper by a road toward the south. My troops and the rebel forces linked up and prepared to leave the south end of the table - the long end. The eastern Warlord was not much of a threat anymore but the western fellow was moving infantry and even a slow tank down roads to try to engage.

Then an air attack by another plane damaged the truck. The way the rules work for vehicles is that they can take six damage before being knocked out, but they must roll higher than the accumulated damage to move that turn and you roll once each turn. In other words, if my vehicle has three damage, it must get a 4-6 on a D6 to move. Well, the rebel truck had accumulated four damage so needed a 5-6 to move.

Even as the desperate enemy closed in, the rebel managed to roll a 5-6 each time he needed and just made it off the board - ending a tense hard-fought battle! We had agreed to split the gold 50-50, but the rebel won by a few VP's in other categories so the very guy who thought he had no chance wound up winning the game! You just never know.

Our random event cards brought extra fun to the rules. In one example, my artillery battery covering my assault suddenly decided to simply leave for home and left the battle to my in antry. Another infantry battalion found itself with ammo for its rifles which didn't fit and silenced its fire. The best example was when the armored train chugged over the eastern railroad bridge and another player played the bridge sabotage card. The train then did a River Kwai water entry to the throaty cheers of all but one player.

Hope this battle report was interesting for the readers. Speaking for myself, I always enjoy reading other people's battles and campaigns. I just wish more wargamers and their clubs would write up battle/campaign reports and contribute them to MWAN. Come on, you guys, let's hear from you.

More Chinese Warlords

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© Copyright 1999 Hal Thinglum
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