Attack on Bixby Station - an "Old School" colonial wargame

And now for something completely different...

As I've said here more than once before, one of the nicest things about having a blog and being active on related forums is that occassionally it can result in making a new friend who shares the same "mad" interest.  About 8 months ago I was lucky enough to meet Daryl Haselton, active on both the Lead Adventure Forum and The Miniatures Page.  Happend that we live in neighborhing valleys here in Greater Los Angeles, about 20 miles away from each other.  Also turned out Daryl and I have even more in common than we had thought: his wife went to Cornell University, where my son is now a freshman; he went to college in Scotland, I was raised a Scotiaphile and played the bagpipes as a boy; and to top it all off, he spent several Summers teaching English at Shanghai Middle School, which my wife attended.  Of course my wife was a student there from 1979 to 1981 (starting just the second year after it reopened following the end of the Cultural Revolution, so there were no seats in the Dining Hall and students and teachers all stood and leaned over to eat from normal height tables!), while Daryl taught there in the early '90s, but the coincidence still blew me away.

The only bad thing about Daryl is... he doesn't have a blog of his own!!!

Which leads us to the "something completely different" referenced at the start of this post...

Daryl's own Colonial gaming figures are nearly all 54mm "Toy Soldiers," painted by himself, and he approaches his games in a decidedly HG Welles / Robert Louis Stevenson, "Old School," style, using blocks and Playmobile accessories for terrain.

Anyone who reads this blog probably knows that's about as different as can be from my own approach to Colonial gaming, which uses 28mm figures and somewhat meticulously constructed terrain, usually built to recreate a historical battle.  But though different we appreciate each others gaming style, so I was very happy indeed when Daryl turned the tables and invited myself and my good friend Odin Benitez -- who he'd met at the recent "Bala Hissar of Bust" game, when the three of us combined to lead the Afghans to victory over our British opponents -- over to his place for a game.

Since starting this blog way back in Spring 2010, nothing like this game has appeared on its pages before.  The closest thing would be when I visited the Anne K. Brown Collection at the John Hay Library at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, this past Summer, and posted a ton of pics of the GIANT COLLECTION OF TOY SOLDIERS on display there.  But none of those toy soldiers were actually in action, unlike those below...

The game told the story of the "DEFENSE OF BIXBY STATION," an outpost on the far reaching frontier of British India, in a border region known as SARDAKAR.

Odin and I commanded the defenders, while Daryl, in his role as GM, commanded the Sardakar, via random-generattion die-rolls and custom card-draws.

We used a simple set of Indian Mutiny rules available for free on the internet, which provided a very exciting and good game.

The Anglo-Indian garrison consisted of:

1 unit British Line Infantry

1 unit Highland Infantry 

1 unit Gurkha Infantry

1 Royal Artillery field gun

The Sardakar resembeld SIKHS from the 1840s, and their vastly larger army included Regulars, Tribesmen, and Akali-esque Fanatics, as well as guns of their own.

Both sides also had a bunch of characters, such as a Sardakar Sniper, elephant-borne Commander, morale-boosting Gurus, beared  Sardakar infiltrators disguised in Victorian dresses (?!), and an array of British civilians, including a Pugilist, a pair of Highland Regt. privates who were ancestors of Laurel & Hardy, the bible-thumping & pistol-packing Reverend Jones, Gunga Din,  Zoro (during his little known Sub-Continent phase!), a boy named "Puggsly" with one sock slipping down his leg, who apparently served as company mascot for Cadbury Chocolate, and various other eccentrics.

We played on the dining table, while in the living room nearby, visible through the open doorway, our RELIEF COLUMN sat surrounded by forest and hills, awaiting activation so it could begin its march from one end of the coffee table to the other, after which time it would be able to move from table edge to table edge and come to our aid.

First order of business was for Odin and I to name our personal command figures and assign them skill levels for shooting, melee, stunts, and "inspiration," from a lump sum of character points.  Next we had to decide which of us would serve as overall commander.  With, "Zulu," in mind, I suggested we each roll a D6 and add it to 1820 to determine the year we were commissioned, with the senior officer getting overall command.

My Richard "Dicky" Pottinger was commissioned in 1824... but Odin's Robert "Bob" Barton was commissioned in 1823, so he got the top slot.

Odin took the Line Infantry and gun, while I took the Highlanders and Gurkhas, aka: the Nepalese Highlanders -- a perfectly "brigaded" combo indeed!

We played from about 11:00am to 5:00pm, and it was a day filled with daring-do, shocking plot-twists, and tear-jerking tragedies.  I will do my best to fill in those blanks when a photo below captures one of those many highlight moments from the game...

Sikh War British Line Infantry...

Highlanders...

Gurkhas of a later era doing a fine job despite the historical anomoly of appearance...

Laurel & Hardy B.C...

(Before Cinema)

Gunga Din...

Queen-Empress and companion (John Brown without his kilt?)...

Our one gun, crewed by some splendidly painted Sikh War British gunners...

Bixby Station in all its glory...

Off in the wilds of the Living Room, the Relief Column waits atop the coffee table...

Including 16th Lancers (famous for their charge at Aliwal in 1846)...

Our troops take up defensive positions behind the Station walls...

The Reverend Jones...

The Pugilist (we dubbed him Jock Dempsey)...

The bareheaded officer in blue, wielding a riding crop in place of a more

base and common pistol and/or sword is my own Major "dicky" Pottinger...

Nice view of the Station, with defenders in place, gun atop the larger of two buildings...

Puggsly visible in the b.g...

Several of the civilians, including the Governor (who

never stopped dancing all through the attack!) and his Lady...

First bad development: SARDAKAR MINE appears inside the walls!

Luckily we are able to COLLAPSE the Mine

before any enemy troops emerge from it!

Another bad card is drawn: FANATICS!

Mustapha the Terrible arrives atop a great horned beastie...

The dreaded INFILTRATORS -- who somehow

manage to blend in despite their beards...

Sardakar artillery appears atop the nearby mountains...

(aka: bookcase adjoining the tabletop)

...and then the "Guru" gets angry!

Sardakar standard, with a nod to Herge and Tin-Tin...

Uh-oh -- Sardakar regulars go FANATIC...

British casualties pile up in the HOSPITAL building...

Sardakar regulars emerge from a second mine...

Good shooting by us Brits...

Despite their beards, even Her Majestuy and Zorro can't spot those danged Infiltrators...

The "Bag of Destiny" from which unit

activation and event cards were pulled...

More good shooting by the defenders...

Reverend Jones shows the Lord's mercy to the foe... or not...

Puggsly jumped the wall to go "adventuring" (?!?!?!)

Odin's personal command figure, Major "Bob" Barton, lept

over the wall to go retrieve the boy before he got hurt...

Then a Sardakar SNIPER with a henna-dyed 

eard appeared on the nearby hill...

Cholera appears in the defenders ranks, from 

which there is sadly no chance of recovery...

Yet another danged MINE!!!

Sardakar Regulars nearing the walls...

And ascending them...

Xinhua ("Shinwah") -- the Chinese Lady civilian (who I

named fter my wife)  SPOTS THE INFILTRATORS!

More fanatics break from the trees...

The blue-hat Regulars are over the wall...

Gurkhas defend the gate...

Reverend Jones in close combat with a Sardakar Leader...

Sardakar artillery knocks out a section of wall...

The Reverend joins the regulars on the wall...

Laurel & Hardy B.C. man the other gate...

More as yet unidentified Infiltrators loiter behind the British lines...

Major "Bob Barton and Puggsly attempt to take out the Red-Bearded Sniper...

The plan was for Puggsly to approach the Sniper and profess

his desire to convert to the True Faith of the Sardakar, and for

Major Barker to use this momentary distraction to bushwhack the foe...

So many wounded they have to stand up to fit in hospital...

Tribesmen appear and attack the North gate...

Major "Bob" Barton takes out the Sniper, but though not

pictured here (maybe because it was just too tragic and painful)

poor little Puggsly did not survive the scrum.

Meanwhile, foes clashed across the walls of Bixby Station...

Incensed by the death of poor little Puggsly, Maj. Barker

uses his "STUNT" roll to CLIMB UP THE MOUNTAINSIDE 

and attacks one of the two Sardarkar guns...

The Reverend and the Gurkhas (sounds like a title)...

Jock Dempsey takes on the Sardakar Tunnel Rats...

...and sadly loses.

The last Infiltrator goes for the gun...

But finds himself/herself thrown from the roof...

Melee -- and life -- loser...

Melle -- and life -- winner...

Oh, no -- Laurel & Hardy B.C.  are both hit!!!

"Here's another fine mess you've gotten me into..."*

(*You knew it had to come.)

Major "Dicky" Pottinger gives the order for the Highlanders

& Gurkhas to join him in a mad charge BEYOND THE

WALLS at the last Sardakar unit remaining intact...

But both Gurkhas and Scottish Highlanders apparently

have had enough and FAIL THEIR MORALE ROLLS!

Not one to be deterred, Maj. "Dicky" uses his "Inspiration" to

attempt to covince Zorro, the Queen-Empress, andJohn Brown

(sans kilt) to fill in for the regulars and follow him instead...

AND IT WORKS!

The quirky band dispatches all the remaining foes,

but sadly take one casualty themselves...

John Brown -- sans kilt, and now... sans life as well...

How will the Highlanders and Gurkhas manage to live with

themselves after failing to charge and watching the

Queen-Empress & co. do their duty FOR them???

As they are all still alive, somehow they will find a way.

The Queen-Empress mourns the loss of a young hero...

Puggsly didn't make it...

Maj. Barker succeeded in taking out that gun on the mountaintop (AKA: bookcase)...

The Guru remains angry...

The red-bearded Sniper remains down...

Jock Dempsey recovers from his wounds...

Bob Bergman's FAST PLAY INDIAN MUTINY RULES...

Which were a great deal of fun and provided a great game!

Laurel & Hardy B.C also recover from their wounds...

(Hollywood breathes a sigh of relief!)

The Relief Column still in place atop the coffee table...

As it turned out, we all agreed it was better that by pure chance the

Relief Column's card was never pulled from the "Bag of Destiny" --

as the game was so close and advantage went back-&-forth so often,

it might have titled the balance too much in favor of the British.

Odin, aka: Major Robert "Bob" Barton, composing his

after-action report for dispatch to Calcutta on Helio-iPhone...

* * * * *

What a great day of gaming!  All that's left for me to say is a tremendous THANK YOU to Daryl for hosting myself and Odin at his place, setting everything up, and guiding the proceedings with a very deft and entertaining hand, and a soft-touch.  I only hope we get to do it again some time!