Back of Beyond – The Relief of a Fort
For the Sunday game we decided to undertake a Back of Beyond game to test the rules again and start to get ready for my campaign game which I will hopefully start at the end of the year or beginning of 2023.
The scenario was for a White Russian force (Pete) supported by 2 expeditionary forces, the Poles (Piotr) and the Turks (Mark) to relieve a Fort controlled by the Emir of Bukhara. This was being besieged by the Bolsheviks (Chris) and 2 Chinese Warlords (Doug & Richard).
The Fort was set up in the middle of the long edge of the table. The inner section was a fabulous fort built from matchsticks which Phil had bought on eBay, The surrounding walls were from Table Scape. It was held by Arabs from my Darkest Africa collection and some of Phil’s Arabs.
The Bolsheviks were placed on one side of the Fort where some siege guns had beached a hole in the outer wall. They were mainly conscript troops apart from their naval brigade. On the other side were the Chinese supported by the Bolshevik armoured cars and a tank.
The White Russians and Poles concentrated on attacking the Bolsheviks whilst the Turks were to pin down the Chinese. Both the Whites and Poles had several elite troops. They started with a cavalry attack on their extreme right flank supported by a MKV tank and armoured cars. The White Cavalry suffered heavy losses initially from Bolshevik artillery and machine guns. The Polish and White Russian artillery were working on neutralising the Bolshevik armour and Machine guns.
The White Russians after getting the better of cavalry battle on the flank thanks to their armoured support and after knocking out the Bolshevik artillery and many of the machine guns put forward a large infantry attack supported by a polish infantry and tank attack.
On the other flank the Chinese were knocking out Turkish artillery and a Polish MMG battalion sent across to support them. The Chinese forces stayed on a ridge and engaged with the defenders of the fort. They also launched their own armoured flank attack on their right. They were however towards the end of the day surprised by a rear attack from tribe of Mongols (Phil) who turned up from nowhere!
The Poles and White Russian quality and numbered overwhelmed the Bolsheviks but could not swing around in time to remove the Chinese who stood firm on the ridge despite the marauding Mongols.
The rules worked reasonably well and I believe everyone had a good time.
