Second Foray onto the NW Frontier

So, last Sunday, Cameron and I played a second NW Frontier game using my 'cobbled together on the spot' rules - one of these days I must re-read LoTOW properly and actually use the rules properly with this period, as, with a few weapon tweaks (why do breechloader rifles have to take the same amount of time to reload as a musket???!!!) it'll work jolly fine for Colonial bashes!

So the scenario this time was a 'retreat from Maiwand' scenario, with the Brits being the remnants of an army that had been trashed, trying to get to safety.

We had great fun once again, but this time, the resurrected Sgt Cameron did not heed Daddy's wise advice! I advised him to, in effect, do a 'covering-fire and move' thing where half his men shot and the rest ran - he did that for a turn...then just decided to shoot me up...and had some really (uncharacteristically) bad dice which meant that I got up close and personal too quickly and chewed him up, wiping out his gallant command at the very wall of the village.

Again, apologies for poor pics. I was still using the phone!!

The British retreat from Maiwand, hotly pursued by the enemy

Sgt Cameron begins an ordered withdrawal with covering fire  from his other soldiers...

The withdrawal goes to plan, as the Pathans advance quickly in the centre, taking to cover on the left and sniping at the Sikhs from the right

The British stop withdrawing to maximise their firepower...bit of an error, methinks

An error indeed...a sudden Pathan rush traps Sgt Cameron in combat...his men cannot abandon their leader...

Vicious hand-to-hand combat, poor shooting by the Sikhs and great shooting by the Pathan sharpshooters has the Britsh force significantly reduced. This is looking like another classic last stand against the odds...

The Pathans close in..Sgt Cameron is still smiling (but also moving while I was taking the picture...doh!)

The British get the drop and move back, but surely now it's too late...

The village is in sight...can the brave Brits get over the wall and form a defensive line?

Errrr....that'd be no then!!! 

The last British soldier is hacked down, surrounded by Pathans who had infiltrated the village and trapped them from behind....

The evening of this game, I finally applied a highlight to all the Pathans. I dipped them AGES ago - my first dipped models and literally did dip them! They look a lot better with the highlights, I can assure you! Once I have based the 4 Sikhs, dipped and highlighted the remaining 8, have finished a (layered painted to match his unit) British infantry officer and have dipped and highlighted the 25 Pathans that are being basecoated as we speak, I'll post some new proper pics.

Am also doing some NW Frontier terrain, specifically loads of rocky hills, so I'll post some pics of those when they are done. I basically intend to be able to take this all to the club to run some (initially) skirmish games using modified LoTOW, working up to decent size games of T&T by March/April next year. The basic painting of troops is going well and is quite quick - I also have 12 Ghurkas ready to dip. There are then 2 units of 12 Castaway Arts Sikh Infantry, a unit of 12 Foundry Guides Infantry, a unit of 12 Pontoonier Brits, a unit of 12 Perry Highlanders, a Perry Mountain Gun and  a Foundry 9pdr gun, plus 2 units of 6 Bengal Lancers (half Castaway Arts, half Perry), a Foundry Maxim gun plus a mountain of Pathans. This doesn't include 2 units of 12 regular Afghan infantry, 1 unit of Afghan regular cavalry, 2 guns and a unit of Pathan cavalry up in the loft!

The priorities after the current crop will be a unit of 20 Pathan Ghazis and a Mullah, then the Mountain gun, a British Colonel, a British mule-train and 6 Bengal lancers, plus a unit of 12 Pathan sharpshooters and a unit of 20 warriors and we'll see where we are. If I can get them done by March, we will be on track. Of course, my interest levels will wane as the new Hobbit movie propels me back to my LoTR stuff, so we'll see how we get on...