The Complete Brigadier
Scenario 1

1680-1880 (rules)

by Larry Duffield

The first Scenario is an encounter battle on the India-Afghanistan border in the 1840's (approximately the period of the Sikh Wars). The forces represent Sikh regulars and irregular light troops against local forces of Northern India not yet brought under British rule, but trained by British Officers and using British methods. The armies are kept very small to allow plenty of time to study the rules and make decisions between moves.

Sikh Order of Battle

    15th Sikh Line: 24 figures (flintlock musket) Regular
    4th Sikh Lancers: 4 Squadrons: 6 figures (Lance, flintlock carbine) Regular
    Pathan Irregulars: 6 figures (flintlock carbine, sabre) Green
    Irregular Foot: 12 figures (Flintlock carbine) Green

Indian Order of Battle

    12th Punjabi Infantry: 24 figures (flintlock musket) Regular
    13th Punjabi Infantry: 24 figures (flintlock musket) Regular
    1st Northern Horse: 24 figures (lance, flintlock carbine) Regular
    2nd Punjab Rifles (Detachment): 12 figures (flintlock rifles) Regular

    NOTE: This force is divided into an Advance Guard (Lancers and Rifles) and Brigade of Infantry (both Punjabi Battalions), each under their own brigadier.

Victory conditions for this scenario are simple: Each force deploys from line of march and attempts to defeat the other using any Victory Condition mentioned in Book 1. The Sikhs and Indians, as it developed, each attempted to attack the other's right flank. Since no one had played the game before, tactics were intuitive and improvised.

Initial deployment took about five turns. The Sikhs marched their men on board in route column and then deployed them into formations. Their march order was: Irregular Cavalry (on board to flank of column of march) Irregular Infantry (leading the column), 15th Sikhs, then the Cavalry by Squadrons. The Irregular Infantry was shaken into Open Order and sent over the ridgeline to cover the right and the deployment of the Brigade. The Irregular Light Horse deployed immediately into Extended Order and moved forward along the roadway to skirmish with the Indian center. As the Lancers moved up, they were guided into formation with a Squadron on each flank and a two squadron Reserve under the command of the Brigadier.

The Indians aligned their rifle regiment in Open Order to the left of the road, with their Lancer Regiment entering on turn 1. Off board the Punjabi Brigadier put his men into close column so as to enter adjacent to the road on turns 2 and 3. By turn 5, both armies reached the positions shown on Map 1. At this juncture, the commanders chose their objectives.

Battle Opens

The battle opened with a start as the 12th Punjabi advanced on the same turn as the Pathan Irregular Cavalry. Each found itself confronting the other at a range of 60 paces. The following turns exchange of fire resulted in a shaken body of horse heading for safety and home. (40 cavalry casualties against no Punjabi losses!)

Meanwhile the Indian Advance Guard moved along the far side of the major ridge, rifles in the lead, followed by the cavalry and its Brigadier. Sikh irregular infantry and lancers took up mutually supporting positions, with the lancer squadron ready to charge any enemy entering the little valley, while the musketeers covered the same area from the safety of the ridge and treeline. (Since most stands were actually in the trees, fire was considered to come from that location, not downhill.)

Now occurred the decisive act on the Eastern half of the front: The Rifle Regiment moved into its treeline with orders to engage the irregular rifles; the Northern Horse, moving up in column of troops, halted to deploy in column of squadrons at the double quick, and the Sikh Lancer Squadron executed its charge order (at the quick time). The various orders put the cavalry units in contact on a one squadron frontage with little room to reinforce. COMPLETE BRIGADIER allows each side in a melee to expand up to 2 stands on each flank. It also allows overlapping stands to curve inward to add to the melee. The rules do not specify and it is not intuitively obvious, however, whether the stands which have just expanded can IMMEDIATELY turn inwards. We decided that the~ cannot -- that the overlap must be in existence at the moment of con tact. if they can, the results of this melee would be reversed. At any rate, we next went through the Melee rules.

Both cavalry types were identical; the number of men in contact were identical; and the only difference between them was that the Sikh commander ordered his charge to be made at the Quick time as opposed to the Indian Double Quick deployment, The respective melee totals were 53 to 54, in favor of the Sikhs. This became the MINIMUM result for cavalry melees: Attacks disordered, cavalry may pursue in disorder, defender broken. One Sikh Squadron routed a regiment and its general off board. One additional rules question unearthed during the resulting discussion: should the Sikh commander have ordered a charge at the Double Quick, the result would have been an exact tie for points: 53 to 53. Who wins? The rule! do not specify. In any case, the exact result would have been predict table to either commander had we spent the Orders Phase studying the rules, a situation Mr. Grossman appears to desire, but which we are uncomfortable with. The resulting House Rule: "Add 1 D6 result to each melee total after adding Stamina results". This makes close melee are unpredictable event.

The Stamina (exhaustion) rating of the fighting unit, is one that is unique to COMPLETE BRIGADIER, and makes a good deal of sense. This one system goes far to offset the typical war gamer urge to burn up committed units until they are destroyed, an artifact of the game table which few veterans would agree is realistic, or reasonable.

The final flare up of activity on the eastern flank grew from a Sikh order to Hold Fire, then Commence Fire on the Indian rifles. The Irregulars just had enough punch to cause a single casualty to the Indians as they moved (in line) through the trees. The Indians, stung, returned fire with rifles against the irregulars, whose commander meanwhile had departed to organize action against the center and left. Since the Irregulars were ORDERED to fire, the fact that they had less chance than the proverbial snowball of affecting the Rifles was immaterial. So they blazed happily away at the treeline, while the rifles, with their commander heading for New Dehli, could do nothing but keep their heads down and wait for the Pathans to run out of ammunition.

On the main front, the Sikh general organized his little formation into a Brigade Mixed Order using a Battalion and two flanking Squadrons, intending to advance into the central plain, then wait for the Punjabi movement. Behind him the shaken Pathan Horse had been bludgeoned into Firm morale status by flank and rear supports and the flat of his sabre. With these heroes his only Reserve, ITe committed another Squadron of Lancers to a left hook in Open Order, intending to use Carbines on the 13th Punjabis as they moved up his infantry line. Simultaneously, the 3rd squadron, moving up the road, shook into line to threaten the 12th Punjabis (who felt insecure now that they had used up their initial volley). The Punjabi General, a model of caution, formed the 12th into Square, anticipating a charge which the Sikhs had no intent to order, and determined to preserve his forces until the Indian Advance Cuard had dealt with the Sikh right and siezed the ridge.

The Sikh 2nd Lancer Squadron, supported by the 4th Squadron from Reserve, moved onto the 13th Punjabi flank, while 15th Sikh Infantry began a cautious advance to deal with the fresh battalion. The General and 3rd Lancers stayed on the road to threaten a charge (or reverse course and defend against a flank attack from the east). The pathan Irregulars sacrificed themselves to draw fire from the 12th Punjabi square. Instantly both Generals found out that: a) Infantry fire 1800 in an arc; b) 2nd lancers was not QUITE beyond the 12th flank. 2nd Lancers lost 4 figures. Only one saving grace intervened: 2nd Lancer Squadron halted, shaken just inside the arc of fire of the 13th, and 2nd managed to get off a volley itself causing 20 casualties (Enfiladed Line plus luck), requiring the 13th to fire on it next turn (Firefight). This gave time for 15th Sikhs to advance at an oblique into close range, and 4th Squadron Lancers to advance BEHIND the enemy battle line. This presented the Punjabi colonel with an impossible choice - turn to face the 4th Squadron, and get blasted by the Sikh infantry, or stay in place, ruining he Sikhs, and be overrun by 4th Squadron. He elected the latter, inflicting 80 casualties and receiving 220! Then the 4th Squadron overran him, scooping up his general in the process. That finished the battle, as 12th Punjabi, in Square, could not hope to hold off two more or less fresh squadrons and a somewhat battered battalion (the Irregular Horse having given up the ghost).

During the after game discussion, interest was expressed in the command system, which was very challenging. However, the idea that infantry can fire with full effect through a 1800 arc met with major resistance. Mr. Grossman states in his rules that this large arc compensates for lack of a "pass through fire" rule. We feel that an arc of 90* is the maximum historical commanders could hope for, and that even this is probably generous. So: House Rule #2. "Fire is restricted to within 450 of a unit's front. A unit may fire at an enemy target which was visible and in its field of fire for 1/2 the Movement Phase or more."

Another problem nearly occurred: the cavalry skirmish formation was end on and 1 space away from its target, and was armed with carbines. The center of 13th Punjabis was thus EXACTLY 5 spaces away. If the Punjabis had been a 9 stand regiment instead of 8, the Cavalry would not have the range to fire and inflict casualties, even though exactly as many historical troops were around to be hit. To take an extreme example, a 20 stand Regiment (say an Austrian Grenzer Battalion, 1809, or a British Guards Battalion of the same period) CANNOT be enfiladed from more than 5 spaces by a musket. Yet the fire combat mechanics clearly desire that an enfiladed target be MORE vulnerable than the line's front. This leads to House Rule #3: "Firing units may engage any target of one or more stands which are WHOLLY within firing range as measured from the center point of the firing unit to the farthest part of the target stand(s), and which are inside the frontal firing arc of the firing unit." Note that this partially restores the power of a unit previously limited by the 450 rule.

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