Sikh, interrupted.

​

Andy Copestake & James Main's excellent book on wargaming the Sikh Wars. 

Never let it be said that we move hastily here at Joy & Forgetfulness. I checked the last time I did something with my Sikh Wars project and it turns out it was May 2024.  

I have determined that this is the year that I do something about it, because if not now, when?

John French The British in India from Foundry Books. 

This isn't just a great resource for the wargamer as it is absolutely chock full of information, but it's also a lovely book to just read.  It's well laid out, engagingly written and physically a very nice book. 

I've been cross referencing the information I have from the Tilson scenario book and relying on French when it contradicts Tilson. 

Newline Designs, with some added reinforcements from Nick Stern

Looking at the troops I need, I worked out what was required with reference to the Tim Tilson scenario collection for The Sword and the Flame.  Tilson uses slightly smaller units, but I've bumped mine up to 12 figures per unit instead of eight, so that I can play the Tilson amendments or use the 12 figure units for The Men who would be Kings.  In the event that I get to play The Sword at the Flame as written, I can stick two TMWWBK together to get one TSATF unit. 

Looking at the British & Company infantry for the First Sikh War. 

What I have in stock - 

Two British infantry units in white forage caps with buff facings

Two BNI infantry units with green facings 

Mudki

31st Foot (buff facing) 2 units - forage cap with black peak and white cover

50th Foot (blue facings) 1 unit - shako with white quilted cover 

42nd Bengal Native Infantry (yellow facings) 1 unit 

47th Bengal Native Infantry (yellow facings) 1 unit 

48th Bengal Native Infantry (yellow facings) 1 unit 

Ferozeshah

1st Bengal European Light Infantry (pale blue facings) 1 unit

29th Foot  (yellow facings) 1 unit - forage cap with black peak and white cover

80th Foot  (yellow facings) 1 unit - forage cap with black peak and white cover

26th Bengal Native Infantry (red facings) 1 unit 

45th Bengal Native Infantry (dark green facings) 1 unit 

41st Bengal Native Infantry (yellow facings) 2 units 

Cornes' Convoy

This is a skirmish and requires four units of the 53rd Foot, which would involve quadrupling the number of units with red facings I would require.  I'll bite the bullet and accept that the facings will be wrong for this particular engagement. 

Action at Bhuderwal

There's an action here recorded in French (p.53 The British in India, Foundry books) that doesn't seem to have merited a scenario.  I might look at that. 

Aliwal

31st Foot  (buff facings) 2 units - forage cap with black peak and white cover

50th Foot (blue facings) 2 units - shako with white quilted cover 

24th Bengal Native Infantry (white facings) 1 unit 

47th Bengal Native Infantry (yellow facings) 1 unit 

48th Bengal Native Infantry (yellow facings) 1 unit 

Sirmoor Gurkha Battalion (I don't have any of these, but Sean at Newline seems to have done just the right stuff, time for a small order I think). 

Sobraon 

10th Foot  (yellow facings) 1 unit - bell topped shako white cover

80th Foot  (yellow facings) 1 unit - forage cap with black peak and white cover

9th Foot  (yellow facings) 1 unit - quilted cover on a dress shako

62th Foot  (buff facings) 1 unit - forage cap with black peak and white cover with "havelock" curtain

43rd Bombay Native Infantry (pea green facings) 1 unit (seems to be Bengal NI)

59th Bombay Native Infantry (saxon green facings) 1 unit (seems to be Bengal NI)

33rd Bombay Native Infantry (black facings) 1 unit (seems to be Bengal NI)

63rd Bombay Native Infantry (yellow facings) 1 unit (seems to be Bengal NI)

26th Bengal Native Infantry (red facings) 1 unit 

French doesn't list any troops from Bombay on his Sobraon order of battle, but all the right regimental numbers are there for Bengal troops, so I am assuming this is a typo on Tilson's part. The Bombay Native Infantry did serve in the Second Sikh War, so I'm assuming that this is were the mistake was made. 

Newline's British infantry are all in these rather fetching peaked caps. However, one of the downfalls of having better information then when I started the project is that I know know that these figures are correct for some, in fact most, of the British infantry, they won't do for all. 

When I started the project, I just saw British infantry and ordered some, not realising that different regiments would be wearing different headgear. Bah! 

I was picking up some other stuff from Irregular when I saw that they had early 19th century British infantry in shakos.  And didn't  I remember that they didn't wear bell topped shakos during the Sikh War.  Which will teach me to order miniatures late at night, when I may have had a few sherries. 

UPDATE: It looks like the 10th (see below) were wearing Bell Topped shakos.  Brilliant. 

    From French, The British in India. 

The variant headgear worn by the British infantry on this campaign. I think I should be able to do something with green stuff. 

Reflecting on the problem, I think it would be folly to get every regiment.  Most of the scenarios only deploy the units that were actually engaged, so the full order of battle isn't present in each engagement. That and the differences between them are not massive, so what I think I'll do is sort out my troops, working on the basis that so long as the headgear and the facing colour is correct (or near as damn, I'm not sure I'm that exercised about the difference between dark, saxon and pea green), they'll do.  So I'll need to work out how many units of figures I will actually need. 

Hopefully I won't have to wait until 2028 to do that. 

Sikh War Project - A project long in the making?

The 16th lancers charging Sikh troops

I've been thinking about wargaming the Sikh wars since I first read about them in Ian Hernon's book "Britain's Forgotten Wars".  There's something tremendously compelling about the situation of a kingdom so divided against itself that it's court conspire against their own army. 

It reminds me about reading about the later years of the New Model Army or the Roman Army during the Crisis of the Third Century.  An organisation that became so mad with power that it became ungovernable and ended up either being bought off or destroyed.  That coupled with the fact that the Sikhs are a fascinating people combining asceticism, excess, warrior glamour with an exotic locale - I'd be a fool not to give it a try. 

Files boxes, notes and bags and bags of figures. 

The plan is to wargame the four main battles of the First Sikh War using the Colonial Campaigns ruleset against my old foe the Welsh Wizard.  We've already played Naushera and Jumrud from the Sikh-Afghan wars. 

I had been picking up figures from the excellent Newline Designs range of figures and have most of what is required for the First Sikh War. Now, I made the listen of reading John French's excellent book on the British in India from Foundry which includes a raft of details on different units, some of whom were wearing shakos rather than the more usual peaked cap. 

At the moment the challenge will be finding figures for the Ghurkas both in Sikh and HEIC employ and for those British infantry units that wore shakos rather than peaked chaps. Irregular do some Sikh war British infantry in shakos, but they are bell topped rather than covered. 

I'm still debating how punctilious I want to be about this, as I mainly just want to get the game on the table, but then again - I will know if I get it wrong and sometimes that's enough. 

Figures for painting, sorted into bags and marked with a label. 

There was a lot of gathering and sorting and lining up with the various orders of battle I want to cover.  Realistically, if I want to get this project to the table in a decent amount of time I am going to have to subcontract the painting for a fair amount of it. But having thought about this seriously, my time for painting is very limited with a young family and a demanding job, so needs must where the Devil drives. 

More Storage

I've been building up a collection of jungle trees, palms, exotic vegetation, elephant grass and so on for a while now.  But up until recently, it all lived in a number of different boxes scattered around the War Room.  I picked this box up in Woodies (a local DIY shop) for a tenner.  It's robust, clear plastic (which means that I don't need to worry about labels) and will stack with others.  I'm beginning to think that I may start using these for the majority of my terrain collection as using smaller boxes is just not working very well. 

Everybody's got something to hide 'cept for me and my War Elephant - The Battle of Nowshera 1823

Sikh Akalis (Wikipedia) 

Behold their fancy hats! What kind of battle has Sikh holy warriors (Akali) and a personal War Elephant? Only the best kind of battle. 

Ever since I read Ian Hernon's "Britain's Forgotten Wars" as a young man, I've been fascinated by the Sikh Wars and by the Sikhs. They're such a contradictory, decent, turbulent and interesting people that they repay study. I've wanted to play out some of their battles on the wargames table for ages and I had the chance to yesterday.

I picked up Tim Tilson's Colonial Campaigns - Rise and Fall of the Sikh Empire book years ago and I've had mixed success in getting it to the table. But a hefty Newline Miniatures order and a willing confederate in the person of the Welsh Wizard has presented a golden opportunity to make 2024 the year of the Sikhs.


Tilson's Book is a supplement for Larry Brom's classic The Sword and the Flame colonial rules, but rejigged for big battles. It's one of those curious things that shouldn't work, but really does. We're still getting to grips with the rules as neither of us had played them in years, but Tilson's amendments are actually quite small and work well.

Ranjit Singh - a pretty tough customer 

But what of the battle of Nowshera? 

This was a battle between the nascent Sikh Empire and the Afghans.  The Sikh's were led by a chap called Ranjit Sikh, a tough, one eyed general who built an army that married European style infantry to Sikh cavalry and an impressive artillery arm. Eager to expand his territory, he pushed into that part of Afghanistan held by the Durrani Empire and took Peshawar. 

After conquering the territory, he withdrew after leaving a small garrison.  The governor of Peshwar, an Afghan fella named Azim Khan (half brother of Dost Muhammed Khan of whom you may have heard), got understandably shirty about this. Khan gathered an army, proclaimed a jihad and made his way to Nowshera where the Singh had built a fort.  

Ranjit Singh countered by deploying his own forces to Nowshera and fell upon that part of the Afghan army that had arrived there. Khan had not yet reached Nowshera and his allies had taken up a defensive position there. 

Singh attacked this isolated part of the Afghan army and crushed it, storming the Afghan entrenchments after a powerful artillery bombardment. 

Khan fell back and Singh retook Peshwar, razed it and broke the Durrani power in the region.  Khan withdrew, possibly to see off a leadership challenger, but would soon die of cholera.

  

The Welsh Wizard contemplates his deployment, I'd sent him pics the day before so that we could get started quickly. 

The Durrani Afghan's put everything in the shop window, lining the walls with their infantry and keeping only their cavalry in reserve.  Both sides were awaiting reinforcements, but how long would it take them to arrive? 

I began the game with only my regular European trained infantry present, but I decided to drive on.  My plan was to refuse the right flank and press hard on the left, concentrating my best and most disciplined infantry there to crush that part of the line and roll up the position. 

The Sikh figures are almost all Newline, while the Durrani Afghans are a mix of Hagen Mahrattas, converted Cossacks and later period Afghans.  

The Durrani position was strong, but I had the qualitive edge in infantry, which I hoped would would prove decisive. One thing about Tilon's rules is that musketry was well modelled.  We thought the hit rate was quite low, but it seemed to work well and gave the right feel as units could move, but would be ground down over time. 

The musketry duel between my lads and the Afghans started to take effect. 

I used my Hagen Mahrattas (painted by Krizstian Takacs) as Durrani.  The Welsh Wizard used his fire cleverly, inflicting casualties that while they didn't wipe out units, slowed them down and made them linger longer under their guns. 

The Teddy Bear stuffing marks units that have fired their muskets and therefore need to reload. 

I concentrated my attack on the angle of the position on the grounds that it would put me in dead ground from the Afghan guns. Attacking a position held by greater numbers even of inferior troops is no joke and my reinforcements were nowhere to be seen...

I spread my fire evenly across the defending troops and managed to bait some of them into charging out of their position (this is reflected in a special rule in the scenario and did actually happen in reality) to attack my troops toiling up the slope. 

This ended predictably as the leading paltan of Sikh troops let the charging Durrani get within pistol shot and then gave them a volley at point blank range.  

With predictable results. The Durrani were broken and started running. Unfortunately for me, the Welsh Wizard brought his reinforcements in just in the nick of time and before my troops could get themselves organised and push on to solidify their hold on the position, he had managed to bring up several units of Ghazi, ferocious Sons of the Prophet, fired with religious zeal. 

This was a turning point in the game as we could hold this part of the entrenchments, Ranjit Singh would be well on the way to a victory.

Fresco in Jammu depicting Akali Phula Singh and his Akali-Nihang warriors making a last stand against Afghan Ghazi warriors in the Battle of Nowshera (Wikipedia)

This led to a turn where there were good decisions and mistakes on both sides and which was so exciting that I completely forgot to take pictures.  In brief; 

- the Ghazis faced with two disorganised Sikh paltans coming over the wall decided to stand and fire rather than charge in. 

- my reinforcements finally arrived, two units of Gorachurra (traditional Sikh armoured cavalry) and two mobs of Akali (the Sikh equivalent of Ghazi, religious warriors with giant hats and killer Frisbees) led by Poona Singh on his personal War Elephant.  I ran these lads forward as fast as I could, trying to take the weakly held left flank of the Durrani position. 

- Afghan cavalry made an attempt to flank the advancing Sikh infantry by jumping the entrenchments and swooping into their flank only to get enfiladed by the Sikh artillery who punished them severely and sent them scurrying to the rear. 

The Afghan fire hurt the Sikh regulars, but not enough. 

Meanwhile, my Gorachurras decided to chase the fleeing Durrani cavalry, supported by the Akali, who were spoiling for a fight. 

(Angry Punjabi Elephant noises)

The Durrani defenders managed to shoot up the Gorachurras on the way in and broke one unit of them and sent them fleeing to the rear, but the remainder got stuck into the rallying Afghan cavalry who attempted a counter charge, only to be simultaneously hit by Poona Singh and the Akalis. 

(Sounds of Punjabi chanting "Na na na na, Na na na na Wahey Goodbye!")

Meanwhile on the other flank, the Sikh regulars took a risk and dropped their muskets.  Drawing their tulwars they went straight in at the Ghazis.  One lot of Ghazis took one look at the line of ferocious looking beards and blades coming towards them at speed and decided that they had urgent business elsewhere.  They were chased down and butchered to a man. 

And here is where the battle took a fatal turn. My regulars took on the second unit of Ghazis and a fierce battle ensued. Tulwars clashed and bayonets flashed and the screams of the dying rent the air.  

The Ghazs either fled to the rear or fell wounded, all except their leader.  History does not record this doughty warriors name but he ended up fighting on alone.  He struck down three Sikh warriors and ended up facing General Hari Singh*.  General Singh here being played by an Ottoman mounted leader from Zvesda's Turkish Cavalry set because I haven't painted my Sikh generals yet. 

Now, I had thrown General Singh into the fray because if I'd managed to destroy this unit of Ghazis it would have meant that I would have secured one third of the trenches (worth victory points), I would have destroyed another Ghazi unit (also worth victory points) and I would have been poised to completely dislocate the entire Afghan position. 

We rolled and the result was a draw. 

We rolled again and not only did I lose the combat, but I also rolled a one, which meant that General Singh was not only defeated, but he was dead. 

Down he goes.   This provoked a round of morale tests throughout the army and badly shaken by the loss of their leader, the Sikhs began to withdraw.  With the Sikh position unravelling and the Welsh Wizard needing to return to his Tin Mine, we called the game there. 

This was a hard fought game that went all the way to the second last turn and which could have gone either way until the end game.  I've always enjoyed The Sword and the Flame because it creates these moments of drama. The heroic last stand of the unnamed Afghan leader shall live on in story and song. 

It's been a real pleasure to get back to gaming with the Wizard, a reminder of times when we were both teenagers and playing Warhammer Panzer Battles with Airfix figures.  It was also good to get my Sikhs on the table, I'm looking forward to maybe getting a few more Sikh games in this year. 

Fingers crossed. 

*This leader is listed in Tilson as General Blabharda...which I'm assuming is a joke.  I mean really.  Blab Harder?

Wargaming Remotely in the Time of Corona Virus

Remote Wargaming Setup

(Note: the cat is vital to the enterprise and cannot be done without)

A lot of us are cooped up in our homes at the moment - which is a bit of a pain in the neck, but sure beats the alternative. But one of the drawbacks of the lockdown is the fact that a lot of us will not be getting our usual wargaming fix. 

Over the last few years, I have taken to playing games remotely by video conferencing with friends who are far away. There is absolutely no reason we can't try this with our usual opponents or why not try having a go with some our your internet pals. There is no time like the present. 

I have recorded a short podcast on the subject, summarising the lessons I've learned from the last few years of remote wargaming. 

But in brief they are; 

1. Preparation - Get everything ready (board, terrain, dice, counters, etc) before the game. 

2. Think about the camera - Remember that your opponent does not have a clear view of the table. 

3. Dice - Use a dice roller or work on trust. 

4. Start small - Double the amount of time you expect the game to take as a good rule of thumb. 

5. Brief your opponent - Send your opponent a written brief before hand. 

6. Be patient - Your opponent may have difficulty working from a small screen, be patient. 

I expand on each of these points in the Podcast and there are a couple more, but these are the basics. 

Sir Harry Flashman VC striding across the battlefield like a colossus

Backdrops are extremely useful in a play by video game, because they give your opponent a clear indication of where the edges of the table are, which is not always easy on video. I would also pick a plain backdrop if you can, so that your opponent can see your figures silhouetted against it. It can be tricky trying to make out what's happening against the visual clutter of the room. 

The British forces close in on the well

I played a game of The Men who would be Kings with my pal Nick last night. I wrote the scenario especially with remote wargaming in mind, so it had a few extra little wrinkles built in. 

The game was set after the battle of Mudki during the first Sikh War in 1845. Lord Gough's army was short of water and Captain Stern was dispatched to find a well in a nearby village. 

Brutal charge and counter charge between Sikh Akali and Bengal Irregular Horse

The game took about ninety minutes to play through, with some time after for shooting the breeze. The Sikh Akali's made short work of Bengal Native infantry, the sole survivor of their savage charge you can see fleeing to the rear. They were immediately counter attacked by the Bengal Irregular Horse under Risaldar Mir Afsar Ali, which lead to a brutal hand to hand struggle. 

"Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Ki Fateh!"

The Akali and the Irregular Cavalry charged and counter charged several times during the game and the officers on both sides were killed. In fact, it was a brutal game for officers all round. You test to see if an leader becomes a casualty by rolling 2d6 and they only fall if you roll snake eyes. 

Both Nick and I rolled a lot of snake eyes this game with a statistically improbably number of officers dropping like flies. 

Official War Artist Nick Stern did this sketch of the battle between the Akali and 

the Bengal Irregular Cavalry

Nick is an artist and sent me this wonderful sketch of the battle between the Akaki and the Irregulars.  It strikes me as something out of Caton Woodville.  I will really cherish this and intend to print it out and frame it once this whole sorry business is over. 

British lancers run the gauntlet of the Sikh musketry to spear the gunners and capture the gun

The game ended after a tightly fought engagement with my Fauj-i-Khas penned in some buildings but undaunted.  They would have proved a hard nut to crack, but unfortunately they couldn't counter attack without being hammered.  Stuck where they were they were unable prevent the British taking the well or our heavy gun, which was being evacuated by a rather splendid elephant from HAT. 

This was a thrilling game that was in the balance right up until the last turn.   It was a pleasure to play against Nick and I will treasure his sketch. 

If you would like to know more about setting up your own remote wargaming games, please tune into the latest episode of Send Three & Fourpence. 

The Battle of Naushera

I picked up this up from Robert over at the Wargaming Command Post.  I've had a copy of "The Sword and the Flame" for quite some time, but have never actually sat down and played a game. Tim Tilson's book covers the First and Second Sikh Wars and is a bit of departure from The Sword and the Flame's comfort zone as it takes place in the first half of the Victorian era rather than the more typical second. The units are smaller (eight men as opposed to twenty) and there a couple of special rules (pausing to reload muskets being a notable one), but the bones of the game seem relatively intact.

Now as it happened, I don't have the figures to do the Sikh Wars and probably won't have for quite some time. Formerly this would have been fatal to the prospect of getting any games played - however, I fell in with young Unlikely McKenzie while returning home from evensong and he pointed out that there was a considerable overlap between the Sikh campaigns and the rise and fall of the Princely State of Kaala-Akaata.

I was pondering this with some skepticism when he produced a copy of "With Fire and Sword in India: battles and skirmishes with the Irish Brigade in the states of Chintal and Kaala-Akaata" by Sir. Felbrigg McKenzie. On leafing through this delicate hardback, I discovered that there were considerable similarities. Douglas very kindly loaned me the book (I believe the author is a distant ancestor) and I intend to read it further. In the mean time, I learned of the battle of Naushera which occurred between the forces of the state of Chintal and the Rajah of Kaala-Akaata in 1818.

A somewhat fanciful depiction of the battle of Naushera

Taken from "With Fire and Sword in India: battles and skirmishes with the Irish Brigade in the states of Chintal and Kaala-Akaata" by Sir. Felbrigg McKenzie.  

"The battle of Naushera was a product of an expansionist impulse in the princely state of Kaala-Akaata. There is little doubt that while the Rajah himself was no enthusiast for military adventures, he considered them  preferable to unrest at home.  In the autumn of 1814, Belit Rao, a great favourite of the Rajah's seized the city of Halla from the Rajah on Chintal.  The Chintalese unable to resist the steady European trained infantry of the Kaala-Akaatans and the considerable siege train surrendered. In the intervening years, the city was taxed heavily and in the Autumn of 1818, Rao ordered that the city be illuminated in his honour on the occasion of the Royal wedding. Rao departed the city to attend the festivities taking a considerable number of his infantry with him.  The inhabitants of the city seeing their chance rose in revolt. 

The revolt was led by Azar Khan, a nobleman who had raised a Corps of Ghazi from his Mohammedan co-religionists.  These had been driven beyond endurance by the exactions of the Rajah's tax collectors coupled with the insults of the apostles of the Weasel God, who were to exert such a baleful influence on the history of the state. 

Belit Rao returned at the head of his army to find Azar Khan occupying entrenchments outside the city.  The Rajah of Chintal had made no attempt to relieve the rebels as it was believed that he did not wish to attract the ire of the Kala-Akaatans before he could be sure that uprising would succeed. 

Belit Rao, who was a whiley strategist, had hoped to delay attacking the defences outside the city as his siege train had yet to arrive. However, his army was accompanied by a number of Sredni-Vashtar cultists who began to speak loudly that Rao was secretly in league with the Rajah of Chintal and that this was the cause of the delay.  Rao who had  been warned that he might be murdered in his tent began a precipitate and  sanguinary attack."  

    

The Unlikely Douglas McKenzie moving his troops forward

With the War Room out of commission and with a special dispensation from Mrs Kinch, I set up in the kitchen, extending the table with some small tables that I generally use for painting. The Unlikely Douglas McKenzie took the part of the rapacious Kala-Akaatan's while I commanded the Chintalese.  McKenzie refused his flank and decided to concentrate his forces on my left hoping to punch through the entrenchments on the heights.

McKenzie's cavalry thunders forward

Overall with a little care, we found the rules worked well.  The card activation kept things moving along and the shooting was interesting.  The chances of a hit were quite low, but those hits that occurred could be game changers. Tom Tilson's book uses eight man units, which means that carrying wounded isn't really practical, though we found that the melee, which is particularly bloody, made for some interesting game play choices.  We particularly liked the rolling to charge and rolling to stand mechanic. A game we'll play again I suspect.

I had expected to find using single based figures annoying, but the game moved so quickly that it never really became a factor.

These are poor camera phone snaps as I was too occupied with the game to dig out my camera. McKenzies cavalry have advanced in a hail of fire from the Halla militia, which levelled almost a complete squadron. However, the second line swept over their entrenchments and put the defenders to flight.

The Kala-Akaatan cavalry exacting a fearful toll

(Zvesda Turkish lancers, though we counted them as regular sword armed cavalry)

We discovered that units on the flanks are particularly brittle as they run towards the nearest table edge and this means that they often have no chance to rally. Unfortunately, those cavalrymen swept into the militia unit beside them and in the process unhorsed Azar Khan.  Records are sketchy and it is not believed that he survived the battle.

At this point, McKenzie had pierced my line and his regulars were beginning to get uncomfortably close to my militia. Not only that, but on turn three, two units of Sredni Vashtar cultists jogged forward from his back line (Lord knows where they had been before that, probably pulling the legs off spiders or something) while my Ghazi's were proving elusive.

Good-byeeee!

Rather concerned by the appearance of the red clad cultists, my militia and artillery hammered them causing an unlikely number of hits and sending them scurrying for the rear. Unfortunately there were also rather a lot of regular infantry left...

...and my army failed it's major morale roll which meant it couldn't move.

The Ghazi arrive

With my left flank almost completely smashed, I managed to get my Ghazi on the field. They attempted to close with McKenzie's regulars who were crossing my defences. Sadly, it proved too little too late as McKenzie's regulars dropped their muskets and closed with the tulwar.

The struggle rages back and forth

Unfortunately, McKenzie's regular managed to overcome my Ghazi who were pinned by another failed major morale roll. It was a savage combat that cost him one of his regular infantry paltans (battalion), but left my reinforcements either dead or fleeing for the rear. 

The Kaal Akaatan guns see the threat...

....but too late, my cavalry manage to sweep toward and wipe out the undefended guns. Both batteries were taken one by my cavalry and one by counter-battery fire. 

A close range firefight

With my Ghazi's nearly broken and McKenzie's regulars in my entrenchments, the battle degenerated into a vicious close range firefight that ended when he managed to convince his chaps to charge and finish me. When we counted up the victory points at the end, it was closer than I anticipated - 8-6.  

I enjoyed the game and would definitely play it again - though I wonder what it would be like with fewer, but 

larger units.  We finished up by cleaning the table as Mrs Kinch had made a magnificent Sunday roast which we made short work of.  The rest of the evening was spent in convival chat.  During which McKenzie mentioned that he had recorded another HP Lovecraft story, in this case "The Nameless City". Should you care to listen to it (and you should it's rather good) you can find it here.