And so we come to the villain of the piece, the outlaw for whom every British officer on the Frontier, is looking - Bahram Khan, the half-brother of Nauroz Khan of Lalpura. Bahram Khan grew up as a wild and restless character who wanted to secure notoriety by the murder of a British officer. On 21 March 1873, he succeeded. Major Macdonald of the 16th Bengal Cavalry was walking unarmed with a fellow officer on the banks of the Kabul River above Fort Michni, where Bahram Khan was stationed as collector of tolls for the raft service across the river. The Mohmand and his followers sprang upon Major Macdonald, who received a matchlock-ball wound in the thigh and was then hacked to death.
Despite a fine of 10,000 rupees on the local tribe (the Tarakzais), which was rather unfair as tribesmen from a nearby village had helped the other officer to escape, no word was heard of Bahram Khan until 13 August 1873, when his band of renegades attacked a patrol from the 2nd Merthyr-Tydfilshire Regiment outside the South Gate of the cantonment at Peshawar, wounding Captain Ivor Ogmore-Pritchard severely. A further act of iniquity occurred on 30 October 1873, when Bahram Khan's outlaws killed Captain Derval Hampton of the Political Department and captured a Gurkha officer, Subadar Maniraj Gharti, at Groti Bridge. Although Bahram Khan has lost a few men in these exchanges, his reputation has been increased immeasurably by his successes: many Pathan mothers pray that their sons will grow up to be like the great Bahram Khan.
Since the end of 1873, Bahram Khan and his band have wandered among the mountains bordering on British territory, supported by the charity of other tribesmen who sympathise with them and who have aided them as much as they dared. The outlaws have now ventured into Peshawar, primarily to obtain supplies but also to seek more followers and to stir up trouble against the British. The following tribesmen make up the Pathan band:
| Soldier | Rating | Firearm | Melee Factor | Firing Factor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bahram Khan | Veteran | Flintlock | 8 | 8 |
| Rhum Baba | Veteran | Flintlock | 7 | 7 |
| Hashim Shah | Average | Flintlock | 6 | 6 |
| Nasrullah Shah | Average | Flintlock | 7 | 7 |
| Jaggar Shah | Average | - | 6 | - |
| Zahir Shah | Average | - | 6 | - |
| Shahwali | Average | Flintlock | 6 | 6 |
| Hahzar | Average | Flintlock | 6 | 6 |
| Mohammed Khan | Veteran | - | 8 | - |
| Amanullah Shah | Average | - | 6 | - |
Unfortunately for the Imperial forces, Bahram Khan and his followers are not the only Pathans in the market place. There are at least 30 other tribesmen, most of them relatively peaceful and law-abiding. Normally, there would be tribal differences in dress that might distinguish the out laws, who are predominantly Mohmands, from the Afridis, Orakzais, Yusufzais and Waziris also in Peshawar. The Waziris, for instance, dye their clothes indigo blue or brick-red whereas the Yusufzais have turbans of grey and blue, with various gold and silk stripes worked into the fabric. However, there is nothing to stop Bahram Khan and his followers from being in disguise; all that can be said is that however they are dressed, they will all be exceedingly dirty and smelly. All the rebel Pathans carry tinder-boxes or matches.
OBJECTIVES
The stage is now set. The Sikhs have to try and prevent Bahram Khan from escaping and to capture as many of his followers as possible; they must not injure innocent tribesmen, as this might have serious repercussions in the disturbed atmosphere of the North-West Frontier. The Pathans have to get as many men out as possible (say 5 or more out of 10, including Bahram Khan, for a moral victory) and to inflict as much harm as possible on the Indian Army detachments.
In Part II, we shall see what happened in two actual games; on one occasion the Pathans were led by Doug Johnson of "Savage and Soldier" and on the other by Neville Dickinson and Ton), Hawkins whilst the Sikhs were under the command of Andy Frow and Tom Gardner (Dacorum Warlords) and Brian Locke (Trimovantes) respectively. The rules used were, of course, the Colonial Skirmish Rules obtainable from Steve Curtis. A six foot by four table was used for the first game and a slightly smaller area for the second game, with a game scale of one inch to one yard. The figures were 30mm Stadden and Suren. At the start of the game, all of Bahram Khan's men had to be withiri 1S inches of the Centre spot of the table.
Victorian Campaigns on the Northwest Frontier
Part II: If Anyone Can, Bahram Khan (WN 155)
Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 154
To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues
To MagWeb Master Magazine List
© Copyright 1975 by Donald Featherstone.
This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com