The Battle of Pashminia - day 1

Hello all! As a way of rounding off the half-term I thought I'd fight out a small battle in the newly tidied garage. I took the opportunity to dust off my "Back of Beyond" collection to fight out an action between an attacking British force and some defending locals.

The scenario involved part of a British brigade under the command of Colonel "Breezy" Windeville. Forces available were the 2nd Battalion, Borsetshire Regiment (four companies and attached machine guns), two squadrons of the Gorblymee Light Cavalry and an armoured car.

Windeville was tasked with taking the Dagastani town of Pashminia and its railway station. The town was defended by Colonel Amirani and a mixture of Dagastani tribesmen and units of the Emir of Dagastan's regular army (the regulars are largely using Turkish kit).

The following photo shows Pashminia from the North-East. A squadron of Light Horse is advancing on the hill, while the bulk of the British infantry attempt to storm the large house and walled garden far to the South, with their right flank covered by the armoured car.

The bulk of the Dagastani regular forces are dug in behind sandbags in the centre, East of the town and railway. These defences include a couple of field guns, that made short work of the armoured car. Below is another shot of the central defensive position. In the background can be seen some native light horsemen, preparing to charge the British attackers

The 2nd Borsetshires stages several assaults on the Southern house (the "merchant's house") taking heavy losses in the process. One such assault can be seen below, The Merchant's house was held by a company of Dagastani militia (essentially, uniformed tribesmen under regular officers) supported by a machine-gun unit.

On the British right (North), the cavalry eventually pushed the defenders off the hill, however this had cost the British one infantry company rendered ineffective and half of the attacking cavalry squadron.

Following a command blunder, the Dagastani regulars in the centre staged an impromptu assault towards the British infantry and machine guns:

However they soon fell back, allowing the Borsetshires to put in a final assault on the Merchant's house despite harrasment from the mounted tribesmen:

At this point, the light was failing and both sides sought to consolidate their positions ready for the second day. Both forces are expecting reinforcements and it is thought that the Dagastanis may even have support from the bolshevik forces of neighbouring Transcortinia. The photos below show the positions taken by the forces at dusk on day 1. The British have pulled back from the North to form a defensive line running along the souther edge of town, running from the Merchant's house, across the railway line and off to the West. The hill has been abandoned for now:

Below is a cloder view of the opposing sandbag lines:

...and a view looking North from behind the British position:

...and a view from the East, looking along the Borsetshire's lines westwards from the Merchant's house:

The Dagastani's hunker down around the town of Pashminia, and have brought both field guns around to face South:

Lastly, the militia and tribesmen have been moved north to cover the hill:

Everything seems set for an exciting day 2.

The British are expecting the second squadron of cavalry to arrive overnight (they should have appeared on day 1, but seem to have got lost), and a couple of companies of Ghurka rifles are en route.

The Dagastani's are expecting reinforcement by a weak battalion of regular infantry and possibly some Transcortinian bolshevik support in the form of an armoured train.

(Rules were an adaptaion of Blitzkrieg Commander with unit stats made up "on the fly" - it seemed to work!)

cheers