Well! Suffice to say the reconnaissance established that there were hostile tribesmen in the area, with the loss of 23 dead and around 33 wounded, including 2 British officers, it was achieved at a very high price. The starting of the siege with morale at rock bottom for the majority of the Garrison, was also a very high price to pay.

It appears one of those curious army practices, that when a Senior Officer hands over command of some troops for a mission, he does not interfere, even when he his aware of mistakes. The recon soon changed into a fighting sortie, one which it was ill prepared and inadequately equipped to complete.

Robertson makes clear mention of Campbell taking out 'almost half the garrison, indicating that this force appeared overly large for the task in hand'. He himself sent fresh orders to Baird during the sortie, unaware of Campbell's original order to him. He even put his own life in great danger unnecessarily, in riding back to the fort ' initially alone. Unaware that Campbell had already sent an order to Harley at the fort. This indicates the confusion in orders being written and sent by several Senior Officers.

Such a large force and the splitting up of it, over such a large area, was a recipe for disaster, the onset of nightfall, which was only hours away added to the danger of the mission. The nature of the terrain, which made it impossible to see any great distance and the limited intelligence all were to add further difficulty to the task in hand. This task could well of been carried out by a small group of mounted men, accompanied by two sections of infantry and a rear guard close by the fort.

The recon force were faced with around a 1,000 tribesmen, half of which appeared to be armed with the Snider and Martini-Henry rifles, equal in range to the Sepoys own Sniders and far better shots. They used all available cover and the major describes them as 'practically invisible' in the failing light. Whether the British force walked into a ambush, which the Pathans were adapt at organising, or it was just poor timing to have marched out when the enemy were massing is unclear, but full advantage was taken of this gift that presented itself.

As for the Sepoys the Major states 'half were well disciplined, whilst the remainder were less than useless'. 'The majority behaved as if they had never fired a single shot before', even suggesting that some of there own losses may of been inflicted by his own men. The fact that any firing against the enemy, showed little or no results ie. no dead bodies seen (actual tribesmen killed only around 15). It is little wonder that the Sepoys, to but it mildly, were a little ruffled, the knowing of what would befall them if they fell into enemies hands could not of helped - CHOP CHOP!!

In the Sepoys defence Robertson states that they marched out wearing their heavy overcoats which hindered their movement and under the circumstances they behaved remarkably well.

WARGAMING THE ACTION

This small action makes an ideal skirmish game, using a reduced scale or even 1 - 1, using 25mm or 15mm figs.

POINTS TO NOTE

1. British - you can use sikhs or Anglo British from your Indian Mutiny range to represent the Sepoys

2. Tribesmen - you only require at most 250, as they never charged en-mass, again you can use Indian Mutiny figs if you do not have any Afghan figs.

3. Only put on the table, those tribesmen that appear along the front of the walls etc. Leaving any larger groups hidden. The location of such groups must of been mapped before the start of the game, with any off table movement being logged.

4. The tribesmen should be given a high morale, only requiring a morale test if they are advancing against a formed body of men, especially one that is volley firing at them. They tended to advance very slowly under fire, only charging in the open when the enemy was withdrawing.

As the tribesmen were made up of different clans, it is suggested that you split for morale taking purposes them into N.S.E.West, with each side taking separate morale tests as necessary.

Remember that they were not an army but separate tribal clans.

5. Rifle fire factors -

Pathans (better armed): high factor.
Chitralis (older rifles, Jezails): medium factor.
Chitralis (Matchlock rifles): low factor.
Sepoys : low factor.
British Officers: high factor.
Sikhs: high factor

6. Morale for Sepoys - should take, whenever, ordered to advance or withdraw under fire. Taking any losses, especially the loss of a British Officer. The Sepoys never broke under fire, so the morale test should lean towards reduction of fighting ability as opposed to potential routing of unit.

7. Duration of game - to make for a better game, it is best to decide how many moves the British force as a minimum, should stay out before withdrawing. This stops it retiring to early, avoiding a defeat. Roll 3 D6 Dice to decide.

8. British objective - several points on the wargames table, must be scouted by the British. Remembering that there were only at best a handful of loyal Chitralis horsemen available. This means that the above points must be searched by infantry.

This will recreate the separation of the original reconnaissance.

Recon: Introduction and Battle Description

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