HMGS / Pacific Southwest

Knock knock--the Boxers are here!

Yeah, okay, so that’s a rip-off of a movie title but it seems apropos to describe the miniature Boxer Rebellion siege game I ran again at the Spring Mini Wars. Without Kaiser Bill and his beautiful terrain, this time we used the “regular-size” game with a single legation compound attempting to hold out against waves of Boxers.

The nice thing about the regular game is that it plays fast–we had three games on Saturday Night and two on Sunday morning with each lasting around an hour. As is typical with this game, the western powers have the upper hand and won 4 out of 5 games. The final game on Sunday morning, however, was a glorious Chinese victory and an absolute bloodbath for the legation.

It was rather spectacular with the lone Japanese officer, Lieutenant Kuroda making his final stand on the steps of the legation, Katana in hand facing a horde of beautifully painted Tigermen. And the relief column had already been spotted (indicated by the Japanese mounted standard bearer), but alas it was too late. You couldn’t hope for a more picturesque scene—very Gordon at Khartoum…

This game always makes for a great convention event. It’s extremely easy to put together and run, the rules can be explained in five minutes, and the players have a grasp of what to do after another ten minutes. If you’re going to be at the HMGS/PSW Fall Campaign 2010 convention, be sure to stop in, say hello and play a game!

Click this link right here to view a small gallery of photos from the final Sunday morning game (the only one I remembered to actually take pictures of!)

Heroic death of Lt. Kuroda

Oh, and by the way–this year’s Spring Convention was GREAT! I’ve not seen that many people at one of our cons in a while–there were even 20 people there Friday night (and I don’t know if that’s ever happened before). I’m delighted to see the hard work of our current Chapter leadership and the many GMs and volunteers is paying off. Be sure to come out and support us again in the Fall when it will undoubtedly be even better!

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