Taiping Era: Tabletop Wargame Rules for land conflict in mid-19th Century China

TAIPING ERA: TABLETOP WARGAME RULES FOR LAND CONFLICT IN MID-19TH CENTURY CHINA is the latest set of rules to flow from the pen of my old friend and fellow long-time member of Wargame Developments, Graham Evans AKA Trebian.

Like his previous book, IT'S GETTING A BIT CHILE: TABLETOP WARGAME RULES FOR LAND CONFLICT IN THE WAR OF THE PACIFIC 1879-1884, this book is far more than just another set of wargame rules. As its contents (which are listed listed below) shows, it contains enough background information for someone who has little or no knowledge of the period to read it and begin raising a number of small armies that can be used on the tabletop. As to the rules … well, they are designed to be used on a 6-inch squared gridded playing surface (a big plus in my book!) using 15mm-scale figures on 30mm wide bases. However, the rules can be used with large or smaller scale figures if the size of the grid squares is adjusted to match any changes to the size of the bases.

It is worth noting that the book and rules do not just cover the Taiping Rebellion, but also the:

• The First China War 1839-42 (The Opium War)
• The Taiping Rebellion 1851-64
• Nien Rebellion 1854-68
• Miao Rebellion 1855-72
• Panthay Rebellion 1855-73
• The Second China War 1855-73 (The Arrow War)

The book is divided into the following chapters:

• Introduction
• A Brief Military History of China in the mid-19th Century
• The Basics
• We need to talk about EDNA
• Troop Classifications
• Weaponry
• Figures, Scales & Formations
• Turn Sequence
• Movement
• Charges
• Firing
• Close Combat
• Routing, Retreating, Retiring and Rallying
• Commanders
• Winning & Losing
• Resources
• Order of Battle - China 1860
• Regimental Colours - British and French Infantry
• And Finally
• Index

I must admit that reading this book did make me think at least twice about adding some suitable figures to my own Colonial collection, but for the time being, that is on hold for the moment. I am sure that other wargamers will read this book and be similarly enthused to 'give it a try' ... and I don't think that they will be disappointed if they do!

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TAIPING ERA: TABLETOP WARGAME RULES FOR LAND CONFLICT IN MID-19TH CENTURY CHINA was written by Graham Evans, and published in 2020 by Wargaming for Grown Ups Publications (ISBN 979 8 672 01853 9).