You may remember we used these for several playtests a few years back. We took a break from working on them, but Richard Clarke has placed them back on the front of the line for completion later this year.

Called “A Mere Question of Pluck”, they simulate the field actions of the Second Boer War. They have both a “tactical”, and a “grand tactical” mode, and represent brigade actions and upwards. As such, they are perfect for the various battles of the War, such as Colenso, Talana Hill, and Spion Kop (among others). Our figures are 6mm, produced by Pete Berry at Baccus 6mm. We think they look excellent on the table, and have the major benefit of being easy to paint.

The battle we fought last night was the action on the 19th of January 1900, on the Rangeworthy Heights to the south west of Ladysmith in the colony of Natal. We played this action before, in the “tactical” scale of the rules in 2011. Rich produced a report on his blog HERE. 

Last night’s game was using the “grand tactical” scale of the rules.

The table for the game we used last night was 6’ x 5’. The game took 3 hours and 45 minutes. Rather than produce a “they moved, then we moved, then they moved and fired” report, I’ve placed the main actions of the game as captions to the pictures below. I hope they are easy to follow, but please let me know in the comments if you prefer something else.

I thought it might be useful to try and gather a couple of the themes from the game:

• We played through the game in just under four hours.  This was a large game, but easilt fitted into an evening's play.  We placed the British under a time clock - they had to achieve their objectives by 6pm (in game time), after starting the deployment at 8am.  

• Time constraints focus the players. The time clock we used (christened by Rich as being "Tick, Tock, Dong") is wonderfully simple, but speeds up game as it progresses.  The "clock" is actually 6 cards, held in a separate deck.  One "Dong" and five "Tick Tocks".  At the end of each turn, a single card is drawn.  If the card is "Tick, Tock", the hour (in game time) does not advance.  If the card drawn is "Dong", the hour does advance (8am...9am....and so on).  On a "Tick Tock" being drawn, it is removed from the Clock deck permanently.  The result is that there are multiple times at the start of the game when time seems to be moving slowly - essentially, being when "Tick, Tock" cards are being drawn at the end of each game turn.  However, once the "Tick Tock" cards are used up, time moves very quickly indeed.  A wonderfully simple device for propelling time faster towards the end of the game - precisely when the British want, and need, more time to complete their objectives.

• Boer vedettes - memorably described by Rich as "scruffy blokes smelling of horse p*ss with a rifle" - are as entrancing to the British players as a hypnotist's pendulum.  They inflict shock (only) but can harass, fragment and dislocate a smooth British advance.  Dealing with them slows the British players' advance, but ignoring them is nearly impossible - as was the case historically.  All British players, so far, have struggled to deal with them effectively (including me).

• British artillery is a battle winner.  Correctly deployed and commanded, it is devastating.  However, the command structure of the guns, requiring draws of a "Staff Card" is (as historically) cumbersome unless the British commander remains with the guns.  Command choices such as these are critical to British success.

• Commanding the Boers requires sure-footed thinking, and good anticipation.  Once deployed, they are costly to move and/ or redeploy.  They can be tough, but they are not regulars.  They can trade land and positions for time, but eventually they have to stand and fight.

Next up, (finally) contributions from me for the Painting Challenge! (after posting on the Painting Challenge blog site in a day or so).

In another of our strange echoes of Boer War history, the table top game played out very much like the actual battle. British deployment in the game was patient, well-thought through and made full use of natural features, such as the dead ground on the British west flank. Boer deployment, by contrast, was more passive and was hampered by the loss at an early stage of one group of Boer vedettes and some difficult card draws.

Interestingly, our play-test results seem to be shifting slightly as regards the results. Our initial games a few years back, and earlier this year, favoured the Boer, with the British struggling to achieve any sense of order in their deployment, especially in the “beaten zone” of German Mauser fire. In the Elandslaagte game however, the British were more assured in their deployment and patient with the build-up. Does this mean that we, as a club, are getting more comfortable with the challenge of playing British forces? Or is Elandslaagte an easy game for the British, with their wealth of good mounted troops. As we approach re-fights of the “Black Week” and Spion Kop, we should have a better idea of how we’re collectively doing in re-creating British forces’ deployment and fighting methods.

As before, I have added the details of the AARs into the photos below. I find written AARs sometimes a little tricky to follow, so please continue to let me know if you prefer this format (and thank you to those who have given a response on that already).

A few other points…

First, I can strongly recommend the excellent book “From Boer War to Great War” by Dr Spencer Jones which covers the evolution of British tactics through the Boer War and on to the first battles of the First World War. Dr Jones’ book is taken from his PhD thesis, but remains a very clear, concise and well-written examination of the struggles and eventual success of the British army in the 1900 to 1914 period.  A really excellent read.


Second, I apologise for the blog posts here being rather erratic of late, and also my absence in the last couple of painting rounds for Curt’s splendid Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge. My Mum has been in hospital for the past four weeks in Yorkshire and this has caused a lot of dislocation in normal family (and wargaming) life with travelling and visiting and what-not. Hope you can bear with me for a while if the posting is more erratic than normal.  And, above all,…get well soon, Mum!

Third, I should be at Salute 2014 in London this coming weekend. It’s certainly one of the highlights of my gaming year and I am greatly looking forward to seeing friends, old and new, and helping out running the TooFatLardies’ game, which will be Chain of Command. I’ll also be dropping by the Bloggers Meet-Up at 1pm, so hope to catch you all there if not before.