A Change of Continents - India 1846, the First Sikh War

I had a few of the Burrowers over on Saturday to play a Sikh Wars game. I don’t think I’ve had these on the table for almost two, years which is a great sin; when setting the game up I was reminded how gorgeous the collection was - ok I am biased but it is striking and wish I could still paint that consistently well. Thank you Covid as this collection was born of the pandemic. I decided we should use Valour and Fortitude as there was a tested set of army sheets on the V&F Facebook page and I enjoyed the game last time when we were in a swampy Paraguay.

The British were following a withdrawing Sikh army. The latter chose to make a stand around a small town and behind a dried up nulla and a long stretch of jungle. For the British to win they had to break more than half of the Sikh brigades and capture the town.

John the Red and Nigel played the British while Richard and Jon were the Sikhs. The latter deployed with their Gorchara cavalry and camel guns split between each wing. One brigade of regulars held the centre, while a mass of irregular infantry were placed beside the cavalry on the Sikh left. A large mob of Akali filled the gap between the town and the cavalry on the right. The best Sikh infantry (the elite French-trained battalions) were held in reserve. Several batteries of guns were placed along the front. There was also a surprise waiting for the British as their scouting had been dreadful. Unseen by the British at the start was an emplaced battery of heavy guns immediately to the front of the town, which would only be placed on the table when it became possible to see it. 

The British also split their cavalry, one brigade on the right and the other on the left. The left brigade contained the only Queen’s regiment of cavalry. The four infantry brigades were spread across the entire front , two heading for the jungle, one towards the nulla and the other on the far right. They were supported by what artillery was available, namely a few troops of Bengal Horse Artillery, Bengal Foot Artillery and a battery of heavy guns accompanied by a rocket!

The battle began with a general advance along the British line, although the troops on the right were somewhat slow in getting into position. I’m not going to give a blow-by-blow account of the game, but hopefully readers may be able to make sense of the photos. 

Sikhs on the left, British on the right

British cavalry brigade on their right. No European regiment, just the Governor General's Bodyguard, two regimenty of Bengal Light Cavalry and one of Bengal Irregular Cavalry, with a troop of Bengal Horse Artillery in support.

The Sikh centre. Six battaliopns of Khalsa with lots of guns.

The British left, with their other cavalry brigade, this time including European light dragoons (HM 4th) a regiment of BLC and the 2nd Bengal Irrrgular Cavalry.

Lurking behind the town were several battalions of elite (French-trained) Sikh infantry and more cannon.

Nigel wisely lurked in the undergrowth for a little while rather than face three heavy Sikh cannon.

The cavalry on the British right were soon in action, getting the better of  hoards of Sikh Gorchara cavalry.

The biggest threat to the British centre was in theory four units of Akali irregular and fanatical infantry. Richard couldn't get them to move for a coiuple of turns. 

Bengal Horse Artillery about to bombard the Akali.

There was also a fierce cavalry fight on the British left.  This is the second stage of the combat as HM 4th Light Dragoons had already defeated one enemy unit and charged on into another. Ultimately the Sikh cavalry were disposed of, just as the Sikh reserves made their appearance from behind the town.

The nulla proved to be a help and a hindrance to both armies. Troops descending into the nulla could not be seen but their was no guarantee that they could see out without first climbing back up the other side.  At least that saved one Queen's battalion from the attention of Sikh artillery which was forced to target the Gurkha battalion to its rear.

Nigel's brigades launched an assault on the Sikh redoubt and captured it more easily than I had thought possible. Rules tweak required I think?

On the British right Jon and John launch their cavalry at each other, and ther Sikhs were able to catch and overrun a troop of artillery that was unable to get away. Most of the remaining Sikh horsemen were destroyed or driven back. 

The horse artillery were unable to prevent the Sikhs from overrunning their position.

With the Sikh cavalry now rendered ineffective the British cavalry made several fruitless attacks on the irregular infantry to their front. All were surprisingly beaten off, causing more than a little consternation. Jon kept throwing 6's when testing to see how 'unpredictable' his men were, resulting in their stats being bumped up. 

Even the British infantry brigade struggled against the irregulars, loosing one  battalion of Sepoys 

                                                                   

Zumi our Persian kitten inspecting the town. 

Finally the 'Avitables' .emerged from behind the town, 

                                             which was now in the hands of the British

The Akalis were anihilated.

The Sikhs tried to recapture the town but weree unable to gain a foothold.

So there ended a very close and exciting game. I declared it a British victory, just. The town was captured and much of the Sikh cavalry and the Akalis had been destroyed, as had several regular battalions ikn the centre. There was certainly a much bigger 'dead pile' behind the Sikh lines!

V&F worked well. There were a couple of amendments which certainly made a difference, insofar that Sikh artillery HAD to engage in counter-battery fire, and any losses taken by a European battalion could be shifted onto a sepoy battalion in the same brigade. I was surprised the Sikhs held back their best infantry until it was too late, and I don't think Jon's brigade in the centre needed to advance, as it put them at a disadvantage against the British hiding in the nulla. I could be wrong of course. I need to add a rule for Sikh artillery when defending their guns in melee, and I wonder if the tenacity of these big batteries should be increased.  

Anyway, it was an enjoyable game. Even the weather made it feel like we were in the Punjab. (Not really but it was very warm and humid).

I think I will try GdA II with the Sikhs next time. Not because I don't like V&F (which I do and are perfect for most big Saturday games here) but because I am curious. 

Right, back to Paraguay for a while as these ships won't paint themselves!

French Invasion of Sweden 1808 (as it might have happened): Two Battles for Skane#1

Two games this week. John came over mid week to play a game trying out Valour and Fortitude for a change instead of Gen d’Armee 2. The latter are my preferred set but sometimes I need simplicity.

As I’ve no doubt mentioned on numerous occasions, the French had plans to invade Sweden, the  Britain’s only ally on the Continent. The French Army of Denmark contained two divisions of French, two of Spanish, one from the Kingdom of Holland and most of the Danish army. The Swedes were busy defending Finland from the Russians but still had a reasonably-sized army to defend Sweden, in theory aided by a British expeditionary force under Sir John Moore that the mad Swedish king refused permission to disembark. The practical issues around staging an invasion were stacked against any real invasion taking place but the chance to field such an eclectic mix of troops overrides any such considerations. So here we go. I plan to run a series of linked games in a sort of snakes and ladders approach, each game dependent on the outcome of the previous one, with a few random events. More of those mechanics in another post.

The French have crossed the narrow stretch of water and put ashore a division of Spanish and a division of French. The Swedes, supported by a small brigade of British/KGL are drawn up across the road inland poised to throw the defenders into the sea. Here are a few photos of the game.

The battlefield. 

The Spanish in the French centre. 

Two brigades of French on their left.

Spanish cavalry on the extreme right.

The Swedes attack.

One of the two Swedish cavalry brigades, facing the Spanish cavalry.

Romana’s Spanish on the French right.

Swedish amd Spanish cavalry in combat.

The Spanish Villavicosa Dragoons are about to be defeated.

More Swedish cavalry in the centre.

The main French thrust was up the road

Meanwhile the Spanish infantry quite liked staying where they were.

The French cavalry brigade attacked the Swedish dragoons in the centre.

It didn’t go well for the French. Their Chasseurs were defeated.

With no cavalry left the Spanish were left exposed. One battalion was caught in line and destroyed while the others were able to form square.

Spanish musketry was ineffective, as the dice above show!

Over on the left the French hit the English brigade, who failed to stop their charge.

One battalion of French were defeated in melee.

But next turn one English battalion was broken.

Followed next turn by another. The English brigade passed all their Fortitude tests.

The aNow rallied French hussars caught a Swedish battalion in line and destroyed them. They then had to stand for a full turn while the Swedes shot them to pieces causing them to rout. This is an issue I have with the rules as there is no provision for rallying back or indeed carrying on forward. 

The French advance down the road is a slow one.

The centre, with Swedish infantry threatening the flank of the French attack up the road.

The French hussars have had enough…..

…as indeed have the French infantry on the extreme left.

This was clearly a Swedish victory, but not a decisive one. V and F worked ok; they’re very brutal and bloody and not necessarily well thought out, not particularly well written, and the main driver seems to have been to get them onto four sides of A4 paper. (More precise use of English could have saved them some space). That said, they do what it says on the tin, and they can, and in this case certainly did, provide the basis for a good game where the end result was up in the air until the last turn. A fun game, not wholly satisfying from a historical point of view perhaps, but we got to push lots of colourful soldiers around the tabletop and got a result in just over three hours. 

Next time, more players and more soldiers.