The Sword and the Flame

A game at Jeff's was a setup skirmish meeting between a 'trapped' British / Sepoy force and a relief column of British and Sikhs and two tribes of Pashtun.



Set in a hilly, rocky, lightly wooded area there were plenty of places for the Pashtun to get set up and keep cover.

The British column was to come to the aid of the 'fort' / town ... they were told that hundreds of natives were in the hills ...

So we start:

The British column chose to take the most direct path, past a large hill ... this was the critical choice.




Meanwhile the men in the town were to awake to the sound of Jezail firing, the first volleys being able to clear the men out from any sort of visible locations.



Then there was a group of rifle armed Pashtun that charged into a copse of tall grasses and palms just outside the wall and building entrance, for the Sepoy troops this proved to be too much and they were gunned down quickly.

The relief column continued to advance, carefully first checking the rocky areas on both flanks, then when their scouts had slowed the column pressed on blindly coming across a wave of Pashtun sword waving warriors madly rushing the stretched out column.

Then the Red Coats fired, these warriors backed off, though for the lone scout in the hill region, this was not good as it left him surrounded...

The town battle had dropped off, as the British forces had fallen back into a covered corner behind buildings and a low wall ... not going well at all as the Pashtun Riflemen simply moved in to the open spaces over the many Sepoy dead.



The Pashtun warriors on the hill were not done yet, they rushed the British again, meanwhile the Ghurka had broken out of the rough terrain and made their own charge against some Jezail armed Pashtun.

The British Regulars were driven back by the renewed charge of the Pashtun hill tribesmen, they lost their leader in the process and chose to withdraw back into the hilly region satisfied with chasing the red coats away.




The Ghurka did not fare so well in their charge, they were killed or wounded down to two men that fled the field.

Back in the town the British and Sepoy forces had withdrawn from the walls and were now in a copse of palms and tall grasses. Two forces of sword and spear armed Pashtuns were bearing down on them from outside the town.



That copse of palms and tall grasses was a killing zone where the British and Sepoy officers were first wounded then outright killed when overrun by Pashtun tribesmen.

Now the Pashtun Hill became a scene of utter chaos, as the Sikhs were charged by another tribe of Pastuns.



This tribe, first scared the Sikhs yet again they did not charge home and this time they became pinned at the base of the hill and remained that way. However now another force of Jezails had arrived and began a merciless barrage from beyond any range that the Sikhs could return fire, the mules that had been brought to carry out the wounded from the town were now filling fast with the bodies of Sikh riflemen.



The game end came as the British relief column commander realized he was never going to reach the town. He turned off from this destination and fled the field.

The only troops left from the town were now holed up in a small outer building from the town, under fire from Jezails and soon to face further rifle attack...

All in all a good game day and Alex and his friend want to play MORE!