"Defense of Bixby Station - an Old School colonial game" Topic

Just put up an AAR for a game I was lucky enough to be invited to play in by fellow TMPer Daryl Haselton, who lives only about 20 miles from me.

Daryl uses 54mm "Toy Soldier" style figures, mostly from the Sikh Wars, blocks and Playmobile style accessories for terrain, and a great set of simple fast-play Indian Mutiny rules by Bob Bergman, with a major dose of character role-playing thrown in.

Though not my usual style, it was a fantastic game, and I thank Daryl for inviting me!

The scenario was an attack by the Sandakar (who closely resemble 1840s Sikhs) on Bixby Station, a thinly defended British outpost.

Some of the heroic highlights included:

- Young Master Puggsly (future mascot of the Cadbury Chocolate company) climbing over the wall to adventuring and crossing paths with a native Sniper. Sad to say this didn't end well!

- A Sandakar elephant attempting to break through the outpost's gate.

- Sandakar "Infiltrators" disguised in Victorian dresses sneaking around the outpost until one civilian woman was able to detect their "fashion" issues.

- British CO Major Robert "Bob" Barton, going "over the wall" to rescue Puggsly, then climbing a neighboring mountain (aka: bookcase) and wiping out the Sandakar artillery ensconced there.

…and so on, and so on -- as well as the more standard volley-fire and close-combats.

If interested in reading and seeing a lot more, please visit my blog by clicking on this link, and thanks in advance for your time if you do so…

link

Meanwhile, here's a sampling of pics from this decidedly splendid game:

Beautiful, Old School at its best!

Poor Victoria – she looks like she's getting a right telling off in that last picture !

We are not amused :-)

That's great!!

Wow!! A page right out of my childhood. Brings back many very pleasant memories for me. We could never have made it as good as that though. Your Highlanders look like Britain's. Wish I still had the Britain's figures I had as a kid. Thank you very much for the great photos!!! John Miller

What a great collection of figures! Where in the world did he find them all?

That certainly hits a special spot: very nostalgic. I love the banner!

That looks like a great time.

The collection at Brown is something to see, is it not?

Great looking game!

Old Skhool Kool!

Great game

Thanks for all the positive comments!

I can't take credit for any of the figures, they are all Daryl's, and all painted by him.

Hopefully he'll visit this thread before too long and let you know the exact makes and models.

If anyone wants to see some pics of the vast toy soldier collection at Brown, here's a link to the post abot it I put on my blog this past September…

link

I loved the look of the game!
What rules were used to run the game?

Pugilism in defence of empire! Got to love the boxing gloves.

@4thsublegion:

Bob Bergman's Fast Play Indian Mutiny Rules, available online for free, just one click away…

PDF link

The only big change was from Bob's "Area" movement -- he divides the table up in a grid -- to more standard movement rates in inches. That plus I think Daryl added his own "Home Brew" RPG-esque rules that made use of the Character stats.

Oh, how very cool!

I like the Laurel and Hardy highlanders.

This hearkens back to a simpler & undoubtedly better period in wargaming.

just to look at the photos gladdens your heart.

That looks fantastic!

Really like the use of terrain and the variety of figures.

Mike

I love the flag!

Thank you to Guru (who, along with our other friend, actually agreed to be a part of such silliness) and to all of you for your kind comments. Modest fellow that he is, Ethan neglects to mention he is one of the true masters of True Wargaming, on a truly Cecil B. DeMille-ian scale, and I strongly recommend you all take a close look at his blog for inspiration beyond the photos in his most recent post.

As for me, painting and gaming with larger, toy soldier styled figures has been my main focus for about ten years now. While I still love smaller sculpts done in a more realistic, gritty style (without--dare I say it?--without rosy cheeks!), I have a special fondness for my glossy-coated, smiling little men. I suppose it's their innocence. I can only hope Stevenson, Wells, Chesterton and Edwardian schoolboys everywhere would approve. Perhaps I shall invite them to the next dust-up in Tanjapore…

Berczerk, most of the figures are by Dorset. If you have any interest in figures with the classic toy soldier look, at decent prices, with an incredibly "deep" catalogue, I can only suggest you gallop over to their website immediately:

dorsetsoldiers.com

Giles Brown, the proprietor, is most helpful and his service is excellent.

Mad Guru and Daryl,

Thanks so much for sharing what was obviously a magnificent and enjoyable game! I too love the Toy Soldiers. Until Dad discovered SAE's, his armies were comprised of Britains, Mignots and Eslastolins. What a great trip down memory lane you both have provided; thanks again for the splendid AAR and the beautiful figures.

Absolutely wonderful! Beautiful figures that make me want to ditch my 54mm plastics and collect glossy metals.

English Thegn, you can always paint your plastics to look like glossy metals. That's my plan.

Wonderful – thanks for posting! I think we all occasionally need to be reminded that our games are meant to be FUN, whether fighting historical or imagined battles. I have a friend at our local club who refuses to play with my 54mm figures because he says it reminds him of playing when he was twelve years old. I tell him that's *exactly* why I began playing and collecting the larger scale. After age twelve, I started to get "serious" about my games and, honestly, lost some of the fun aspect.

By the way, you haven't really experienced Bob Bergman's Indian Mutiny rules until you've played in a game run by the author himself. He is a member of my club, the Southbay Gamers, and I've played in several of his games. Bob is an amateur thespian and he puts his all into weaving his games into an exciting narrative. He even pulls out his smartphone and plays the "Last Post" bugle call if you lose your command. If you live in or near the San Francisco Bay Area or Silicone Valley I highly recommend getting into one of his games at our big local Memorial Day or Labor Day conventions.

Very cool
Thanks
Clif

The above link to the rules doesn't work ( at least for me). Has Nick, or anyone else access to a copy? Many thanks in advance.

Hi Captain,

Perhaps this one will work:

link

They're a great set of rules for both group and solo play!

Kindest regards,

D.

Lovely!! Just lovely!

Nick Stern,

You are of course absolutely right-I've tended to go with the 'realistic' look with plastic 54mm but some of my fellow 54mm gamers have painted their plastics in glossy style and they look great. I now wish I had gone that way from the start. I shall still start collecting metal glossies!