Wargaming the Battle of Aliwal

It is unlikely that anyone has got a Sikh army or even an 1840s British Indian army already made up, so you may have to be flexible, and mix and match from available sources. The terrain should not cause too many difficulties, and the rules can be a straight crib from your favourite Napoleonic set. The only real change to weaponry was that the British had by now got percussion smoothbores so allowing a faster rate of fire. You will have to work out your own modifier for this as it will depend on your rules.

As far as troop types go, Brits are Brits and Sepoy units can count as rtuguese. Sikh regular infantry can count as Russians, and their cavalry and irregulars as whatever your lowest rating allows. Some of these irregulars had jezzails, so allow a longer range but don't overdo it, Casualties should be low, not crippling. As far as artillery is concerned, it will be apparent that the British guns were daringly handled, so allow the horse artillery to gallop around a lot. The 8 inch howitzers and the Sikh artillery seem to have been relatively immobile, so penalise movement by allowing either move or fire and not both. Sikh guns and the British field artillery were bullock powered, so movement should be enough to keep up with infantry but nothing more. You may like to penalise Sikh guns by not allowing any movement after the initial set up. Although the Sikhs deployed some jingals (camel mounted 'wall guns'), these can be disregarded unless you feel sufficiently.

OOBs

SIKH ARMY

Commanded by Ranjur Singh
Possibly 3,000 cavalry, 17,000 infantry, of which perhaps half were regulars, supported by 67 guns.

BRITISH ARMY

Commanded by Major-General Sir Harry Smih

CAVALRY

Brigadier-General Cureton

MacZowell's Brigade

H.M. 16th Lancers (Effective total strength 559) 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry 4th Irregular Cavalry

Stedman's Brigade

Governor-General's Bodyguard 1st Bengal Light Cavalry 5th Bengal Light Cavalry
Shekawali Cavalry

3 Troops of Bengal Horse Artillery 18 x 6 pounders

INFANTRY

Note that Hicks and Wheeler commanded the brigades of Smith's 'old' division.

1st Brigade, Hicks

H.M. 31st Foot (Effective total strength 476)
24th Bengal Native Infantry
47th Bengal Native Infantry

2nd Brigade, Wheeler

H.M. 50th Foot (Effective total strength 434)
48th Bengal Native Infantry
Sirmoor Battalion of Gurkhas

3rd Brigade, Wilson

H.M. 53rd Foot (Effective total strength 675)
30th Bengal Native Infantry
Shekawall Infantry (Attached)

4th Brigade, Godby

36th Bengal Native Infantry
Nasiri Battalion of Gurkhas

2 Companies of Foot Artillery

12 x 9 pounders
2 x 6 inch howitzers

The Battle of Aliwal 28th January, 1846

Introduction and Background
Advance and Battle
Wargaming the Battle and OOBs