Indian Mutiny Game 1

It's been a few weeks since we last had a game, so even though only Martin and I could make the session we decided to have a game anyway.


I had bought a copy of "The Devil's Wind" rules for the mutiny, but decided that I didn't like them after all, so I fell back to my own mod of the Warmaster rules instead; nevertheless, I think there are some ideas from the rules to be used.


For the scenario I used the teaser from an old issue of Battlegames which is based on Wellesley's campaign in India but also eminently suited to the mutiny. I have used this scenario in a PBEM game with my friend Steve earlier, and have enjoyed it.




The background is that mutineers have taken over a village and they have been joined by a local prince and some badmash. Martin, as the British commander, must re-take the village and disperse the mutineers.

The battlefield features a river which can be forded by infantry, but artillery may only cross at the ford near the village. There is an old fort overlooking the approach to the village, and also some old walls overlooking the fording point on the other bank of the river.

The mutineers start hidden, and the British player must decide how to divide his forces if he chooses to approach on two sides, as Martin did, sending one battalion of infantry, the lancers, and a gun on the north bank of the river, while the main body of the force approached on the south bank.

The forces on the south bank are soon intercepted by mutineer sepoys occupying the fort and the hill it stands on.

The British deploy and begin firing at the sepoys, who were hoping to attack then before they could deploy from march column - but the low Command rating of their leader meant they could not do so.

The hussars charge the sepoys to cover the infantry's deployment and manage to destroy both units, but are themselves depleted.

Seizing the opportunity, the mutineer cavalry charge the infantry line, but once again the poor Command meant they could not contact the infantry but are instead blown away by their fire.

The fort is now ripe for the taking...

The gurkhas charge the sepoys, who manage to hold on for one turn before being ejected. The pose of the gurkhas are unfortunately a little static, but I included this photo to show the detail on the (unpainted) JR fort.

From the fort, the British can now see the rest of the mutineer holding the village.

From this point I stopped taking photos as the game got more intense. In summary, the mutineer tried to make a co-ordinated attack on the British on both banks of the river but failed each time because of the low Command ratings. Eventually they got whittled away making their piecemeal attack, and fled the village before the British closed in.


The mutineers suffer from these rules due to a combination of their low Command rating and their shorter rifle ranges. I suppose on a more conventional battlefield their superiority in numbers may be more telling. Well, there's always next game!