The Siege of Port Arthur

The Siege of Port Arthur, just before midnight on February 8, 1904, the Russian fleet based at Port Arthur, on the southern tip of the Kwantung Peninsula, was attacked by Japanese torpedo boats, elements of Admiral Togo's fleet. The attack having been made prior to a declaration of war, the Russians were taken by surprise. Thirty - seven years later, Pearl Harbor became the focal point of the same type of treachery.

General Nogi, Commander of the Japanese Third Army, was sent reeling back with 15,000 casualties after his first headlong assault on the newly constructed, although archaically designed fortresses...a tragic surprise for the man who had easily taken the town from the Chinese in 1894. Five long months of trench fighting finally delivered the costly prize.

The capture of Port Arthur was of urgent need for the fulfillment of the Japanese "grand plan". First, it would deny an ice - free port to the Russian fleet. Second, it would keep lines of communication free between Japan and Manchuria. Third, a quick victory without excessive losses would give the Third Army to Marshal Oyama in the field to crush the Russian Army before it could build up to an overwhelming strength. All this had to be done before Japan ran out of soldiers, and, more important, money!

The Siege of Port Arthur was chosen as the topic of this game for two main reasons. First, it expressed a desire to see a game equipped with an in - depth prepared defense system in which one side is totally defensive and the other totally offensive. Second, the Russo-Japanese War was a sneak preview of things to come.

The American Civil War and the Crimean War have been billed as the dawn of modern warfare, but the Russo-Japanese War took this one step farther and showed the world the devastation accompanying such warfare. The use of heavy artillery, hand grenade, electrified fence, barbed wire, trenches and, a new twist, gas, was on display for the military leaders of Europe to observe, evaluate, and use nine years later in Flanders and along the Marne. The German observation team at Port Arthur recognized the benefit of heavy artillery and encouraged its development much to the dissatisfaction of the French Army in 1915.

Game comes in a zip-lock bag. Features killing zones for hand-to-hand combat, Russian naval gunfire and Japanese siege guns, counter-battery fire. The blue dots on the map are the objective hexes and features Fort Cha Kua Tzu.

Game Scale: Game Turn: undefined Hex: approximately .25 miles / 402 meters Units: Company to Battalion

Game Inventory: One 17 x 22" three color map One single-side printed countersheet (255 1/2" counters - 60 of which are blank) One 12-page rulebook

Solitaire Playability: High Complexity Level: Medium Players: 2 or more Playing Time: 2-3 hours