A Small Sikh Wars Reminder Game

We decided to re-visit our work in progress Sikh Wars rules, a quick easy game to start with to remind us of the mechanics.

I have kept it small a brigade of 3 matchlock armed natives holds a breast work supported by a rather large gun, a brigade of 3 regular Sikh infantry are marching to support their left flank with a field gun and a brigade of 3 Tribal irregulars to support their right with a Camel gun whilst 2 regiments of regular cavalry remain in reserve. 

The Company forces are a brigade of 2 British and 2 Indian foot and a second brigade with 1 British and 2 Indian foot both supported by field artillery and a Brigade of Cavalry in reserve with a Regiment of Light Dragoons and a regiment of Bengal irregular horse.

As a reminder the game is essentially card driven with two packs of cards, one per side. The packs hold slightly different cards and differing quantities of each to try and represent the strengths and weaknesses of the different forces.

Each player rolls 2 D6 the difference between them the number of cards each draws, the higher roller has the choice of going first or second.

Chris gets both infantry and cavalry movements cards, his foot get forward very quickly whilst the horse form a column to pass around the flank of the foot who in the end have already got out of their way.

Steve draws a "Dress the Ranks" card, this is a wasted card, the Sikhs have more than the British of these, it is also an opportunity for the British to steal the initiative back, the players roll off, if the British roll higher they get an extra card to play immediately. in this case Steve manages to roll higher.

Sikh fot movement cards come out and Steve is able to march forward occupying the flanks of the earth works and bringing him into musketry range.

All troops start the game loaded and can fire literally any time they like, however they cant re-load until they get a re-load card, the British have slightly more re-load cards so their rate of fire will be potentially higher. Here Chris has fired as the Sikhs close and we have marked him as unloaded, he is now hoping for a re-load card before the Sikhs charge in.

Chris halts at effective range and begins to volley the earthworks, needing sixes with one dice per base its hard, slow work but he manages a couple of hits on two of the units of matchlock men.

Movement card for the British and Chris charges home on the earthworks with two British and one sepoy battalion as Steve volleys him on the way in with musket and gun. They must now wait for a melee resolution card.

With the infantry locked in the centre the British cavalry pass around the left flank to try find an opportunity for mayhem.

The Sikh cavalry remain behin their own lines in need of a movement card to block the British.

The Tribal irregulars not in melee fire an ineffective long range volley at the British horse. One casualty, still it may well be the difference at a later date.

Melee resolution card drawn, along the line there are mixed results, the first unit of Sikhs is beaten but passes its morale, the next beats the British regulars, who fail their morale and rout from table, the last again are beaten but pass.

The melee carries on at either end of the redoubt, eventually the British are forced to check morale and fail, failing back one move from the Sikhs.

At the far end the last British battalion in contact has charged home against the Sikh regulars whilst the gun and sepoys engage the second battalion.

At the far end a unit of Tribal irregulars charges the Sepoys and is seen off pretty convincingly, more concerning for the Sikhs the retreating British halt and volley as they form up, the resulting casualties take the unit down to just one base and it is removed from play leaving a gap in the defences.

Chris now has his cavalry positioned on the flank of the Sikhs ready to charge either the horse or the tribal irregulars and his commander rides up the front of the Irregular horse giving them a rousing speech no doubt.

The company forces have forced two Sikh regular battalions to retreat in disarray, could this be the turning point? 

Chris needs to get a 5 or a 6 for his Sepoys to stand, this triple 6 seems a bit overkill! Well done Chris.

Unfortunately the morale check for the British regulars sees them retreat from the canister of the Sikh guns.

The British now have one damaged and one untouched Sepoy battalion left to take the earthworks with, challenging as the Sikhs still have one badly mauled and one untouched unit supported by a siege gun.

The Sikh Currasier charge Bengal Irregulars, the Cavalry Melee resolution card comes out pretty quickly and the Sikhs are seen off, with the Irregulars reforming behind the Light Dragoons.

The Sikh Curassiers are forced to retreeat two moves right back to the edge of the table dis-ordered.

The light Dragoons charge the Sikh Dragoons and we must wait for a melee resolution card to see who takes the laurels.

Meanwhile the Bengal Irregulars declare a charge on the Tribal foot to their front, they pass their morale to charge forcing a morale on the Tribal irregulars who fail, they test for results and rout of table leaving the Bengal irregulars on the open flank of the Sikh entrenchment.

We have run out of time but its been a great back and forth game and could still go either way despite all three British Queens battalions being forced back.

There is still the opportunity for the British to snatch victory given more time but I suspect they will like pull back and reform before considering their options. Meanwhile the Sikhs may feel they have taken enough damage they too need to fall back and re-group. Either way a great game.

The game played really well and the rules came back to us very quickly, we made a very few small amends but it does feel we are close to a set of usable rules here which give us a feel for the period.

Another larger one soon I feel.

Thanks for stopping by.

Return to Poles 1919 -20

We are planning a decent sized Russo-Polish war game for April so I thought I better get a few more Poles completed.

Starting with these Greater Poland troops in German style uniforms, I already have a battalion of these but as I have a company for the second battalion already painted and based along with some loose painted figures its a head start on another battalion for the game.

These first two are Battle Honours 25mm World War One Germans with head swaps, a Woodbine Stelenhelm and Empress SCW bare head. Nice figures still but quite small. 

The next 4 are Great War Miniatures Germans, three late war Stormtroopers and an early War infantry man with a head swap for a Studio Minaitures Polish cap.

I've also managed to get some Poles in French Uniforms from Hallers "Blue Army" completed. These ones are a rifle regiment with the little green flashes on the collars.

These are mainly Woodbine miniatures from the Gallipoli range. All 4 below are Woodbine, they come with separate heads so really useful for adding variety with bare heads, bandaged heads etc.

This NCO on the left is also Woodbine but with a Studio Siberia Polish peaked cap, the NCO's had peaks, the other ranks were peakless. The right hand figure is a chunkier Brigade games Frenchman but again has a Woodbine head.

Lastly two Woodbine bombers to mix in with the rest of the units. Basic WW1 French Uniforms, I have painted a little white eagle on the Helmets which doesnt show up too well here.

Just to be clear these next are not Poles but Ukrainian Anarchists!

One of my factions for this period is Nestor Makhno's black army. Although the troops can all be used as generic Partisans as well.

The leaders are from 3 ranges, left to right we start with a Woodbine Miniatures Turkish officer as a Anarchist leader, the standard bearer is a Copplestone Bolshevik with a Studio Siberia Makhnovist flag and the right hand figure is an STP Miniatures Anarchist officer.  mix of Uniforms going on here with a good mix of Grey that may be the remnants of Uniforms from the German sponsored Ukranian forces of Hetman Skoropadsky 

Many Anarchists would have had civilian gear supplemented by bits of military kit. These Warlord WW2 Partisans have a few head swaps mixed in to give them a more Eastern European look. Mixed in with earlier figures they should fit in just fine.

Keeping things going leading up to our first game with the Poles, s bunch more Greater Poland Infantry, all Great War Miniatures, the two in Helmets are late War, the four in caps have had the Picklehaubs swapped for Polish caps from Studio Siberia.

These four Reds will finish another company for me taking the line infantry to 14 companies, for the game I will probably put them into two three company and two four company battalions.

The Officer at the back is a Warlord figure the other three all Copplestone.

Lastly, I wouldn't want to leave out the Whites, here is a Tsarist officer wth a slight variation on the uniform colour scheme, again Copplestone, the gun in the background is painted black as it will be for the Anarchists, I may scruffy it up with some khaki coming through the edges under the black outer coat.

Hopefully get a few more done ahead of the game next week, it is a bit tight and I dont want to do too much and hurt my gut again. Ideally an MG and crew for both the Poles and Anarchists, maybe a crew for the Anarchist gun and a few more Anarchist foot. Maybe even some Anarchist horse but lets not get carried away.

Decent progress anyway. Thanks for stopping by. 

1st Anglo Sikh Wars Aliwal Re-fight at Partizan

Today I joined the Boondock Sayntes to re-fight Harry Smiths "Battle without a mistake" Aliwal from the 1st Anglo Sikh War.

Ian who masterminded the game had it mind for some time and asked me to collaborate in October at the other Partizan and I didnt hesitate to agree. 

The Third Battle of the 1st Anglo Sikh Wars is very gameable and see's Harry Smiths reinforced division take on a force of some of the best and worst of the Sikh forces, the Company troops are outnumbered but a large part of the mass are unreliable irregulars stiffened by tough regulars and Avitables Compoo of elite Sikhs.

I provided a Brigade each of Company foot, Company horse and Sikh Regular foot..

Ian table was as usual littered with fabulous little details and vignette's. As might be expected there were lots of other great games of which I saw very little but I did get a few snaps of ours and will provide a very quick overview.

Behind the river Sikh rockets fire missiles in random directions. They do look good though!

Ian as usual has lots and lots of fabulous detail on table, the Sikh camp and baggage is a great example.

Ian also organised a pair of these posters to inform the punters about the historical background, nice touch.

This little command vignettes is one of my own with the commanders arguing over which way around the map goes no doubt.

In the centre my Sikh regulars supporting Ians troops, this one is the one I re-bought from ebay after selling it 26 years ago!

Love this Leapord lazing in a tree.

I should also point out all the limbers and crews had to be converted as nobody does them, love the dust under the wheels and hooves of the Bengal Horse artillery.

The Sikh infantry famously fought of the company cavalry by forming Triangles which Ian has modelled here, lovely looking piece.

Move one the British assault Aliwal village, winning a quick victory of the 32 pounder gun and crew.

Meanwhile the 19th Lancers charge the irregular foot and destroy two battalions in quick succession.

On the British left the Sikh regular Cavalry are unusually aggressive and charge the company irregulars. The Sikh Lancers are routed and the Currassier are pushed back.

Apologies a little out of order below is the charge that led to the above rout!

On the right the Company cavalry are sweeping all before them, the irregular foot brigade and the supporting Gorchurra cavalry have all been driven off and the cavalry can start to turn the flank of the Sikhs as they did historically.

In Aliwal itself the foot have pushed through and driven the Sikhs out completely..

The Company troops are advancing all along the line now and will need to dela with the tougher prospect of Sikh regular foot and guns.

After seeing off the cavalry on our left the company horse rally back, nothign to be gained by charging the best Sikh infantry in prepared squares.

Graham plays an event card to double move a brigade into the Sikh regulars.

The right flank cavalry see off two more rregular Campoos and the left is almost taken with supporting infantry rolling up the rest of the irregulars.

The cavalry can now reorganise and start to advance down the legnth of the tbale and roll up the Sikh line.

Right of centre Grahams brigade charges the Sikh regulars.

Not surprisingly its my favourite unti that get the chop, seen here fleeing through the river.

The British stop briefly for some light looting.

Left of centre its my British brigade going in. 

Unfortunately we get the worst of this one with three batteries and two battalions pouring in fire they break. The only Company unit to do so in the game (Typical)

The rest of the Brigade pour volleys into the Sikhs supported by the Bengal Horse artillery and the Sikh unit routs. The brigade that has just looted the camp engages the next Sikh battalion' honours being even we pull back the brigade to replace ti with a fresh brigade. 

The brigades from the right flank now turn left and roll down the length of the table anchored by the river. There is not a huge ammount left to stop them.

With the Sikh left gone and the centre beginning to crumble the day is lost for the Sikhs, they can however make an orderly retreat as they did historically across the Sutlej with their best troops.

A fabulous day out, great game with soem great company, thanks for inviting guys.