Back of Beyond : British Raid

After several weeks being disrupted by holidays and illness we played a delayed Back of Beyond battle. Set in our early 20th Century Back of Beyond setting the  British expeditionary force has found itself short on supplies and have targeted the local village, having secured the necessary provisions as they turn back to their base they realise they are in a vulnerable position. Sure enough the local tribes have gathered amongst the rocky terrain intent on preventing British column escaping with the supplies.

The British force setting out from the village

The overview of the battlefield. The main objective of the British is to get across the board or at least as far as possible. The bridge is the only route for vehicles across the dry river bed. Tribal forces will randomly arrive from a number of features, we are using bolt action with some specifics for the scenario, vehicles aren’t able to double move due to the road conditions, rocky areas provide cover, tribal forces are all irregular when firing but ‘regular’ in combat. Additional tribal forces as reinforcements will be available if necessary.

The British expeditionary force is a mix of British and Sikh infantry. A platoon of armoured vehicles, a single light howitzer and a couple of units of cavalry.

Tribal units initially deployed on the table are all in hidden setup so can’t be targeted until they move or fire.

Some of the Sikh infantry heading north form the village

Two machine guns set up on the rocky terrain west of the village to support the advance

They come under fire from the rocky hill and the small holding to the north

More tribal warriors in hiding in the dry river bed in ambush

The tribesmen have a single mountain gun which they have wheeled onto one of the hills

The British make a general advance

Wouldn’t you believe first turn tribal warriors literally appear from nowhere, presumably tunnels or caves in the rocks to surprise the retreating British column, they immediate charge the machine guns knocking them out int two turns

The British push on not wanting to be distracted leaving only some Gurkhas to cover their rear.

Bengal lancers scout forward

…only to be wiped out in a single turn, but the rest of the advance is progressing to plan

On the right the British seek to overrun the small farm but the defenders are well dug in

On the left the two supplies lorries are pushing towards the bridge covered by on of the British armoured cars

British cavalry seek revenge for the bengal lancers catching a group of tribesmen on the edge of the river bed.

But then they are caught pulling back by wild Tribal cavalry, in the melee the British lose out and are forced to flee 

The leading armoured car advances to secure the crossing but is ambushed by tribesmen, they struggle to have any impact or damage the vehicle but they delay the advance

The British have secured the farm on the right 

But more tribesmen are appearing in the distance

Particularly hard fighting around the Farm on the British left

But the bridge is taken

The leading supply lorry makes a bid for the bridge

Whilst an heroic but foolish charge by a platoon of Sikh infantry fails to secure the farm house

Then the second supply wagon receives a direct hit and immobilised

The leading armoured car seeks to break across the bridge but gets bogged down and although it is fairly impervious to assault by the tribal cavalry it can’t move forward

The farm is still being held on the left

but the British column is now pushing over the bridge

The farm is finally taken and in the distance British infantry are pushing into the river bed having driven the tribes men back

and then another lucky shot from the rocky hills catches the second supply wagon knocking it out.

At this point we decided to call it a day, a minor victory to the tribesmen/Afghans who having knocked out the two supply wagons slip away into the mountains. The British have plenty of troops left and have made good progress but the supplies will have to be left behind as they trudge back to base.

A fun game as usual, lots of twists are turns. The Bengal lancers were disappointing being knocked out in a single turn, we perhaps need a few more ? The arrival of the tribesmen from caves behind the British lines was inevitable ! It felt balanced though the British are superior quality but outnumbered. This was the first run out for my new desert mat and the rocky areas were quickly repurposed from some old 40k terrain. Plenty more opportunities in the future ….and we are now planning a siege battle 👍

Thanks for popping by 😀