On Christmas 1841, an army of 4,500 British and Indian troops was about to take the final step down the road to its destruction, accepting a guarantee of safe-passage from their Afghan foes, abandoning their cantonments outside the walls of Kabul and starting what would become their death march through 90 miles of snow and ice covered mountain passes, South towards the border of British India.
When this illfated decision was taken by the army's commanders, there were a number of dissenting voices, foremost among them two sharp young officers, Eldred Pottinger and Colin McKenzie. For some years I have wanted to wargame a "What-If?" version of the British withdrawal, where the British commanders make the other choice, listen to Pottinger and McKenzie, and attempt to fight their way from the Cantonments to the Bala Hissar fortress, located about a mile-and-a-half away.
The British starting point at one long corner of the table is seperated from their objective at the diagonally opposite corner by the Kabul River and Canal, as well as numerous small forts, gardens and orchards -- and then there are two gates through the Kabul city wall, at least one of which must be forced in order to reach the entrance to the Bala Hissar.
The good news for the British is the Bala Hissar itself is occupied by Shah Sujah, their ally/puppet who they first came to Afghanistan in 1839 to place on the throne. If the British can make it to the South side of the city wall, Shah Sujah will send a sally party of his household troops out to assist them in the last stretch of street-fighting through the narrow byways of Kabul.
When I came up with the idea of running this scenario it had 2 big challenges: c.1840 British troops in cold weather gear, which were not commercially available; and the terrain, which was somewhat challenging.
While relatively accurate Indian forces were available from the Wargames Foundry and various other Sikh Wars ranges, the trademark look of the 44th Regt. in their caped greatcoats was not. I came up with a solution, which was to use the bodies of ACW Union infantry in similar caped greatcoats, and heads from Wargames Foundry 1840s "China" British infantry, complete with trademark bell-topped shakos. Since both ranges were designed by the same Perry sculptor(s), the pieces went together pretty well, as seen here:
I started down the road to converting this special purpose army, but got distracted by other things. One of those was building a number of Afghan river terrain boards and canal pieces for my 1879 Battle of Charasiab game, which have now come in handy to use as the Kabul River and Canal for this Christmas 1841 game. The terrain also requires a chunk of the Bala Hissar to occupy one corner and the city walls of Kabul stretching from there along one short end of the table.
Studio Miniatures recently ran a Kickstarter campaign for First Afghan War forces, including British 44th Regt. Infantry in caped greatcoats. This reminded me of my own similar project, and on the spur of the moment, I tried to lay out my table for the game. I kept the size down to 8'x6', so I could leave it in place without having to move the desk in my home-office. It turned out I had just enough Afghan road pieces from my Charasiab layout to make it work. I had to use a few not-quite-appropriate buildings and one questionably-finished bridge, but I think the overall layout looks pretty good as is, and it shouldn't take too long to build few more appropriately colored replacement parts. The 1841 Cantonments had barrack buildings, not tents, but the tents will have to do for now.
I have gone back to swapping British bell-topped shako heads onto caped greatcoat ACW Union bodies, but still don't have any appropriate British troops painted. Nonetheless I hope to give the scenario a try while my son is home from college for the Holiday break, using c.1880 British and Indian troops as stand-ins.
We'll use the 20th Anniversary The Sword And The Flame rules straight from the book. I will add BLACK & RED JOKERS to the deck. If the RED JOKER or EITHER RED JACK is flipped, the British player will have to move or "Fire" (wastefully, without any effect) their CAMP FOLLOWERS -- 12,000 of whom were with the Anglo-Indian army, which added a great deal of chaos to the British withdrawal. If the BLACK JOKER is flipped, the Afghan Player will get to move the Camp Followers as they see fit. So 3 problematic cards for red, and 1 potentially disastrous one.
Streamlining the historical OB for game purposes, the British will command the following TSATF basic units:
1 British Inf. (20 figs)
3 Indian Inf. (60 + 3 added command = 63 figs)
2 Indian Cav. (24 +1 added command = 25 figs)
1 British Horse Artillery Gun (4 figs)
2 Indian Mountain Guns (8 figs)
British Grand Total: 120 figures
Plus a large number of CIVILIAN CAMP FOLLOWERS.
Occupying various strongpoints between the British starting position and objective, as well as the ramparts of the walled city, will be close to twice their number of Afghans, in the following units:
6 Tribal Inf. (120 +2 command = 122 figs)
3 Ghazi Inf. (60 +1 command = 61 figs)
4 Tribal Cav. (48 +2 command = 50 figs)
Afghan Grand Total: 233 figures
The Afghans had a number of guns as well, and I may add those to the roster if the game somehow goes too easily in favor of the Anglo-Indians.
For the British to achieve victory, they will have to reach the Bala Hissar with at least half their army still intact. If they get there with less than that it will be a draw, and if they fail to reach the fortress at all, it will be a complete Afghan victory and total British defeat, equivalent to the historical retreat through Gandamak, which resulted in the virtual annihilation of the entire Anglo-Indian army.
NOTE: one other thing I need to do is add some ice to the water features and a TON OF SNOW to all the other terrain. Not sure yet if I'll use Woodland Scenics model snow, or powdered laundry detergent, or baking soda, or something else.
Meanwhile here's a few pics of my improvised layout, and a LINK to a bunch more recently posted on my blog…
LINK:
maiwandday.blogspot.com
View from behind the Bala Hissar, looking North towards the British Cantonments…
Opposite view, from the Cantonments, looking South…
High angle view showing all 6 large & small bridges over the river and canal on both sides of the city walls…
Entire table, from behind the walls of Kabul…
has been watching some documentaries lately set in the Western Desert, and was inspired to create this...
