Valentine Boxers

There are two kinds of wargamers - those who wargame on Valentine's Day, and those who don't. At least four of us fit into he former camp, because that's how many of us there were at last night's Gong Garage Gamers session.

Ralph and Bryan played Flames of War. Caesar and I played HOTT, using my Boxer Rebellion matched pair.

In the first game I took the Foreign Devils, and attacked Caesar's Boxers:

The main fight was in front of a small village, as Caesar's troops assaulted a line held by British naval troops and Russian infantry:

Interlude - Flames of War. Russian Front. Some gorgeous Germans in play, based in dug-outs and defensive positions. I didn't take any pictures of them. Take my word for it.

Back to the Boxers - the Americans and Italians shot down the Boxer Magician, exposing the Boxer flank:

The Boxers ended up attacking in an echelon formation:

Back to Flames of War, where Ralph was demonstrating (once again) how to get tanks blown up. Apparently the end result was a close-run thing, but the Russians lost.

Meanwhile the Foreign Devils had a big hole in their line, with both the Russians, Japanese and some British marines having fallen:

It was, however, the Boxer's high-water mark - Bishop Favier took on the mighty Peking Boxers, who retreated through some of their lesser brethren, destroying them and giving the Foreign Devils a close-fought victory:

We swapped sides. The Boxers defended again:

I went for a concentrated assault. The odds weren't with me, but Caesar had a strong line and I couldn't see a better way of forcing the issue:

Most of my attacks were repulsed, but the Warlord broke through as the Japanese infantry failed to stem his assault:

The battle shifted round through 90 degrees as the Warlord boldly took on the Bengal Lancers and the Tigermen moved in on the Foreign Devils' naked ladies:

The Lancers are destroyed. Lucky really, as they're Knights and could make life hard for the Warlord who is a Warband:

Bishop Favier defeats the Peking Boxers again:

And then moves off to rescue the rest of the army:

He kills the Red Lantern Auxiliary (Magician) to win the game for the Foreign Devils again. But it was a close fight - had he lost this combat the Foreign Devils would have been defeated:

In neither game did the Boxers get their God on. I didn't roll a single '6' for PIPs, and Caesar chose not to deploy the God when he did.

Extra: This week has been Chinese New Year, so this was an appropriate pair of armies to use, really.