Sharp Practice: The Mission House at Peshwarinan

So after nearly four decades since I bought my first Indian Mutiny figures I eventually managed to get some of them on the table and play a game with them last week. Phil came up with a Sharp Practice scenario for our 110 point forces, he talking command of his newly painted Mutineers (Anyone who knows Phil will be aware of his sense of humour and his Indian characters would not be out of place in a sequel to Carry On Up The Khyber politically correct they are not!) and Andy and I splitting the British force between us, Andy taking control of the forces in the Mission House at Peshwarinan, me the hoped for relief force.

As the sun beat down on the Mission House, Lieutenant Flynt-Ston of the Gurkhas drills his men whilst Sergeant Nocker of the Bengal Horse Artillery made sure his barrel was well polished to impressive the local natives.

Then from the nearby village of Pesharwinan a clamour was heard - Pandies! 

Subedar Poosh Dittin leds three groups of rebellious Sepoys towards the Mission House.

Phil's wonderful Mutineer deployment point...

Through the streets of the village, more rebellious natives appear, Sag Aloo and a group of irregular Badmash skirmishers.

Phil's secondary deployment point for the mutineers...

Gad! The natives are revolting and there are Memsahibs on the road! Lord Knowes and Colonel Ruff-Diamond are approaching the Mission House with a party of women and irregular skirmishers having been "collecting" native artefacts from a local temple. Hopefully they can reach safety before the Pandies get them!

Blimey, more Pandies! As Poosh Dittin orders his Sepoys into a column and advances on the Mission House, Jemadar Ram Dittin leads two more groups of Sepoys forward.

Holy man Mahatma Kote encourages (from the rear of the column) the Sepoys to kill the sahibs as the advance quickly down the road.

Egad! More revolting natives! Two groups of Badmashes with big choppers burst out the village, led by Argi Bargi and his sister Min Jeeta.

Forward! Kill the sahibs! Poosh Dittin encorages his men!

Sergeant Nocker having had his polishing disturbed by the native clamour, fires a nine pound round shot into the advancing Pandies.

Three are killed, Poosh Dittin is wounded and the Sepoy column takes Shock!

Spotting the Memsahibs and party on the road, Sag Aloo encourages his men forward followed by more Badmash skirmishers led by Allo Gobi and some Ghazis led by Lashme Hardu...

To Delhi! Ram Dittin follows the Badmashes to the Peshwarinan-Delhi road...

Whist Poosh Dittin orders his bloodied Sepoys into line to fire at the Ferenghi...

Mahatma Kote moving (as holy men apparently do) in mysterious ways to remove Shock off the Sepoys.

Bang! The Pandies loose a volley at the Mission House defenders...

One brave Gurkha falling dead.

'Ave some back! Knocker fires grapeshot into the mutineer line killing a couple and adding double Shock on the Pandies!

Having spotted Sag Aloo, Ruff-Diamond swiftly tries to lead the Memsahibs to safety. However Lord Knowes, loathe to leave the loot, sorry, artefacts behind struggles to get the camels to move as quickly. Bloody stupid animals!

Not much further ladies! Colonel Ruff-Diamond spies the Mission House and safety not far ahead.

Lashme Hardu urges her Ghazis forward to cut the Memsahibs off...

But Ruff-Diamond gets the ladies to the safety of the Mission House. Safe that is if the garrison can hold out until relieved...

With the Memsahibs having reached the Mission House, Lashme Hardu decides to go after the camels.

Ayo Gorkhali! Flynt-Ston orders his men to give the natives a volley of musket fire...

As Argi Bargi leads his Badmashes across the main road.

Having discreetly advanced towards the Mission House Havildar Priti Patel orders his mutinous Sepoy Rifles to fire at the Gurkhas and another brave son of Nepal falls to those who broke their oath.

What ho, reinforcements! Lieutenant Moore-Bacon and two groups of skirmishers from the North Somersetshire Regiment appear and loose a volley at Ram Dittin's men. One Pandy falls dead.

The rebellious Jemadar orders his men to return fire and the Sepoys loose a volley at the British.

Three of the North Somersetshires falling dead to well aimed mutineer musket fire! That was not in the script muses Moore-Bacon...

Take that rebel scum! The Gurkhas fire down on the revolting Badmashes.

Whilst Ruff-Diamond, having escorted the Memsahibs to a roof top to watch the action, orders the irregulars to man the barricades and prepare to defend the Mission House.

Spiffing with lashings of custard! It's Captain Turner-Round and the men of the North Somersets! The relief force will soon see off the Pandies...

Fire! Turner-Round orders sixteen rounds rapid fire to be ploughed into the bally Badmashes!

Aiee! Cry Argi Bargi's men as they take a load of Shock!

Have some more! Yell the Gurkhas who fire down on the Badmashes.

More Shock being inflicted on the swarthy rebels.

As the battle continues, the vultures begin to circle the battlefield...

With the arrival of the North Somersets, has the battle turned in favour of the British?

Not on your Nelly yells Ram Dittin and he orders his men to charge Moore-Bacon's depleted skirmishers...

But British pluck and a stiff upper lip sees the Pandy charge off, though sadly five more lads from Somerset will never get to ride the donkeys on Weston beach ever again...

Tally Ho! The South Gloucestershire Light Horse arrive under the command of Lieutenant de Poncenay-Bout!

There's your enemy! yells Flynt-Ston at the newly arrived cavalry, who were too far away to hear him.

Boom! Sergeant Knocker fires enough round of grape into Argi Bargi's Badmashes who fall back...

As Min Jeeta orders her Badmashes forward to support her retreating brother.

Moore-Bacon orders his surviving men to fire at the Sepoys they beat back...

Whilst Ram Dittin's men return the compliment.

Across the field of battle Sag Aloo is on a camel hunt..

Aha! There they are. Lord Knowes was finding the camels to be bloody minded and not willing to move (clearly they liked the shade of the palms).

Charge! De Poncenay-Bout orders the Hussars in on Min Jettas's Badmashes!

The big choppers take down two of the Hussars, but the South Gloucestershires break the enemy!

Captain Turner-Round orders Sergeant Grimshaw to take a group and support Lieutenant Moore-Bacon and they shoot at Ram Dittin's men...

Aie! One group breaks and the other falls back under withering British fire.

Back at the Mission the Irregulars open fire on Sal Aloo's skirmishers...

Wounding the Badmash leader as he eyed up what he regarded as a rather attractive camel.

Fix Bayonets! With the mutineers clearly wobbling, Sergeant Grismshaw orders his men in on Ram Dittin's Sepoys...

Remember Meerut! British steel prevails and the Pandies are wiped out, Grimshaw taking a slight wound. The Mutineer Force Morale crashes to zero and they flee the battlefield!

Well that was a hell of a lot of fun and thanks to Phil and Andy for a great game. It really did seem that the Mutineers would overwhelm the British before the relief force arrived, and even then they seemed heavily outnumbered. However British pluck won the day and this tale of derring-do will no doubt be appreciated over the breakfast tables of England,

Through The Mud And The Blood: The Warehouse at Wellow

Following on from the Fracas at Farrington Gurney a couple of weeks back, Andy took Phil and myself back to the Very British Civil War, though this time Phil swapped his Fascist blackshirt for a dog collar of the Anglican League. The scenario saw the forgetful God-botherers remember that they had left a significant weapons cache in a warehouse in the outskirts of Wellow in Somerset, the village having recently been liberated by brave Communist forces. Under orders from GHQ (God's Headquarters), and equipped with some cast off French kit and uniforms from the Great War, the Anglicans despatched a force of fifty men to recover the weapons...

What the League force did not realise was that the Communists had left a small twenty strong garrison in the village whilst the main force went off to liberate Trowbridge.

Well, not until a burst of Lewis gun fire erupted from the warehouse, killing two men of Corporal Scott's section and inflicting Shock!

Corporal Wilkinson deployed his men and started to return fire (the purple rectangles in the rear of the photo are 'Blinds' which are either hidden units or dummies).

However they soon came under fire from Comrade Murdoch's section hidden in the woods on the left flank.

The Anglicans then brought up their big gun - a Hotchkiss M1914 medium machine-gun transported by a commandeered lorry.

Whilst Lieutenant Mattingley ordered two sections of League troops to rapidly advance across the muddy fields on the right and try and overwhelm the warehouse.

Wilkinson's men kept up a steady fire on the warehouse...

Whilst Murdoch and his comrades focused their fire on Corporal Scott and his men.

The accurate Communist fire bowling down the enemy troops and wounding the Anglican corporal.

In the warehouse, the troops led by Comrade Knocker returned fire to Wilkinson's unit to their front...

Killing several League soldiers and wounding Corporal Wilkinson.

With Scott's men falling back carrying their wounded leaders and Wilkinson's men coming under sustained fire from the warehouse, the left and centre looked pretty secure for the Communists.

The action then switched to the right flank as Mattingley pushed his men forward...

Towards the side of the warehouse which was guarded by a small force under Comrade Patterson (with a Party Commissar providing moral and philosophical support).

The Anglicans then deployed their final section commanded by Sergeant Shelvey, which had been joined by a clergyman who could provide spiritual support for the faithful (rather like a holy man in Sharp Practice).

It looked like it would soon be needed as Anglican troops fell to the unerring Communist fire...

So the Clergyman moved amongst the shaken troops, dispensing words from the good book (not Das Kapital which is, of course, the best book), removing Shock from the Anglicans.

Murdoch's men continued to hold the left flank but had started to suffer casualties themselves...

From the spiritually invigorated survivors of Wilkinson's section.

Some more uplifting words (and fire direction)...

Saw Comrade Knocker in the warehouse wounded!

The League then deployed their medium machine-gun and began a steady stream of fire on the defenders in the warehouse.

Whilst Lieutenant Mattingley ordered Sergeant Shelvey and his men forward...

Whilst providing covering fire...

Which killed two of Patterson's small force!

Wilkinson charged his men in on the outnumbered Communists defenders!

But the ghost of Marx saw the dice roll in favour of the brave Communists, all but one of Wilkinson's men falling to a storm of the Red bullets and rifle butts!

However the brave fight was not without cost and Comrade Patterson now only had one man left, plus the Commissar.

The Anglican's attempted to rally...

And keep up fire on the warehouse from a Chauchat automatic rifle...

And their Hotchkiss M1914 MMG.

But although now depleted, Knocker's comrades kept up a decent rate of return fire, inflicting casualties and Shock on the MMG team.

However the main action was now in the warehouse courtyard as Mattingley led his men forward and they stormed the ground floor of the building, killing Patterson, his comrade and the Commissar!

The Anglicans then tried to rush the stairs to the upper floor to capture the warehouse...

But despite killing two of the Red defenders...

They were forced back with a very bloody nose! However the Anglican's knew one more push would see victory...

Until a flurry of shots burst from a building across the road - Comrade Murdoch had redeployed his unit into one of the houses covering the warehouse courtyard and caught Mattingley's men in the flank!

Taking more Shock, the Anglicans realised the game was up and that they could not take the warehouse, so conceded the field of battle to the brave Communist garrison. 

I must say that was a hugely entertaining and cinematic game of Through The Mud and Blood and I thought, despite suffering many casualties crossing the fields to the south of the village, that Phil's Anglicans had managed to win the day as they stormed into the warehouse, and even then when initially beaten back by the first floor defenders, if not for the redeployed unit under Comrade Murdoch, the writing was on the wall for the wounded Comrade Knocker and the one surviving Red in the warehouse. 

Big thanks to Andy for putting on the game and umpiring and to Phil for serving up his troops as cannon-fodder for the Reds! ;-)

Then raise the scarlet standard high

Beneath its folds we'll live and die

Though cowards flinch and traitors sneer

We'll keep the red flag flying here