Sikh Wars Partizan Prep

Having decided that Sikh Wars would be the theme for our T'other Partizan game we needed to decide on rules.

I have been working on my own set but these are much more focused on 2-4 players, both our test games and show game are more likely to include up to 8 players most of whom would not be familiar with my rules.

Initial thoughts were to use Valour and Fortitude with the stats from last years Boondock Sayntes Aliwal game. So Steve and I organised a quick game.

Our game had 4 brigades a side, with a small village occupied by one Sikh Brigade.  The Sikhs having just one extra foot battalion and mounted regiment.

As we had no real intention of playing a game through to conclusion, this was all about seeing if the rules worked. Whilst they did and the rules additions for Sikh Wars had some very interesting mechanics to reflect the reality of the conflict we were unsure if they would work for our group.

I was surprised to find the Sikh Gorchurra rated as good as the Bengal Native cavalry, this did lead to a bit of a kicking for the British on the right flank.

Elsewhere the ability of the British forces to lead with the Queens regiment but spread casualties over the whole brigade, along with forcing the Sikh guns to target counter battery where they could gave the numerically inferior British a fighting chance of closing with the Sikhs. 

On balance an enjoyable game, however we are concerned about trying to get 8 grumpy blokes who dont know the rules to play them through with two of us who also dont know them very well taking the lead.

Blind leading the grumpy blind springs to mind. This may lead us to use Blackpowder which, whilst more vanilla, is at least familiar to our Generals.

We decided an immediate follow up game with Black powder was in order. Below are the current stats we use for Sikh Wars.

So, a small meeting engagement to test rules.

We gave the British a 3 battalion brigade of foot, a two battalion brigade and a brigade of three regiments of horse, each brigade had a gun.

The Sikhs had no regulars, a mix of tribal and matchlock armed foot. Three Brigades of foot totalling 8 battalions and 2 brigades of horse totalling 5 regiments, and 3 guns. So 8 units vs 13 but with the British having the edge in quality with most Sikh Generals as 8's and most British as 9's.

The idea was to get cracked on, check our understanding of all the rules and the various amends to rules we already use or want to add so we are ready for the bigger test game next month.

The Sikhs went first and straight off both sides were attempting to get to grips as quickly as possible. Once the initiative handed over to the British I charged my Light dragoons at the Sikh horse supported by the Governer Generals Body Guard.

Unfortunately the Horse artillery failed to move at all (I forget they get a free move if limbered) and the Bengal Native Light Cavalry blundered making a move to their left.

The Light Dragoons inflict a decent amount of casualties but the Sikhs stand with some great saving rolls, with a draw both sides pull back.

The rest of the British push forward.

The tribal troops finally get going, we moved these into Warband formation after this photo.

The artillery gets a good shot into the Sikh Cavalry with limited effect. Pretty much the only artillery to score casualties for the British.

Two unit of Tribal irregulars approach within 16" and trigger and uncontrolled charge test.  The irregulars were quite volatile and hard to control so this is a rule that adds flavour to the pot. One unit of Sikhs fails and hurls itself at the British line.

The uncontrolled charge closes on the British line, taking 2 casualties form closing fire, this doesn't stop them and they close. Despite being roundly beaten the Steve makes a whole bunch of saving throws and rolls well for his morale leaving the melee to continue into my turn. 

On the right wing my Bengal Light Cavalry has got going and is immediatley charged by the left wing cavalry.

One of the best rolls I have seen for a long time I get 6 sixes from 8 dice, giving me 8 out of eight hits. A draw leaves both sides pulling back to reform.

On my extreme left two regiments of Tribal infantry charge my native infantry, they hang on for one round of melee and then are finally pushed back in dis-order starting to create a gap in the line.

At that point we stopped, all to play for but its 10.30 and we need to pack up having learned all we needed. Plenty of fight left in the game with neither side getting a significant advantage yet.

So amends we already use that will stay in;

1. Firing is before moving

2. Brigade break Tests when a brigade loses half or more of its units excluding supports

3. If a unit fails an order a Brigadier cans till try to issues an order to subsequent units with a -1.

4. All movement and ranges reduced by 1/3

Amends we will look to include:

1. Zambureks range of 24" always fire one dice only have long or effective range

2. Zambureks take an action to set up but once set up may man handle up to 8" in movement

3. Heavy artillery moves at 6" per action and cannot be moved once deployed. It may be man handled 1" per turn.

4. Sikh artillery must counter battery where possible unless infantry & cavalry units are closer than the supporting guns.

5. Casualties on attacking HEIC infantry by artillery can be shared across the brigade if units are within supporting distance of the lead British unit (6 ")

6. Sikh guns can re-roll a miss if they have at least 2 misses from a gun. 

7. Uncontrolled charge for tribal units, tribal units within 16" must test for uncontrolled charge of nearest enemy 1 or 2 they charge but only move whatever number of actions they get. units within 8" test for charge and go in on a 1,2 or 3.

8. Tribal units are warbands and move at 10" per action, they cannot change formation, wheel or turn but flow from the front centre in the direction players require.

9. Crack special rule added to Bengal Horse artillery, re-roll a failed morale save if no other casualties so far.

All these should add flavour for the period and reflect some of the challenges and solutions the sides had during these conflicts. 

So bigger game next month watch this space.

Thanks for stopping by.

Finished Units for Mexico

With a bunch of bases back from Steve having the grout added to bases and sealed with a layer of paint I have been able to get a bunch more finished for the Mexican project.

First finished unit are Irregular Mexicans, bandits, Guerrillas as you like. Useful for either side but will mainly be republican irregulars. 2nd and 3rd from left are Boot Hill, the other 4 are Knuckle Duster. 

First of the French Zouaves, the French had a I believe 8 battalions in Mexico so 2 seems a good number for me. Perrys with a Flags of War flag.

The finished box for the French and Imperials is starting to overflow, 5 battalions of French and 2 of Mexican supported by 2 squadrons of Chasseurs D'Afrique and one of Mexican Lancers. 

Geoff (Ellies Dad online) said he wondered how I fitted everything in, last year I invested in some new boxes and a load of Jenga, they are all full now so I need to consider re-visiting that. 

Mexican Militia/National Guard, real mix of manufacturers with this lot. And mixing in with existing figures to finish units off.

These command bases finish off 4 battalions, mix of Foundry, Perry, Wargames Atlantic, 1898 miniatures.

Mainly Foundry Peons with a couple of Wargames Atlantic prints.

These two bases of Machete armed Peons, mainly 1898 Philippino Guerrillas

The finished units are below, again the box is full and Jenga is required. 5 battalions of Militia, one of Regulars and the cavalry squadron. Add to this 3 or so battalions, 2 gun batteries and a squadron from Chris pretty much gives is enough for a game.

That's probably it for a month or two as I prep for Partizan but as I am not quite halfway with the project certainly more to come.

Thanks for stopping by.

WW2 Eastern Front Game with More Armour

We continue to test Steve's WW2 rules, this time we have a bit more armour to play with but also some new Eastern European buildings.

Steve was particularly keen to see if his rules allowed  quality to overcome quantity as they are designed to.

With this mind I was to attack with with two companies of 2 Stugs, 2 Companies of two Panthers and a battalion of Elite Panzer Grenadiers in 3 companies supported by off table artillery.

My troops would have bonus's for being veterans and also for being well led and well armed all adding to their ability to go forward.

The Russians would have two weak battalions each of two companies so slightly more troops in trenches but trained rather than good. Two large companies of Tanks, each with two T34-76's and one T34-85, plus a SU85 in one of the companies. They also had two batteries of 57mm anti tanks guns but no of table artillery.

The table has a couple of big hills, essentially one each for Defenders and attackers to use, plenty of woods to hide behind and two small villages next to a large church.

Initially I push my Panthers done the right of centre supported by two companies of grenadiers. My Stugs go left looking to push in a flank supported by one company, the artillery and mortar are positioned to support the centre and right.

The Panthers first time on table and very nice indeed, well done Mr Shann.

Each company rolls to see how many actions it can take, for the Germans they are getting a plus one on the roll for quality and another plus one for leadership. I need 9 on two D6 to get three actions but with the bonuses I am quite often getting that allowing me a fair bit of manouverability, even for my foot sloggers

Steve needs a 6 to bring on his tanks initially, first attempt he gets a 6 then rolls for random deployment on table and ends up facing my weaker left with just one of my Stug companies. Oh dear!

The Russians get just one hit on my Stugs, they need 4 to knock it out,

Back to my Panthers, I push my left hand company over to support the Stugs, a roll of 8 plus my bonuses gets me a 24 inch move and we roll up to the flank and fire at the Russians. The T34-85 takes 3 hits.

Meanwhile my right hand company of foot bump into entrenched Russians lining the edge of the wood.

After  taking closing fire I close assault and the Russian company is over run leaving just their MG to fight on. The German firing and fighting bonuses give them a real edge with this stuff.

I have left the right hand Panthers in reserve on over watch and Steve decides I am not going to advance into his ambush and so fire his 57mm anti tanks guns. Fortunately for me at long range there is no damage.

A further round of firing from the German armour sees the two best Russian tanks destroyed, the T34-75's advance into cover behind a wood.

On my right the victorious German infantry push on and take heavy casualties from the village, this forces a morale test and they fall back to the wood. 

On my left the second company of T34's turns up and concentrate their fire on one of my Stugs which is quickly destroyed whilst my other Stug pushes right into cover..

My infantry in the centre hit a company of Russians and after a fierce firefight the Russians are destroyed.

The Russian armour advances steadily and they now have a grouping of 5 tanks, unfortunately 4 of these are their poorer T34 -76's no match for the Panthers.

The 76's push out of the wood and destroy a second STUG but they have advanced into the path of my other tanks so are now in trouble.

In the centre my centre and left infantry companies converge on the church and destroy the remaining Russian infantry in there.

last two cards out of the deck, firstly the Panthers and they now advance to cut off the Russian tanks on my left.

The last card from the deck is the remaining company of Stugs who fire at the T34 -76s who just destroyed their fellow company.

Last shot of the game I get some really good dice, I need a 89 on two dice to hit, but an 8 gets me a second shot, I manage two 9's and 2'8 thats four hits, that gives me 6 dice per hit (he difference between my gun quality and the T34 frontal armour) so 24 dice needing 5's or 6's. I get 12 hits and both tanks are destroyed.

A solid victory for the Germans and showing that the rules will allow superior troops to overcome slightly larger inferior forces as Steve hoped.

Fun game and still enjoying the rules so all good.

Thanks for stopping by.

Back To The Punjab

Later in the year I will be putting on our demo game at T’Other Partizan so I have been thinking through what might work. 

After a chat we decided a Sikh Wars game would be ideal. 

I like the idea of something slightly different. 

Many Colonials Wars are challenging to game, often with hordes of natives armed with little more than sharpened Fruit being mown down by European firepower.

The Sikh Wars are one of a handful where that is not the case. The Sikh regular army was more than a match for East India company Sepoys and a real test for the Queens regiments too.

The first Anglo-Sikh War is perhaps the better known, but I prefer the lesser known conflicts and the second Anglo-Sikh War has a fair number of actions that very few people ever read about. The sieges of Multan provide us with a number of large actions and decent sized battles that most readers can be forgiven for never having heard of, they made little impression in the European papers at the time and even less in most British histories of the conflicts. 

One such is Suraj Khund.

To start with a large force of the "British" forces are not British or even East India Company troops at all. A significant proportion are allied native troops of the Dhowdpatra Raja of Bhahalwalpore alongside tribal irregulars from the various Pathan and Baluchi tribes of the region who had no reason to love their Sikh government.

Mainly matchlock armed, brave but undisciplined Warriors these are the irregulars we are used to seeing the British fighting against not alongside. And whilst the opposing Sikh forces had a significant irregular and tribal element too they also had a solid core of regulars, disciplined, well trained and well led troops. Trained by Europeans, mainly ex French and Italian Napoleonic officers, and very well motivated. 

This does mean we have the option for actions, like Suraj Khund, with much more evenly balanced forces giving a more interesting game to all players.

So whilst I will be trying to keep up to my Mexican project I do plan to get some more irregulars painted for the game at the end of the year.

To try finish a unit of Pathan Irregulars these 4 will bring me up to 20, the chap in white may not fit so well but the others are great, one plastic Perrys Afghan and 3 Empress irregulars.

I am starting to see some recovery in my gut injury so more figures coming off the workbench. This bunch adds some further flavour (Not the Galloglass at the back who will appear in a  different post)

These four Sikh Spearmen give me a push forward with my next unit of Sikh Irregulars. All Foundry.

This Noble leader is from Empress, a lovely figure, I am a little unsure about the stipe in his turban but other than that a nice addition for the Muslim troops.

I intend two more battalions of matchlock armed troops, the Wargames Foundry Muslim Matchlocks in blue will be multi use, the uniform is based on the Begum of Samru's troops from 30 odd years before so gives me plenty of options. The Sikh in red will be another battalion that can be multi use, in both cases the colours will be more a theme I intend to have a few shades mixed in so its slightly less regular.

Then two leader figures for the Sikh irregulars, plenty of colour here as they are no doubt a bit richer than the run of the mill. Boht Foundry, the flag from Virtual Armchair General.

Lastly four more rear rank irregulars, all 4 are different manufacturers, from left to right Foundry Sikh Wars, Empress Mutiny, Plastic Wargames Atlantic with Sikh head and Old Glory Sikh. These have come out OK but there are nicer figures so these will fill out the rear ranks I think. 

That gets me 2 extra units for the Sikh Wars games, another two of Matchlocks and some other additions should give me what I need for Partizan.

Thanks for stopping by.