A multi-player game at the club on Monday. Andy Mac and I commanded the Pathan tribesmen as Carl and Grahame took charge of the British. The forces were the same as the previous game, as I still haven't quite completed the reinforcements in the form of a British Mountain Gun and another unit of tribal swordsmen.
We played a scenario where the British were attempting to escape down the length of the table, representing the pitiful survivors of a lost battle trying to make it to safety (the retreat from Maiwand, for example). The Tribal warriors had to deploy with half the units in the same half of the table as the British deployed, with the remainder lurking in the final half of the board.
I took overall charge of the tactics, deciding that traditional Pathan tactics of weakening the British by sniping at them then hitting them with massed swordsmen was the order of the day. Jolly good decision as it turned out, as the British played right into our hands.
To be fair, the British were a tad unlucky early on, as our sharpshooters pinned one or other of the British and Sikh units a couple of times, thereby allowing us to shoot them even more and also to get our swordsmen into position...
Here's the initial deployment, Brits at the far end...
Here's the British deployment...
The Gurkhas fail a leadership test when attempting to double-move, leading to a staggered advance on the part of the Brits...
Pathan swordsmen lurking in the hills waiting for their rifle-armed colleagues to do their job...
The Gurkhas open fire on the Pathan jezzails, pinning them. The poor leadership of the jezzail-armed unit's leader means that he fails his rally roll and his troops rout off table...Bu**er...that wasn't meant to happen!! Clearly the Mullah needs to find some inspirational words for the rest of the tribesmen...
Under fire from the Pathan sharpshooters, the Sikhs open fire, attempting to shield the Suffolks from the incoming fire...
The retreat is now moving faster, the Gurkhas attempting to engage the Pathan riflemen hiding in the hills...
This was the Gurkhas' dice...they needed 5+ to hit, with 3 hits to cause each kill (target at long range and in hard cover means that it takes more hits to kill. Neat mechanism!
The riflemen are forced to withdraw. Meanwhile, the Ghazis wait in the nullah as the infidels approach. What you cannot see here is the swordsmen attacking the Sikhs...
The swordsmen butcher the brave Sikhs...
The Gurkhas gain the hill summit, beating off the riflemen and an attack by the Ghazis (defending cover gives a huge advantage, so even the Ghazis are repulsed)
However, for all their valour, the Gurkhas are assailed from all directions...shot at, pinned... Luckily, the Ghazis failed about 5 rally tests in a row and only managed to do so on their last chance before fleeing the table!!! blooming' dice!!!
Shortly after this pic, the brave Gurkhas were cut down. Victory to the Pathans!!!
This was another great game. The result was historically plausible, especially given the Pathan tactics, which did work - pinning the British units caused them to be sufficiently weakened so that assaults actually finished them off. After the game, the British commanders were discussing the tactics and wondered if they might have been better off splitting their force early on and trying to drive the Pathan sharpshooters out of the rocks - they may be right, as it was their gunfire that pinned the Sikhs and Suffolks and led to the annihilation of those units. The Gurkhas certainly had things much more their way having driven off the riflemen.
I'll not post any more NWF reports now until I have some extra troops painted, so you can see the effect of, firstly artillery and, after that, cavalry. We'll also try some much bigger scale games once those extra troops are painted.
However, in a few weeks, we intend to try a Maximillian Adventure game, as Grahame has forces for both armies...
January 22, 2007, 07:04:51 PM