My journey through "The British Generals" by Mark Urban continues. Passing through the relatively familiar chapter on Wellington I come to General Gordon. From Taiping to Sudan, Egypt and back again. Er, an interesting fellow, certainly clever - well at times, a sapper and engineer by training - undoubtedly brave and driven by nothing short of a religious messianic zeal (see below, Mark Urban's book, a very nice little Covid distraction at the moment):
Colonial history is all new to me in so I am gaining more background, so I now know slightly more than a certain film with Charlton Heston in it and the two Matrix games put on by Bob Cordery at CoW 2018 and at CoW 2019. I must openly thank Bob for my ever growing collection of soft plastic 1/72 Colonial figures in the loft (we won't mention the 28mm Zulu's from Perry's they are just a different project that has to be done) .. although the wife might not be as amused. I am feeling that familiar feeling of a new period slowly gaining interest and the urge for an armoured paddle steamer with a thirty two pounder cannon on it that General Gordon had in China.
;)
[Update] Highly Recommend taking a look at Trebian's Taiping Era Link, some published rules and wargaming AARs: http://wargaming4grownups.blogspot.com/search/label/Taiping%20Era