Lost Battles Fought...

Unfortunately earlier this year I had a bit of a FUBAR with my phone which saw its encryption programme lock me out and wipe out a week of texts and (more irritatingly) a week of photos which included two battles fought down BIG. Fortunately I managed to recover one photo of each battle that I'd posted on the BIG Historical Wednesdays Facebook Page (ironically the games being played on the Tuesday and Thursday of that week!) so I could post about them for your amusement...

First up a big The Men Who Would Be Kings game with George's Mahdists retreating (successfully) down the table...

And a wonderful Operation Sealion Chain of Command game Phil put on for Andy and myself, with some wonderful buildings made by Jenny. My Home Guard were unable to stop the Nazi invaders south of Bristol. Hopefully we can play this again sometime and I not lose the photos!

The Men Who Would Be Kings: 'E Played the Cat an' Banjo With Our Forces...

Earlier this year George and I dug out The Men Who Would Be Kings and dusted off our Sudan forces to introduce Andy to the fun of Colonial Wargaming... Building on our previous Sudan game using the rules' Babbage Engine to control the natives, this time we decided to use them to control their arrival and slinking off, but allow George battlefield control of units when on the table as the Imperial field force attempted to liberate the Sudanese camels...

Straight away Andy found himself in the thick of it as his advancing Sikhs found themselves confronted by a Rub of Beja who appeared in front of them out of a donga...

A volley of Snider fire from the Sikhs bowled over half the Beja and pinned the remainder...

Who were almost wiped out with a second volley.

Spotting a camel in need of liberation the Bengal Lancers trotted swiftly forward followed by the Highlanders and Bazingers...

Every time an Imperial unit moved, George rolled on the Babbage Engine chart to see if any Native forces appear and if so where...

Unfortunately the Bengal Lancers attracted not only the attention of a Native Camel unit to their front...

But also a Rub of Beja behind them...

Who promptly turned 180 degrees and charged in on the startled Bazingers!

The outcome of Fierce Beja with sharp pointy sticks versus the Poor Beja was never going to be in doubt, though the Bazingers did manage to take down two of their attackers as they almost died to a man.

As the British regulars advanced on their camel hunt, the Babbage Engine generated a unit of Mahdist Rifles to their flank who took down one Englishman with a lucky shot...

Whilst the Bengal Lancers about turned to address the problem behind them, and try and capture a camel in the process.

Only to see Mr Babbage reward their change of direction with the appearance of another Rub of Beja near to the British base line!

Who swiftly finished off the poor Bazingers!

More Imperial movement saw another Beja Rub appear on the Mahdist right...

Who the Sikhs proceeded to riddle with fire from their Snider rifles.

Meanwhile the Bengalis lowered their lances and eyed up the survivors of one Rub who had been hammered and Pinned by rifle fire from the Highlanders...

But before they could charge in, a different Rub of Beja attacked them!

Whilst unable to gain the benefit of charging with with their lances levelled, the Bengalis beat off the attack, though half the brave comrades fell to the fierce Mahdists.

On the British left, Andy advanced a unit of Regulars though this generated a Rub of Kordofan to their immediate front!

And as the Sikhs attempted to push forward their movement generated the appearance of even more Kordofan!

From being largely empty, the British left flank now faced three units of enemy infantry between them and the prized camel!

Next turn saw the Bengal Lancers charge in on the Bejas they had just beaten off, their lowered bamboo lances wiping out the Mahdists to a man...

And although two more Bengalis fell to the native spears, the survivors were able to charge into the pinned Rub and almost despatch that!

The Mahdists were soon to gain their revenge as the Kordofan charged in on one unit of British Line...

And in one melee ten brave Englishman fell to the native spears leaving just their officer bravely facing down the charging horde!

A second unit of British line started firing volleys at the natives to their front...

Joined by the Sikhs.

Mahdist after Mahdist went down, but for every one that fell, it seemed that two more sprang up out of the dust!

The Bengal Lancers did not get the opportunity to finish off the second Rub as they were charged in the rear by a unit of Mahdist Camlely and wiped out.

A measure of revenge was exacted by the Highlanders who fired at the Mahdists...

Finishing off the Beja Rub...

And taking down most of the Camelry, Pinning the survivors.

Elsewhere the natives changed tactics employing their rifles to pepper the Imperial forces, the resolute Sikhs losing five men to the Irregular Rifles and becoming Pinned...

Allowing a nearby Rub of Beja to charge in on them and almost wipe out the sturdy Sikhs.

On the left flank the brave effort of the British officer to resist the Kordofan alone proved doomed...

With the Mahdists then charging in on the second British Line unit...

Heavily outnumbered it was inevitable their attack would be defeated but as the Kordofan died to a man, they took down the commander of the British Field Force!

Soon after the Sikh survivors were wiped out...

Leaving just the Highlanders and the leaderless Line troops to face the oncoming Mahdists...

Clearly it was not going to be possible to rescue the camels and the remnants of the British Field Force ceded control of the battlefield to the victorious natives.

Another decisive native victory, I must confess I am not convinced that our hybrid Babbage Engine approach didn't give the Mahdists too much of an advantage with them appearing at close range (or behind units), negating much of the Imperial firepower advantage, and also allowing them to act in a controlled aggressive manner (whereas the Babbage Engine might have them appear then maybe slink off or decide not attack the Imperial troops). Also the Native unit regeneration meant there was a relentless horde of overly effective natives who would always fight, rather than a rapidly reducing native force as the Martini-Henry's took their toll. Still it was quite fun though, and I do like the Babbage Engine when fully utilised , I doubt we'll try this hybrid approach to The Men Who Would Be Kings again.

The Men Who Would Be Kings: Wounded and Left on Afghanistan's Plains...

Between real world commitments and the amount of games I'm getting to play at the moment (not complaining) I am a bit behind on the battle reports but will endeavour to catch up as soon as possible. 

A few week's back, after our The Men Who Would Be Kings dabble with the Babbage Engine Native generator, George and I decided to try it again, this time on the North-West Frontier with George taking control of the randomly generated Pathan units as I attempted to bring civilisation to these "pore benighted 'eathen" - well seize some of their camel trains dotted around the table! (here they are posing for a pre-match 'team photo!')

The forces of Empire moved into the unruly tribal lands...

The 4th Gurkha Rifles seizing a native camel and its handler in the name of Queen Victoria!

Their success did not go unnoticed though and a group of Pathan riflemen were spotted skulking in the hills ahead of the Gurkhas.

Following the Gurkhas the brave men of the Bengal Lancers trotted smartly onto the field of battle...

Followed by some stout fellows from Berkshire, the 66th Foot.

Their appearance generated a native response, a large group of scimitar waving types appearing out of the dust to their front!

Followed by a second closer group...

These bally wallahs charged at the 92nd Gordon Highlanders who had only just crossed the mountain line!

A flurry of scimitars and sporrans saw the Pathans beaten back but five brave Highlanders would never seen the glens again...

The "Yellow Boys" (such an unfortunate nickname) then charged the Pathans to their front, their steel tipped bamboo lances held steady and low!

The Pathans proved doughty fighters though and whilst they lost half their men and had to fall back, they left four Bengal Lancers dead on the dusty plain.

On the British left flank a group of friendly Tajik irregulars moved forward looking for some camels to capture...

But their appearance brought more enraged Pathans onto the table!

The 15th Ludhiana Sikhs, led by a brave officer, pushed forward to capture another camel train...

But before they could secure it, more Pathans appeared yelling obscenities at the brave men of the Punjab!

Although depleted the Bengal Lancers continued to take the fight to the enemy, charging in again on the group they had just fought...

And this time almost finishing the rebellious tribesmen off!

The Sikhs however found the going tougher as the Pathans to their front charged them!

A bloody fight seeing many a tribesman and soldier fall dead!

Faced with scimitar wielding Pathans charging towards them, the Tajik irregulars opened fire on the enemy...

And surprisingly managed to hit some of them!

The 66th Berks, after a couple of turns observing proceedings, decided to obey orders and move forward.

However this generated more Afghan forces - a unit of rarely seen Pathan cavalry!

Who decided to charge the Bengal Lancers!

It did not look like the Gods of War(gaming) were with me as I failed to roll one hit... :-(

But then neither did George!!! :-) Oh what a laugh the Gods of War(gaming) were having!

With the melee a draw - with no casualties(!), the Pathans fell back...

Allowing the 66th to fire a volley at them, knocking three tribesman out of their saddles and Pinning the cavalry unit!

The Bengal Lancers seized the opportunity and followed this up, charging in on the enemy cavalry...

And whilst one brave sowar fell to a native blade, the remaining lancers killed six of the Pathans leaving just their Pinned Leader on the field of battle.

Unfortunately this charge took them into range of the Pathan rifles hiding in the hills and a volley of native rifle fire wiped out the remaining three Lancers.

The Lancer charge also generated another Pathan unit thanks to the Babbage Engine roll.

The 15th Sikhs and their opponents traded blows again...

And although they lost half their remaining number, the Pathans were victorious and the 15th Sikhs were gone to their god.

At this point George noticed one of his camels was rather wet!

It turned out Bristol Independent Gaming's intrepid guard dog Sorcha had been licking the model!!! One can only assume the Pathans were smuggling 'Bonio' dog biscuits and the brave hound had sniffed them out!

Having solved the mystery of the wet camel we returned to the game with the 92nd Highlanders shooting down two of the Pathans who had defeated the Sikhs...

Before charging in bayonets flashing and kilts swirling to finish off the enemy leader and capture the camels!

On the British left the Tajik Irregulars supported by the 4th Gurkhas advanced towards another ungulate prize...

Though again Mr Babbage generated MORE Pathans to try and keep the camels from Imperial salvation.

These scimitar swirling tribesmen targeted the Tajiks...

Who, not well skilled in hand to hand combat, lost eight men and unsurprisingly became Pinned!

The Pathans skulking in the hills then joined in opening fire on the shaken loyal irregulars...

Killing another two Tajiks.

Then in a piece of terrible bad luck for the British Field Force another group of Pathan tribesman appeared on the Imperial right flank...

Charging straight in on the 92nd Gordon Highlanders...

And practically wiping them out!

With a cry of "Ayo Gorkhali!" the Gurkhas charged into the Pathans who had attacked the Tajiks...

Kurkis flashed in the Afghans sun and the Pathans almost fell to a man. The two survivors Pinned after the ferocious Gurkha attack!

Again Mr Babbage decided to generate more Afghani reinforcements following the Gurkha attack, with a fresh group of riflemen appearing some distance away.

Having dispatched the two survivors of the 92nd Highlanders, the blood thirsty natives turned their attention to another unit of the hated enemy...

The 66th Berkshire Foot.

The newly arrived irregular native rifles took a pot shot at the 66th...

Their largely inaccurate volley killing just one man from Berkshire. However his comrades were shocked by this and failed their morale check and became Pinned.

Smelling blood, the Pathans now surged forward towards the last two Imperial units...

The 66th rallied off the Pin and with the 4th Gurkha Rifles on their flank took aim at the advancing natives...

The Gods of War(gaming) were up for a laugh though and the Pathan rifles managed to kill another two of the 66th Foot - and once again they failed their moral check and became Pinned...

Which meant that as well as being outnumbered by the charging Pathans, they could only fight at half effect as the enemy crashed in waving their shiny scimitars!

Unable to even inflict one casualty on the charging natives, eight men fell never to see the green fields of Berkshire again, leaving their officer standing alone in the face of the Afghani. We hope he saved the last bullet for himself...

This left just the 4th Gurkha Rifles to face the Pathan hordes...

And soon scimitar and kurki clashed in the dust of the Afghan plain!

Although they took many an enemy soul to the grave with them, the Gurkhas were unable to resist the mass of the enemy...

Another sad tale of Imperial failure to be read in the newsheets of Calcutta and London over breakfast... 

The game was a lot of fun and for some time it felt like success might be had by the brave sons of Empire as they defeated enemy units and Mr Babbage did not regenerate Pathan units. However the change of luck that occurred with the arrival of the Pathans within charge range of the 92nd Highlanders and my subsequent poor dice rolling for morale checks sealed another Imperial defeat.