The period

Yangtze Patrols have been active for a long period of time, 1848 to 1940. An article on this subject can be found here, or on a Wikipedia Page.

In 1920, patrols along the Yangtze river were organized by all major european nations. The scenario is dedicated to HMS Gnat, Insect Class (Her Motto is “Protect by a sting”), on station in Shangai.

The scenario

It is 15th of June of 1921, the ship is at the city of Ichang where a landing party has been put ashore in order to protect British citizens at the British consulate against the looting soldiers of Wu Pei-fu’s army.

The consulate has also a fuel dump, used by the Yangtze Patrol ships. The depot is menaced by Wu Pei-fu troops, and needs to be actively defended to avoid either destruction or stolen material.

Airplane cover might me expected by a friendly airstrip.

Scenario for Triumph and Tragedy, played with 28mm figures from the Copplestone line. Scenery from Snapdragon (fuel depot), and Gamecraft Miniatures (laser-cut buildings). Plane and Rolls Royce from Matchbox. Ship from eBay.

Characters

Ivan Zaccardsosky, weapon trader, from the Soviet Union, or Russia, or Adolf Zacharov, austrian spy?

Objective: Capture the fuel depot nearby the river

• Austrian mercenaries platoon
• Chinese Bandits platoon

Wu Pei-Fu, Chinese Warlord.

Objective: Sink the HMS Gnat

• Infantry platoon
• SMG squad
• Field Gun

Bing Zu, Governor of Ichang.

Objective:
Destroy the British Consulate

• Infantry platoon
• Cavalry Troop
• HMG Section

Victor Archer, Commander of HMS Gnat.

Objective: Save the fuel depot

• HMS Gnat with:
  • Engine crew
  • Gun crew
• Royal Air Force support.

Andrew Brown, British Consul of Ichang.

Objective: Save civilians and embark on Gnat

• Armed civilians
• Rolls Royce Armoured car

Robert Honest, Royal Navy Captain, commander of the landing party.

Objective: Keep the Union Jack flying over the Consulate

• Landing party A
• Landing party B

Unit cards

Following some suggestions from fellows at the Lead Adventures forum, I have defined some basic boat rules, and a card. The card is given to the ship captain for movement and damage assessment. Each field gun hitting the boat may cause 2D6 of damage points to the hull structure, if hit. When one of the three parts goes to zero the ship sinks in two moves, i.e. two moves to reach the river bank!

Battle Report

The battlefield is in the surroundigs of Ichang. Yangtze is on the top of the picture. The consulate is on the left. The Chinese governor is coming from the city which is behind the consulate, towards the river.
Chinese warlord troops and the mercenaries are on the right of the table.

Mercenary troops guided by Zacharov-sky, nice car taken from the french consulate of a nearby city?

The consul decides to exit his residence with the full household, wife, waiters, his fellow afghan, and his escort!

British troops hide on the river bank.

HMS Gnat is ready to fire volleys with her rapid fire gun.

Warlord troops are heavily equipped with a field gun and submachine guns!

The strategic fuel depot on the river.

RAF has been called immediately from the Gnat radioman, when will they be on the battlefield.

AS usual a lot of noise coming from the generals, mainly from the riverside 🙂 .

The governor troops are advancing quicky towards the consulate. A good reason to move fast is due to the bayonets of the british troops on their back…

Here they are!

A heavy engagement between the chinese guns and the gunboat. The chinese are lucky to place two shots on the ship’hull, just above the waterline.
Two small figures are working nearby a fule tank, what are they doing? The british captain manages to spot them and orders a salvo from the ship gun. The two figures, unscathed, run to their lines.

Zacharov troops advance quicly towards the depot, to seize it. The british civilians are passing nearby, but they do not harm them.

The british consul is an efficient politician, he has done a deal with Lui-Feng, who laughs when they pass very close to his rifles. He is not subject to any fire!!!

Thi picture is the real proof that the Consul has done some agreements with the Warlord.

British troops advance from hedge to hedge,a and hold their fire for the right moment.

Zacharov is behind the firing line, as always. Stops his car and smokes a cigar..

Civilians have just passed the chinese lines, they see the sailors of the Gnat, which don’t care at all about them. They are rushing to the consulate buildings.

Consul’s wife does not need any sailor to save her, she is well armed with a shotgun. Even her waitress holds a british ordnance pistol.

It is time to launch the attack on the consulate, now occupied by the Governor.

The governor is giving last orders to defend the building perimeter.

A machinegun is on the rooftop, the Bolshevik observer wants to see the full battlefield. It will cost his life!!!

The british engage in a heavy gunfight. The machine-gun on the roof top seems jammed, they do not score any losses on the sailors in the open!

On the other side of the table a strafing and bombing run from the RAF ensues. Shell fragments hit Zacharov car, his loyal (really?) bodyguard saves his life by covering his commander with his body, dies right after from his wounds.

Many rifle shots are fired on the plane, which is hit many times on the canvas fuselage and landing gear. No vital parts are damaged. What a luck.

On the meanwhile, governor troops are ordered to retire on the back of the building, since the british are becoming a very tough match for them. The building is filled with dynamite.

Kaboom! The building explodes, some wouned chinese still occupying the building fly into air.
The consulate will be occupied immediately by the naval troops and the Union Jack will be flying on the rubble, mission accomplished! But someone has forgotten the flag on the ship!!!
An orderly has to be commanded to reach the river, but the riverside is full of chinese troops, and the consul is not safe! He is resting with his italian escort in the middle of a wood, unseen….

Game OVER.

Afterthoughts

If we ever decide to place this scenario again, there was one major flaw in the set-up.
I had thought that players would have been more cooperative, but each of them rightly aimed at his objective without trying to win the game for his side, i.e. save the consul for the british and dislodge the british from chinese soil for the natives.
The scenario design flaw was a bit frustrating for the british captain, who had no troops to defend the fuel depot, and Zacharovsky, who had no enemy to dislodge. It might have been easily solved by exchanging two units under british command:

• 
  assign one of the two sailor parties to the ship, to secure the landing.
  
  
• 
  assign the plane as support to the Lieutenant, the one going for the consulate.
  
  

This little modification would have caused the developing of two distinc fights, one around the consulate, between tow players, and one around the landing spot, between four other players. Too bad I did not spot the problem before!
Also, as a general rule, every player must have at least one infantry unit under his command.

Thanks to Alberto, Vittorio, Maurizio, Marco, Roberto, Luca, Bruno, in random order. I have enjoyed a lot the game, I hope they as well.