A Game of Soldiers !

 November 25th saw four members of the Tantobie Warfare And Tactical Society attend Battleground  in Stockton with an Anglo Sikh Wars demo game.

General view of the 8 feet by 6 feet playing area. Sikh forces on the left. guns closest to the camera.

 Now James 'not-very' Cleverly notwithstanding we found the venue very good and a good day was had by all. I was going to do a battle report of  our game  but such was the interest from the ' customers' or attendees of the show that we only played out 5 moves all day in between  discussions on the period and model availability- even signing a few copies of the new  guide to wargaming the period of which Gentle readers of this blog will doubtless have hear. Especially as I have been banging on about it for the past few months ! 

I did mange to take a few pictures of the game which will give a flavour of what happened. Also bear in mind the the IIC(thats Idiot in Charge)- forgot the box containing most of the British cavalry.. Even without these 30  missing models the British disposed of 7 infantry battalions and 3 guns. The Sikh had 5 guns- all heavier than anything the British had 5 regular battalions. One of Nujibs and a bundle of irregular infantry- including a unit of Akalis who, in the event, never got into the action. The Sikh cavalry consisted of around 40 assorted Ghoracharra and a single unit of regular dragoons

  The game opened with the 4 gun Sikh battery on their extreme right   blowing big holes in the Bengal Native infantry unit opposite them. As usual the Sikh guns were the mainstay of their forces. The casualties caused on that particular brigade caused it to veer off to their right to avoid more carnage. One of the battalions even retiring in some disorder after getting a particularly severe spanking from those terrible guns.

The Sikh guns which caused all the trouble to the British left. 

 Over on the other British flank Sikh irregulars advanced into the scrub- jungle but didn't much like the British artillery once it found them as a couple of rounds and off went the surviving irregulars

 Rules were modified 'Warfare in the Age of Reason' and while they do work there were a few points I was less than happy with so I  next time I shall try  General De Brigade- again with the amendments that are in the aforementioned book. If I can ever puzzle them out I will also try Black Powder 2nd Ed. but since I lose the will to live reading them this may take some time. No I don't have either the time or inclination to watch some U-tube vids on 'How to' either. On the whole I'd rather watch paint dry- it's quicker..

The British left and centre before the carnage.

 Waspish jests apart  the real reason is simply because I don't play enough games in any single period to become a  single set rules slave.  I can't honestly say that ANY set of rules in over 50 years of wargaming has ever had that effect on me. Mind you plenty of sets have had the opposite effect, a sort of ' Oh no here we go again more turgid twaddle'. Though in truth most are in the middle ground - 'Well they might be useful...... possibly .... one day. 

The Sikh  regulars begin a cautious advance. 

The British await the assault. In the event it never happened. 

Sikh  Cavalry and skirmishers hovering around a selection of 'jungly bits' 

The British right. A squadron of Bengal Irregular Cavalry on the extreme right.

They did manage to turn up! 

As for the show it was a good day out well run and pretty well attended. and  the group and I will be going back.