ORDERS OF BATTLE
BRITISH EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
The Afghan force should be split into three commands. Abdul Nafi should have command of the cavalry, but can take units from either of the two brothers if he wishes. Gulraiz commands the jezail armed men and operates at distance from the enemy. Jammas commands the hand to hand warriors and the artillery.
RUNNING THE GAME
This is now the fiftieth Command Decision I’ve written. As with the very first Command Decision, this scenario was designed to use Caliver Books’
Mad Dogs and Englishmen. You could use alternative skirmish-based rulesets such as Sharp Practice or The Sword and The Flame.
The Afghan player was given six numbered cards to place on the table. Three indicated the start positions of the brothers and their forces, another showed where the Russians were located and the other two were blanks to fool the British. The British could ask for the card to be revealed once they had got to within 30” of the card. The Afghan player could then deploy the forces in any formation around the card with the brother located where the card had been placed. The Afghan player was allowed to move any of the unrevealed cards 2d6” per turn.
The Russian card was placed on the table edge on the opposite side of the valley to the village with the intention of coming down the mountainside to cross the valley floor and make for the village to rendezvous
with Abdul Nafi. Abdul Nafi’s card was placed on the road at the far end of the valley; the right hand side of the valley was assigned to Gulraiz and the left (and village) to Jammas.
THE VALLEY: FACT CHECK
Although fictitious, our valley is typical for the region and roughly based on events that took place during operations in the 1890s. The British launched operations against the Mohmands (a Pashtun tribe from north-west Peshawar) in 1851–1852, 1854, 1864, 1879, 1880, and major operations over 1897–1898. There was growing unrest related to the ill-defined borders and tribal fears over their future independence. On 10 June 1897, a detachment of Indian troops escorting a British frontier officer was attacked in the Tochi Valley. The last straw was his attack on Shabkadar at the beginning of August and the capture of British posts in the Khyber Pass.
Two columns were sent in to punish the Mohmands, several villages were burned and there was a major engagement at Nawagai on September 20. More villages were destroyed with one more major fight at Agrah at the end of the month. The Mamunds surrendered on October 5. Notably, Winston Churchill was with the expedition operating as a second lieutenant and war correspondent.
Check out the free digital Bonus Command Decision: The Black Mountains Campaign 1852, downloadable from the website! Ed.