Sheik Sa'ad - ValleyCon 2016 Day 2

[paulr]

For day 2 we were in the same part of the hall but needed two tables



The battle of Sheik Sa'ad was the first of the battles fought by the Imperial force attempting to relieve 13,000 British and Indian troops cut off in Kut-al-Amara.

We re-fought events on the right (southern) bank of the River Tigris on the second day of the battle, 7^th January 1916.

The River Tigris is at the far end of the tables giving both sides a firm northern flank. The three groups of Ottoman trenches can be seen along with a 'word from our sponsor'

The British entered the table as 'blinds' and the Ottoman trenches were marked with small flags to show if the trench or the troops in it had been spotted.
Some were not actual trenches and others were not occupied.

One section of British 18pdrs has spotted some Ottomans in a trench and opened up



Roy had dress specially for the occasion, including his Grandfathers WW1 ribbons. Peter and I didn't go that far but both wore our WW100 pins, marking the World War One Centenary.

[d_Guy]

Wow Paul!
Cool to see it all put together!

[Techno]

 

Cheers - Phil

[Steve J]

Very nice and by the look of it your table was completely uncluttered, compared to the stuff in the background.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

The trenches look brilliant!

[Ithoriel]

Looks brilliant, not that I expected anything else having watched the progress of the project here!

A sad lack of dice, measuring tapes, coke cans, rules and expansions and all the other detritus of battle however

[Leman]

Very attractive looking battlefield. Lots of British blinds to confuse Johnny Turk.

[paulr]

Very nice and by the look of it your table was completely uncluttered, compared to the stuff in the background.

Looks brilliant, not that I expected anything else having watched the progress of the project here!

A sad lack of dice, measuring tapes, coke cans, rules and expansions and all the other detritus of battle however

We have a policy of having uncluttered tables, during play we do have some dice, tape measures and QRS on the table but NO food or drink. Boxes, bags etc are stored under the table.

At the end of each turn we declutter the table for pictures by moving all the 'bits and pieces' to a spare chair for each player

[paulr]

Very attractive looking battlefield. Lots of British blinds to confuse Johnny Turk.

Unfortunately for the Ottomans almost all those blinds were real

[pierre the shy]

Unfortunately for the Ottomans almost all those blinds were real

Conversely there were lots of trenches that could potentially be lined with Ottoman defenders....

[paulr]

Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad, Mesopotamia
Day 2 – 7 January 1916

The Battle of Sheikh Sa'ad was the first of a series of battles fought by the mainly Indian Tigris Corps in an attempt to relive the 13,000 men of the Indian Army's reinforced 6th Poona Infantry Division, commanded by General Townshend, who were cut off in Kut-al-Amara after their failed attempt to capture Baghdad.

From 7 January to 22 April the relief effort cost 20-23,000 British and Indians killed or wounded. Ottoman casualties were 8-10,000. General Townshend surrendered his force of 13,000 on 29 April. 70% of the British and 50% of the Indian troops died during their captivity.

The surrender at Kut-al-Amara was the largest by the British army since Yorktown in 1781. It was not surpassed until the fall of Singapore in 1942.

After capturing some of the Ottoman first line trenches on the first day 28th Indian Brigade had been ordered to withdraw late in the afternoon. The failure of the main attack on the left bank had left them dangerously exposed to enfilading fire from across the river. On the second day Major-General Kemball had been ordered to attack only once the main attack had at least drawn level with his brigade. Therefore at about 2:00pm the 28th Indian Brigade again attacked over the flat open plain towards the Ottoman trenches.

The game looked at the actions of the infantry forces on the right (southern) bank of the River Tigris. The two cavalry forces on the southern flank were preoccupied with stopping each other from interfering with their infantry's southern flank.



We had picked this battle as it fitted well with the WW100 World War One Centenary. Unfortunately my Middle Forces are being built for Sinai and Palestine in in 1917 so the dismounted NZ Mounted Rifles and some Welshmen had to stand in for the English, Sikh and Punjabis.

As none of us had a particular preference we let the dice decide; I commanded the Ottomans, Roy the Punjabis on the 'British' right and Peter the British and Sikhs on the 'British' left.

We use "If The Lord Spares Us" from Too Fat Lardies which uses a card driven activation system with the Tea Break Card ending the turn. We have adopted a couple of suggestions from the TFL forum:

• we use two Blinds cards for each side and activate on the first to appear, this reduces the likelihood of Blinds, unrevealed troops, doing nothing in a turn
• we use two Tea Break cards and stop the turn when the second appears, this typically allows more units to activate which is particularly important for large games with lots of units

This seems to give us about the right level of friction and disorganisation. One tweak I am thinking of adding is allowing the defender to choose to ignore their first blinds card, risking that their second will come out before the Tea Break.

In the first turn of this game the Ottoman Blind was the first card meaning that the Ottomans had nothing to spot as the 'British' were not yet on table. Compounding this the British Blind card came up first in the second turn which let the British close before the Ottomans could react.

A special thanks to Michael, WeeWars. He not only designed, cut and shipped the trenches in a few days so they could be ready for the battle, he also helped with scenario information including the map above.

[paulr]

The 'British' have managed to close rapidly on the inattentive Ottomans and the battle is opened by 1 Section, 20th Battery firing on a company of II/105 in the central trenches.



The 'British' attacked with the 2nd Leicestershire and two Sikh battalions on the Ottoman right supported by two sections of 18pdrs. On the left the three Punjabi battalions attacked supported by two sections of 18pdrs and a section of 5" Howitzers, off table. All six battalions were in the front line, each attacking in two waves and supported by their attached MGs.



The Ottomans had deployed a company of I/105 in the right trench segments with the hope of enfilading the attack on the central trenches. Instead they found themselves facing the only British (and strongest) Battalion on the table.

After a hasty volley they withdrew down the communications trench only to be caught by a company of 2nd Leicestershire. Much to everyone's surprise the Ottomans fought well in the melee forcing the Leicestershires to withdraw. The 2nd Leicestershire spent the rest of the game slowly (unit card didn't come up that often) working their way up the communications trench in pursuit of this lone company.



On the left the III/104 was holding the Ottoman front trenches. With not enough men to occupy the whole trench line the section nearest the river was left unoccupied and the battalion concentrated in the centre and right of the trenches. It was hoped that the curve of the river would discourage the 'British' from attacking on the extreme left.

The weak III/104 was confronted by three Punjabi battalions, the strongest, 92nd Punjabis attacking nearest the river. The left hand company was suppressed by MG fire from the 92nd Punjabis and assaulted by a company. After a gallant but brief stand they were pushed back. Another company of the 92nd Punjabis had occupied the vacant trench and blocked the route to the communications trench forcing the left company into the open.

The centre company, III/104, supported by a section of MGs and a pair of mountain guns, in the second line trenches, did better slowing the advance of the 62nd Punjabis despite being under fire from two sections of 18pdrs.

The right company, III/104, repulsed the assault of a company 56th Punjabi Rifles.



In the centre II/105 and I/105 (less the company on the right), supported by a pair of mountain guns, were delaying and inflicting casualties on the 51st and 53rd Sikhs despite heavy fire from two sections of 18pdrs.



Back on the extreme left the 92nd Punjabis continued to advance up the communications trench towards the second Ottoman trench line despite fire from a company of II/104 and the pair of mountain guns.

The left company of II/104 was caught in the open by the fire of a section of 18pdrs and suffered badly. The central company of II/104 was assaulted by the reserve company of 62nd Punjabis and forced back down the other communication trench.

The right company of II/104 came under fire from 56th Punjabi Rifles, a section of 18pdrs, and a section of 5" Howitzers. The casualties suffered, on top of the casualties already inflicted in the earlier hand to hand fighting destroyed the company.



In the centre II/105 had inflicted heavy casualties on 53rd Sikhs and forced them to withdraw despite the continuing attention of a section of 18pdrs. I/105, with one company detached, was not fairing as well.



The effective 18pdr fire had forced the right company of I/105 from their trenches, the route to the communication trenches blocked by the central company. A company of 51st Sikhs was rushing to occupy the empty trenches before the Ottomans could be rallied.

The centre company of I/105 had repulsed the assault of the reserve company of 51st Sikhs and the fire of the left company had forced the other company of 51st Sikhs to withdraw.



On the left a crisis was rapidly approaching, III/104 had been forced out of the front line trenches and the 92nd and 62nd Punjabis were advancing up both communications trenches. II/104 stood to in the second trench line and brought as much fire to bear as they could on the advancing Punjabis.
The 18pdrs and 5" Howitzers were doing their best to silence the two mountain guns supporting II/104.



In the centre I/105 was fighting a desperate battle with 51st Sikhs but casualties were mounting on the Sikhs. II/105 had seen off 53rd Sikhs but didn't have a high enough Spunk rating to launch a local counter attack and the "Old Turk" Regimental commander was unable to roll high enough to order the attack towards the river into the rear of the 56th Punjabi Rifles.



On the left the crisis had arrived. The few survivors of III/104 were withdrawing across the open plain. 62nd Punjabis had crossed the front trench line and were steadily advancing. 56th Punjabi Rifles were advancing up the right communications trench and further to the right, threatening HQ/104 Regiment. A hail of rifle and MG fire was making it almost impossible for the gunners to serve the two mountain guns.

The left company of II/104 had repulsed a company of 92nd Punjabis at heavy cost to both sides. The right company was holding but was under heavy rifle fire. The centre company had been driven back in violent hand to hand fighting and a company of 92nd Punjabis were now in the second line trench threatening the left company of II/104 and the mountain guns.



In the centre the fighting between I/105 and 51st Sikhs was dying down as both sides were running low on both troops and motivation, all companies were carrying a lot of suppressions. II/105 was awaiting orders while sheltering from 18pdr and 5" howitzer fire. I/104 had stood to in the second trench line, preparing to act as rear guard.



The lead company of 92nd Punjabis pressed on in pursuit of the retreating centre company of II/104 as the reserve company occupied the trench. The third company of 92nd Punjabis reorganised ready for a second attempt to capture the trench from the left company of II/104. The gunners of 1st Section, II/35th Artillery had been driven from their guns by the heavy fire from the 56th Punjabi Rifles and 92nd Punjabis were poised to capture them as they had historically.

The lead company of the 56th Punjabi Rifles assaulted and captured the trench that had been occupied by the right company of II/104.



It was now time for the Ottomans to retire, I/104 acting as rear guard until they had passed through the 103rd Regiment near Sheik Sa'ad itself. Then the whole Ottoman force would withdraw to the Wadi position near Chitab's Fort, see the map above.

The battle was, as historically, a costly 'British' victory. There were however five more positions to be taken before Kut-al-Amara could be relived.

A good time was had by all, there was much interest from the public and we had appropriated marked the centenary of this battle.

[Techno]

Terrific, Paul !

Cheers - Phil

[pierre the shy]

Roy and I caught contemplating "what happened in the centre?" 

Well this was another very good game of two halves for my three battalions....the two Sikh battalions made it to into the Ottoman front line trenches piecemeal but were were vertually destroyed while my other Battalion (2nd Leicestershires) spent the whole game chasing a single detached enemy company through otherwise unoccupied trenches and lost no stands at all.

I had several turns where one or more of my units cards didn't turn up before the second tea break card which didn't help the Sikhs much....c'est la guerre? or purhaps c'est le ITLSU rules.....well they're a good set of rules which I introduced to the others so I can't really complain can I? 

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Superb looking game. All credit to you guys and Michael