Once again, the Boxer Legation siege game was quite a hit at the convention. Unfortunately, Kaiser Bill was unable to attend this year so we couldn’t use his lovely terrain nor did we have enough stuff for a “double-game”, so I used all my own setup and we ran a regular, single game. In some ways, that was better—it made for quicker games (around an hour each) so we did more of them (3 on Saturday night, 2 on Sunday morning).

As was typical of our games, the Western powers had the upper hand, winning 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 (photo at right), 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 15 minutes. It is, however, a lot of work for the game master! Plenty of card flipping and taking figures on and off the table.

The thing I’m most proud of, however, is that this is one of the very few gaming projects I’ve ever done where I actually have completed everything I need to play the game: all the figures, scenery, buildings and accessories. I’m trying to do that with other games I’ve got and that’s part of what my gaming website will chronicle.

But if you’re going to be at the HMGS/PSW Fall Campaign 2010 convention in Glendale, California (in either October or November), be sure to stop in, say hello and play a game!

Click the photo to see a small gallery of photos from the final Sunday morning game (the only one I remembered to actually take pictures of!):