Two troops of the 7th Cavalry were tasked with reconnoitring a hostile village- and found themselves in big trouble. They formed a defensive position ......and sent a rider off post haste to get help.
The Mission for the 7th - get to the survivors! The Indians had to stop them!
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| The handful of survivors....Custer style..... on a small hill holding out. |
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| The nearby village and the relieving troops. |
An interesting scenario was played using the TMWWBK rules. A town in the Peloponnese was blockaded by the Ottomans until the arrival of siege guns that were to blast the walls down and allow the Ottoman forces to storm the town.
The besieged stormed out to join the attackers who were able to co-ordinate attacks from two different directions. Their aim was destroy the three siege guns. Casualties were unimportant as the loss of the town would be a huge blow to the rebellion. The guns had been positioned to fire at certain sections of the walls and as long as the Greek forces stayed out of that field of fire, the big guns could not cause casualties.
Three units of defenders prepared to charge out of the main gates as soon as they heard the firing of the relieving force.
The siege guns were able to fire at the walls each turn rolling two dice per crewman. Hitting on a '6' only - they had to create 10 points of damage...they came very close......
The Greeks had to neutralise the guns- and the guns would keep firing until they had breached the walls OR the Greeks were driven off.
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| Opening deployment |
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| One of the Ottoman Siege guns |
The campaign towards Peking continues and Admiral Seymour's Allied force has taken the first major obstacle!
The eight Allied continents started at each end of the table- four at one end, four at the other and had to fight their way into the huge fort that took up the centre of the table.
Following on from the format from the large game a couple of years ago- all players were on the same side against an umpire controlled enemy. Each player was briefed as to who they could and couldn't assist and who they were in fierce rivalry with. The main objective- establish a foothold in the fort. Other objectives included the 4 Chinese artillery firing platforms and the 3 gates - 2 at the northern end, 1 at the southern end.
The scenario was simple- 24point force each- two units of Ross' Greeks were holding a small village and were being attacked by my Ottoman forces. The remainder of the Greeks had to break the siege.
The Greeks had a unit of regular cavalry ( which got destroyed pretty quickly) a regular infantry unit and three units of irregulars.
The Ottomans had 2 cavalry ( One regular - which got shot to bits by the Greek regular infantry) and one irregular (which also got shot to bits by the same Greeks!), a field gun, two irregular infantry units and one regular infantry.
Our first small attempt using the Men Who Would Be Kings rules.
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| A unit of Greek Klephts ( Brigands- irregulars) holding the ruined house. ( Wargames Foundry figures- Greeks from their Russian Crimean War range) |
....the outlying troops have been drifting in slowly in accordance with Seymour's orders, but all is not going to plan.
Despite Seymour's orders to wait until all the Allied forces have been concentrated, many local commanders attempt to take the matter in hand and deal with the Boxer and Imperial troops in their jurisdictions. In one particularly troublesome area the local commander had a dilemma. An ancient abandoned earth fort had been reoccupied by Boxers and Imperial troops, who began to work on repairing the derelict fortifications by creating firing platforms, rebuilding the gates etc.
At his disposal he had a unit each of US Marines, German Kriegsmarine, British Sailors and French Sailors. The Americans also had a Colt Machine gun.
The mud fort would not stand up to large calibre modern artillery but he only had an Austro-Hungarian 3pdr at his disposal. Believing the garrison to outnumber his meagre forces, (he was right) it was decided that the Allies would attack only one side of the fortification. The US Marines would attack the south-east corner, the British the main gate, The Germans, the length of wall to the north of the main gate and the French the north east corner. The 3pdr would target the gate only. Then provide any support fire if necessary.
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| The repaired firing platforms with Boxer artillery. |
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| The Allied attack plan. |
China, 1900- In the very early stages of Admiral Seymour's expedition, outlying troops on his line of march, were ordered to move towards the train line to be collected by the advancing column.
A unit of Allied troops near a small village move towards the main train line to await the approaching allied troops. The local Boxers, prompted by the local Imperial commander, decide to deal with the foreigners.
The Austro-Hungarian sailors with their machine gun arrive first, to await the arrival of a unit of French sailors and another of Japanese sailors.....but the Boxers and Imperial troops have other ideas.
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| The table. |
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| The Austro-Hungarian sailors and their MG arrive first. |
Being 200 years since the beginning of the Greek War of Independence (GWI) I looked around for some suitable figures for a skirmish game. Ross said he was interested- in being the Greeks. So I naturally had to be the Turks - I think I have a few figures lying around somewhere, but clearly I need more!! Not a period many people would select, or even be familiar with but we thought it would interesting - considering both our families came from the region!
We got online and bought a combination of Steve Barber models (SBM- they have a very large selection!). Some Wargames Foundry (Crimean War) (WF) and some assorted Warfare Miniatures (WM- it's that bad man Barry Hilton again- my favourite Dealer of Product!). The orders were sent out.
All arrived forthwith. I have to admit, the service and turnaround of all three companies delivering from the UK to Aus is very good! ( and the postal services are great too!) And being in lockdown means we can paint pretty quick. Below are some of our starting units. Still a fair few to go!
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| Turkish Irregulars. |
Being in Lockdown, I dragged out some figures that I've had for years and haven't used! Some very nicely painted Plains Wars in 28mm.
A Troop did get in Trouble....F Troop was relieved..not as in 'hold until relieved' but relieved in the sense that they didn't have to fight!
Now the following incident is not really about F Troop ( A Troop really gets it) but how could I play a Plains Wars game without a reference to the show? Anyway, most of the humour is from the show- so I won't take any credit! So with apologies to the writers and cast of the old show...........
A TYPICAL DAY AT FORT COURAGE:
A wagon train was to be escorted by the brave boys of F Troop.
Inside Fort Courage, the Boys in Blue were told:
'An easy job, boys,' says Captain Parmenter , ' You'll be back before sundown!'
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| A TROOP - on the march because F Troop was lost. |
The men grumbled under their breath. The Captain might think he's the man who keeps the peace....but all the men know that the local Indians - the Hekawi tribe- call him 'The Great White Pigeon'.
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| Table with the Allied contingents ready to go. |
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| British sailors and a supporting Nordenfelt machine gun. |
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| British Sailors |
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| The table. Just to the right, partly visible was the sepoy barracks. The main gates are visible at the upper center of the photo, where the towers are. |