Queen Victoria’s Little Wars, Black Powder, 28mm

Well, we couldn’t really call this The Siege of Krishnapur after the J.G. Farrell novel, as the author was very specific about the layout of the place. Instead we opted for a truly fictitious Indian Mutiny siege rather than one based on historical fiction, with an all-out Mutineer attack on the British-held compound. The British Residency (using the Dilkusha building we built for a show a while back) was defended by two British units – a detachment of the 93rd (Sutherland) Highlanders, an ad-hoc unit of the 61st (South Gloucester) Foot, a unit of Sikh Lancers and a couple of guns. On the “rebel” side there were “fausands of the bleeders” – well, at least a couple of hundred. We weren’t counting… The Mutineer force included five regiments of mutinous Sepoys (including one of cavalry), local tribesmen, the bodyguard of a local ruler, Ghazi religious nutcases, the sweepings of the bazaar, and a trio of Sepoy guns.This was a game of assaults. The guns had blown a breach in the defences, and this became the focal point of three attacks. The Mutineer commander (Angus) had a problem motivating his right-hand brigade, which spent the first five turns watching the battle, rather than joining in. As a result the left-hand brigade went in unsupported. Still, spearheaded by the yellow-turbanned Khazi’s Bodyguard, they stormed the breach, and waded into the defenders, only to be repulsed by some nifty defensive work by the British player (Dougie). The bodyguard and the 53rd Bengal Native Infantry were broken, leaving only a unit of tribal irregulars in front of the walls, where they fired on the defenders until they finally broke and fled to join their fellow rebels.With the second brigade still dithering the Mutineers threw in their reserves – the 1st Bengal Native Infantry, the fanatical Ghazis of Burpha, and the Sepoy Cavalry. This was the make or break assault. In the end it was a pretty conclusive break –  after some heavy fighting in the breach. At one point Dougie even resorted to combing the rules for a loophole (see below). He found it. The stalwart defenders passed every “Break Test” thrown at them, and soon all three Mutineer units broke and ran.While I now had little hope that the timorous third brigade could make any difference, they finally broke clear of the cover of Haripur town and launched themselves at the residency walls. In fact, after several turns of failing to move, the whole brigade rolled a “double 1”, which meant a hell-for-leather charge.Inevitably, it ended in tears – at least for the mutineers. The plan was for the badmash rabble to screen the advance – sacrificing themselves so the better-quality troops behind could reach the walls, while my irregular Pindari horsemen rode down the gun that anchored the defence. Instead the whole line halted again – more bad initiative rolls – and were shot up at long range by the 93rd Highlanders. By that time it was after 10pm, and it was clear that the whole assault had failed. Nothing seemed to touch the defences, so the surviving Mutineers were packed away, ready to try it all again another day.We made the attackers as bad as we could (most were Wavering), while the defenders were considered Crack, and had First Fire. With hindsight while this grading worked pretty well, we should have bumped up the quality of a couple more of the Mutineer units. Also, we gave the defenders the benefit of defending buildings and fortifications. It would be more of a game if we’d downgraded the breach to just “Cover”, to give the attackers some chance of fighting their way into it. Still, it was a crackingly-enjoyable game, and a very pretty one.Incidentally, during the game figure painter Brian Phillips showed me a stunning base of Sepoy Cavalry he’d painted up – all beautiful new figures from Mutineer Miniatures. I just wish I’d taken a picture of them. All of my Mutiny figures are Foundry or Old Glory, but these – while slightly bigger – were truly great. I think that inspired me to “re-discover” this period even more than our pretty Mutiny game!” When I’m up in Orkney I can see myself ordering some, and painting them up – even though  they won’t be as nice as Brian’s horsemen.

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Tags: Black Powder