Steamship Troopers 1898

A Wargame

Lt. Gen. Burns Mulligrew

by Malcolm Wright

Player Briefing:

LT. GENERAL BURNS-MULLIGREW Damit' all. You really don't have a map of this blasted hellhole BUGAWANISTAN. The only description is that in the scenario. You must therefore plan your operations entirely from that. Blasted Indian office…trust them and the Viceroy to send a man into a situation like this.

From the sea it is impossible to pick any land marks other than the very obvious "Sultans Head" and the mouth of the estuary. Nothing else can be seen. The water shallows quickly so you have been forced to anchor 2 miles off shore with your large ships. The blasted battleship, which cannot see a ruddy thing from 3 miles off shore, the closest it dares approach. Damn Navy never get it right.

Because of this you have sent some troops ashore in boats, the rest are to disembark onto the steamers provided by the Viceroy. They can travel into the river estuary and presumably move about on the internal rivers of this God forsaken place. Since that is why India Office supplied them and they must have had some indication they would be useful for that or as is well know, they would never have spent the money to provide them.

At the start you will have landed your Naval brigade onto a beach area of your choice and the boats have remained on shore, just in case they get into bother and need to evacuate. This is a small brigade but has its own landing guns, and a Maxim. Having their boats with them does mean that you can change their location later if you need to have them elsewhere.

Your instructions from the Viceroy are.

    (1) LOCATE and RESCUE the students of Miss Polkinghorne's School…especially the senior prefect (Miss Lucinda Lumley) who is the niece of the Viceroy. The rest are less important but some damn Politician chap back in the old Country has a relative in the LOWER FORM, so you had best make sure to get them back too. Of course it would not do to leave White Women behind in such a place so you will need to get the School staff out as well. You'll need to have one of your vessels especially designated to act as their transport. All officers are to know which transport, so that if they locate the School they know where to direct them.

    (2) As you ARE going there anyway… KILL the BUGAWAN of BUGAWANISTAN to teach him a damn good lesson. That will stop him seizing any more blasted steamers and interrupting any more school Science excursions.

    (3) Again since you are going to be there anyway…carry out explorations of this mysterious province for the usual useful things…Gold, Silver, Copper, general loot and so forth. There have been many rumors over the years that there was an old Roman site here and that it conceals a treasure that is worthwhile looking for if you are there anyway…even if not worth looking for if you had to especially go there!

    (4) If the local natives cause too much trouble and wont hand over the students peacefully, send a unit of troops to climb the Sultan's pillar. They are to sit on the Sultan's Head until her Majesties demands are satisfied.

    (5) PERSONAL AIM. Your dear lady wife….has insisted you bring her and the children along on this venture. A bit of a bloody nuisance really. However she does have an eye for a bargain and through the children's Nanny, she picked up a rumor that the RUGS of this region are pretty damn good and sell for high prices back in London. One would definitely look good sitting on the floor of your Den…(good after dinner talking point over Port) and your lady wife has a knack for making a useful profit out of these ideas of hers. That does help to keep your Polo Ponies well groomed and stabled, the family estate in repair etc. Damn it all, once she made so much profit you even passed some down to have the tenant farmers roofs torn off so they could be replaced. Who knows perhaps this time she'll make enough profit to get roofs put back on too.

    (6) At all times be loyal to and a fearless servant of Her Majesty Victoria, Queen of England and the Empire, Empress of India. This does not have to entail personal risk. You are after all a General and not expected to over do it, but you need to show firm and unshakable faith that your opinions are exactly RIGHT and those of everyone else on this expedition are exactly WRONG unless you agree with them.

YOUR FORCES COMPRISE THE FOLLOWING. (Disregarding the off shore stuff which is too damn far away to be of any use.)

YOUR TROOPS.

    C-in-C. Yourself.
    2-IC… That blasted Wigan fellow seconded from 8th Mounted Brigade. (That man is such a damn Cad)

    NAVAL BRIGADE. Commodore Percival.

      ROYAL MARINE LIGHT INFANTRY. 3 companies under Major Moore.
      BLAKE BATTALION. ROYAL MARINES. 4 Companies under Major Cryer.
      NAVAL LANDING BATTALION. 4 Companies under Lt.HORN.
      MAXIM MACHINE GUN directly under Percival.
      POM-POM gun. directly under Percival.
      NAVAL LANDING GUN. directly under Percival.

    8th INFANTRY BRIGADE. Major General WIGAN. VC etc.

      4th BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGT. 4 companies under Lt.Col. Morris.
      45th RATTAY'S SIKHS. 4 Companies under Colonel Friend.
      2nd SIKH'S. 4 Companies under Colonel Wall.
      1st Battalion, 1st Ghurka Rifles. 4 Companies under Captain Jack. (Seconded from China)
      1 MAXIM section. Directly under the command of WIGAN.

    9th INFANTRY BRIGAGE. Brigadier Carew.

      6th HIGHLAND REGT. 4 Companies under Colonel Hamish MacDougal.
      63rd PALAMACOTTA LIGHT INFANTRY. 4 Companies under Lt. Colonel Dogge.
      17th DOGRA's. 4 companies under Major Fulham.
      2nd QUEENS OWN RAJPUT INFANTRY. 4 companies under Colonel Yarrow.& Subadah Golat Singh.
      1 MAXIM section. Directly under the command of Carew.

    INDIAN CAVALRY BRIGADE. Brigadier Fotherwood-Smythe VC.

      5th IRISH LANCERS. 4 squadrons under Colonel Bingwood.
      3rd BENGAL LANCERS. 4 squadrons under Colonel Harringworth.

    ARTILLERY AND ENGINEER BRIGADE. Colonel Fitzsymonds (RA)

      2 Batteries. 12pdr field guns. (Under direct command Fitzsymonds)
      2 Batteries. 2.75" Screw guns. (Mountain artillery) Lt. Smart. + Mule teams etc.
      1st Battalion. Royal Engineers. 4 Companies under Major Cox.
      Heliograph Company. 2 Sections, each under direct command of a senior NCO.
      1 maxim gun section. Under direct command of Fitzsymonds.

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