Back of beyond adventures

[Metternich]

It appears the tribesmen are revolting (have you seen their table manners?).

[flatpack]

It appears the tribesmen are revolting (have you seen their table manners?).

I don’t even think they washed their hands 

[has.been]

I do believe the Ambassador washed his hands... of the whole affair. 

[flatpack]

Tomorrow, the British ambassador will be bringing in the local tribes, for a good talking to….or will he ?

[marianas_gamer]

Great looking table! I look forward to the meeting. I am sure that all sides will play nice 

[syrinx0]

Looks like it will be a fun game.

[flatpack]

Thanks for the nice comments gents.
Fingers crossed for some high adventure and fun.
Using FFOL BB so they are always fun.

Only second game in the shed this year.
Last one was Feb.
Amazing how you win a ton of clutter after the wife wants the lounge decorating  .
Just had to move all that out of the shed, and I found the wargaming table underneath it.

[syrinx0]

You need to schedule more games. Nature abhors a vacuum or a clean empty shed. 

[flatpack]

You need to schedule more games. Nature abhors a vacuum or a clean empty shed. 

Plenty of “away games”, but not many “home games” 

[flatpack]

So what of yesterday’s game.

As I’d said, the British ambassador had plans to give the local Afghan leader a good talking to, after he had stormed the British embassy in the last encounter.

The ambassador amassed his troops on his side of the boarder, and crossed over the bridge into the tribal leaders territory.


The local leader had already tipped off his Chinese and Russian allies that the British were coming, as his spies had rightly informed him.
They waited tentatively in the wings.




Everyone held their nerve until the first units of British had crossed the bridge.
In fact the allies were very nervous of firing the first shot 
Russian light tanks scouted the Afghan compound in order to protect the local tribe leader.


Then a cannon shot was heard across the valley floor as the Afghan artillery opened up, narrowly missing the lead British armoured car.
This was the signal for the Russian and Chinese allies to attack, and attack they did.


They appeared from everywhere, throwing themselves at the British troops.






The Russian allies head a good position in the dried river bed.


The lead British armoured car took a direct hit, killing the crew, but the British/Indian troop leader escaped the blast (lucky boy).




British troops started to drop like flies, as the Afghan allies swamped them.
Even the late arrival of the British armour couldn’t help.


The British rearguard were still on the wrong side of the bridge and would never make it into the battle.


The local tribal leader was taking it easy in his compound, and didn’t venture out, as his allies were making mincemeat of the British.


The British would retreat with half their force (the half that didn’t cross the bridge).

The Russian and Chinese allies did a great job, and the local Afghan leader would thank them a million times for their help  .

A good fun game. Played in the right spirit.

[scotty]

What a superb game

[vodkafan]

It was a most enjoyable game.  I was one of the two British players. My leader had command of 3 Indian infantry units, a light and a medium field piece and a heavy  armoured car. In the pre-game dicing and handing out of personality traits, while everybody else got a value for their relative fighting abilities or courage, my major attribute was that I was BALD. However, as I was wearing a stylish turban, this didn't matter.
 My leader was inside the armoured car leading the column, the rest of my advance force jammed up along the road with most of my infantry still on the bridge. The British infantry and all the tanks were bringing up the rear and had not yet crossed the bridge. The super heavy tank "Big Boy" was too large for the bridge in any case and was crossing the dried river bed at a snail's pace.




A major mishap  for the Brits occurred right at the beginning before the first turn. Two Jokers in the hand of cards dealt to JC (the other British player) meant two vehicle breakdowns. This was the lead vehicle of the Vickers tank troop and Big Boy. This effectively split the  British force in two.
 

Bob is correct that everyone was reluctant to fire for the whole first turn. From the British point of view, our intent had been to overawe the unruly natives into submission with a massive show of force and get our fort back. The appearance of both Russian and Chinese  soldiers was a most unwelcome surprise.  I deliberately did not provoke hostilities, but kept my nerve and managed to get all my infantry over the bridge.



The appearance of Russian FT17 tanks across our front meant a further advance was impossible. I had to get off the road start deploying  for a fight.


The Mahdi was enjoying the British discomfort immensely. He gleefully ordered his small cannon to fire, causing no damage at maximum range but kicking off hostilities.


I managed to get a unit of Sikh troops deployed in close order off the road just in time to face the charge of some wild Cossacks. They cut half the horsemen down with a volley and the unit was finally wiped out by fire from my indian mountain gun. But the action had caused a lot of shock to my troops. I didn't take any photos here sadly I was too busy, all my Indian troops fought pretty good but got whittled down with casualties and shock.  My armoured car got fired on repeatedly and put out of action, My officer forced to bail out and run.

Vehicle breakdowns were a common occurrence on all sides. At one point ALL the British tanks were broken down.  Nothing crossed the bridge.

The British Governer instead took the  British infantry in a huge wide flanking move across the mountainous area to the West, which would no doubt look like positive action in the official report.

Operating on his own, the commander of "Big Boy" managed to get his tank fixed and across the wadi, but at at a cracking pace of 3" at a time it was all over long before he would get there.


Thanks again to flatpack for hosting a fun game and cooking the grub, JC for letting me drink his beer and has.been for umpiring, Westbury Wargaming and Dave for being worthy sporting opponents.
This was my first shed game since the passing of  Garry (Dicelord), I would like to dedicate my post to him.

[syrinx0]

A great AAR of a fun and interesting game.

[flatpack]

What a superb game

Cheers Scotty. It was fun 

[flatpack]

James, nice comment on the passing of Garry Ashcroft. He gamed with us for many years.
I did find it odd when Dave, who was sitting in Garry’s old seat, lost a dice on the floor.
I reckon that was Garry nicking it back.