Keep Up The Fire!: The Boxer Rebellion

About this board game

Keep Up The Fire!: The Boxer Rebellion is a solitaire States of Siege game for 1 player, designed to play in about 50 minutes. Set in 1900 Peking, modern-day Beijing, it recreates the siege of the Foreign Legations during the Boxer Rebellion.

Chinese anti-imperialist forces known as the Boxers, together with the Imperial Manchu forces of the Qing Army, are determined to expel the foreigners from China. Your task is to coordinate the foreign detachments defending the Legation Compound until help arrives.

At the same time, you command the Relief Column as it fights inland from the port of Taku through hostile territory. To succeed, you must defend the Compound while battling your way toward Peking and breaking the siege before time runs out.

• Defend the Foreign Legations against relentless Chinese attacks.
• Command the Relief Column on its route from Taku to Peking.
• Race against limited time to bring the two efforts together.
• Play solo or work cooperatively as a team representing the Eight Nations.

The game can also be enjoyed by teams, who decide together how best to protect the Legation Compound and get the Relief Column to Peking in time. Its complexity is rated 2.5 out of 9, while its solitaire suitability is rated 9 out of 9.

Keep Up The Fire! also offers an educational dimension: five standards-based lesson plans are available for classroom teachers. At the stated scale, each unit represents one Chinese or Legation unit, or one International Gun.