A return to an old favorite !

 

I was sorting through my rule sets and came across my copy of 'The Sword and the Flame' and thought - "it's ages since I played a game using these rules !", and it had to be the North West Frontier - classic Colonial gaming !.

General 'Creepy' Crawley oversee the siting of his Mountain Gun himself . His force of the Blackwatch and Indian Colonial troops must push through and across the board as fast as possible 

However the Afghan Chieftain Bungit Din (see Carry on up the Khyber) has other ideas !

He has had his Tribesmen construct Sangers - the terrain piece was constructed many years ago from cat litter and have stood the test of time ! 

To the skirl of the pipes the Blackwatch advances .

Captain Smyth orders the Punjab Infantry into skirmish order and to advance . The piles of pennies are the units ammunition reserves .

The Burpa Tribesmen ( again see the above comedy film) rush to defend their homeland . These figures where painted over 30 years ago and their high gloss finish has protected them from the ravages of time. Hopefully there will be further report .......

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A return to an old favorite - 'The Sword in Africa'

Back from holiday and wondering what to play next ?, I was talking to 'S' and we got waxing lyrical about 'Old School' gaming and I started thinking - The Sword And The Flame !

I decided on using my my Congo forces - King Leopold's Force Publique versus the Azande tribesmen. 

The leader of the Force Publique- Major Henry Poirot (father of the famous detective)

The Azande Cheiftan Enoch Gbudwe - educated at Eton (expeled for 'bad behavior' ) and his retinue gets the 'speaking drums' to assemble his forces .

The Cheiftans Bodyguard armed with modern weapnary sneak along the river bank.

Two groups of Azande warriors , these are 28mm Foundry Miniatures I painted up years ago.

A unit of Azande musket armed tribesmen - a mixture of Foundry and Copplestones miniatures.

The Force Publique Askaris move onto the table .

Two units of Force Publique Auxillaries , Foundry and Copplestones figures.

The table - the Force Republique nearest the camera have to cross the river at the ford and raze the village , the Azandes have to prevent this .An update as the game progresses (click on photos to enlarge)

 

The winds of change ?

I have for a while been thinking about a reorganisation of my wargaming room , this might involve downsizing my 8' X 5 ' table down to a 6' X 4'  this would allow more room for the player to move around the table peripheral and generally tidy up the room .

As a test run I have set up an old favorite on a reduced size table , this being of course the N.W.F. using The Sword And The Flame . A mixed force of Afghan tribesmen , Regulars and a sneaky unit of Russians versus 2 units of Imperial Infantry , Gurkhas and Bengal Lancers . The figures off table have to come on as reinforcements as the game progresses .

Two companies of the Borchesters prepare to advance against the Russian held village , I will report back how the games is going and can I cope with a smaller table .

 

A return to the Rogan Josh Valley

I was sorting through my rules when I came across my copy of 'The Sword And The Flame' and I thought - "it's ages since I played a game of TSATF" ! . So I've set a game up set in the N.W. Frontier here we see the the British commander General (creepy)Crawley in consultation with Capt. McCloud - the 'lang lad' - being about 35mm tall and towering over his Old Glory 28mm men .

The Highlanders bring their Maxim gun into action - the pile of pennies track the ammunition supply . 

The Indian Brigade move forward , Sikhs on the right - Guides on the left .

Their Commander Capt. 'Bobs' Roberts , an old Foundry Crimean War figure I think .

The opposition - Pathan Tribesmen a mixture of Old Glory and Foundry . I'm finding it a bit odd handling 28mm figures seeing I've been playing with 40mm and 54mm figures over the last six months 

Afghan Tribal cavalry and some Regulars await the onslaught , Foundry figures .

A birds eye view from the Afghan held heights, the British forces in the distance and tribesmen lying in ambush in the treeline .

Muhamud Khan the Afghan leader harangues his troops from the roof top ., a personality figure made by 'Askari Miniature' I think ? . I'm looking forward to playing through this game and will post the edited highlights .

 

 

Having A Right Sort Out ! .

I've recently sold off a lot of Ancient figures,  collections which have not been used of ages and I didn't think I'd ever really use again . This has left me with money to spend (more of which in the future) and perhaps  more important - space in the plastic boxes they inhabited . This has allowed me to sort out some figures that have been bundled away under my wargaming table for ages and will allow me to get around to using them . My Darkest Africa figures - collected nearly 20 years ago and in my pre-blogging era used a lot .  Here are the Natives in this box.

Here the Zanzibar Arabs and a load of casualty figures , these were some of my favourite figures - full of character . The bases are for baggage elements.

The British , Native Askaris and Explorers with the Porters bearing various loads . There have been a few breakages (spears mainly) and some of the paint and bases could do with 'tarting up' , It took ages to sort these out as I kept coming over all nostalgic over various figures . I now hope to get these back onto the table in the future and am wondering which rules to use .

Tribal Chieftain , drummer and Witchdoctor .

Arab Leader and attendants .

European Explorers , if I remember rightly the chap at the front is Stanley .

Return To The Rogan Josh Valley (part1)

When I'm stuck for an idea to game my default setting is something Old School and I thought it was time for another North West Frontier game using 'The Sword And The Flame' . The Imperial force is attempting to attack the troublesome Rogan Josh valley and it's way is being blocked by a force of irregular tribesmen . I diced for the starting positions of the British force and also for the Afghans .

I diced for the composition of the Afghans  from a chart I made up with ten ready made forces on it and it produced 3 bands of  irregular tribesmen  , a gun and a cavalry unit . Here we see the Afghan leader Bungit Din having a lively 'discussion' with a mysterious Russian officer whilst the Burpa tribesmen take up positions . (overtones here of Carry On Up The Khyber)

The somewhat antiquated gun is sighted on the approaching British force.

The British commander General Crawley ('Creepy' to the other ranks ) blissfully unaware of the hidden enemy awaits the rest of his force , behind him a company of the 14th Sikhs await his orders .

And here they are - 2 Companies of Gurkhas and a Mountain gun (not on the table yet) moving down the road past the chance cards and rule book .  Too be continued ……..

(PS I apologies for the non appearance of the second part of the O.S ACW game - my camera battery died on me )

TSATF Sudan Game .

As the Egyptians advance to secure the bridge the captured artillery manned by captive Egyptian gunners encouraged by a Dervish overseer opens fire ! .

- and causes casualties on the Lancers who dash to cross the bridge before the Dervish infantry can arrive . 

The movement in TSATF is determined by dice and the Lancers took forever to cross the bridge and received several rounds of fire and were forced to retire as the Dervish tribesmen move up .

The Hadenoa tribesmen move to attack the Egyptian left .

Two units of  Dervishes are directed to the bridge and arrive to drive the shaken Lancers back .

The Egyptians are having more problems - one unit commander begins to behave oddly ! and the unit is not moved forward as ordered ( an overdose of Hashish ?) 

The Egyptians go on the defensive ! .

The Egyptian line drives off an Dervish attack .

The Nordenfelt gun comes into action ! .

- and is overrun ! opps ! 

Hicks Pasha joins the Bashi Bazooks to try and save the situation - but the Dervishes get to charge first and in the following melee Hicks Pasha is forced to flee (in his memoirs he says his horse bolted !?) , the cavalry fled the field leaving the Egyptians without leadership ! .

The end of the game , the Egyptian retire with a bloody nose , the Hadenoa  having taken heavy casualties are happy to let them go and retire parading their captured machine gun with them ! . An excellent game TSATF delivers once again .