"NW Frontier Battle Report" Topic

On Saturday June 27th, we gathered a group of six players to playtest a new variant of Bill Protz's Colonial (19th Century) rules based on similar mechanics to those used in his popular BAR and Drums of War Along the Mohawk rules.

link

The scenario was set in fictional Tranjipour, somewhere on the Northwest frontier of India. A recon force of Imperial and Sepoy troops set out from Fort Grant looking for Tugs and Pathans, and as you can see by clicking on the link to my blog, we found them aplenty.

Each player commanded one or two elements of figures with battalions based individually at a 1:10 ratio. I added my own Seaforth Highlanders (Connoisseur figures) to the mix and sent them into battle for the first time – they performed admirably, I'm happy to say.

The game ran smoothly and we came up with a number of useful ideas to tweak the rules a bit, but for a first play test, it had a minimal number of glitches. I look forward to playing this fun game again.

Most of the figures shown in my blog are Peter Gilder's Connoisseur figures, although I believe that Bill added a variety of other brands such as Castaway, Askari, Stadden and a Foundry. Randy even brought some Scruby 30mm Arabs to pad out the Tug forces (BTW, the Scrubies are nice looking figures that really stand the test of time).

Click the pix to enlarge the view. God Save the Queen.

Great AAR. Thanks

Looks impressive! Wish I could have been there.

Nice looking game. That was a lot of Imperial troops on the table. How many Tugs were there?

Thanks,

John

WaaaaaY too many! I played on the Imperial side and it seemed like we couldnt do enough damage to break the Tug units. The terrain kept our side from really being able to focus our fire. And the native rifle fire was as effective or better thatn ours. All in all it was a great time with excellent scenery and wonderfully painted figures.

Chuck

Great looking game! Did I see some Hinchliffe? It looks like Gunga Din changed sides.

One of the changes that we will likely make is to increase the range of Imperial rapid fire bonus (+5) from 20" to at least 30" and then add in a ammo supply rule. As Chuck said, the Pathans were picking off a lot of the Sepoys and British from long range and we couldn't do much about it.

There is a little bit of everything in the Pathan bands so there probably are some Hinchcliffes. They all belong to Bill. I just painted one unit of Highlanders and plan to add a squadron of British lancers and a squadron of hussars.

You can access three more photos and some extra background information at:
generalpettygree.blogspot.com
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Three more photos.
Imperial orders and scenario.
Information regarding Tug unit appearance.
Units and numbers available for each side.
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Appearing down the left-hand side of the blog are semi-permanent categories of information. Someone asked about miniatures used. Scroll down a bit for that.
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Rules Changes:
Increased artillery effectiveness.
Ditto for Imperial close order rapid fire mod. and range.
Slight reduction in Tug melee modifiers.
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Jack Scruby once said something to the effect that balancing Colonial games is difficult. What he wanted to try to accomplish was to give each side kind of an even chance to win. Ditto for me. We played a lot of Colonial games in the 1980s and even when you think things are kind of balanced, things come along which are unique to Colonial gaming that turn the world upside down. That's okay.
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The Tugs had too many rifles. Next time there will be a rifle unit, a smooth bore jezail unit and a non-jezail musket unit.

I keep reminding myself I must not make the two sides like the protagonists in Star Wars. Imperial Storm Troopers miss 90% of the time and the Rebels hit 90% of the time.

Next time the Imperials will shoot better. As Chuck properly said above,Imperial firepower could not be brought sufficiently to bear given terrain circumstances. Thank you for your part in the game Chuck.
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Many thanks Der Alte for your very good and well-received remarks above and on your blog. I think as a result of the game we are closer to rules mechanics goals.
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Cheerio,
Bill
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PS Missed gaming with you Mike. Next time hopefully you can break away.

PS If the gentleman from Massachusetts would care to comment about a certain debacle in the Sudan nearly twenty years ago, readers here might find it interesting and funny.

the general's blogspot is indeed a place of wonderous stuff!

DAWGIE

For some useful reference (if you haven't got a copy already) I'd recommend 'Small Wars – Their Principles & Practice' by Colonel Callwell – I've certainly used it to influence my colonial dabbles, and to assist in deciding the right level of 'balance' in a game with troops, training and topography.

Reference details:
ISBN-10: 1438513887
ISBN-13: 978-1438513881

And a wonderful blog too, enjoyed scrolling thru the chapters.

There is a load of stuff in Calwell's book. Some great stuff in it.

Thanks,

John