26 October 1899 - Turn 9

Orders

White's force at Glencoe will advance and attack the enemy at Dannhauser,
Yule will remain at Ladysmith.
Penn Symons will remain at Helpmakaar.

Joubert, Kock and Meyer will remain at Dannhauser.

De Wet and Botha will again attempt to attack Ladysmith but will now require a 5 or 6 die roll to succeed.

Movement

White rolls a 6 (which is a 3 hex move) and arrives at Hatting Spruit mid-morning. Full of enthusiasm, he orders an immediate attack on the Boers who have occupied two kopjes south of Dannhauser and to the east of the railway line.

Men of the Naval Detachment crossing the Ngobiya River at Hatting Spruit. Both sides will have their 'big guns' in the coming action.

De Wet rolls a 3 and fails to attack Ladysmith.

The situation at mid-morning on turn 9.

We will have a battle at Dannhauser!

25 October 1899 - Turn 8

Orders

White's force at Waschbank will advance and attack the enemy at Dannhauser.
Yule's Brigade will move to Ladysmith.

Penn Symons will remain at Helpmakaar.

Joubert, Kock and Meyer will remain at Dannhauser.

De Wet and Botha will again attempt an attack on Ladysmith but this time will need a 4,5 or 6 to be successful.

Movement

White rolls a 2 and advances to Glencoe.

Yule rolls a 3 and arrives at Ladysmith

De Wet rolls a 3 and fails to attack.

The situation at the end of turn 8.

The crisis at Ladysmith has hopefully passed although it should be noted that Yule only brings with him the understrength King's Royal Rifles and 53rd Field Artillery and the garrison will still be outnumbered by the Boers.

24 October 1899 - Turn 7

Orders

White's force at Waschbank will advance to attack the enemy at Dannhauser.
Yule's Brigade will continue to move to Ladysmith

Penn Symons will remain at Helpmakaar

Joubert, Kock and Meyer will stand and entrench their position at Dannhauser.

De Wet and Botha are aware that the garrison at Ladysmith is weak and on a die roll of 3,4,5 or 6 will launch an attack otherwise they will remain in position.

Movement

White rolls a 1 and remains at Waschbank.

Yule rolls a 3 and moves to Modder Spruit.

De Wet rolls a 1 and fails to attack!

The situation at the end of turn 7.

A frustrating turn for both sides but with luck Yule will arrive at Ladysmith next turn to bolster the garrison.

23 October 1899 - Turn 6

Orders

White's force at Wessels Nek will advance to Waschbank and attack the enemy at Glencoe. Order of march will be: 5th Lancers, White's Brigade, French's Brigade, Hamilton's Brigade.
Yule's Brigade is to retire to Ladysmith and join the garrison there.
Penn Symons will remain at Helpmakaar.

Joubert, Kock & Meyer at Glencoe will react to the British advance on a D6 roll as follows:

1, 2 or 3 = Stand and fight at Glencoe

4 or 5 = Fall back to Hatting Spruit and stand and fight

6 = Fall back to Dannhauser dig in and stand and fight

De Wet & Botha continue to advance on Ladysmith

Movement

Joubert rolls a 6 and the Boer force falls back to Dannhauser.

De Wet & Botha move 2 hexes to hex 0909.

White's force moves 1 hex to Waschbank.

Yule's Brigade moves 1 hex to Elandslaagte

The situation at the end of Turn 6.

There is one contact this turn between De Wet & Botha and the garrison at Ladysmith however neither side takes any action at present.

Interestingly the Boers seem to be trying to lure White's force further away from Ladysmith whilst simultaneously threatening the town with De Wet and Botha.

22 October 1899 - Turn 5

General White, pepped up by the recent Council of War, dashes off a series of orders to his subordinates instructing a concentration at Wessels Nek. I'm letting these orders go straight out without hinderance to reflect the current positivity at British H.Q.

Orders

General White - The troops at Ladysmith will advance along the line of the railway to the concentration point at  Wessels Nek. 1st Devonshire and 13th Field Artillery will remain behind as garrison. The Imperial Light Horse will return to join them.
General Yule (with Hamilton) - Your command will move to Wessels Nek to join the main force.
General French - Move to Wessels Nek to join the main force.
Penn Symons - Continue to hold Helpmakaar.

Joubert orders a local concentration of forces at Glencoe. Kock will fall directly back while Meyer retires via Biggarsberg Pass to join the main force at Glencoe via Dundee.

De Wet and Botha are to move to threaten Ladysmith.

General White leads his troops out of Ladysmith and forward towards Wessels Nek.

Movement

I'm allowing all British units to move 3 hexes this turn - God Save the Queen!

White, Yule, Hamilton & French all move to Wessels Nek
Chisholm (Imperial Light Horse) returns to Ladysmith

Joubert, Kock & Meyer are all at Glencoe

De Wet & Botha move to Van Reneen's Pass hex 0708

The position of the forces at the end of turn 5.

There are no contacts this turn.

 

Council of War

The victory at Biggarsberg is a relief for the British however it still leaves General White in a difficult position. Harrismith has fallen and now both Helpmakaar and Ladysmith are in danger if the Boers can concentrate their strength against one or the other.

These are the three options I believe the British now have:

1. Abandon Helpmakaar and concentrate all forces at Ladysmith in the hope that the Boers can be defeated in battle there.

2. Split the British forces between Ladysmith and Helpmakaar and hope that both places can hold out.

3. Hold both Ladysmith and Helpmakaar with token forces and push the main army north along the railway line with the aim of bringing about a decisive battle on favourable ground.

The Generals ride in for a council of war.

Normally I would roll a dice to decide which strategy should be adopted but I thought it would be an interesting idea to throw this out to the blog readers. Let me know in the comments which of the three courses of action you think General White should take. If there is no consensus after a week then I will resort to a die roll.

Biggarsberg - The Aftermath

The casualty recovery dice rolls turned out to be not as bad as I feared for the British although Yule's Maxim Gun was lost (my original recovery rules allowed for full recovery of British artillery but I decided to change this to make it the same as the Boers). The revised strengths of all the units involved are given below:

Following the battle I determined that the Boers would withdraw to hex 1407 and the British would advance to hex 1507.

Victory Conditions

As the campaign has developed I can see that the original victory conditions I set are a bit vague and it's unlikely either side could achieve them so I am reformulating them as follows:

The campaign progresses until one side has 20VP more than the other. VPs are awarded as below:

2VP for each enemy infantry unit permanently destroyed (1VP to the Boers for destroying the Lancers, Naval Brigade detachment or Imperial Light Horse)

1VP for each artillery battery, maxim gun or pom-pom destroyed (1 extra VP if the battery is the Long Tom or 4.7" Naval Gun).

1VP for each named commander who becomes a casualty

5VP for each battle won

5VP to the Boers for occupying Harrismith or Helpmakaar

1VP to the Boers for each turn they lay siege to Ladysmith

10VP to the Boers for occupying Ladysmith

On this basis the current VP totals are as follows:

British = 5VP

Boers = 13VP

The Boers are currently in the lead with +8VP