Hi Everyone.
I did a quick forum search and didn't see anything (but may have missed it).
Have there been any announcements about expanding the forces of the Boxer Rebellion?
It would be great to see more forces available in plastic (and there are other uses for this period). Here are some photos (from Wikipedia):
Thanks.
Prussians, french, and british for this era are numerous. The prussian/german uniform matchesn the great war kit from this very company, and I can send you some links for very nice brits and frenchmen in those uniforms. Alas, I don't recognize the rest of the troops there.
@Randall I am pretty sure you can use the WW1 Russians (yes I know they don't have the fuzzy hats, but the saucer caps should work) and when they get released the WW1 Japanese for the Boxer Rebellion (in the later case they might work better for that Boxer Rebellion).
Digital has several kits they work for this. German Seebatalion is appropriate, as is the British Indian kit... aside from the niggling detail of being armed with the SMLE instead of Lee-Enfield Mk.1. Likewise, the Naval shore party kit is nearly perfect aside from the wrong rifle (Martini-Henry in this case).
The WW1 Japanese Infantry kit is good for Boxer too, and the Foreign Legion one is period appropriate. It should be good enough to be used for other French troops (and in particular has their pith helmet).
I seem to recall that there might have been contemporary sets on the schedules way back when this set was first released, but it's been a while, and if there were I'm not sure if WA is still developing them. I for one have been enjoying every release to appear in the "Imperial Conquests" and "Great War" lines, and hope to see many more sets from these eras!
There are bound to be details that are going to be "off", but seems to me that it surely wouldn't take much hand-waving to get something out of the Wargames Atlantic world-war sets for the French, Italians, Russians, Germans, and British.... Honestly, these five sets seem to me to be quite versatile for all sorts of uses covering that turn of the century up to the start of WWII!
I'd love to see one or more sets of Wargames Atlantic Americans for this general time period - imperial through WWI = but I bet you could find something out there somewhere for America from WWI or ACW that could be souped up for the Boxer Rebellion with a little imagination and maybe a bit of creative modeling and kitbashing.
The thing I would want to see the most would be Qing matchlockmen. The vast majority of Qing soldiers who had firearms were using matchlocks even up to the First Sino-Japanese war but all the firearms in the Boxer boxset are modern. Even if it was just an upgrade pack that included both the matchlocks and cartriage belts....
Other possible avenues of expansion could be Manchu mounted bannermen and Taiping Bretheren.
@thomas lapoint Now that is not a bad thought.
I would absolutely love to see some WA versions of more Boxer Rebellion troops.
First, there are many more options for Chinese - mounted boxers, imperial troops, mongols? Some of those could double duty for a Back of Beyond type use, and some, depending on weaponry, could be used as far back as say Opium Wars, Taiping Rebellion, etc.
Second, there are the European troops. There are a lot of interesting troops that took part in (for instance, and always popular with wargamers) the Peking Legation campaign. You could do Sailors (which would work for Italians, Austrians, etc. - all wore a common late 19th century Sailor outfit, just different headgear), French Marines, US Marines, German Marines, Russian Infantry (which also double for Russo-Japanese War), Japanese Infantry (also for Russo-Japanese War), Russian Cavalry, Japanese Cavalry, British infantry, British Royal Marine Light Infantry. A lot here to get all to, but something that WA could do, is a few sets, each covering troops for several of these options. I'm imagining something like a 30-40 figure box, split half and half between several different types of troops. Maybe 10 each of US, French, and German Marines. The players of small skirmish games, get one box and done. The "Sword and the Flame" players, could buy two boxes, and have 1 unit of each type. The serious gamers would get a half dozen boxes HAHAHAHA - sorry, got carried away with dreaming.
Of course, doing the nationalities separate is probably better for head, weapon, and pose options. Russians and Japanese would be perfect in 28mm, I know I'd go nuts, and you could do a box of infantry, a box of cavalry, and a box of command/MGs/Artillery for each of them. That would cover several good campaigns of the Boxer Rebellion, but would also open up the Russo Japanese War.
I don't need to tell you guys how to organize or schedule sets, all I'm saying is that I think more Boxer Rebellion is a great idea.
-Chuck
@Charles Turnitsa I think the WW1 sets for both Russia and Japan are supposed to cover the infantry for it, though mostly Japan's set given the last look I got.
