"Bala Hissar or Bust!" player briefing...

AFGHAN PLAYERS BRIEFING:

The Infidel Army is about to attempt to fight their way from their camp to the Bala Hissar fortress, currently occupied by a regiment of their Indian lackeys.  As they will be abandoning their camp, they will be forced to bring their baggage, womenfolk, and camp-followers with them, draping a blessed burden around the necks of our enemies.

Destroy all the cursed Infidels en route to the walls of our city, and if their lackeys venture forth from the safety of the ancient fortress, destroy them as well, and the resulting PURE VICTORY will gain you endless honor and glory, praise from the Faithful, and blessings from Allah, the Compassionate and Merciful!

Destroy half of them while preventing the remainder from reaching the fortress, and the resulting MODEST VICTORY will allow your praise to be sung.

Achieve less than that and the resulting DEFEAT will leave your followers looking for new chiefs... and your wives for new husbands.

ANGLO-INDIAN PLAYERS BRIEFING:

Food stocks in the Cantonments have reached a critically low level, but an abundance of supplies sits in the storehouses of the Bala Hissar, which remains garrisoned by a stalwart unit of the Regiment of Guides.  Their orders will allow them to sally out to aid you in reaching the safety of the ancient fortress only after the first of your troops have reached Kabul, which will require you to enter through one or both of the gates in the South wall of the city.

It is of the utmost importance to reach the Bala Hissar with your supply train of ammunition and valuable personal belongings (of the officer class) intact, and without suffering casualties of more than 50% amongst your large number of civilian camp-followers along the way.  Do so and if your army survives the coming Winter behind the walls of the fortress, the resulting PURE VICTORY will earn a Knighthood!

Reach the safety of Bala Hissar fortress with at least half of your fighting troops still standing, and despite whatever losses you may suffer, the resulting MODEST VICTORY will earn you a promotion.

Fail to do that, and the resulting DEFEAT will leave you blackballed by your fellow officers, laughed at by your men, and scorned by the Empire in general.

GENERAL GAME BRIEFING:

We'll use the 20th Anniversary The Sword And The Flame rules straight from the book.

I will add BLACK & RED JOKERS to the deck. If the RED JOKER or EITHER RED JACK is flipped, the British player will have to move or "Fire" (wastefully, without any effect) one of their FOUR UNITS OF CAMP FOLLOWERS (12,000 of whom were with the Anglo-Indian army, which added a great deal of chaos to the British withdrawal.)

If the BLACK JOKER is flipped, the Afghan Player will get to move the Camp Followers as they see fit.

So 3 problematic cards for red, and 1 potentially disastrous one.

Streamlining the historical OB for game purposes, the British will command the following TSATF basic units:

ANGLO-INDIAN ARMY:

1 British Inf. (20 figs)
3 Indian Inf. (60 figs)

   (+5 added Infantry command)
2 Indian Cav. (24 +1 added command = 25 figs)
1 British Horse Artillery Gun (4 figs)
2 Indian Mountain Guns (8 figs)

British Grand Total: 122 figures

Plus a large number of CIVILIAN CAMP FOLLOWERS.

AFGHAN ARMY:

Occupying various strongpoints between the British starting position and objective, as well as the ramparts of the walled city, will be close to twice their number of Afghans, in the following units:

6 Tribal Inf. (120 +2 command = 122 figs)
3 Ghazi Inf. (60 +1 command = 61 figs)
4 Tribal Cav. (48 +2 command = 50 figs)

1 Tribal Gun (4 figs)

Afghan Grand Total: 237 figures

THE BATTLEFIELD:

The tabletop is 8' long by 6' wide.

The British Cantonment is located near the North-West corner, while the Bala Hissar fortress is in the South-East corner, roughly 7' as the crow flies.

VIEW FROM THE WEST, LOOKING EAST

ACROSS THE CANTONMENTS WHICH ARE

THE BRITISH STARTING POINT, TOWARDS

THE SEAH SUNG HEIGHTS...

OPPOSITE VIEW LOOKING WEST,

WITH THE BALA HISSAR FORTRESS

AT FAR LEFT CORNER...

VIEW FROM THE NORTH, LOOKING

DOWN THE KABUL RIVER & CANAL

AND THEIR 4 BRIDGES, WITH THE 

WALLS OF KABUL IN THE DISTANCE...

LOOKING NORTH FROM BEHIND THE

WALLS OF KABUL, BRITISH OBJECTIVE

OF THE BALA HISSAR AT THE

NEAR RIGHT CORNER...