It's been a couple of weeks now since myself, my son and our buddy Matthew got back to LA from Santa Clara but I am happy to finally get around to reporting on the results of Nick Stern's Black Powder Maiwand game at the Pacificon Game Expo…
A snare drum-roll, please…
Absolute British victory.
(above is a pic of the MAIWAND LION, set down to commemorate the momentous occasion)
For obvious reasons the game moved much faster than TSATF version we played on the day of the 130th anniversary. It also ended in a far better manner for the Anglo-Indian forces. I would pinpoint 2 main reasons for this result:
FIRST, a lack of coordination among the various Afghan players, some of whom did not feel a need to defer to the wishes of the player serving as their overall commander-in-chief; and...
SECOND, unhistorically excellent use of cavalry by the British.
At Maiwand both units of Bombay cavalry were held in reserve, under enemy artillery and small-arms fire for several hours. By the time their infantry fighting line was about to break and the cavalry were ordered to charge the onrushing ghazis in a last desperate effort to save the day, they never really engaged the enemy, instead turning and racing away in the same general direction most of the infantry was headed by then. But throughout the game the British cavalry commander handled his units with utmost aggressiveness and "dash", tying up countless Afghan regular regiments, charging and breaking several before both cavalry units were finally destroyed. By that time however, the Afghans had suffered over 40% casualties, while failing to break a single infantry or artillery unit of the outnumbered and outgunned (but not out-fought!) British army -- though several of the British units had suffered badly and were admittedly poised to potentially break after receiving slightly more damage.
I think it was a very successful convention game, with a large number of players (8 or 9 altogether?) who all appeared to very much enjoy themselves, the figures and the terrain… though admittedly the 3 of us playing as the British may have had a bit more fun than our opponents, particularly when we finally managed to break the ghazi unit which had managed to withstand what should have been utter devastation, inflicted over and over again. The ghazi player kept rolling whatever impossible number he needed to roll in order to save his troops from the effects of medium and close range artillery fire, Martini-Henry volleys, Snider-Enfield carbine fire and finally the cold steel of cavalry sabers, until finally -- after innumerable turns -- he mercifully (for the British) rolled to succumb.
NOTE: While commanding the Anglo-Indian forces I also managed to take about 50 decent to good quality pics of the game, all of which I hope to post here in the days to come...
