"TMWWBK Points System" Topic

I'm trying to work out what I need and what to paint for NW Frontier circa 1897 pending the arrival of my copy of the rules at our state's sole historicals B & M shop.

I know the basic points costs for the three grades of troops, but I need the costs for variations from the norm.

Using the standard points costs, for the Pathans a combination of irregular and tribal units only comes out at exactly 24 points if your horde consists of three irregular and four tribal units, and for the 1890s swordsmen units – and swordsmen – should be in the minority. Four riflemen (irregular) and two swordsmen (tribal) units seems historically plausible, but that leaves two points over.

As Tribal Infantry cost only 3pts, couldn't you "cheat" and go to 25 points. Unless players are in a tournament I think games and scenarios should deploy forces that feel right for the setting, as opposed to subscribing too tightly to points. Don't forget that terrain can easily compensate for Army Points.
We tried playing the "burn the huts" mission with even points and the attacking Imperials didn't come close to reaching their objectives with the tribesmen defending.

Easiest thing to do is to make two of your irregular infantry poorly armed (-1 point per unit) to represent units with jezzails or percussion rifles (unit armerment downgraded to antiquated musket)

Tribal has a 'well armed sharpshooter' option. It upgrades to foot bow (12 inch range) and +5 to hit for 2 paints. Seems fair to me if you fudged and took the upgrade to foot bows and left off the +5 for 1 point ? As in his other rules ya can season to taste As long as the other player goes with it for historical reasons ?

No reason the bow can't actually be funky muskets and such ?

I might have misunderstood you. If you have two points to spend you could upgrade the two tribal units to fanatic and that would be a good way to represent ghazis.

Hi,
I've checked my rulebook and the fanatic upgrade won't do as it's 2 points per unit.
What you want is the ghazi upgrade on p 36. Ir costs 1 point per unit and changes the tribal unit's free actions from Move or Stand to to Move and Attack with the unit having to Attack if an enemy unit is within range.

Thanks all.

Bong – what's the difference in rules effects terms between fanatic and ghazi?

I like the idea of having one unit each of ordinary swordsmen and maniacs; I think it's more accurately representative of the historical reality (unless perhaps you're specifically playing the Great Pathan Revolt of 1897, in which case all swordsmen could/should be loonies – and they should constitute a higher proportion of the force).

Oops, think ah misunderstood what you were trying to accomplish :/

I really should keep referring to the book and stop trying to type from memory. The trait I thought was Fanatic is Fierce.
Tribal warriors (of any nationality) have the free actions Move or Stand to (do nothing).
They normally have a Fight value of 5+ and a discipline test modifier of 0. They shoot as tribal spears and rag tag muskets 0-6" range hitting on a 6.
Normal up or downgrades are:
Elite (2 points) discipline becomes +2
Veteran (1 point) discipline becomes +1
Unenthusistic -1 points) discipline becomes -1
Fierce (+1 point) Fight value changes to 4+
Well-armed sharpshooters upgrade to foot bows with firing 5+
The Ghazi Fanatics theatre specific rule costs 1 point and changes free actions for tribals to Move and Atrack and Stand to changes to an ordered action. The Ghazi unit must attack if an enemy unit is in range.
Another upgrade you could find useful is Fiedcraft for your irregulars. It costs 1 point and lets irregular units go to ground like Tribal Units. Going to ground is an action and lets the unit doing it do so regardless of terrain. The unit going to ground can't be targeted beyond short range, it can be ignored as a target and doesn't block line of sight, if attacked it fights at half its number of models rounded down, if pinned it loses its gone to ground status.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
George.

Thanks George.

'Fierce' seems best suited to representing superior fighters, which ghazis weren't; the only advantage they had was raw, suicidal courage.

I wonder what the rationale behind pinned units losing their gone-to-ground status is.

Don't you have to retreat a half move when pinned ? kind of a get up and run thing ?

According to page 25 a pinned unit cannot take any action other than to retreat if required or defend its self if contacted. It defends itself in a disorganised manner,fighting with only half the number of models in the unit rounding down. It may be ignored as a target and doesn't block line of sight.
From this it seems that pinned is a bit like an involuntary version of gone to ground so that could be why units lose gone to ground when pinned.
I've still to play the rules so some of the nuances might be clearer when I do. They seem quite well written and fairly easy to modify to what you want.