China-1920, rise of warlords
Creator: starhal || First Published: 06/12/2025 || Players: 13 || Size: 50x50
Categories: Historical/Geographical
Rating: 0 in 0 ratings
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Comments:
starhal (06/12/2025 07:14am | Edited: 06/12/2025 01:36pm):
Playable factions:
Team C - Orange Star: Chinese Communist Party. At the start of the game it is yet to be founded, as it was historically
founded in 1921, but I still decided to add them to the game. For historical experience, it is suggested that they work
together with Kuomintang at the start of the game, as they historically did as the First United Front until the year 1927, when
Chiang-Kai Shek purged them. I also added a starting unit for them in Beijing, representing the May 4th movement
protesting Japanese acquisition of German concessions in China.
- Blue Moon: Kuomintang. Under leadership of it's founder, Sun Yat Sen, they have thus far failed to liberate the Republic of
China from the control of Yuan Shikai's Beiyang government (A military dictatorship in all but name) during the Constitutional
Protection War, but together with Yunnan and Old Guanxi qliques they have secured a sizeable area in the south from which
to continue their revolution.
It is recommended that they work together with Communists at the start of the game.
- Green Earth: Zhili Clique. One of three main cliques that have splintered off after the death of Yuan Shikai, they wish to
sway and bribe warlords to their side in order to reunify the Beiyang Government. This put them at odds with the Anhui
clique, leading to a war between the two in the year 1920 (The main reason I chose that year for this scenario). Historically,
Zhili won and absorbed the other group, but that outcome is not at all guaranteed.
- Yellow Comet: Fengtian Clique. Formed in southern Manchuria following Yuan Shikai's death, they had since managed to
unify all of Manchuria under their control and historically became Zhili clique's main opposition following Anhui's defeat. It is
recommended they and Purple Lightning work together, as historically they had Japanese support all the way until 1928,
when following the loss of Beijing to Kuomintang Fengtian clique's leader, Zhang Zuolin, was assasinated by the Japanese,
leading to his son Zhang Xueliang, the famous "Young Marshal", allying himself with Kuomintang (Very important historical
figure btw)
- Black Hole: Anhui clique. The main opposition of Zhili, and currently in control of the capital in Beijing. They're the
proponents of subjugating warlords with military force, rather than negotiation. In 1919, they sent a military expedition to
Mongolia and Tannu Tuva, which is why I gave them control over that area.
Team C- Red Fire: The Soviet Union. Troughout the civil war they supported both the Kuomintang and the Communist Party
of China, and also made numerous military incursions including the 1929 Sino-Soviet war and invaded Xinjiang (Off the map
to the east) in 1930.
- Grey Sky: Korean Independence movement. While their influence on Chinese warlord era was minor, their resistance did
delay Japanese invasion and they even controlled a part of eastern Manchuria for a time (Which has sizeable Korean
minority to this day). They also had headquarters in the international concession of Shanghai.
- Brown desert: League of three Ma. An islamic clique of warlords in western China, sharing the "Ma" surname which was
very common in the region. Historically, they participated in conflcts against Guominjun (In Gansu, 1927-30), and in Qinghai
against Dalai Lama.
- Amber Blaze: Yunnan and Guizhou cliques. In 1912, Yunnan clique's general Tang Jinyao was sent to estabilish order in
Guizhou, and the two cliques worked together since then with the latter as almost a puppet of the former, which is why I
decided to put them in the same faction. Around 1920, they were preparing an invasion of Sichuan. They are closely aligned
with Kuomintang, fighting on their side during the Constitutional Protection War, and continuing to support them troughout
the following conflicts, but to make things more interresting I decided not to put them on the same team.
- Jade sun: Shanxi clique. Led by Yan Xishan, a graduate of Imperial Japanese Army Academy (It was not uncommon among
Chinese officers to have received education in Japan at the time), this small clique would survive until after WW2 with minimal
border changes, usually aligning themselves with Kuomintang but in a few occasions against them.
- Azure Asteroid: Old Guanxi clique. Aligned with Kuomintang during the Constitutional Protection War, they had seized a
sizeable portion of Hunan province, and began to seek independence. Historically, in 1920 they were overthrown and
replaced by pro-Kuomintang New Guanxi clique, but perhaps in this game things will go differently.
- Purple Lighting: Japan. While not quite yet in open war, they did initiate a number of military incursions into China in 1920s,
and in 1920 they already had big influence in Manchuria, specifically around railways.
- White Nova: Mongols, White Russian remnants and Tibetan activity in Quinghai. Most notably, includes Roman von Ungern-
Sternberg, who controlled Mongolia until 1921.
starhal (06/12/2025 01:25pm | Edited: 06/12/2025 02:13pm):
Recommended settings:
- Any vision settings, weather clear or random
- Banned units: Missiles, blackboats, bcopters and transport copters, neotanks, megatanks, piperunners, stealth fighters and
black bombs
- Lab units: Submarines, fighters, bombers, rockets
- Any day limit higher than 30 days, depending on how long you want the game to last
- Orange Star and Red Fire in a team, all other players FFA. For a shorter game, add Blue Moon to that team and create a
separate team for Yellow Comet and Purple Lightning.
- Capture limit: 90
- Funds per property: 500

Other informations:
- Sichuan was split between many warlords and did not have one coherent clique controling all or even just most of it, which is
why I split them between Orange Star (Because Communists did have some influence in the area in later years), Blue Moon
(Because later they were semi-loyal to Chiang Kai-Shek regime) and Jade Sun (To represent independent warlords, because
there was no better option for that one).
- Forests represent difficult terrain, which is why there are some in areas of china that don't have forests
- Main cities are represented as clusters of multiple properties. The biggest ones are of course the cities of Beijing in the
north, Nanjing and Shanghai in the center, and Canton in the south.
- Neutral base in south china represents the future location of Jiangxi soviet, the biggest and most succesful CCP foothold
after Chiang Kai-shek purged them from the United Front. It's leader was Mao Zedong, and the Long March later set out
from there.
- Breakable pipelines between China and Mongolia/Soviet territory are the best idea I had for representing some historical
and ahistorical but plausible conflicts, such as 1929 Sino-Soviet war or a hypothetical invasion of China by White-Russian
remnants or second expedition to Mongolia by Anhui clique (Latter two ahistorical, naturally).
- Japanese navy starts out much smaller than it should be, purely for balance reasons. Having to repair a battleship that starts
at 1hp is meant to represent focus of Japanese not being entirely on this region. Also, Japanese occupied the port of
Vladivostok until 1921, so it starts under their control but only a pipeline stopping the Soviets from capturing it.
- Roads represent the biggest railway networks. There were other railways, but smaller.
- Tanks represent cavalry units and armored cars on this map. Actual tanks are represented by medium tanks.
- Blue Moon and Orange Star share a behind-pipelines section in lower part of the map. This represents Whampoa
Academy, which greatly modernised the KMT army. Many officers attending the school were communists, and would later be
purged once Chiang Kai-Shek took over, which is why Orange Star has an opportunity to capture a comtower in that section.



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