Aliwal Again

I ran Sir Harry Smith's "battle without a mistake" back in January, using tweaked Neil Thomas 19th century rules. I can't say it was a great success. Since then I've painted more toys and thought more about how the game might work. I originally thought that the "Taiping Era" model probably wasn't suitable for combat where generally neither side had superior self belief. Of course having thought that and dismissed using them, ideas as to how they would work kept banging around on the back of my brain. In order to get myself to sort these ideas out I imposed a deadline. Why not take the toys to COW in July? I immediately sent a note to the organiser to book a session and so lock myself in to making it work.

I'd had another look at my books and revised the terrain layout, putting in the typical Sikh fortification line. This is reported as being crescent shaped, allowing the side near the camera to be enfiladed from Aliwal, the white building in the distance. The battle was fought in two phases, with the better quality Sikh infantry falling back to a second line in a nullah which would be off to the left. By that point they were merely extending the agony, so I chose not to model it. Yet.

As you can see we are in that period of the year where the sun streams in to SHQ for the first hour of play. I need to fix up the temporary curtains, but it is nice to have the warmth of the sun, especially as it has been unseasonably cool.

Phil & Chris took the British, and Steve and I shared the Sikhs.

The light's a bit better if I stand in the way when taking the picture. As you can see, spare trench sections are doing duty as Sikh entrenchments.

Changes for this game included a shift to hexes, which meant only one unit per area, and a rule allowing a drop in "Moral Vigour" to be offset by falling back a hex. Otherwise I was using the QRS from "Indian Mutine-era".

I needed to make up some characters for the Sikh commanders as not even Amarpal Singh has them listed in his otherwise excellent book. I also found I was a command figure short, so a Wang from the Taiping box came on as a substitute.

The British started with the initiative, and Chris grabbed a QRS and one of my source books to make sure he wasn't being short changed in the game.

Chris and Phil immediately moved forces left and right to flank the entrenchments, whilst pushing forwards some infantry to demonstrate in the centre to hold our attention. As I'm nice like that I'd drawn their attention to the way the rules let Horse Artillery move and shoot. Chris in particular exploited this to the full.

Phil had originally decided to rush the village with cavalry. Well, he said he thought the artillery were outside the village as it wasn't obvious from how I'd set things up. I added some walls to make the point, and instead all three units of Bengal Light Cavalry, led by the Governor General's bodyguard, charged home into a mass of Gorchurras. You will note that the units have ID tags, and a little coloured square that tells the players what type of dice to roll, as my dice are generally colour coded. Yellow = d8, red = d6 and so on.

The results were mixed, with the Bengalis winning two and losing one. The Gorchurra took the MV loses as an extra fall back.

On the other flank it was also a bit mixed, but the lancers made a big initial impact.

They soon had my chaps back on the table edge, although I was holding on elsewhere. I had a spare unit, bottom left, to throw in and catch the Lancers in the flank.

The wider view shows the British double envelopment under way. I think I should set them up in March Columns at first so that they can cover the ground more quickly and bring the game to a climax sooner.

So much for my mooted cavalry flank attack. Some very effective fire from the Bengal Horse Artillery saw them off in short order.

Phil really couldn't do anything with his central cavalry unit as Steve repeatedly drove him back. Even M-G Stedman taking personal command did no good, and he was eventually cut down in the melee.

Still, not all bad for him as his Gurkhas stormed Aliwal village, overrunning both guns and infantry.

More of my Gorchurras fled, but the body count for cavalry officers was rising, with Colonel McDowell succumbing to the flashing tulwars, as indicated by the finger of doom.

So it turns out I'm attacked in the flank and outnumbered, whilst the lancers press on, but can't quite break their opponents.

Phil pressed hard on the end of our line on the left.

As Chris threatened to turn my flank, I turned some of Avitable's brigade to cover the position. These guys are the elite of the Sikh army, and are a match for even regular British infantry.

Chris responded by massing his horse artillery and pounding the hex.

The Gurkhas see off one unit of irregular infantry on the left. It's looking dodgy over there.

The lancers finally dispose of their opponents and pull up on the table edge.

Further up my table edge my last unit of Gorchurras is steadily being whittled down.

Sure enough they break and flee.

Steve's last Gorchurra unit gets caught in front and rear attack and is destroyed.

Come coffee time both of our flanks are open, and Phil is across the fortifications with a couple of battalions. Chris has massed to assault me end of the line, but it'll be the lancers charging into flank and rear that will do for us.

A very satisfactory playthrough. I need to look at some of the unit values - and with so many units on the board I need more yellow d8s as both sides are rolling a lot. Hopefully I'll be able to pick some up at Partizan on Sunday.