The Action in the Mahmund Valley 16 September 1897

I played a remote game with my buddy Claude Bailey who lives in Tucson AZ. It was based on the Northwest Frontier action witnessed by Winston Churchill in his book The Malakand Field Force. We used the venerable The Sword and the Flame (TSATF) colonial rules with half sized units of ten figures. Two units of Sikhs have to set fire to the Pathan village and then retire in good order, taking their wounded, if possible. They are accompanied by Lieutenant Churchill and a regimental Bisti Gunga Din. On the first turn, the Sikhs roll successfully to fire the village houses, while three units of Pathans appear, coming down out of the hills behind the village. With one lucky shot they kill one of the Sikhs. The two Sikh units now fall back from the village, forming skirmish lines. Their fire wounds two warriors, including one leader, but that does not stop the native advance. As movement in TSATF is variable, based on dice rolls, the Sikhs on the right make slow progress and take two wounds from the natives on the hills. That means that two able bodied sepoys are needed to carry the wounds and they cannot fire the turn in which they move. The Sikhs on the left make for a row of rocks that will give them cover. They also take another wound to their unit. The native unit that lost its leader must now roll on the Leaderless to Move table, needing a 1 through 4 on a D6. They miss and their advance stalls. A fourth Pathan unit arrives and moves down toward the center of the village. Things are tense for the Imperial troops. If they move, they lose four rifle shots per turn, but if they stay, the Pathans will come close enough for hand to hand combat. A stroke of luck for the Sikhs on the right, their two hits are enough to force a critical morale test on the Pathans to their front who fail their dice roll and move 4 X D6 inches straight back, relieving the pressure on their flank. But the Sikhs on the left receive another wounded sepoy and are being flanked by the native warriors on their left. Relief comes in the nick of time in the form of a unit of Highlanders, who are able to reinforce the weak left flank. With a couple of telling volleys the Imperial line is able to throw back the Pathan attacks and Mr. Churchill survives to write up a description of the action.

Second Indian Mutiny Game Using The Men Who Would Be Kings

 Another Indian Mutiny game from the Colonial Campaigns TMWWBK scenario book. My friend in Tucson Arizona and I played the Hindoo Rao's House game remotely from my living room. For the second time, the scenario book delivered an historical outcome. The forces began evenly matched with the British holding defenses on Delhi Ridge and the Mutineers poised to attack from the ruined village of Sabzi Mandi. My Mutineers began their attack in good order, but soon began to receive pins from the three British artillery pieces. Mutineer artillery replied and began to cause causalities among the defenders who decided to go onto the offensive and came out of their barricades. There were some heavy exchanges of small arms fire between the Ridge and the village. The Guides attempted to break into the Mutineer building that anchored their right flank and nearly succeeded. On the third turn, the British reinforcement force arrived in the shape of a unit of Punjab irregular rifles and a horse artillery gun and it made straight for the Mutineer left flank. On turn six, combined Mutineer casualties caused them to take a general rally check at -2 and that resulted in two routed units and two additional pinned units at which point we called the game. I, as the Mutineer commander could have placed my four pieces of artillery more efficiently, and could have concentrated my infantry attacks more efficiently too, so I think the scenario was well balanced. I am looking forward to trying another scenario soon.

 

More Photos of My Boxer Rebellion Game

 I hope I am not overstaying my welcome, but I wanted to share some additional photos of my game. Due to social distancing, I was not able to access all four sides of the game table and so I didn't get photos of whole sectors of the game. Thanks to my buddy Alan for taking the photos with his proper camera.

The army of the Farao, by Gilbert

Gilbert from Bruges, Flanders,  is a master converter. 

Here is his Egyptian army