The Back of Beyond, The Men Who Would Be Kings (adapted), 28mm 

It’s been quite a while since we last ventured into the ‘Back of Beyond’. As Nick pointed out, we usually run it as a pre-Christmas game, but this time ACW river rams got played instead. We made up for it this week, with a three-sided ‘Back of Beyond’ game, set it the south-east corner of Tajikistan, near the Afghan border.  Both Reds and Whites turned up to try and encourage the locals to take their side. The local Tajikis were less than impressed…In this game, both the Reds (played by Nick) and the Whites (by Shaun) had similar-sized forces; four units of 12 infantry, one of 10 cavalry, a tschanka (which can dismount as an HMG) and a field gun. We use a modified version of Osprey’s The Men Who Would Be Kings, which allows for such things as tanks, armoured cars, LMGs  and aircraft. As for the locals, I played them, with 2 units of 12 infantry, a mountain guns and a unit of 12 cavalry. The game began with both sides coming onto the 6×4 foot table from opposite long edges. Sean sort of dug in along a handily-placed wadi, and only sent his armoured car out beyond it. Even it hid behind a big rock. Nick though, advanced on a  broad front, and sent his Commissar and his cavalry off to talk to the locals. They though, weren’t having it, and eventually told him to clear off, or get shot. Nick though, didn’t take this rejection lying down!In the area, it seems, was a European professor, and his escort – a youth, a sea captain and the boy’s dog, Snowy. The Commissar spoke to the guy, Prof. Calculus, and he told the Reds to buzz off too. In fact, the professor advised the Tajikis to fight anyone who came and tried to talk them into an alliance So, we now had three active sides – Reds, Whites and Tajikis – all happy to fight either of their two opponents! While all this fruitless talking had been going on, both the reds and the Whites had been shooting at each other. Both sides had two mediocre infantry units, and two good quality ones – the sailors of the Black Sea Fleet for the Reds, and the blue-capped Semyenov Officers’ Battalion for the Whites. So, during their advance the sailors took the brunt of the White fire, forcing them to pull back after taking heavy casualties. On their left the reds still had their cavalry though, led by  Commissar Rankin. They were getting sniped at by the Tajiki villagers by this stage, and so weren’t keen on sticking around. So, as soon as Rankin had finished talking to the Professor, they lined up for a flank charge on the White lines, which were getting pounded by the White artillery. Sean though, was up for a challenge, and sent his own Cossacks across the wadi, to face off the enemy.The cavalry clash, when it came, was short and brutal, ending with the poor Whites wiped out. The victorious Red cavalry swept forward, and launched a charge against the blue-capped officer infantry in the wadi.This was a bold move, as although the Whites had taken casualties, they were in a strong defensive position. This second charge didn’t end well for the Red cavalry. They were quickly wiped out by fire from the White field gun, the blue-caps and the White armoured car. That forced Nick onto the defensive for the rest of the game – a stance Sean had adopted right from the start! the game then, seemed to be approaching something of a stalemate, with both sides now too weak to effectively attack the enemy. Still, both sides had an ace still to play. For the past few turns, both Sean and Nick had been rolling for reinforcements – an aircraft – and this turn Sean’s White plane managed to come on. He launched it across the table in a strafing run on the Red infantry, killing three men. the next turn though, Nick’s plane came on, and it ignored the Whites completely. Instead, Nick launched it in a revenge attack on the Tajik village of Dusti, with far more spectacular results!Although I’d come up with rules for it, I’d never tried ‘bombing’ on the tabletop. They worked a treat. Nick’s first bomb targeted the building where the village leader was – Yessi Khan, and the first bomb landed directly on top of him! The other three bombs missed, but they had to land somewhere, so we rolled for it. One exploded just before the building, and two more directly behind it – killing another four Tajiki  tribesmen! Nick’s revenge was sweet!Meanwhile, the villagers had already moved their horsemen out of the village, and lined them up for a sneak charge against the White gun, which was guarding the White right flank at the edge of the wadi. The charge was spectacular – but like the Red cavalry one a few turns before, it was equally spectacularly unsuccessful. The gun got to fire twice, which caused six casualties in all – and forcing a morale test which saw the horsemen scatter! That turned out to be the last move of the game. In effect, nobody had really won, apart from the Tajiki villagers, and they’d lost half of their fighting force. The Reds and the Whites were both weakened, and unable to continue the fight. So, for now the blood-soaked village of Dusti remains in independent Tajiki hands. I’m sure though, they’ll be back – and next time they’ll bring more men and guns – and planes of course! They’re too much fun to leave out!

Tags: The Men Who Would Be Kings