Another TMWWBK Playtest Game

[guitarheroandy]

Yesterday evening, Andy Mac and I reconvened at the club for another play test game of TMWWBK. This time, I had elected to carefully shape the forces to fit the NW Frontier - this is a feature of Dan's rules. He is keen for players to interact with rules and forces in this way. I therefore downgrade Pathan shooting to represent the lower rate of fire they managed but kept one unit at its normal ability to represent sharpshooters and gave them a house rule allowing them to kill a British leader on any double, not just the double 1 in the rules.

I also tweaked the rules for Ghazi fanatics, allowing them 'move and 'attack' as their 'free' activations (normally it's 'stand to' and 'move', but I felt that fanatics wouldn't just 'stand to'...they'd want to get in and kick ass! We also agreed that if the Ghazis could charge, they had to!!

Andy took the Pathans and I took the British. the scenario was that the British were defending a waterhole. One unit (the redoubtable Sikhs) was defending it and the rest were rushing to their aid. Who would get there first? The relief column or the pesky tribal horde??

We both rolled pretty well for leadership, except that my Gurkha leader was a drunkard so his leadership would vary from turn to turn. This would have dire consequences later in the game...

This is the table at set-up. The Sikhs are in the centre, gathered round the waterhole...



The tribesmen used the hills to screen their deployment, their swordsmen massed opposite the British right, with riflemen cunningly placed to snipe at the Sikhs from the cover of the hills. The British and Gurkha forces elected to enter on the right...





Despite good leadership, the tribesmen struggled to make early headway, as Andy tried to 'double-move' them and promptly failed leadership tests so they did nothing! This allowed the British force to make considerably better headway than they might otherwise have managed.

The Pathans started sniping at the Sikhs, which began a gradual whittling away of those brave fellows, while Andy tried to get his swordsmen and jezzail-armed warriors into place.




The British forces moved quickly to try to form a decent firing line, as my plan was simple....shoot the bejeezus out of anything that moved and keep it at a distance!! Luckily, this included the Sikhs killing the leader of the Pathan riflemen directly opposite their position, forcing this unit out of the game - a severe handicap to Andy's plan!!



In the event, 'shooting the bejeezus and keeping the enemy at a distance' was largely what happened. Andy's snipers proved devastating against the Sikhs and, latterly, against the Gurkhas. However, he shot his bolt too quickly with the swordsmen and Ghazis, failing to co-ordinate their attacks which were shot down piecemeal. This demonstrated a neat mechanism in the rules whereby troops have  firing priority, i.e. if they can be charged by a unit next turn, they have to shoot them. However, in this particular turn, I needed to use my British troops, with their Lee Metford magazine rifles (simulated by the 'marksman' special rule giving them +1 to hit) to devastate the Ghazis who were about to overrun the pinned remnant of the Sikhs. By shooting the swordsmen with the Gurkhas, I was able to pin them, thereby allowing the British to shift fire to the Ghazis. Nice!!!!





This meant that the Ghazis ended up shot to pieces and thereby unable to press an attack on the weakened Sikhs, who were then shot to pieces by the jezzails who had gotten into their rear. The brave leader being the last to fall doing his duty for the Empire!



However, the Gurkhas then attracted the attention of the sharpshooting Pathans, who took them down to 1 man before the British volleys finally destroyed the last of the Pathans who were about to overrun the waterhole.

Game to the British! First victory for the sons of Empire in 4 games!!

Once again, the rules played out really well. The result was in doubt for a long time. Historically, it worked. Pathan sniping from the hills was dangerous enough. The swordsmen were destroyed if they attacked over too much open ground in unco-ordinated assaults.

I have almost finished painting the British Screw Gun and more Ghazis, so there'll be reinforcements next time...

[HerbyF]

Nice looking little game. 

[Malamute]

A very engaging report, it certainly gives a good feel for the rules and has the required period feel. Keep Em coming

[Atheling]

Nice rep Andy.

Some jolly nice pics in there too! 

Darrell.

[Phil Robinson]

Stirring stuff.

[Ray Earle]

Great looking game. 

I like the way these rules are developing. The way you can customise the forces to fit different conflicts looks very interesting.

[wulfgar22]

Great report. Gives a good idea of how the rules work. Honestly, it's going to be a long wait till the release in 2016!

[Jeff965]

Great report. Gives a good idea of how the rules work. Honestly, it's going to be a long wait till the release in 2016!

I know what you mean, 2016!!! I ain't getting any younger you know  

[Leigh Metford]

If I've read your previous posts correctly, despite employing the same game engine as LR this isn't a skirmish game; units are companies. This means the figure to man ratio is about one to ten.

I hope that, unlike in LR, units are able to combine their attacks against enemy units. If not it will be imjpossible for native spearmen/swordsmen to realistically concentrate for localised mass attacks as they did historically.

I haven't seen any mention of company squares. Had some of the situations that have cropped up in your games occurred historically the threatened Imperial companies would have formed square as a matter of tactical doctrine. 

[Atheling]

If I've read your previous posts correctly, despite employing the same game engine as LR this isn't a skirmish game; units are companies. This means the figure to man ratio is about one to ten.

I hope that, unlike in LR, units are able to combine their attacks against enemy units. If not it will be imjpossible for native spearmen/swordsmen to realistically concentrate for localised mass attacks as they did historically.

I haven't seen any mention of company squares. Had some of the situations that have cropped up in your games occurred historically the threatened Imperial companies would have formed square as a matter of tactical doctrine. 

It is early days.... I suspect that company squares will be dealt with(?)

Darrell.

[wulfgar22]

I'd like to know the number of figures per unit, if possible (it'll help me plan my NWF buying)? Lion Rampant has 6 or 12 but I notice in the pics you have units of 10 and 12 and maybe more for the sword-wielding Afghans (I seem to remember reading somewhere these were in units of 16). 

[Dr. The Viking]

Looking forward to this.

Very good looking game.

[guitarheroandy]

If I've read your previous posts correctly, despite employing the same game engine as LR this isn't a skirmish game; units are companies. This means the figure to man ratio is about one to ten.

I hope that, unlike in LR, units are able to combine their attacks against enemy units. If not it will be imjpossible for native spearmen/swordsmen to realistically concentrate for localised mass attacks as they did historically.

I haven't seen any mention of company squares. Had some of the situations that have cropped up in your games occurred historically the threatened Imperial companies would have formed square as a matter of tactical doctrine. 

The actual scale envisaged by the author is 1:1 and he envisages it as a larger skirmish game (using 'section' size 'units', I suppose although I personally visualise it as companies.) Hence lack of squares. Also, on the NW Frontier, the company square tactic was a no-no, as it just invited enemy massed gunfire and the terrain largely prevented it. There are limited instances during the 2nd Afghan war, e.g. at Ahmed Khel, where squares were used, but this was on open plains, not in the hills of the frontier.

One can co-ordinate massed attacks as one activates all one's units in one's turn, so , in theory one can assault a British line with fanatic warriors, kill several men and (hopefully) pin it ('cos that reduces its fighting capability) , then attack it again with another unit and hopefully devastate it...

You can do the dame as the Brits...blast a unit with close range volley fire, pin it, then assault with another unit. This is less likely as you are always outnumbered, but in theory it's possible...

We have had no issues with the rules, but then we like Dan's rule-writing style and enjoy his fairly 'free and easy' approach to movement, shooting angles, etc... However, in common with all his rules, they should be viewed as being a bit 'Hollywood' and not a full simulation of the warfare of the period. 'Fun and period feel' are the key aims and they work very well on both counts for us. Andy Mac (my opponent in these games) is painting Sudanese at the mo and another club member is doing Boers, so we'll have scope to try other theatres soon...

Ref unit sizes, without giving away too many secrets, the author has upper and lower size recommendations, so for regulars and irregulars, I would suggest aiming for 12, tribal warriors 16. My Pathan riflemen  are in 12s as they are classed as irregulars due to the rules for tribal warriors firing abilities. These unit sizes would also allow you to game with T&T Colonial rules... They do seem to work. I think you could possibly push tribal warriors up to 18 or even 20 without breaking the mechanisms. I may try this at some point.

[Mason]

Lovely eye candy and it seems the rules are coming along well.
 

[wulfgar22]

Ref unit sizes, without giving away too many secrets, the author has upper and lower size recommendations, so for regulars and irregulars, I would suggest aiming for 12, tribal warriors 16. My Pathan riflemen  are in 12s as they are classed as irregulars due to the rules for tribal warriors firing abilities. These unit sizes would also allow you to game with T&T Colonial rules... They do seem to work. I think you could possibly push tribal warriors up to 18 or even 20 without breaking the mechanisms. I may try this at some point.

Brilliant. Many thanks. ANd personally, I'm glad this is staying a large skirmish game with 1:1 scale.