Sikh Wars Play Test After Action Report

 So to prep for the game at Partizan I wanted a game so we could iron out the unit stats and make sure everything worked with the rules etc.

We have yet to find a bespoke set that capture what we are looking for so Black Powder is our fall back set with enough flexibility and most of the players having used them before they will give us a decent game.

We use a modified version of Black Powder whioch gives us a much closer game to the one we are looking for. Details elsewhere on the blog.

First things first though, cakes! This week was mainly Battenburg and cornflake buns. Nice.

The British have three brigades of foot, the outer two having one battalion of Queens and 2 of company troops whilst the middle unit has 2 quenns (European) regiments. Two batteries of guns support eh Foot whilts two brigades of Horse cover the open left flank, each with one Queens regiment, one Native Light Cavalry and one Native irregular cavalry.

The Sikhs occupy a walled village, The 6 battalions of regulard with 2 batteries of guns in the cnetre, the two brigades each of 8 battalions on the left and a horde of cavlry on the right, circa 8 regiments.

Wiht the stats giving the British regiments all the historical advantages they had and the Sikhs holding the walled the village and having the numbers it should balance out quite well.

Chris commanded the British and wasted no time in throwing his forces forward, his British cavalry leadign the charge did not quite reach my Sikhs but had leapt ove rhalf the table, the Centre British Brigade also made good time with the other two flankign brigades taking a little more time.

My artillery open up some ineffective long range firing and my first two brigades of cavalry charge to meet the British. Foolish you would be forgivn for thinking.

On the left my first unit of cavalry are quickly sent reeling and Chris ounces straight onto the next where I amnage a draw. The British lancers howver, best troops on table, manage to roll an unfeasably large number of 1's in combat then follow it with even more 1's for morale and route off table. Unbelievable. It has to be said this was the high water mark for the Sikh Cavalry.

Wasting no time, in Chris's turn he promptly charges in again and sees off two more units of Sikh cavalry. 

The British foot continue a steady advance under Sikh artillery fire and the Sikh right flank foot begin to prepare for the inevitbale destruction of the Sikh cavalry.

Three batteries of Sikh artillery are not inflictign loads of casualties but plenty of disruption slowing the British foot down.

Undettered the British doggedly continue their advance. Casualties mounting as they reach close range.

On the left the British charge the wall of the village and are held by the Sikh irregulars.

Its hottign up now with the British closing on both flanks and the cavlary being gradually decimated by the superior British and Indian troops.

Two more rounds of melee and the Sikh Matchlock troops are still holding off the British, the artillery are poundign the rets of the brigade and keepign it at bay whilst the left most unit is disordered by an accurate voley of Matchlocks, the cavalry meanwhile have taken more casualties and a Brigades break test is required for the first briagde, they fail and a whole briagde is drivern off table.

The Sikhs have been holding firm int he centre but the British guns unlimber and fire with the support of the Sepoys and the first battalion is driven back. My yellow coated irregulars are finally beaten by the British and break, the cavalry have another failed brigad break test and I am down to two shaken units against Chris's four undamaged troops.

Things become desperate and on the left my matchlockmen are seen of by the sepos, the spear armed mob behind thme charge in and are in turn broken by witherign fire.

I lose two battalions more of matchlocks who volley and charge the British at the wall only to be broken and finally the last of the cavlry are charged and break.

The rows of destoyed Sikh troops fill the table edge and only two units of British have been seen off.  Whilst the Sikh regulars still hold firm in the vilage a fresh brigade of British and Indians are poised to swing around my rightand the position is untenable. I accept defeat and we finish off the cake.

A fun game which has given me some ideas for tweakign the artizan show game and provided some good fun for all concerned too.

Thanks chaps see you at Multan (Newark) soon.

Further Progress with Sikhs and Baluchi's

 So as the game at Partizan draws near I am working hard to finish off a few units. This latest lot will help me to finish off three-ish.

It makes sense to focus on part painted units and gives me a reason to crack on with the wider project. Sikh cavalry first, all Foundry figures with Foundry horses except the Officer who has a Riders of Rohan horse. I do need to make  adecision here, added to two comign back from the basing department and four in my painted box thats a unit but with two officers. I dont have anymore light horse but I could maybe drop a mounted Akali in and have the other officer as a seperate command figure.

So the four Sowars glued to bases to be finished, the command base still be decided on.

The reduced pallette is again in evidence here, this time with brighter splashes of colour for Turbans and shashes. The searmen help me finish off a balde armed unit. I still need a few more with Muskets for another unit. All Wargames Foundry Sikh Wars figures.

I have soem particular favourite colours amongst this lot now, I probably need to add a little variety again.

Here are two blade armed bases to add to the three already based up and rady. Mainly Wargmaes Foundry with a plastic Perry Afghan on the front left with a Sikh head.

These two Baluchi will finish off another blade armed unit good for either the Sikhs or the Bahawalpur contingent. Same Pallete as the spearmen, not a greta photo sorry.

These guys are from the Foundry Darkets Africa range. Lovely characterful miniatures.

Below the whole unit glued to bases, I have started adding the base media to the command base already. Conscious that even if I get all the figures I want painted they will all still need basing!

Lastly Baluchi Matchlock men, donated by Freind Chris Charlton, cheers Chris, a limited and muted pallette to mix in with the ones I already have.

Mixed in with a couple I already had in the painted box they look really nice.

Here they are with the two bases I have already started, these should be completed in time for the forthcomign game.

Thats it for now, the basing department is bringing some goodies home on Friday and I should be able to share those before the game.

Until then stay safe folks.

Taking the Hummund Ghuree Planning a Demo Game

 One of the first games back on the show circuit this year is planned to be Partizan in Newark, 10th of October. Its a show where my group typically put a game on and we have a 14 x 6 feet table booked. Wiht the pandemic and shows being cancelled we had not got around to deciding on a game, I put a few ideas forward to Chris Flowers who typically leads this and he suggested a Sikh Wars game.

My collection has expanded enough over the Lockdown period to be able to give us a decent sized game so now it was about deciding on something interesting to play.

Whilst the whole of the two Campaigns are really interesting I find the Second War or the "Punjaub Campaign" as it was called to be particularly interesting. Of particular interest is the early fighting around the City of Multan which sparked the whole campaign.

So to take us back a little. The British army defeated the Sikh Army in a serious of hard fought and close engagements in 1846. The Sikh army felt it had been betrayed by its hight command, with justification it has to be said, and simmered with resentment. The British installed Agents into every level of Sikh government to ensure they had control whilst leaving the venear of Sikh self government. 

The City of Multan is in the mainly Muslim South West, the British sent two junior officers to replace the local governer and reduce his garrison, escorted by Sikh regulars (mainly Sikh Gurkhas as it happens). The Garrison were unhappy about losing their living and murdered the two officers whilst their escort watched on, Mulraj the local governer seems to have been swept along with things.

Initially the British Indian government was happy for local agent Leiutenant Edwardes to try manage things, raising the local Muslim tribes and mercenaries against Mulraj and calling on the army of the Raja of Bahawalpore to support him he marched on Multan and fought two large battles(Circa 30,000 troops) pushing the Sikh forces back to the City. 

Eventually a division of British Indian troops with siege equipment would be sent to the City along wiht a division of Sikh regulars who were still fighting alongside the British. Evenetually those Sikh regular forces would be pushed and change sides and the besiegers would become the beseiged, the whole plot being like soemthing from a George RR Martin novel and presenting us with some very colourful, diverse and interesting forces to game with.

So having said all of that I was particularly interested in a couple of actiosn that took place in the lead up to the first seige. With villages and suburbs outside the city stoutly defeded by the Sikhs, the battle for the Hummund Ghuree particularly caught me. A large temple with two small villages loop holed and defended almost to the last man by the Sikhs, the British were thrown back on numerous occasions and took significant casualties in clearing this area. The troops defending this were local irregulars with matchlocks. I decided that this would make a fine looking game.

Once the game was decided on I then needed to think about forces, ideally most of what I had collected would be on table, mainly for my benefit but also the game needed to be a spectacle. At the same time we would probably have 6-8 players so forces needed to keep that many players occupied. This would require some creative interpretation of historical forces.But not overly so.

So having set the scene Richard neeeded an idea of terrain as Legendary Wargames would be providing most of this. The area around the City had a number of dry river beds or Nullas and the temple and villages were located near a hill that gave a good view inside the City walls so I wanted to represent these whilst leaving plenty of space for players to have a go a each other. Below is my inital sketch of the terrain.

So the plan is to have 3 Brigades of British/Indian Foot and 2 of British/Indian Horse advancing on the City with the centre Brigade tasked with taking the Hummund Ghuree.

Chum Chris Charlton will provide the temple, image above, and I have a number of indian adobe houses for the two villages. This will be defended by a strong brigade of irregulars, however to disrupt the advance the Garrison will sally out of the City, 2 brigades of Sikh regulars, a further brigade of irregulars and a horde of Cavalry will alos take the opportunity to sweep forward inot the HEIC forces.

Most of this is already painted and based but I will need to finish a few units off.

The real engagement had the irregular defenders eventually assaulted by one Brigade and there were initially only 2 British brigades at the siege but the above forces give us a game that should be visually appealing whilst giving all players enough forces for an interesting game.

I will post an update after the game with an After Action Report and plenty of images. There will also be a game to test the rules shortly so I will share images and After Action report of that too shortly.

Until then Stay Safe!

 

Sikh Armoured Cavalry and Commanders

 More figures prepping for the game at Partizan. 

These first guys are six Sikh Armourd Gorchurra irregular cavalry. Really beautiful models that lend themselves to bright splashes of colour between the armour.

The miniatures are from Wargames Foundry Sikh Wars range and the flag is from Virtual armchair general.

I already have the first four for this regiment so these six will finish the unit off giving me four units of armoured Sikh horse.

I am a little short on commanders so its one of my key painting goals for the game. These three will take me to seven command bases, I reckon I need at least 8.

This first figure is a special from the Studio Minaitures Kickstarter, a single peice casting I did have to swap his sword out. I do like the colours this figures allows you to mix. 

This next is Wargames Foundry, I think initally meant as Dragoon officer, but useful as any commander I think.The orange and blue go well together and its not often I get to paint a load of bright pink.

Lastly a two figure command base, again both are Wargames Foundry althouh the horse on the righ hand figure isnt, not sure where its from. I have another of these Akalis mounted I may use to finis off a light cavalry unit.

I like that this commander has an Akali fanatic as his bodyguard or advisor.

Still a bit more to get done before the game so watch this space. 

I may also give a bit of a write up on my thinking for the game itself and the set up I envisage. 

Until then Stay Safe!