Talana Hill – Scenario

Special Rules

1. In the real battle Penn Symons instructed his infantry to fight in close order. Rule: British units may not use extended order.

2. At this early stage of the war officers still displayed obvious signs of rank making them easy targets for Boer marksmen. Rule: Officers become casualties from rifle fire on a die roll of 1, 2 or 3 (rather than the normal 1 or 2).

3. The Boers waited until the British had closed the range before firing on them with their concealed pom-pom. Rule: The British artillery may not fire on the pom-pom until the turn after it opens fire.

4. This was the first time the Boers had been under shrapnel fire and many of them fled the field as soon as the British guns opened up. Rule: On the first turn that the British artillery fires roll 1xD6 for each Boer Commando, the result is the number of Boers who panic and flee.

5. Penn Symons rode forward and took personal control of the battle when the British advance stalled and received a mortal wound as a result. Rule: The first time a British infantry unit receives a Pin marker Symons must be attached to that unit and remain as an additional officer for the remainder of the game.

 

The view looking from Dundee towards Talana Hill (left) and Lennox Hill (right). Smith's Farm is the white building in front of Talana Hill. The Royal Dublin Fusiliers have just crossed Sand Spruit and deployed into line ready to advance. Behind them are the Kings Royal Rifle Corps followed by The Royal Irish Fusiliers.

Order of Battle

British C-in-C Major General Sir William Penn Symons

Royal Dublin Fusiliers

Kings Royal Rifle Corps

Royal Irish Fusiliers

2 x Batteries Royal Field Artillery

Boer Commandant Lucas Meyer

Ross Commando

Jacklex Commando

Newline Commando

Field Artillery

Pom Pom

Victory Conditions

If the Boers have not been defeated by the end of turn 12 the game ends in a British defeat.

First Blood

20 October 1899, Dundee Natal, 5.40am – the British forces under Major General, Sir William Penn Symons have mustered in the town square for drill.

"Keep em' at it Sergeant Major, drill, drill and more drill until this sorry lot really start to look like soldiers of the Queen begad!"

"That's better, much better - but what's that infernal banging?"

"Look lively lads, jump to it someones bleedin' well shootin' at us!"

As the early morning mist clears it becomes obvious the Boers have stolen a march on Penn Symons and occupied Talana Hill overlooking Dundee. The Boers have had the audacity to place artillery on the hill and fire shells down towards the town.

They've also occupied Smith's Farm at the base of the hill and taken advantage of the stone walls around the property to create a strong defensive line.

As well as taken positions on Lennox Hill to the left of Talana Hill.

There’s only one thing for it – a frontal attack in close order to clear the rag-tag of farmers away, that’ll show them!

1st Devonshire Regiment

The Devons are finished and based ready for action. There are 24 riflemen plus the usual 3 officer figures to make my standard British infantry unit establishment. This brings the total number of British infantry regiments to four which must surely be enough to beat the Boers?

That’s probably it for the British forces now but I will add another Commando to the Boers at some point just to be fair.

I’m hoping to play a solo game of Talana Hill soon but just need to complete some scenic items first.

EDIT***updated photo***

Talana Hill

Below is a scan of a map I drew of the Battle of Talana Hill for my 4th Year school history project back in 1970. I can’t remember where I copied it from, or in fact where I got the information about the course of the battle, but it may have been Montgomery’s A History of Warfare which is the one book listed in my project bibliography that I no longer have.

There are four pages of my hand-written burb on the battle and I was fascinated to re-read it 50 years on. I’m not sure why I wrote so much about this engagement but in my text I declare "I have decided that Talana shall be one of the battles that I describe, not because it was the first engagement but because of the lessons it taught". And in my summary, I concluded, "The lessons that it taught were, firstly, a steep-sided hill occupied by the Boers offered no sound defence owing to the dead ground between its base and the summit. Secondly, officers holding swords and wearing marks of rank were easy targets for Boer marksmen. Thirdly, a frontal attack was no way to deal with an enemy armed with the Mauser rifle". Hmm, possibly I plagiarised that but whatever, it sounds authoritative – possibly I will need some rule amendments!

So, it makes sense to have Talana Hill as the starting place for my re-fights in miniature.

British Reinforcements

As is common to all commanders who have just lost a battle I have called for reinforcements to my British army. I felt during the test game that if only I had one more infantry unit, I would have swept the Boers from the field!

I have completed the first batch of figures for the next unit; these are more from the superb Raventhorpe Miniatures range. The British ‘standing at ready’ are BO19 and the officer is BO21. At the same time, I couldn’t resist painting the very nice Boer Commandant figure BO08.

When finished the unit will be nominally designated as the 1st Devonshire Regiment who fought at Elandslaagte.

Methuen on the march – part 2

The Suffolks move forward to relieve the Gordons who have been reduced to the point where they must retire.

Lord Methuen can't quite believe what he is seeing, how can these Boer farmhands be holding up the soldiers of the Queen?

Finally some luck for the British as the Commandant of the right-flank Commando is hit forcing a 'flee' test - drat, the Boers pass the test.

Time for some different tactics - the Suffolks lie down as soon as they get to medium range and return fire supported by the maxim.

It works - after a poor morale roll (of 2) the Boer right-flank Commando decide they've had enough.

Methuen orders the 5th Lancers forward in the vain hope that the Boer army will retreat.

What's left of the Suffolks look on as the enemy to their front retire.

I called a halt to the game after turn 10 as the British had lost over half of their force and had little chance of any real success. It was some consolation that one Boer Commando had been forced to retire but I had to concede that it was a British defeat.

I like the way the rules played out, but it did seem that things were quite heavily stacked against the British, so I have made a few further tweaks and additions in the interest of balance. In fact, I am so enthused that I have placed an order for one more British unit from Raventhorpe Miniatures.

Methuen on the march

Lord Methuen is on the march at the head of a column tasked with relieving Kimberley. The Boers, impudent fellows, have occupied a string of three kopjes dominating the road ahead. His Lordship wastes no time in deploying his force for a frontal attack.

The Gordons are on the left and the Guards on the right, between them is a battery of field artillery. The Suffolks (with attached maxim gun) are in reserve together with the 5th Lancers. The 4.7” naval gun occupies a small hill in the rear to lend fire support.

The view from behind the British lines at the start of the game. I'm playing longways up my 6' x 4' table with the Boer positions at the far end.

The Gordon Highlanders prepare for their first action.

The Guards are steady as ever, officers to the front.

The Boers are taking advantage of the cover offered by the kopjes. There are three Commandos supported by one field-gun and two pom-poms.

The Gordons advance but start taking casualties and pin markers that slow their movement rate. They're under fire from one of the pom-poms but grit their teeth and carry on.

Methuen decides to commit the Suffolks on the left as the Guards are taking a pasting on the right where the Boers have a field-gun as well as a pom-pom.

The 5th Lancers are ordered forward to provide some support for the Guards who are down to half-strength and finding it impossible to make further headway.

Methuen looks on from his HQ. The 4.7" naval gun only fires on alternate moves and is concentrating on trying to knock out the Boer guns.

The Boer infantry have taken very few casualties but the fire on the guns is taking effect. The green dice record strength point losses from the guns.

Turn 5 and the Guards have closed ranks and are now lying down under a terrible fire from the Mauser's of the Burghers to their front. The Lancers have come under artillery fire and the colonel is down!

So far the rules have held up well and its been an enjoyable game. The pin mechanism seems to work as it has slowed the infantry advance but doesn’t dominate too much. The British have had only one infantry officer casualty which has probably helped but both the Guards and the Gordons have failed 'bunching' tests which makes them more of a target.

With five turns played its already looking sticky for the British and all hinges now on the Suffolks!