Sieges, Sowars and Sepoys-Basics

As previously mentioned I intend to do India 1857 inspired by David Louis Raybin's excellent Charge of the Light Brigade rules. 

I'm calling it Sieges, Sowars and Sepoys. This post is a marker for work that will appear next year.

New ideas often bring their own workload. I’m thinking here of rebasing. Charge of the Light Brigade rules (COTLB) is relaxed about basing. The key thing is to have the right number of figures per unit. I don’t see much rebasing coming my way consequent of Sieges, Sowars and Sepoys . Today I'm going to show you what I've done so far. Above main street in my Indian City.

As with my Crimean War Project I'm impressed by the visual impact units of this size make.

Here is the COTLB suggested basing.

Units of 24 infantry and 12 cavalry. But for the fact that most of my cavalry is already based like that I’d go for bases of 3. So, no basing issues.

I do need to expand my unit strength. Mostly I will cannibalise what I already have. No new big buys needed then. Except! I need a single based officer for each battalion. Do I have enough? We will find out.

I intend to work my way through my collection completing it to COTLB spec' regiment by regiment. At the end I will know what I need to buy if anything.

The pic's are of completed units so far.  The rest of my time has been spent in making a list of what I consider to be the defining characteristics of the combats of the period.  Of these there are two major grouping City Fighting and that on the battle field. We will consider both lists in due course. 

Let's finish with a true story from late in 1857. A Sikh Raja was holding a fort for the Great Moghul. He had been there for years. When the rebellion took hold he felt duty bound to declare for the Moghul. After that since there were no British near him he sat it out. There wasn't much to do.

Towards the end of the year the Rebellion was collapsing. The British sent an emissary. Where did the Raja stand? Would he surrender on Full Pardon? The Raja replied he would but there needed to be some finessing. The Raja wanted a British Force to threaten his fort and demand he surrender. He could then do so with honour having saved his subjects from the horrors of the sack. Those horrors were real enough and usually included massacre.

The deal was done. Everybody was happy. A force was despatched under a newly arrived British Officer. It was big enough to be taken seriously. News of the deal leaked to the British soldiers. The target fort was formidably fortified front and sides. The back though was not. Maybe the money ran out.

The Raja had intended that the British should surround him. Notice the weak back wall and demand surrender. All good.

Instead the British OC ordered an immediate frontal attack. He was obeyed. The Raja's soldiers were standing to. They opened up with steady fire. The British were repulsed with heavy losses. Night fell. In the darkness negotiations began. The Raja surrendered as agreed. The British OC was spirited out of the camp to prevent his murder by the outraged soldiery.

The fog of war is proverbial and the story illustrates it. What struck me was the effectiveness of traditional Indian soldiers with matchlocks behind cover. Optimum conditions granted, they had cover and the British had to come into range.  All the same. 

As far as I can ascertain the Raja's garrison was not Sepoys or Pathans or other Afghans. They were, I guess, the local warrior caste. As they were not privy to their Raja's diplomacy they did their best. It was enough.

Here we must note, Sieges, Sowars and Sepoys must make provision for more than  trained regular soldiers.  Sadhus, Ghazi and Wahabi have their place too. To them we must add the roaming bands of armed British Civilians.

Being a fan of JG Farrell's novel The Siege of Krishnapur I have always wanted a Residency for the table top. The Residency was where the British Resident or Collector Lived. The top local Colonial Official. Sarissa Precision have one. I might buy it.