The Northwest Frontier
Played at the end of July 2025 at Tom's home in Herefordshire, this game used Principles of War rules. I am grateful to Tom for his text and pictures.
Played at the end of July 2025 at Tom's home in Herefordshire, this game used Principles of War rules. I am grateful to Tom for his text and pictures.
In this game the Pathans set up the terrain with two hills on the central line and one in the flank towards the back of the table with broken ground scattered around Then they roll a two for the location of their home village which appears on their far right on the opposite flank to the rear hill. The Pathan player has two blinds on his right, one deployed in the village and another deployed behind. Two more blinds are placed in the centre with the final two blinds deployed on the hill at the rear of the table on the left.
Seeing the terrain and Pathan deployment, the British commander decides to form his command into three brigades with himself and the two infantry brigades, each with one mountain howitzer, deployed on the right with the First Brigade ordered to take the hill on the far side of the table (60 points). The 2nd Brigade to the left have instructions to deny the hill to the enemy (0 points). The cavalry command is to deploy on the far left with orders to engage to the enemy village, hoping to keep the Pathans on that side of the table engaged and allow the infantry attack to go home without a threat from the flank. In case of no opposition, the arrow for the cavalry commander extended through the village and then round the back of the table towards the rear of the hill that the 1st Brigade were ordered to take.
The Pathans have a refused right flank as the home village is being held by the dummy blind. They have two commands in the centre with orders to move and take the hill in the centre of the table (45 points). The final two blinds have orders to occupy the hill on the right (30 points) then to move forward to threaten the left hand side of the central hill.
In the first move the British C-in-C moves both infantry brigades forward to the centre of the table leaving the baggage behind to bring up later. The second infantry command only rolls one for initiative and only manages to move over towards the central hill but are unable to deploy. The first brigade commander has better luck and deploys his full brigade on the centre line. The cavalry manage to reach the half way line facing the Pathan home village. The Pathans then engage the British at long range and, after causing two hits on the native infantry, set their fellows moving forward.
The British 1st Brigade engages the Pathans on the hill and slowly moves forward over the next few turns, taking steady casualties to enemy fire as they move to the hill and chase off the Pathan infantry. The 2nd Brigade deploys with two Indian infantry units on the hill while the remaining units link up with the 1st Brigade. The two central Pathan commands move round to attack the central hill, charging and pushing the British native infantry off the hill.
On the British far left their cavalry move forward and, when they discover the two dummy blinds, burn the home village and move round the rear of the enemy, coming under fire from two Pathan units before charging home. The Pathan infantry hold the Bengal cavalry but the lancers forced the other unit to retire back onto the hill, the lancers not being able to pursue onto the rocky ground.
The end of game is a victory for the British, loosing 30% casualties but managing to take their objective giving them a net 130 points. The Pathans had lost 51% casualties. They had taken their (45 point) objective but lost their (30 point) objective. Having lost their home village they ended up with a net 34 points.