Maiwand Saturday @ COLONIAL BARRACKS (1 of 7)

After a couple months' delay, I'm happy to finally post approximately 350 good pics of the "Maiwand Saturday" game I ran at Colonial Barracks, on Saturday, November 5th, 2011, from 10:00am 'til 5:00, with about 2 hours spent on a pair of breaks, one for lunch, the other for a group photo of convention attendees gathered on the lobby staircase of the hotel.

Rules used were my own informal combo of "800 Fighting Englishmen" and 20th Anniversary TSATF, with the "big battle" version of the rules for movement, command-&-control, casualties, and morale, enabling the rather large game to move quickly, while we retained "old school" rules for fire and melee combat.

The group of gamers who played was really terrific, and made the entire experience a true pleasure for me, and I believe for each other as well. I think we all had a great time - the 9 Afghan players who cycled through the 8 Afghan commands, and the 4 British players who cycled through the 3 British commands.

I believe the photos do a good job of telling the story of how the battle developed without need of much written elaboration. I've added bullet-point highlights at the top of most of the 7 photo-sets, filled with approximately 50 pics each, briefly outlining the important game events covered by that particular set of pics.

Somewhere here in my new house is a name-list of all the players involved in the game, which I diligently kept in preparation for making this post -- but moving to a new house a couple of weeks ago somewhat turned my hobby life upside down, so I must apologize to the players involved, most if not all of whom can be seen in at least a handful of the pictures, and promise that at some point (hopefully in the not-too-distant-future!), I shall return and add their names, each with an honorable mention in dispatches!

(NOTE: If you ARE one of said players, and can spare the time, please feel free -- and encouraged -- to leave a COMMENT identifying yourself!)

When I do that I may add a bit of a written battle report as well, maybe as a post-script to the 7 separate posts filled with approximately 50 pics each.

Without further ado, watch the action of "Maiwand Saturday" unfold...

-- WHOOPS!!! --

...almost forgot to say thank you to the man responsible for taking each and every one of these awesome photos: Matthew Rigdon. THANKS, MATTHEW!

HIGHLIGHTS OF CHAPTER ONE GAME ACTION:

Not much action, these pics show the table lay-out complete with:

- the barren and dry Maiwand plain, littered with scrub-brush (that provides no cover!)...

- Mundabad Ravine, a mid-sized river in the Fall and Winter, but near-bone-dry in late July of 1880...

- trio of inter-connected nullahs (hereafter referred to as "East", "center", and "West")...

- twin villages of Mundabad & Khig, along the road skirting the Ravine and then leading off-table towards the much larger town of Maiwand, approximately 4 miles to the East...

- the Mundabad karez - a narrow man-made water channel fed by an underground stream originating in the nearby mountains, used by the villages for drinking, cooking, cleaning, irrigation, etc...

- the Walled Gardens of Khig - located just to the South of Khig village, once picturesque, they have seen better days, but may still provide cover for a heroic last stand...

- the British Field Hospital and Baggage Train, set up in the cover of Mundabad Ravine...

- Brigadier Burrows' brigade was set out in its historic line of march, with RHA Lieutenant Hector Maclaine having spotted a dust-shrouded mass of Afghan cavalry heading East, towards Maiwand, across his front and deciding on his own to gallop his gun team North, unlimber and open fire, thereby getting the ball rolling, so to speak...

- for the game the British army consisted of 3 MANEUVER ELEMENTS (all infantry units comprised 20 figs, all cavalry units 12 figs):

(1) BRIGADIER GEORGE BURROWS - INFANTRY COMMAND / C-IN-C

66th Regt., 1st Bombay Grenadiers, 30 Bombay Native Infantry (Jacob's Rifles), Smoothbore Battery of 3 second-rate guns crewed mainly by men assigned from the 66th Regt.

(2) BRIGADIER NUTTALL - CAVALRY

3rd Bombay Light Cavalry, 3rd Scinde Horse

(3) MAJOR JOHN READY - BAGGAGE-GUARD

Combined infantry unit (half British Infantry from 66th, half Bombay Infantry from Grenadiers & Jacob's Rifles), combined Bombay Cavalry unit.

The afghan army commanded by AYUB KHAN comprised 9 MANEUVER ELEMENTS, plus attached artillery:

2 REGULAR INFANTRY BRIGADES (4 units each)

1 REGULAR CAVALRY BRIGADE (3 units)

2 TRIBAL INFANTRY ELEMENTS (3 units each)

2 TRIBAL CAVALRY ELEMENTS (2 units each)

4 ARTILLERY BATTERIES (3 guns each, attached to reg. Inf. or cav. Brigades)

2 GHAZI FANATIC ELEMENTS (these began off-table, en route from the town of Maiwand. Die-rolls determined their exact turn of arrival and arrival-point)

- and finally, to kick the visuals off, some local wildlife...

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE AT PART 2...