Taiping Era – A Review

It was with some pleasure that I received my coping of Taiping Era written by Graham ‘Trebian’ Evans. It is billed as Tabletop wargame rules for land conflicts in mid-19^th Century China.  These are indeed provided as well as a brief history, flag and uniform information and the all-important armament, organisation and training detail for the combatants.  There’s more too as you might expect from a publication that runs to 93 large pages.

We will get into the detail shortly.  First let’s acknowledge that Taiping Era will allow you to recreate the type of actions seen in the First and Second Opium Wars and the titanic struggle between Manchu dynasty and the Taiping.  The war between The Celestial Kingdom and The Heavenly Kingdom if you prefer.

The twin drivers of the rule system are Morale Vigour and Ever Decreasing Number Allocation (EDNA).  Don’t let unfamiliarity deter you.  These are simple but robust concepts that work without much effort on your part.

Morale Vigour is a mix of morale and ability and each unit gets a numeric value to reflect this.  The higher your troops MV the better they will perform. British or French Regulars will start with an MV of 9, Taiping with an MV of 7 and the worst of the Imperial infantry a lowly 3.  The allocation of the MV category is flexible and entirely in your hands.  Rate them as you see them.

Each MV rating comes with a specific dice type used to determine unit reaction when the heat is on. The unit will suffer if the dice roll exceeds its MV value. A Taiping unit with an MV of 7 will roll a D8- good odds of succeeding. A neglected unit of Green Standard garrison troops with an MV of 3 will roll a D6.  Well, you get the picture. 

You, of course can intervene through the actions of your Brigadiers and Divisional Commanders.

As a commander you will seek to make tactical decisions that keep your troops in good order.  You will try to get your deployment right; rally waverers and supply supports.

Illustrated Commander Cards with their varying abilities are very usefully  provided for all sides.

Attrition (EDNA), of various types, will still happen.  It will erode MV and performance will deteriorate. This means a unit’s MV will change as it encounters new circumstances or reacts to enemy action. 

You need to keep track of this.  The author stylishly uses Mah Jong tiles.  I’ll be using those handy Warbases dials, you could also use small dice or just write it on a roster.

Taiping Era uses a gridded playing surface.  This makes movement very simple and eliminates measuring.  Each grid square can only accommodate a given number of units.

Units comprise of four bases of infantry or cavalry and two of artillery.  There is no casualty removal in the game except when routers are pursued.  Units remain on the board until they rout off it. Combat is by base and armament effects performance.

It is perfectly possible to recreate the various types of formation favoured by Chinese armies of the period.  Jingal and tiger man skirmishers or mixed matchlocks and spears are catered for. On occasion Tai Ping veterans appeared on the battle field with modern rifles this too is accommodated. 

There is a whole section on the competing military systems.  Troops are always, as appropriate, using either Chinese or Western Drill. This is, I think, important the Chinese soldiers who faced the British and the French were regulars from a highly developed military tradition.  Taiping Era captures something of their ethos and abilities. 

There are two burning questions when reviewing rules. Will I get a good game and is it straightforward to learn?  To both of these I’d answer in the affirmative.  More, I’d say you will get a good flavour of the nature of command and combat in mid-19^th Century China.

Taiping Era costs £14.95 and is available from Amazon and The Wargames Vault as a pdf from the links below.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=taiping+era&i=stripbooks&crid=1PYVHPOJQYI3H&sprefix=taiping%2Cstripbooks%2C173&ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_7 

https://www.wargamevault.com/product/325030/Taiping-Era?manufacturers_id=16068