On the last Friday night of this past June, I ran an "Alternate History" scenario positing an Afghan regular army attack on the British garrison of Ali Masjid fort, guarding the Khyber Pass, in the Fall of 1879.
In the historical record the same fort was taken by the British on November 21-22nd 1878 in the first battle of the Second Afghan War, the real Battle of Ali Masjid.
I started out wanting to refight that battle as a game, but after doing some vital play-testing with my buddy Matthew Rigdon, I decided in order to make the historical refight fun and interesting for both sides, I would have to extend the table in order to add more decision-points and room for maneuver for the Afghan players.
But by the time I reached this realization -- only a couple of days prior to the actual game -- it was too late to mess with the layout, which had taken me the better part of 2 weeks to get to a place I was finally happy with. So…
I made lemons into lemonade!
I set aside the plan for the historical refight (which I will return to, hopefully before too long) and went with a sudden inspiration audible: I would detach one of the Anglo-Indian Infantry Brigades in the Peshawar Field Force to garrison the fort, give them a pair of Mountain Guns for support, and use the rest of the Division strength force as a Relief Column that would have to make its way from the South end of the table to Ali Masjid at the North end, while hidden tribal forces laid in wait to ambush them (in classic TSATF fashion), while up at the North end, the Afghan Regular Army originally meant to DEFEND Ali Masjid, attacked it instead.
It was a huge change to the scenario but required very little change to the logistical plan for the game. All I had to add was some Tribal and Ghazi forces for the Afghans and we'd be good to go.
Which is how I ended up running -- with vital aid from my son, Skylar and that same good friend Matthew who made the play-testing possible -- "The Second Battle of Ali Masjid" for a group of 5 great gamers on the last Friday night of June.
The game went great, thanks entirely to the great help I got from Matthew and Skylar, and even more so from the fantastic attitudes all five of the players -- none of whom had ever stepped foot at my place before -- had from start to finish of the game, no matter how dire and desperate their tabletop situation may have been.
All GM's know what it takes to run a successful miniature wargame of any kind, and I think I speak for many if not all of us when I say the thing that most makes it worthwhile is the satisfaction you get seeing people enjoy a game. These five guys -- Chick, Doug, Matthew, Michael and Paul -- made it a real pleasure for my co-GM's and I to run this game, which was awesome.
Okay, getting back to the game -- if you'd like to read more about it and see a way-too-many pics, kindly click on this handy link to visit my blog, and thanks in advance for your time should you choose to do so:
link
Meanwhile, it wouldn't be a "Mad Guru" post without me priming the pump by posting at least a handful of pics right here, which I hope you enjoy:
I won't reveal how the battle ended -- except to paraphrase the Iron Duke and say it was a very close run thing!
finally dips his toe into the world of Aeronef.
Just wish the relief force had moved with a bit more alacrity rather than dancing with the Afghanies :O We did semaphore HELP quite a few times <lol> Thanks for putting it on :)
