The Back of Beyond, Contemptible Little Armies / Back of Beyond, 28mm

For a while I’ve been painting through my backlog of Pathans and Afghan regulars, so when Colin Jack suggested a North-West frontier game I jumped at the opportunity. The idea was that a British outpost (manned by a detachment of the Khyber Rifles) was under siege from the local Pathans, and a British punitive force was sent to punish the locals in the valley by destroying their villages.Well, it all went well for us Afghan locals until the British reinforcements appeared, arriving in the nick of time to save the outpost. Worse, the British spearhead consisted of three Rolls Royce armoured cars, a new-fangled weapon of war which was impervious to Pathan bullets.Then the Gurkhas arrived, right behind the main Pathan mountaintop position. Well, the Pathans bolted off the mountain, only to find themselves in melee with British regulars. Strangely enough it was the British who came off worse, although the Pathans were broken in the fight. That left the valley clear for the armoured cars, which rampaged through the nearest Pathan village, destroying buildings and generally causing havoc. The tables were turned slightly when the Afghan regulars appeared, occupying the other village in the valley, and knocking out an armoured car with their artillery.  Back up the valley near the outpost the Pathans were still making a nuisance of themselves, and a tribal cavalry charge routed the small squadron of Bengal Lancers (Skinner’s Horse) who were sent in to save the day. Still, the British managed to hold on to the beleaguered outpost, and in that part of the valley the day ended in stalemate, with both sides badly blooded, and unable to continue the fight. Meanwhile the Gurkas came off the mountain and advanced on the second village, firing on the part of it which was occupied by Pathans, while on the far side of the village the armoured cars kept the Afghan regulars busy. One of these Rolls Royce machines even rammed an Afghan-held strongpoint, caving in the walls and driving the Afghans out into the open – a sure-fire case for a VC if ever I saw one! Despite all this the game ended in a draw. After all, the Pathans were having a hard time holding what remained of their valley,  but the British had suffered heavily in what was after all meant to be a small punitive expedition. No doubt questions will be asked in Parliament! The heroes of the day were the Gurkhas, who performed brilliantly, but in the end even they were hard-pressed to drive the last remaining Pathans and Afghans from their homes.  The game was judged a draw, and probably one which slightly favoured the local inhabitants.For rules we used Chris Peers’ Contemptible Little Armies /  Back of Beyond  system, which as usual was rather silly, very bloody, and great fun! What more can you expect from a Back of Beyond game?!

Tags: Contemptible Little Armies