"British decimated approaching Singlak, Afghanistan" Topic

Well, I'm conflicted about this one.

In a Northwest Frontier TSATF game, I suffered one of the most complete and utter defeats of my 30-plus year miniature wargaming career (I started VERY young!!!) -- but did so at the hands of my son, days before his 12th birthday.

He sat back and sniped away as I entered the valley and resisted the urge to charge his tribesmen as I approached in favor of falling the jezail-armed clans back from cover terrain to cover terrain while he secretly moved his ghazi fanatics into position to strike. His first charge went awry when the ghazis failed to close into combat with the 60th Infantry on my left flank -- but he didn't panic. Instead he charged another unit of ghazis into the rear of the highlanders on my right flank -- and it was all downhill from there. Literally for the highlanders, who were routed off the table.

A little later he got hold of my Gatling, took the artillery officer prisoner and succeeded in torturing an answer out of him to the question: "How do you operate this infernal weapon?" Thankfully, when the newly-educated tribesmen turned the Gatling on the handful of troops I had left on the field, it jammed! That was probably the high point of the action for me -- except for the proud father thing.

The web post is just pics with a little accompanying text at the start, but I think the pictures tell the story pretty well. I inflicted a ton of casualties but I never reached the Singlak marketplace which it was my objective to reconnoiter and each of my units -- Bengal Lancers troop, Royal Artillery Gatling gun, Hazara Mountain Train screw gun, platoons of Black Watch, 60th Rifles & 66th Infantry, with attached Captain & Sergeant Major -- was either routed or wiped out.

I took the pics with my iPhone, so the quality is decent but not great. Considering the nature of the events being recorded, maybe that's not so bad!

Here's the link:

link

Whoops -- TYPO fix: 60th RIFLES, not Infantry!!!

Sounds like he has a sound grasp of tactics and a cool head. You are right to be proud.

Dear me, I had a nasty turn there – I thought it was a modern news report until I noticed the board it was posted on.

Original topic title had "TSATF" in it -- but that was bounced back as too long. Trimmed it down but didn't think about the potential for misunderstanding until after I posted it, and then it was too late.

But breathe easy, Martin -- it was only lead 25mm-28mm Brits being decimated, circa 1880.

Was it the fashion yet to call the 60th Rifles the Kings Royal Rifle Corps?

Great report- and don't be disappointed, in my case it is actually the rare battle that my sons don't beat my sorry butt in

Actually, Frederick, they were already known as "The King's Royal Rifle Corps" at the time of the 2nd Afghan War, in which they won a number of Battle Honors. But for some dopey reason I always refer to them as the 60th. I believe the name was changed in 1830. Some time in the 1950s it was changed again to the regiment's present title: the Royal Greenjackets.

And yes, if my sorry butt has to beaten by someone I would certainly prefer for it be my son!

Tough battle, good report. This looks like it would be a fun scenario to play locally, with my own sons. Trouble is, they know just about every trick I've developed over the years, so it's tough to do any better than you did. My advice, Dad, is to get used to it. What makes conventions fun is playing on the same side. (We don't often lose.)

Rick

Mad Guru: Thanks – I thought that was the case – 60th Rifles is, in your defense, a cool title

Nice pics. I like how you mounted the Partha figs to more readily fit them in with your larger figs. Good looking game!

Thanks,

John

Nice report. I love TSATF. I have all those figures but have not had them out for years. You inspire me to do this game.

Tell us how you made those great looking hills, is that cork?

Thanks

Hey, Bob,

Thanks for the kind words!

Nope, not cork. It's foam underlay for wall-to-wall carpeting. When we bought our house about 6 years ago, I ripped it all up and put in hardwood floors -- then saved it all to serve the "magnificent obsession."

To be honest, I struggled for a while figuring out how best to make use of it.

My answer: glue two pieces back to back, to get them thick enough for 25mm-28mm figures. If I played with 15mm armies a single thickness would have been fine.

I love the rough, craggy look of them, which I get by HAND RIPPING the edges of the contours, rather than cutting them with scissors. IMHO they work perfectly for NWF games. I spray paint them with a dark brown, then again with one or two shades of tan as highlights. I use spray adhesive (Elmers I think) to glue the sheets together. I've never had to buy the raw material off the shelf, still have supplies handy in the garage, but I've seen it at Home Depot and I don't think it's expensive. One question is if they have a minimum quantity of square footage you have to purchase but I don't think they do, at least at Home Depot. I've bought small amounts (6'x6') of cheap brown "ridged" carpet there to use as plowed fields without an trouble.

The contours are very light and stand up to pretty much any abuse. My original plan was to paint one side brown/tan for NWF and the other side green for various European and American conflicts but the problem there is the edges. I could probably get away with solid brown edges in both color schemes but I'm too obsessive about terrain to be cool with that and like the edges for the NWF being perfect matches for the contours and ground cover. Plus most of the temperate zone games I play utilize traditional multi-figure bases, which don't lend themselves well to multiple step, straight edged contours. Still, if I wanted to I could easily use individual contours like mine to represent entire hills while playing with multi-based figures.

Some day when I get the chance I may paint all the reverse sides green and pull my collection of individually based F&IW armies out of the dust-filled shelves they have occupied for a long time! I think the French, Indians and Brits, with canoes, forests, timber forts, etc. would work well with the jagged, rough-hewn look of the hand-torn contours.

Nice photos and great looking figures! Are the British Perry miniatures? And who did all the rest if I may ask.

I may have to try that foam underlay material for my own hills.

Thanks for the kinds words, John and Flying Glove!

To answer Glove's question…

The 66th Infantry in khaki are Perry Sudan British and the Sgt. Major with the bedroll and Captain in the Glengarry are Perry Brits in "Indian service dress" (both are also in puttees).

The Black Watch and Rifle Green clad KRRC (erroneously referred to earlier by me as "60th rifles!) are Ral Partha "true" 25mm, as are the Bengal Lancers. The artillery crews are old school Hinchcliffes from the late Seventies.

The opposition include Foundry Pathans, Foundry Baluchis (as the Ghazi units) and Old Glory Pathans.

The carpet underlay foam, doubled up in thickness for 25mm and hand-torn for the rough-edged "frontier" look has worked very well for our individually based TSATF battles.

Cracking good report, sirrah!

Glad you liked it, JWOMACK.

For a Texan, you make quite a convincing limey.

I've spent the past year working with a bunch of Brits and their two favorite expressions, other than "off Yank", are "CRACKIN'" and "MEGA".

Despite being raised as an Anglophile and possessing an abiding love of British history, I pretty much hate all these guys. Maybe that's the deeper explanation of how my son was able to totally defeat me on the miniature field of battle: it was a way for me to spill British blood without resorting to criminal behavior!

But despite all… my love of the UK abides!

Whoops -- just realized I left out the last of their favorite expressions: "TOTALLY".