“Never Trust Anyone on the Frontier - an … Epic NWF Campaign"

CHAMLA VALLEY

 

Afghanistan, NWF, Chamla Valley, Winter  1891, with the Russians having split their forces to attack the Chitral territory and the Mastuj, the Russian supply lines have been overextended and even cut in some places. 

Captain Kucherov of the Susdal Line commanding a platoon of infantry and Lieutenant Novoseletsky commanding a troop of Cossacks with an attached machine gun have been tasked with a foraging mission to acquire much needed food. 

This classic scenario from the 20th Anniversary Edition of The Sword And The Flame rules book was adapted to suit the needs of forces maneuvering in our ongoing NWF Campaign.

7 February 1891, 05:30

Capt. Kucherov checks his map and prepares the troops to move out.  The order of march will have the Cossacks taking point, followed by the MG, with the infantry taking up the rear guard.

After a hard days march with a couple of hours of daylight left the foraging party advances to the objective, a local chieftain’s tower enclosed by a stone wall filled with a large flock of sheep. It’s a small, seemingly quiet village.

The troops deploy to advance upon the tower.  LT. Novoseletsky orders his Cossacks off the road to the their left flank to reconnoiter the rough ground in front of the vill as the infantry move off the road to their right flank. 

Capt. Kucherov nods to Sgt. Smirnoff, as if giving him orders without saying a word. Instantly the Sgt. barks the command “Scouts Forward”! The scouts double time ahead of the column to reconnoiter as the infantry begin to move into open order skirmish formation advancing towards the broken ground to the right of the column looking for any threats.

Subaltern Sobieski observing the deployment of the scouts and the maneuvering of the infantry to his front unlimbers his Gatling MG and posts his crew served weapon at the rear of the column to protect their six. Johnny Pathan makes a habit of falling upon an unsuspecting rear guard. His Russian Sailors will not be caught unawares.

LT. Novoseletsky leads his Cossacks on the Russian left flank towards the rough ground in front of the vill. 

Corporal Viseli walks his mount towards the rough ground, eyes peeled, his senses alert. The vill is just too quiet, there are no birds to be seen, and the sheep look distressed. Being a farmer from the Ural before he was conscripted he knows something is upsetting the sheep and stops his mount 100 meters in front of the terrain as he disengages the safety on his rifle. 

On the other Russian flank:

As Infantry Sgt. Smirnoff scans the rough ground to his right he sees movement as the rocks seem to come alive. The Pathans spring from the rocks as if they were grapeshot fired from a cannon with the shrill war cry’s of Allah Akbar. 

The infantry scouts did their job as they uncovered a group of tribesmen hiding in the rough ground ready to attack. The Russian infantry rolls their critical morale roll allowing them to form a close order firing line to properly defend themselves!

Corporal Viseli, one of the Cossack scouts raises his hand, dismounts, and takes a knee. LT. Novoseletsky then orders his troop to dismount, form a firing line, and prepare for action. 

Just as he thought would happen, his scouts uncovered Johnny Pathan sitting in the rocks waiting for his men. Luckily his squadron practiced sound tactics and sent out scouts, otherwise his unit may have been shot up in the saddle without putting any rounds down range.

As the Cossacks dismount the Pathans rise from their hidden positions in the rough ground and open fire. An additional unit stands up from their ambush positions behind the wall of the compound. Corporal Viseli mumbles to himself, “I don’t know who’s more clueless, our officers or the sheep we desperately seek.”

Russian right flank:

The Afghans in the vill fired on the Russians who formed a close order single line formation as their fellow tribesmen charged the northern ferenghi. The Russians themselves fired defiantly at the onrushing Afghans dwindling their numbers decisively which put them at a disadvantage for the upcoming melee. Despite the high Afghan losses the tribesmen still charged home. 

On the opposite flank:

The telling musketry from the hidden Pathans forced the dismounted Cossacks back with substantial casualties.

 LT. Novoseletsky orders his troopers to mount up and retreat to the cover of the small hills south of the vill.

Subaltern Sobieski seeing the Cossacks mount up and retreat orders his crew to man handle their Gorlov MG forwards in support to cover the Cossacks retreat, putting rounds into the village and into the tribesmen in the rocky ground on their left flank. 

With the Cossacks retreating under the withering musketry from the vill as well as from the broken ground the Russian left flank weakens allowing the tribesmen to move to their left towards the Russian infantry who are locked in melee. The Pathans in the vill providing accurate long rage covering fire to the maneuvering element to their front. 

The Russian Gorlov MG had a very difficult time hitting targets in the vill behind the stone and mud brick walls. The tribesmen on their left flank were moving quickly and safely towards them behind the protective screen of low hills and rough ground. 

Russian right flank:

Sgt. Smirnoff and his platoon of Susdel Line Infantry defeated the Afghan tribesmen in melee and put them to flight. 

However, with the Cossack retreat, the growing numbers of casualties, and the unknown numbers of tribesmen in the surrounding hills Capt. Kucherov orders his recon force to disengage from the enemy and exit the Chamla Valley. Colonel Stolichnaya will be none too pleased with his failure!  

This game was run at the HMGS-South’s Convention Recon-23 as a demo game for new players to our beloved The Sword And The Flame rules set. We based the game on the Chamla Valley scenario from TSATF 25th Anniversary rule book and tied it into our ongoing NWF Campaign on the Lead Adventure Forum, started in June of 2021. Many games have been run from this ongoing campaign for the past few years from several parts of Italy, California, Texas, Kansas, Arizona, and Florida.

Miniatures: 

Afghan Tribesmen / Pathans: Cast Away Arts Miniatures, Wargames Foundry Askari Miniatures, Old Glory 25's, Perry Miniatures

Russian Infantry, Guns, Crews, & Cossacks: Askari Miniatures, Naval Gun & Crew

Terrain: 

Rough Ground: Bills Gamer Garage, Wall locally produced by Mr. Jeckel and Dr Hyde, 

Tower: Colonial Steamboat Company, House: CTMM - Chris the Model Maker