Kronenfontein Spruit - The Game

Although more of a skirmish than a battle, play still ran to 18 turns which is the longest I have played one of these games. It was a gripping fight with a very tight finish so let's get into it.

The Mounted Brigade advanced and immedately came under fire from the Boer artillery and Pom-Pom causing 2 casualties and a PIN in the Imperial Volunteer Horse. I had diced to see if the Boers would hold their fire but they proved trigger-happy on this occasion.

The Mausers of the Buffelshoek Commando were also in range and joined in the rain of fire directed at the Mounted Brigade.

The Imperial Volunteer Horse managed to dismount but couldn't form line because they were carrying PINs - each PIN marker reduces movement by a third and they needed a whole turn to change formation. The Lancers were struggling to dismount as their Colonel was 'old school' and thought cavalry should always fight mounted - he needed to roll a 5 or 6 to order the men to dismount although at least he managed to get them into line.

Finally the lancers manage to dismount but the Mounted Brigade is under severe pressure and could do with some reinforcements.

But the only reinforcements so far are the 3rd Staatsartillerie arriving to bring even more firepower to bear on the British.

Things are going from bad to worse for the Mounted Brigade and Colonel Montgomery of the 11th Lancers is down with a fatal wound. Each red counter is a PIN marker and a unit with 3 x PINs cannot fire. The blue counters show that the troops are lying down.

But it wasn't all one way traffic and the British managed to knock down one Boer along with Commandant Willem Boshoff. It later transpired that Boshoff's wound was not serious.

Finally 19th RFA arrive on the scene but they push too far forward and are already reduced to half strength before they have unlimbered. By now the 11th Lancers have quit the field as they had been reduced to 5 figures. The Imperial Volunteer Horse are clinging on.

Hurrah! The East March Regiment have arrived not a moment too soon.

At last a bit of luck for the British. The 19th RFA get off a round over the heads of the Buffelshoek Commando forcing a 'first time under shrapnel fire' test. Five of the Burghers decide it's time to go home.

Brigadier-General Lennox rides over to the East March Regiment and orders them to form line before advancing any closer to the Boer position. The Imperial Volunteer Horse had now quit the field and 19th RFA has been knocked out. The East March are on their own.

But a last shot from the British artillery has reduced the Buffelshoek Commando to 5 figures and they now flee the field.

However, the Roodeport Commando arrive in the nick of time to take up the Buffelshoek's old position.

Lennox has the East March Regiment form a single line to develop maximum firepower and the men are ordered to lie down. It will now be a long range firefight with each side trying to attrit the other. The British are getting close to their force break point but if they can reduce the Boers to 5 figures it will be a victory.

Tantalisingly some of the Boers are finding the fight too much...

But in the end it is the British that reach their break point first. With a total of thirty casualties the British have lost the game.

As you can see this was a much closer run thing than one might have expected but the Boer artillery was the dominate force. If they'd had only a single gun I think the outcome would have been different.

I did make a big tactical mistake that possibly cost the British a victory. I moved the 19th RFA too far forward forgetting they could still do some damage from further back with the 'first time under shrapnel' rule. This was particulary galling as the battery had an 'A' rated commander who would have known this!

The fact that the Imperial Volunteer Horse were unable to change from column to line was really a glitch in the rules. I have fixed this by allowing Mounted Troops to change formation in half a move rather than a whole move which I think is more realistic.

After casualty recovery the strengths of the combatants are as follows:

11th Royal Lancers - 8 (Colonel Montgomery replaced with Captain Fairburn)

Imperial Volunteer Horse - 7

1st East March Regiment - 19

19th Battery RFA - Destroyed

Buffelshoek Commando - 7

4th Staatsartillerie - Full strength

4th Pom-Pom Section - Full strength

Roodeport Commando - 11

3rd Staatsartillerie - Full Strength

Interestingly, despite many Fallen Lead checks none of the officers of the East March Regiment became casualties. Brigadier-General Lennox also led a charmed life. The only fatal officer casualty was Colonel Montgomery of the 11th Lancers but this may be a blessing in disguise as his replacement Captain Fairburn is 'A' rated.