Battle at Ells Bells

Well on Thursday night at the club we had our first run out of 'The Men Who Would be Kings' rule set. A simple scenario with most of the collection getting on the table. The game saw elements of a British Naval Brigade trying to secure a local village, Ells Bells to protect a supply route. As it was our first go we didn't use traits as recommended in the rules.

The British were made up of A, B and C companies of Royal marines led by Lt. Reginald Slowbottom, Lt. Henry Ravisham and Sergeant Cecil Bourne. The were also supported by some Naval ratings led by a Lt. Tom Foolhardy.

The dastardly dervishes were unnamed by their commander. The force consisting of 2 units of irregulars with obsolete rifles and 4 units of fearsome tribal infantry.

The game began with the British moving out in column towards Els Bells, However A Company were surprised when a bunch of Dervishes emerged from some scrub. Luckily they seemed just as surprised as A company and held steady. B company quickly moved to support the right flank of A company, while C company rather idly made there way to the left flank. With flanks looking slightly secured A company gave the Dervishes a volley, hoping to scatter them without much success.

Village of Els Bells

The British move out

My God sir, Dervishes

The Dervishes saw their opportunity and charged straight into A company. The boys in blue got a bit of a hammering and promptly fell back. Meanwhile a second group of Devishes appeared on the upper slopes and poured a rather desultory fire into B company.

Here they come

Ooh that hurt

With A company falling back and more Dervishes arriving, C company formed close order ready to meet the enemy. B company engaged in a fire fight with the Dervishes on the hill, forcing them back and allowing the Navy boys toget onto position. 

Once more, more Dervishes began to appear in the valley and in Ells Bells. A second group charged once more into A company, cutting down Lt Slowbottom and his men. C company though poured in a devasting volley, destroying the unit of Dervishes. B company took there time getting back into position and were promptly charged by more Dervishes. After falling back with a significant number of casualties they relied on the Navy to shoot down the last of the Dervishes.

Dervishes occupying Ells Bells

With C company and the Navy in position they promptly dealt with another Dervish unit, (my phoned died at this point so no more pictures). With no more fresh units left the Dervishes were forced to cede the ground. They could be please with their work. Destroying A company and reducing B company to 4 men.A fun game, need a bit more terrain and can't wait to try them out again.