History
It was midday on 10 June 1897, at the village of Maizar in the Tochi Valley. Colonel Bunny and his force were cautiously eating the meal provided by the people of this Indian/Afghanistan frontier village. The Imperial force consisted of 200 of the 1st Sikhs, 100 of the 1st Punjab Infantry, two guns of No.6 (Bombay) Mountain Battery and 12 sowars of the 1st Punjab Cavalry.
They were here to investigate the non-payment of a fine and the murder of a Hindu cleric the previous year. Suddenly, a man was seen on a nearby tower waving a sword and then the firing began...
Fighting their way out of the village, and most of the way back, the force eventually reached the safety of the military post at Datta Khel.
For more details of the real action I recommend reading The Frontier Ablaze by Michael Barthorp.
Game set-up
A ratio of 1 figure = 10 men was used for this game. The Imperial totals came to:
- 1 Indian company of 10 figures, plus 1 British officer.
- 2 Sikh companies of 20 figures, plus 2 officers.
- 2 sowar cavalry plus a British officer.
- 1 mountain gun section of 1 gun model with 4 Indian crew plus a British officer and 4 mules.
- 1 General figure.
- 6 Mules carrying ammunition.
Set up 'battlefield 1' on the wargames table according to the map. The Imperial troops are set up within Maizar, in a disordered manner with the artillery dismounted from the mules.
There are five tribal groups each of 20 figures but you are unlikely to need 100 figures at any one time (50 should be enough). The tribal groups are set up at random using dice.
- D6=1 or 2 - Off board positions 1 and 2.
- D6=3,4 or 5 - Mountain slopes 3, 4 and 5.
- D6=6 - In Maizar village, positioned on roof tops, in buildings, etc.
Objective
The player is in control of the Imperial troops. They need to escape from the ambush in 'battlefield 1' and conduct a fighting withdrawal through 'battlefields 2', '3' and '4'. Having passed off 'battlefield 4', the approaches to Datta Khel are gained and troops can expect to meet a rescuing force and safety.
Movement
Imperial forces must leave the board at designated places. Tribesmen off the board will be represented by 10% of their number and will engage in long range sniping. Any tribal force at the edge of the battlefield must dice to see if they advance onto the board each move.
- A score of d6=6 means they appear on the edge of the board and they are then controlled by the action commands.
- A score of d6=4 or 5 means the group continues long range sniping but moves around the board that move towards the exit (shown by the arrows on the map). If at the exit point, the group will move off and be randomly positioned on the next board having first be reinforced to return to full strength. If the tribesmen retreat off the board or 'flee the battlefield' they return to long range sniping.
Moving onto the next battlefield:
- Any Imperial forces leaving the board have their time noted and when they leave and are given a corresponding 'head start' on the next wargames table. (The action does not move to the next wargames table until all Imperial forces have been removed from the last wargames table.)
- The tribal forces left on the battlefield abandon the chase but take a short cut over the mountains to 'battlefield 4' and are reinforced (regaining a maximum of 20 figures) and placed on the edge of the battlefield for that game.
- Any tribal forces on the edge of the battlefield pursue but are not reinforced. They will be positioned randomly on the edge of the next battlefield.
Tribal Group Action
The Imperial troops move first and then the actions of each tribal group is decided using the following system:
Action factors start with zero and then add or subtract the following:
Imperial troops are retreating: +1
Imperial troops are advancing: -1
Tribal group is under artillery fire: -1
Total visible tribesmen outnumber Imperial troops: +1
Total visible tribesmen are twice the number of Imperial troops: +1
Total visible tribesmen are half the number of Imperial troops: -1
Per casualty in the tribal group during this game: -1
Find the response code from this table
| D6 | Action Factor | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | -1 | -2 | -3 | -4 | -5 | -6 | |
| 1 | B | C | C | D | D | E | E | E | E | E |
| 2 | B | B | C | C | D | D | E | E | E | E |
| 3 | A | B | B | C | C | D | D | E | E | E |
| 4 | A | A | B | B | C | C | D | D | E | E |
| 5 | A | A | A | B | B | C | C | D | D | E |
| 6 | A | A | A | A | B | B | C | C | D | D |
Responses:
| Code Letter | Action | % of tribal group visible |
|---|---|---|
| A | Charge nearest enemy. | 100% |
| B | Advance seeking cover and firing. | 80% |
| C | Hold position, take cover and fire. | 50% |
| D | Retreat seeking cover and firing. | 20% |
| E | Flee the battlefield and engage in long range sniping. | 10% |
Note that not all the tribesmen are visible any time. This is because some are hiding behind rocks, etc. The idea here is:
- To simulate the ability of these tribesmen to blend with their surroundings and suddenly appear from nowhere to attack the Imperial troops.
- To reduce the number of tribesmen figures required when playing colonial games.
Percentage reference table (for groups of up to 20 figures).
| % | Number of figures left in group. | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | |
| 10 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| 20 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 4 |
| 50 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 |
| 80 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 100 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 |
Casualties
To simulated the problem of the imperial forces retreating under fire, the need to evacuate casualties and to provide realistic casualty totals the following procedure was used:
Imperial casualties are not all losses:
- D6=1 indicates the target has been killed and the figure is removed from the board.
- D6=2 or 3 means the target is wounded and the figure is left prone on the board. To move it must be accompanied by another 'carrying' figure. The 'carrying' figure can not fire when moving and 'wounded' figures can never fire. Any wounded figure overrun by a tribal force is considered killed.
- D6=4 to 6 means the target is under heavy fire, has taken cover and dare not move or fire that turn. All tribal casualties are considered 'kills'.
Ammunition supplies
Provided a company or artillery section has an ammunition-carrying mule with them, they are considered supplied with unlimited ammunition. If the mule is killed then ammunition will run out. A d6=1 score after a non-supplied unit has fired indicates it is now out of ammunition.
Winning the game
The aim is to get off the last battlefield with as many of the Imperial troops as you can. If you get destroyed before that point: you lost! If you are successful you might like to compare your casualty rate with that of the real imperial force:
- 24 Indian ranks killed, 28 wounded.
- All British officers killed or wounded.
- Mountain guns lost.
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