The Men Who Would Be Kings on the North West Frontier

Lockdown means solo gaming. I have several alternatives of actual proper written and designed solo games (as opposed to me making stuff up) but couldn't decide. So I asked the Solo Wargames Facebook page  to decide - and they overwhelmingly voted for a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings on the NWF.

TMWWBK has an excellent AI for solo in the form of Mr Babbage. I've used it a couple of times before, so was happy to set things up for another battle report.

A punitive Imperial force including A and B Company of the Humberside Regiment (the 99th) supported by the Royal Dilshad Rifles and a mountain gun were advancing into the Foothills of Ilkestaan intent on razing a village to the ground in the name of Her Majesty.

The Dilshads held the right flank.

Pvt.s Norvell and Jefferson under Sgt Finlayson deploy the mountain gun to cover the advance.

A Company was on the far left.

The foothills of Ilkestaan.

 
B Company deployed in the centre where the cowardice of their leader might be mitigated.

I always give the British an objective (usually a village) and a time limit (12 turns) when playing Babbage to force them to move, otherwise games can become something of a turkey shoot as natives pop up and are mown down.

I also tweak the native deployment chart to match the fact that my Afghans are primarily shooters rather than chargers.

The advance of A Co. saw two units of Pathans deploy.

B Co. were also surprised by the sudden emergence of still more native warriors

Fortunately the Dilshads delivered a devastating volley that pinned the tribesmen in place.

A Company were finding themselves under pressure.

B. Company (with the cowardly Lieutenant Micklewhite giving orders) decided not to advance and instead gave fire.

Sharp shooting by the native tribesmen saw the first British casualty - and pinned A Co. in place.

Much to the delight of the Afghans.

Who duly crashed home.

Fortunately the uphill advantage of the British kept casualties to a minimum.

The Khazi and his sidekick Bungit Din arrived at this point to oversee the uprising.

More native riflemen appeared but Finlayson had the mountain gun well under control.

A Co. had been forced back to the ridge of the hill, but supporting fire from B Co. halted the tribal assault.

The riflemen who had suffered under the mountain gun fell back still further.

The Dilshads saw off the tribal infantry in front of them, but almost immediately another band appeared behind the hill.

On the left flank the native riflemen emboldened by the injures to their opponents broke cover and charged.

Stout British Steel saw off the Pathans.
Lieutenant Marion rallied his men for a further assault. They wavered, so he drew on his oratorical skill. At which point they threw down their arms, turned tail and fled the scene.

The mountain gun continued its deadly harvest.

More riflemen appeared near the village and peppered B Co, with fire.

The mountain gun barked a response.

And then inflicted further carnage on the tribesmen on the left.

Meanwhile more riflemen emerged on the left flank.

And still the mountain gun rained down destruction.

More rifles sprang out of the woods.

The casualties began to mount for B Co.

Norvell and Jefferson kept up the attrition.

Finally the Sikhs crested the hill as their foe fell back. The village was in sight.

Unfortunately the resolve of the remains of B Co. failed them and they too turned and fled.

From the right more rifles appeared.

And pinned the stalwart Sikhs.

Emboldened the tribesmen charged forward, falling just short.

Which gave the Dilshads just enough time to rally off their pinning, whilst the Mountain gun took aim

With one last volley of fire the Pathan riflemen were sent scurrying from the field.

Meanwhile in the village the Khazi and his sidekick decided discretion was the better par of valour and vanished into the mountains.

This was good fun to play. It ended up surprisingly balanced and a couple of rolls either way could have made the difference.
The British were hampered a little by some poor leader traits (Cowardly and Yellow Bellied in the same force) and the one useful one (Inspirational) proved deadly when I re-rolled a narrow failure and the dice came up double one!

The mountain gun was man of the match though the Dilshad Rifles definitely showed the Humberside Regiment how to shoot and fight.

I'm now excited again about NWF. Wonder if Northstar will have the Wargames Atlantic plastics in soon?