15mm Boxer Rebellion Americans

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One of my strong interests is Asian history and particularly the history of the culture clashes and colonial conflicts of the 19th and early 20th Century. Another is wargaming and modelling miniature figures. Therefore it's only natural that I combine the two.

The so-called "Boxer Rebellion" was a conflict between China and several colonial powers in the year 1900. It stemmed from resistance to outside influence by the Chinese as well as the direct effects of colonial powers seizing control of parts of Chinese territory during the nineteenth century.  When a secret society with mystical teachings and a belief in their own mystical powers and invulnerability rose up and began destroying foreign technology such as telegraph lines and railroad tracks as well as massacring foreign missionaries and their Chinese converts, several nations sent troops to put an end to the uprising. (The Chinese government itself, early on, sent troops to put down this movement, although later the government supported them.)

This secret society was known as Yi-he-chuan (義和拳) which translates as "The Fists of Harmonious Righteousness" or Yi-he-tuan (義和團)  "The Society of Harmonious Righteousness." It's members studied martial arts although historians question how skilled they actually were and how much of their style was based in fact and how much in fantasy. (not an uncommon problem for all martial artists in all periods of history and all countries, by the way.) Because of their martial arts training, Westerns called them "Boxers" as they were said to be practicing "Chinese boxing," the common term at the time for what we now refer to as "kung fu." 

When the Boxers surrounded and besieged the foreign embassy complex in Beijing, a complex whose presence, by the way, had been imposed on the Chinese against their will, and the Chinese military assisted them in this siege, a large relief expedition was sent.

15mm tall figures of United States Marines supported by a US Army gatling gun. The figures are mostly from Old Glory 15s but some are from Frontier Miniatures, a company that ceased production years ago. They were painted by the author.

There were eight foreign powers that participated militarilly in the Boxer Uprising, although the bulk of the troops came from Japan, the British Empire, the Russian Empire, and the United States. Many of the US troops came from the nearby Philipines where the US was trying to pacify and maintain and improve control of territory seized from the Spanish in the War of 1898. Many Filipinos who had fought and worked for independence from Spain now worked and fought for independence from United States control instead. It was an ugly and long conflict. 

15 mm American force for the Boxer Rebellion.My entire force, several units of infantry, a large quantity of artillery, and a unit of cavalry as well as two mounted officers. Aside from 20 Marines from Frontier and the lone gatling gun which came from Miniature Figurines, the remainder of the figures come from Old Glory 15s. Old Glory 15s has a very nice range of figures for the period although they do not produce automatic weapons such as gatling guns. The ruler shows scale. All figures were painted by the author. 

US 6th Cavalry -a regiment of US troops participated in the conflict

American infantry, marines and artillery. A battery of artillery known as "Riley's Battery" participated in the conflict with honors. They also fought in the Philipines.

Book review -Reconnaissance and Bomber Aces of World War 1, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces -123

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Reconnaissance and Bomber Aces of World War 1, Osprey Aircraft of the Aces -123.  Written by John Guttman, and Illustrated by Harry Dempsey.

Scope – Narrow, focuses on a very specific subject.

Completeness – Amazingly so.

Appeal –limited to a specific audience. 

Accuracy –Although I’m not able to judge, considering that it’s the author’s 18^th book on world war one aviation related subjects, it’s probably incredibly accurate.

Years ago, in high school, a friend of mine and I used to mock the Osprey books we saw in the hobby stores because of the obscurity and limitedness of some of their titles. Although we were snot-nosed teenagers unwittingly displaying our ignorance, this is exactly the sort of book we would target.  This 96 page book focuses, as the title says, on aces, people who shot down five or more enemy planes, while serving in the larger planes of the era, the ones with two man or larger crews. These larger planes were not intended to be used as fighters but instead, as the title indicates, were assigned to reconnaissance or bombing duties. Nevertheless, these planes and their crews often saw direct combat with enemy aircraft and a surprising number of their crewmembers became aces. This book tells the little known story of the world war one fighter aces who served in these large planes.

If this subject interests you, ignore any mocking teenagers who see no value in it. If this subject interests you, then this book should make you very, VERY happy indeed. 

Divided by nation, this book covers aces from the military air units of France, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., Germany and Austro-Hungary. (Apparently these were the only nations who had people who became aces while flying multiperson crewed planes.)  

For each nation it discusses the planes that were used and their weaponry. (No surprise to Osprey fans.) This was interesting. For instance, I was very surprised to learn at how often, particularly when a machine gun would jam, a crewman would pull out a carbine and start firing at enemy planes and crew.

But, perhaps more interestingly, this book attempts to provide a brief biography of almost every Reconnaissance and bomber ace of the First World War. These are generally fascinating. We learn where people were born, how they came to be part of the crew of one of these planes, and, if they survived the war, where they went to next and what they did with the rest of their lives.  We learn of French aces who spent their senior years trying to sort out the division of their country into Vichy and Free French forces, Austro-Hungarians being involved in Czech independence, Americans chasing wild flying feats to earn prizes offered by pineapple tycoons, and more.  As would be expected many of these men had fascinating lives both before and after the war. –they were world war one flying aces after all, and one can’t get more exotic and exciting than that.  

Bad Native American maps and politics

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Perhaps you've heard of this new thing called "the internet"? It's a global technology system that is used to spread, among other things, pornography and misinformation, as well as "memes" where people reinforce their own political and religious views, and here's an example.

I'm not going to worry about the politics too much. They are, for better or worse, not too far from my own. But is the map correct? Is it a true and accurate representation of America before Columbus's arrival?      --absolutely not!

The more one looks, the more problems one finds. What the heck is the "Apache Empire"? And how could such an entity exist when the Apaches lacked a centralized government?

The Aztecs are portrayed as having a huge empire, when books such as Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control , by Ross Hassig (1995, University of Oklahoma Press) explain very clearly why they never had an empire this huge. (hint, logistics is tricky. Logistics without beasts of burden is even trickier.)  And why in the world are the Aztecs and the Olmecs shown as co-existing at the same time?

As for the Iroquois Confederacy, although it is properly named, it stretches too far to the west.

So what the heck is this thing? And why is it dated 2015, another major tip off?  

Noting these things, I went to snopes. ( Snopes  ) They uncovered the source. A hobbyist of some kind decided to make an imaginary map of a North America that was never discovered by Europeans and this was the result.  .