Sikh Wars AAR

Its been ages since we had this collection on table and whilst I am still hunting for rules, Black Powder works ok so we got a wee game on.

Chris and Chris took the Sikhs, 8 battalions of regulars, supported by 2 regiments of regular horse and 2 guns. 8 battalions of irregulars supported by 2 guns and 8 regiments of irregular horse.

Steve and I had the Company troops. 10 Battalions of foot in three Brigades and 4 of Cavalry in one Brigade, these supported by a field gun, horsegun and rocket. 

The Sikhs would be defending the crossroads with troops coming on at different times so we British needed to get forward and try beat them early.

I took the cavalry brigade on the left with an infantry brigade to my right, Steve then took the other two foot brigades for our right flank. The Majority of the Sikh Cavalry also deployed facingmy horse.

Steve is able to push forward quickly on our right with no opposition, that will change fairly soon though.

The British Generals discuss which map is the right one and argue about where the Sikhs are coming from whilst the troops struggle to overcome the ferocious Sikhs.

A fair old lump of armoured Sikh cavalry rolls forward to take on my horse with two regiments of irregulars supporting.

The First Brigade of sikh foot deploys in the middle of the table blocking our route to the crossroads with a large battery of guns in their middle.

The British Cavalry have taken some time to deploy with some poor orders but finally get themselves moving forward.

Steve occupies the hill on our right flank and deploys his rocket battery. This quickly inflicts casualties on the Sikh regular cavalry, rockets on target for a change, which promptly charges him.

Chris's Sikh Regular Cavalry charges and gets enough distance to over run and wipe out the rocket battery, they then get a sweepign advance intot he foot at the rear but are seen off with casualties.

On the left the Sikh Cavalry also charges and is counter charged by the Light dragoons. The Sikhs are seen off but the Dragoons have too many casualties to follow up.

On the left my Bengal Light cavalry advance on the Sikh Cavalry for another engagement which they win ut not quite convincingly enough to make a difference.

In the centre Chris has advanced his Sikh regulars on my brigade and shuffled two regiment of irregulars over to support the guns.

On the righ the next brigade of Sikh regulars closes with Steve and a further brigade of irregulars arrives ont eh extreme right to support Chris F.

There is a fine dust up on the right and the Sikhs begin to get the advantage.

On the left I have seen off the Sikh Cavalry but my leading troops are in no condition to follow up, the supporting Lancers remain unable to advance and add their steel to the battle. 

In the centre the British battalion has been forced to retire after a hard fought melee with the Sikh regulars but the Sikh regular unit has also had to move back leaving honours even.

On the hill to our right Steves British are finally forced to retreat by Chris F's regulars and a gap opens in our lines, so whilst Steve is able to push forward where our forces meet the risk of doing so is too great as it opens a hole in our centre.

There is still plenty of game left to play but the Sikhs have effectively held the British foot. The horse could potentially still hook around the left but its taken too long and we would need to re-organise ourselves significantly before having another go,  

In the end the tenacious Sikhs have stopped the British in their tracks and we must admit to having been thwarted for today.

Despite not being our favourite set of rules this ended up being a really fun and hard fought game which had a feel for Sikh Wars. Still looking for the perfect set but in the meantime we know Black Powder can give us a fun game.

Thanks for the game fellas, hope you enjoyed reading folks. See you again soon.

Mongolians Completed

After the recent big game I decided I need to finish off my Mongolians for the Mad Baron.

As part of this I have rebased two leaders, one of which is the Mad Baron himself and then added a third leader on foot. All three are Copplestone Castings.

With the below you can see the outer two figures are Fireforge Mongolians and the inner two rebased Copplestone. The right hand figure has a modern rifle slung over his back to add some modern context.

With the next six 4 are Copplestone and the 4th and 5th from left are Fireforge plastic, they mix in reasonably well.

The figure with his bow raised is my favourite of the Plastic Mongolians.

These will all come in handy in finishing off the civil war collection.

More to come Im sure.

Defence in Depth Peninsular 40mm AAR

 Chris Charlton invited me to the East Leeds club for a game and we decided 40mm Peninsular using Sharp Practice would be the way forward.

Both Chris Charlton and Chris Flowers would be playing and as Umpire I would join in in a limited way.

I decided to play the defence in depth scenario from the rulebook, the Spanish would deploy forward with the British deployment point about 18 inches behind, the French have to capture the Spanish deployment point with the British needing to get forward and support he Spanish to stop it being over run.

Chris Flowers commanded a 40 man company of Irish in Spanish service in a single formation with 3 units of Guerilla skirmishers supporting.

The Supporting British led by me had one group of 8 line and 3 groups of 6 Rifle skirmishers.

The French had a formation of 32 line, another of 16 Grenadiers and a further of 24 Paris Municipal Guard Grenadiers, supported by 5 groups of voltiguers. 

So the French have 102 foot and the Allies 84, but the Allies can stand fire rather than move whilst the French need to get themselves forward to take the objective and the rifles definately make up for a number of troops.

The French Ligne come out first and march straight for the Irish, for the Allies the Guerillas deploy forward into the trees on either flank whilst the Irish march two moves forward and halt to await the French.

French Skirmishers deploy ahead of the Ligne formations and begin a firefight with the Guerillas, an uneven firefight as the Guerillas have cover whilst the French do not.

Behind the Spanish the British Rifles press forward as quickly as they can to support the Guerillas on the flanks, only French Grenadiers are left behind as the troops close with each other.

The French Legere skirmishers press forward giving cover to the Paris Municipal Guard Grenadiers and firing into the Guerillas as they go.

The French Ligne and Paris MG press forward with the Grenadiers still left behind as they fail to activate. With skirmishers covering most of their front the Parisians are taking very little fire whilst the French Ligne and being nibbled away at by the Guerillas and the Spanish line with the Rifles soon to join in as they close the range.

The Guerilla's start to inflict casualties on the French Ligne who press on into the storm of lead. Major Dupont leading from the front.

The Grenadiers finally get moving, they are the best of Chris C's troops and he can now feed them in where they are needed most. He pushes them to his left where two Guerilla skirmisher bands and annoying the Ligne.

The rifles press forward looking to cover the flanks of the Hibernia Regiment, they move quickly with their skirmisher movement bonus.

The two units of Guerillas are bit harder to get rid of than Chris expected, they lasted no time at all in our last game, but being in woods they are two harder to hit than line troops and are taking some winkling out.

The rifles reach the flanks of the Hibernia regiment and fire a volley into the French Ligne adding to their woes as shock mounts and they havnt fired a shot.

The French Ligne finally open fire at long range and the Spanish formation starts to take casualties. The Spanish respond and hit both the Ligne and Paris Municipal Guard. They also manage to knock the French Commander off his horse and the French loose a morale point.

Further firing and all the Allied troops are concentrating on the line and casualties mount, their commander Major Dupont is hit again and this time looses a point of command and a force morale point alongside his light wound. 

The Grenadiers finally get into action and a close range volley drives off one Guerilla band, forcing a  test which Chris F passes.

The French Ligne are now in real trouble, despite the loss of one band of Guerillas they are still under fire from the remaining unit, the rifles and the Hibernia regiment. The commander being out of action twice has not helped as he has been unable to remove shock for at least 3 turns.

The Spanish take another Volley from the Grenadiers but survive to fight on., the last of the rifles has joined the other Guerilla unit on the left flank and is keeping the French skirmishers busy. Whilst Chris C has covered the advance of his Paris Muncipal guard with skirmishers meaning the casualties were low, they are now unable to join in the firefight as they are blocked by their own troops.

A further volley into the French Ligne causes more mayhem and the leader is hit a third time. His luck however has run out and Major Dupont rises to heaven on a cloud with a postumous Order Pour le merit medal. Oh and further force morale depleted from the French.

As the night closes the French have lost half their force morale and the Ligne formation has all 4 groups on the verge of breaking, the Spanish on the other hand despite some losses are still in pretty good shape. The French stand little chance of taking their objective and retire in relative good order.

A fabulous game with most of my troops getting on table. My thanks to Chris and Chris.