Colonial Rules Playtest

I am playtesting another set of rules for Dan, this time for colonial warfare. The rules are primarily meant for individually-based figures, but since all I have for the colonial period are my 15mm Indian Mutiny figures based on elements, I used them for the test game.

I set up a simple encounter battle, where a British/EIC relief force on their way to... some besieged garrison finds their way blocked by a force of sepoys and badmash.

The set-up

The British bring their gun to bear and commence counter-battery fire, while the infantry close in. The cavalry executes a deep flank around the hill to the right. The mutineers counter the move by moving two units to the flank.

A fierce fire-fight ensues. Casualties mount on both sides.

The rebel gun is taken out! The mutineers push their right flank forward. What's taking the cavalry so long?

The cavalry finally reach the rebel flank, but the mutineers are ready for them!

The cavalry is destroyed in a quick melee, and the badmash engage the British left in hand-to-hand combat...

... and are driven back! But the mutineer left flank now turns around and begin to threaten the weakened British centre.

The British fall back and form a new line of defence anchored by their gun; a whiff of grapeshot should save the day: 8 dice, needing 4+ to hit...

Really?

In the end the British were overwhelmed by the mutineers and wiped out. There are not yet any "army morale" rules in the current draft, so it was a fight to the last man. What the game did show is that the force ratio recommended in the rules is about right. I probably should have reduced the shooting skills of the sepoys a bit more, although with the good die-rolls they were making I doubt it would have made a difference.

I think the problem here was that I was over-confident with the British, while I played the mutineers more cautiously; the British should have engaged the mutineers at long range, capitalising on their superior artillery drills and longer rifle ranges (compared to the obsolete ones used by the mutineers, which were the spark that started the whole mutiny). The cavalry was too weak to take on infantry on its own, and should have been held back for pursuit, riding down individual units of mutineers that are suffering from morale penalty.

I think I should give this scenario another go another day.