Peking - 1900

 Something over a year ago, I got the wild idea to build the Legation Quarter in Peking for the Boxer Uprising. The inspiration for this project was a map I found drawn by 1st Lt. H. B. Ferguson, U.S. Army Engineers, Peking Relief Expedition, 1901.

Now, I knew that I could not do a 1 to 1 representation, as the main street would only be 3/4" wide and buildings would be even smaller. So here is what I came up with:

The black grid lines show 1'x1' squares, which are the size of the MDF boards I've got to do the base. The Magenta lines show the grid lines for the 11"x17" paper that I printed it out on.

I figured out that mounting everything on 1' square MDF wouldn't really work out so far as storage goes, so I re printed everything and mounted each contiguous block on 2mm floor tiles, which is a better solution as I can make the same block as both destroyed and whole then swap them out, if needed.

 

Here is the mostly completed Legation Quarter. It is what is needed to do the siege proper, starting on June 20, with the major areas labelled.  However, after reading "Women Of The Siege - Peking 1900", by Susanne Hoe, it turns out that there were some interesting events going on in the weeks prior to the 20th that would make for interesting problems. So, I will also be building up the area south of the Tartar Wall (the foreground in the above picture).

But, for now, I will elaborate on the areas that were the main focus of the siege.

Here is a view looking south from the Imperial City walls. On the far left is the Su Wang Fu, which will be talked about later, next is the British Legation and the Imperial Carriage park. On the far right are buildings of the Yamen, Chinese governmental buildings. The British Legation housed most of the foreign ministers and their families during the siege and would have been the last defense, if things would have come to that. There were several attacks on the British Legation throughout the siege, many from the carriage park next door. These attacks mainly included sniping and attempts to undermine the walls of the legation complex.

 Directly to the north of the British Legation is the Han Lin Library, which was burned by the Chinese, destroying many priceless objects that were stored there. The Han Lin University complex was also a scene of much fighting which also saw the mostly British defenders attempt to save what they could from the Han Lin. 

 

This shot looks north over one of the larger bastions of the Tartar Wall, showing the Russian Legation (top center)  and the American Legation (middle center). Also of note is the Water Gate (far right under the wall). The Russians defended the western end of Legation Street (running east/west) and saw their share of action there. The Americans defended the road directly behind the wall, the bastion at the top of the wall, and the Water Gate. Keeping the wall clear of Chinese was a major effort, as Chinese guns mounted on top could shoot down anywhere into the legations.

The Dutch Legation, on the south side of Legation Street (on the left of the picture) was evacuated prior to the siege proper. The Water Gate is where the British forces of the relief column entered Peking upon their arrival.

Again, looking north from the Tartar Wall, are the Spanish Legation, the Japanese Legation, The Peking Hotel, and the French Legation, on the north side of Legation Street. The German Legation is on the south side of Legation Street in the center of the shot. I've found no mention of any Spaniards participating in any actions during the siege. The Japanese, along with the Italians were tasked with defending the Su Wang Fu. Both the French and German Legations were hotly contended during the siege, in fact, half the French Legation was destroyed when the Chinese exploded a mine underneath it.

The Hotel De Pekin (on the north side of Legation Street, in the center of the shot) was owned by a Swiss national, Auguste Chamot and his American wife Annie Elizabeth. During the quasi-siege, the Chamot's, together, led two rescue missions; one to rescue some Belgian railroad workers outside of Peking and the second to rescue Chinese Christians and European missionaries from the South Cathedral, south of the Tartar Wall. 

In addition to rescuing stranded Christians and Europeans, the Chamots also ran flour mills and bakeries to keep the legations supplied in bread. Annie, an excellent sharpshooter, also did her turn at the barricades and took out several Chinese snipers.

The French Legation is in the center of this shot. The Italian Legation is to the right of the French Legation. To the north of the Italian Legation is the Methodist mission. Both were occupied through the quasi-siege, but after the murder of Baron von Ketteler, these people were moved inside the final lines. The Germans were tasked with holding this end of the Tarter Wall.

This is the Su Wang Fu, or "The Fu". The Chinese Christians were housed here. The Japanese and Italians were tasked with defending "The Fu". Some of the toughest fighting during the siege took place here. The Boxers and Imperial Chinese were able to break in to "The Fu" but were ousted by determined counter attack. Captain Shiba was instrumental in the defense of "The Fu"

This is a look, from east to west, down Legation Street. The Italian Legation is the large building on the right. There will be barricades on the far side of the intersection. The Chinese will also be building barricades on their side of the lines.

Here is an "aerial" view bordered by the Tartar Wall on the left and Legation Street on the right.  There will also be barricades on top of the wall, between the wall and the American and German Legations, and across Legation Street.

This is a picture to give the viewer some idea of the scale. The figures on the wall are 15mm Kansu Braves. The entire table is 8' north and south and 6' east to west. All of the buildings are cardstock models designed by myself and colored by Patrick Wilson. Some of the destroyed structures are 3D prints. The walls (Tartar and Imperial City Wall) are foamcore covered with a brick pattern. The legation walls are from Fat Dragon Games - EZ Dungeon series.

The next steps are to define the tables that will determine the scenarios.

I hope you like what I've done.

Thank you for looking in.