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Wargaming for Grown Ups announce their latest innovative and original set of tabletop wargames rules, and it's for another period most people won't have heard of (unless they've read Flashman and the Dragon). Following on from the philosophy that generic rules are not always suitable for niche periods, these rules cover the turbulence in China in the mid-19th Century, from c. 1840 to c. 1865.
During this period, the Qing dynasty faced serious threats both internally and externally, and barely managed to survive them, as the Western powers levered open China's closely controlled borders and ports in the name of trade, whilst a group of pseudo-Christians, led by a man who thought he was Jesus' brother tried to overthrow the emperor and drag the Celestial Kingdom into the modern world.
Using a gridded playing area and innovative rules, Taiping Era enables games at a Divisional level and above, with the lowest level of resolution being battalion or "ying". The game has unique mechanisms not previously seen in a set of rules for army level combat, which have been devised and adapted specifically for the period and the region, and do not treat it as just another set of scenarios for generic colonial rules. Because of the use of a grid, the size of figures is irrelevant, and ranges are available in both 15mm and 28mm (from Irregular and the Perry's respectively). The two British colonial adventures in China, often called the first and second Opium Wars are covered, but the rules were mainly written for the Taiping Rebellion, the largest war most people have never heard of, and the most bloody civil war ever fought.
Focusing primarily on the various armies "will to fight" – referred to in the rules as Moral Vigour – armies are also differentiated by their type of drill and their weaponry in simple but distinctive ways.
The rules also include historical background, advice on figure availability, flags to scan, uniform guides for the later campaigns by Europeans and a bibliography.
The rules retail for £14.99 GBP, and are available from Amazon or as PDF download from Wargame Vault.
(If you want to know more, there's been some chat over on the 19th Century Battle Reports Board, as the rules were developed. Pictures too!).
