The Siege of Chitral

1895

Battle Profile, Analysis, and Wargaming the Battle


Reading the day by day account of the action, one could be forgiven in thinking, that the siege was a rather light affair, as no real attacks took place on the fort. The reality was that every hour was one of the utmost anxiety. With the constant threat of the forts water supply being cut off and the fort itself being set a light. These two main threats coupled with the unreliable Sepoy soldiers, the mistrustful Chitralis within the fort and the limited food supply, all added up to a very 'tricky situation'.

Major Robertson performed admirably, aided by his officers. His cool and polite way in which he handled the various envoys and letters and his clever use of giving and asking for time to think over the various offers made, all gained valuable time for the relief forces advance.

The Garrison were pro-active and re-active constantly updating the defences. As for the besiegers, they were reluctant to launch an all out assault on the fort, as this was not the way in which they fought.

The split between Sher-Afzul and Umra Khan's men, may have hindered any concentrated attack. But each day new Sangars were constructed indicating a control factor in command. It must be remembered that the fort was indeed regarded as the capital of the Chitral country - the palace - so there may have been a reluctance to burn and destroy it in the initial stages of the siege. WARGAMING THE ACTION

Building the whole fort and the surrounding terrain/buildings is quite a task, but help is at hand.

The game, as the Reco suits a I to 1 style game, using a reduced figure scale.

There were around 500 people in the fort, this can easily been scaled down to a 120 max (80 soldiers - 40 civilians). The besiegers were originally around 2,500 strong. This can be scaled down to around 250 figs, as this would be the most you would require for any mass attack.

Obviously the wargame based on the siege would be a long affair, so the following points may make the game a little more interesting, using objectives for the procedure as opposed to a full scale siege (best played over a weekend).

1. THE FORT - There are various firms making fort models - Village Green and Battlements produce some very nice models suitable for the fort.

2. THE RIVER AND TERRAIN - The terrain was relatively flat so the cloth and sand method is possible. As for the river, you could use some blue card or blue scatter. Obviously the terrain blocks that are now available would be ideal.

3. BUILDINGS - Various firms sell Arab style buildings and walling at reasonable prices. Making these yourself should be no problem.

4. OBJECTIVES - The besiegers should be given these as an alternative for the complete siege, unless you have the time and suitable rules for such a game.

    a)Cutting the water supply ie. burning the covered water ways
    b) Setting alight the fort.
    c) Building Sangars closed to the fort.
    d) Mining the fort ie. exploding mine.
    e) Sortie by Garrison.

5. POSITIONING OF FIGURES

Two schools of thought here.

    a) Put all the figures on the table at start of game

    b) Only put those figures that would be visible to each side on the table. A map should be used to decide the split of the Garrison ie. 8 in each of the towers etc. This is important so as to determine how many men would be firing on any attacking sortie. Besiegers - only use those that were visible (very few) a few in each Sangar. If a sortie is launched from the fort, but all Sangar figures on the table within the appropriate area.

6. FIRING - As you will of read, casualties caused by firing were few on both sides. It is hardly worth the bother of calculating any such casualties during the game. Use the objective features which will bring figures into the open, where calculation of casualties is easier.

7. MINING - The route and advance of the mine should be marked on a map. Roll one or two D6 dice, each turn to indicate footage of progress ie. scale 1 foot = 5mm. The mine start area will obviously be close to the fort, so any figure movement that would be visible to the Garrison will no doubt be noted. Use other movement around the fort to cover the start of any mining.

When the mine is within a 8" of the fort the besieger must inform the British player. From then on each turn a D6 should be rolled to see if the mining noise is heard ie. 6 indicates mining heard from within area around the fort. It is now up to the British player to decide where a sortie should be launched to.

More Chirtral: The Siege

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