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The Boxer Rebellion in Beijing
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Author |
File Description |
Meat Puppet |
Posted on 01/09/05 @ 08:50 PM
NOTE: This scenario was designed using the RON Thrones & Patriots scenario editor, without custom scripting.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND: The year is 1900. The Empress of China has long suffered the demands of the European powers, who have carved up the country into commercial spheres of influence. A peasant movement, called the Boxers, or the "Righteous and Harmonious Fists," has risen up to rid the land of foreign devils.
From the website: http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/CHING/BOXER.HTM
"The Boxers ... were a religious society that had originally rebelled against the imperial government in Shantung in 1898. They practiced an animistic magic of rituals and spells which they believed made them impervious to bullets and pain. The Boxers believed that the expulsion of foreign devils would magically renew Chinese society and begin a new golden age. Much of their discontent, however, was focussed on the economic scarcity of the 1890's. They were a passionate and confident group, full of contempt for authority and violent emotions."
See that website for more historical information about the Boxer Rebellion. What made it interesting is that the European powers and the Americans and Japanese found their embassies under siege by hordes of Boxers. Soon, the Imperial Army would join the fight against the foreign barbarians. This ragtag international force held off all Boxer assaults for 55 days until an international relief force came to their rescue.
GAME SETTING/PLAYERS: You start in your walled embassy district as the Americans, along with the British and Japanese. Your walls are protected by forts. Your embassy is your capital. The same goes for the British and Japanese, your allies. You have also have some Russian and French troops in the embassy area. The luckless German embassy troops and staff have been caught outside the walls and will likely be massacred by the Boxers. You start in the middle of a major attack by the Boxers. They will come at you with everything.
Way down south, across a river, you have another city and some troops. The same for the British and Japanese. This represents the advance of the relief column, which is currently exhausted for want of supply. You will have to man your farms and logging area to build resources to create an anchorage and build up your forces, in particular supply waggons, so that you can cross the river and begin the relief operation of the embassies.
Your antagonists are the Boxers (red) and the Imperial Chinese government (yellow), who are allies and who hold the city of Beijing that practically covers the entire map. Inside the city are several power centers--the Boxer-held areas and their capital, called the Boxer Weapons Depot--and the Imperial-held areas with several cities: Imperial Army, Government Ministries, Imperial Palace and Forbidden City (capital). The Boxers and the Imperial Army have primitive technology but will resist your forces fiercely.
VICTORY CONDITIONS: Take the Boxer Weapons Depot to defeat the Boxers, and the Forbidden City to defeat the Chinese government. If the Boxers take your embassy, you are defeated. This is a CAPITAL ELIMINATION/SUDDEN DEATH scenario. All the Boxers or Imperials have to do to defeat you is take your embassy.
RESOURCES: The river has fish, and there is salt and horses near the British Advance (city).
FUN MISSIONS: You can engage in special missions during this scenario. In the embassy area you have 2 commandos and 2 spies. There are supply depots around the western half of the city. If your commando can breach the walls of these supply depots, they can go inside and take a lot of resources that will help speed up the relief effort. However, it will take several dynamitings to take down a section of the wall of a supply depot, which means you will have to keep your commando(s) hidden. You can use your spies to take over enemy cannon that may breach your wall, or scout with them, or try to recruit enough forces to make a raid on the Boxer Weapons Depot (capital) and take them out of the game.
STRATEGY: The first thing you can do is simply sit back and enjoy the fireworks around the embassy, which is under siege by the Boxers. There isn't a lot you can do there--the Boxers are attacking and you are defending. Note you have reserves inside your embassy (capital) that you can call out if you need them. Defend your section of the wall, and let the other powers defend themselves. Meanwhile, you have a commando outside the city, a little south, near a supply depot. He can start breaching the wall. Your other commando and 2 spies are inside the embassy compound. The embassy compound is set up so that nobody can enter or leave it. But you can by entering a tower, then telling the tower to exit outside the embassy compound, and then exiting. So your spies and commandos (and other troops if you like) can sneak in and out of the embassy compound during lulls in the fighting.
After the initial Boxer assault, their attacks will peter off for a while. The Imperial Army will likely show itself, but while they will resist the relief columns fiercely, they will probably be timid about attacking the embassies. The Empress is still trying to ride a fine line by allowing her subjects to go to war with the Europeans, Americans and Japanese, while appearing to stay out of it herself.
Meanwhile, way down south across a river, you have a city called American Advance. You, the British and the Japanese must build up resources and start the relief effort. Your columns have made it to the walls of the city but can advance no farther due to lack of supply. Build up those resources to create merchants (for the salt and horse resources), caravans to trade with your allies, an anchorage so you can cross the river, and citizens.
You will see your allies, in desperation to rescue their people at their embassies, try to cross the river soon after the first big Boxer attack, and likely be destroyed. You must help them with your gunboats. Build your anchorage, then gunboats, and take down the fortresses and walls on the riverbank. The Chinese have no anchorages or ships on the river--you have already destroyed them.
Once you help clear the river of Chinese defenses and have built up a relief army supported by supply wagons, you can cross the river and start your attack. While you have a choice of left, center or right, it probably makes sense to roll up the left flank. Taking the Imperial Army city will get you the Terra Cotta Wonder and help reinforce your advance. The Imperial Army also has a supply depot in the area. Be certain that you have sufficient force before you cross the river, but do it as soon as possible--the embassies need you! Plus the British and Japanese will be crossing the river thanks to your gunboats, and seizing city centers themselves. You want to be first to reach the Forbidden City and teach the Empress a lesson, don't you?
MY THOUGHTS: I really enjoyed play-testing this scenario because it has a little of everything in it, in my opinion.
GLITCH: You may find with the number of units on the map that things can occasionally get laggy. I had to go from normal speed to slow or very slow until the lag ended. You may experience more or less lag than I did based on what kind of computer you have. I tried my best to tone things down, but this is my best effort. So this map may not be for everybody. Give it a try and see.
THANKS FOR PLAYING: Thanks for playing this scenario and I hope you have a good time with it.
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Author | Comments ( All | Comments Only | Reviews Only ) |
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Lord Of Legends |
Posted on 01/15/05 @ 06:24 AM
Quite good - I had fun with it, can't wait to see what else you think of![Edited on 01/16/05 @ 10:14 AM]
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Added: | 01/09/05 |
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