China 1925 - Fall of Warlords
Creator: starhal || First Published: 08/21/2025 || Players: 10 || Size: 50x50
Categories: Historical/Geographical, Gimmick
Rating: 0 in 0 ratings
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Comments:
starhal (08/21/2025 03:28pm | Edited: 08/21/2025 05:17pm):
A quick rework of my previous China map, to represent the situation five years later.

Last year, in 1924, it seemed like the Zhili Clique under Cao Kun and Wu Peifu was destined to reunite the entire Chinese
nation. However, during the war they faced betrayal as Feng Yuxiang entered Beijing and seized control, denouncing his
enemies, and following him other warlords turned against Zhili including the "Model governor" Yan Xishan, and many of their
fellow clique members. Now China falls under the archrival of Cao Kun, "The tiger of Mugden" Zhang Zuolin, but his control
is not absolute: he's forced to compromise with the remnants of the Zhili clique, now under Sun Chuanfang, and the new
faction of Army of National Salvation - Guominjun - under Feng Yuxiang.
In the far south, meanwhile, the first president of China Sun-Yat-Sen is dying, and the position of his heir in Kuomintang
based out of Canton is all but guaranteed to fall into the hands of military commander Chiang Kai Shek, who unlike his
mentor deeply mistrusts the Communist Party of China who were invited into a coalition all the way back in 1921.

The time of warlords is ending. Now time approaches for a Great Northern Expedition, that Sun Yat Sen wished for ever
since the republic fell over a decade ago.

Rules:
- 500 funds per property
- Clear or random weather
- Fog of war, no teams
- 30-60 day limit, 50% capture limit, no unit limit
- Banned units: Transport copters, blackboats, battlecopters, piperunners, rockets, missiles, neotanks, megatanks, stealth
bombers and black bombs
- Lab units: Fighters, bombers, submarines, aircraft carriers
- CO: Either no powers, or ban tier 0 and 1, global damage, and Kindle COs
starhal (08/21/2025 04:38pm):

Factions:
Orange star- The Communist Party of China, currently in a coalition with Kuomintang. Many Communists even enter that
political organisation or their officer academy in Whampoa, without swearing off their communist ideology. In addition they
often organise student protests, mainly in Shanghai, calling for an anti-imperialist stance and criticising Great Brittain, Japan
and other powers that influence China. This infiltration is perceived as a threat by many, but outside the far south
Communists remain insignifcant in the wider scheme of things- at least for now.
Blue Moon - Kuomintang, founded and until now led by Sun Yat Sen, the first president of China, ever since their
estabilishment in Canton yearn for an opportunity to venture north, but military weakness and enmity from various Guanxi
warlords had stopped them in the past from fulfilling this ambition. But now, three warlords- Li Zongren, Huang Shaohong,
and Bai Chongxi - estabilish a new clique in Guangxi, closely aligned with them. They, and especially Li Zongren, would
become instrumental in future success of the northern expedition.
Green Earth - Wu Peifu. The "Jade general", one of the greatest strategists of modern Chinese history and certainly leagues
above his fellow warlords, now defeated with much of his army destroyed, he nonetheess refused to flee to foreign
concessions or Japan, deeming such actions as dishonorable and unfit for a patriot (Ironically Cao Kun, who he remained
ever loyal to in the past, had no such qualms). With control over less than 100 thousand men and only the province of
Hunan (And part of Hubei), he is about to face his last hurrah. In history, he managed to score one final grand victory against
Guominjun, showing that without betrayal a warlord army cannot be his match, but while he was fighting them in the north
the Northern Expedition arrived in Hunan and it was proven that no matter who leads them, warlords are no match for a
professional army with motivated troops that believe in their cause.
- Yellow Comet: Zhang Zuolin's Fengtian clique. For the past two decades, Zhang Zuolin went from a common bandit, to a
general under Yuan Shikai, to ruling over Manchuria as the main opponent to cliques in Beijing. And now, finally, the capital
of China fell into his grasp. To foreign emmisaries, he presents himself as a sole leader of China, a preferable alternative in
their eyes to an inactive government that does nothing (By Zhang's and Feng Yuxiang's own designs, of course). His arsenal
in Mukden is the largest in China, pumping out new weapons, he enlists remnants of White Russian army as his own
personal elite troops, with armored trains and even planes bolstering his army of over half a milion. Yet his victory, in the
grand scheme of things, is far from guaranteed.
- Black Hole: Guominjun. Founded by Feng Yuxiang, Hu Jingyi and Sun Yue, this new faction of warlords holds a territory
equal in size to Zhang Zuolin, yet with significantly smaller population, army and industry they cannot consider themselves to
be his equal. Seeking to remedy this and even the odds, the "Christian general" began reading books of Karl Marx, seeing in
them "Astonishing similiarity to the teachings of Jesus Christ". This had secured him cautious trust of Soviets and Chinese
communists, one that Feng Yuxiang would soon betray as after entering into an alliance with Kuomintang he was the one
who initiated the purge of communists. But perhaps history will not repear itself this time?
- Grey Sky: Zhili clique remnants. Sun Chuanfang was formerly a minor warlord of Zhili in the region of Fujian. But while
events in the north, near Beijing, went horribly for their clique, in the south Zhili clique managed to defeat the warlords of
Shanghai who were allied with Fengtian. This allowed Sun Chuanfang to grow his power in the region, and when the "Tiger
of Mugden" arrived to seize Nanking, he was beaten and forced to flee all the way to the Shandong peninsula, thus
alongside Fengtian and Guominjun a third contender for dominance over all of China arose from the second Zhili-Fengtian
war.
- Jade Sun: Shanxi clique, led by Yan Xishan. This clique remained independent and mostly neutral troughout the warlord
period, at this point they maintain neutraliy in the Fengtian-Guominjun conflict but historically, they were attacked by Zhang
Zuolin after Yan Xishan's reluctance to support him against Chang-Kai-Shek's Northern Expedition was perceived as
betrayal. It was his army that first entered Beijing, signaling an end to the Warlord Era.
- Purple Lightning: Empire of Japan. They had a keen interest in keeping China divided, in order to secure their own
interrests in the region. In 1924 their fleet prevented Wu Peifu from evacuating his army after betrayal by Feng Yuxiang left
him surrounded and cuf off from reinforcements on the front against Zhang Zuolin. They also happened to send money to
Feng Yuxiang shortly before his betrayal.

starhal (08/21/2025 04:38pm | Edited: 08/25/2025 10:25am):

The remaining factions had close to no influence to these events, but remained important enough players to be included:
- Brown desert: Clique of three Ma, muslim families that had dominated the governship of the region even all the
way back during Qing dynasty, currently in conflict with Tibet over the province of Qinghai. Their clique would survive all the
way until the end of the Chinese civil war.
- Amber Blaze: Yunnan Clique, which remained mostly neutral in the conflicts of 1925-28
- Sichuan warlords: This region was such a sh*tshow, that I just gave each Chinese faction one base each (Except for
Amber blaze and Brown desert, since these cliques actually had influence in the region's politics, unlike the rest). And yes,
Japan had a garrison/small foreign concession in Chongqing, I don't know how or why.
ShiningForce4 (11/12/2025 03:54pm):
You need to rework orange star.



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