Combat Captain is a set of free wargames rules in which the basic unit is a company consisting of up to eight squads. Author David Raybin says that the rules “allow a high degree of flexibility in unit activity during a turn. The idea is simplicity of play so the game will move along to a satisfactory conclusion in under three hours.”
The Miniature Wargaming Editor
Taiping Rebellion Game
Here are a few photos from our group’s Taiping Rebellion game. We used a modified Bolt Action for the rules. It worked ok, but I think that there are better choices than Bolt Action for multi player games. All figures and terrain painted by Brad N.
Click on the photos to embiggen.
The Taiping Rebellion was a Chinese civil war that lasted from 1850 to 1864, and that likely lead to more than 30 million dead. Some estimates place the casualties as high as 100 million, which would make it the deadliest war in human history. The Taiping Rebellion began when the Qing dynasty decided to suppress a cult led by an obscure bureaucrat who claimed to be the younger brother of Jesus Christ. The “God Worshipping Society” fought back and the local uprising spread became a war to not only overthrow the Qing, but also to overturn the existing social, economic and political order in China. Eventually, western forces become involved, including those lead by Frederick Townshend Ward and Charles “Chinese” Gordon.
A great read on the Taiping Rebellion is Autumn in the Heavenly Kingdom. My own take after reading the book was that if it wasn’t true, no one would believe it.
Dressing Up Christmas Village Houses
This time of year, there are a lot of great bargains on Christmas Village model houses. The problem is that they’re so … Christmassy.
The Santa Cruz wargames blog has an article on how to convert those Christmas village houses to something more usable in wargames.
Camerone: Rules For Captain Danjou’s Last Stand
Here are a set of rules for recreating the 1963 battle of Camerone between the French Foregin Legion and the Mexican Army.