Colonial fast play 3 x 3 Portable Wargame

In a Facebook post that he wrote last week, Mark Cordone suggested a way of setting up a very fast play version of the PORTABLE WARGAME that used a 3 x 3 square grid and a modified version of the rules. I was intrigued by this suggestion, especially as it made it possible to set up and fight a battle in less than thirty minutes ... so I decided to give his idea a try-out.

His original suggestion was to use the system to fight Ancient battles, but as I have loads of Colonial figures, I decided to add some artillery rules and give a Colonial version a go. The results are as follows.

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Somewhere in the Sudan

The opposing forces: The Mahdists

The Mahdist force comprised:

1 x General

1 x Mahdist artillery unit (Average)

2 x Mahdist infantry units (both Average)

2 x Hadendowah infantry units (both Poor)

1 x Cavalry unit (Average)

The opposing forces: The Anglo-Egyptians

The Anglo-Egyptian force comprised:

1 x General

1 x Egyptian artillery unit (Average)

2 x British infantry units (both Average)

1 x Egyptian infantry unit (Poor)

1 x Sudanese infantry unit (Average)

As per the rules, the 3 x 3 grid was set up, and both sides threw a D6 die to determine who was the attacker and who was the defender. The Mahdists threw 4 and the Anglo-Egyptians threw 1 ... so the Mahdists were the attackers. They also threw for terrain setup and placed a hill on the right-hand square of their baseline.

The Anglo-Egyptians then placed their forces on the grid, followed by the Mahdists. The Anglo-Egyptians chose not to alter the positions of their units in response.

Turn 1

The Mahdists activated their units first.

Their artillery fired at the right-hand British units but missed.

They then moved their Mahdist infantry and their cavalry forward and engaged the Anglo-Egyptians in Close Combat.

Whilst the fighting between the Mahdist infantry and the Anglo-Egyptian infantry was indecisive, the cavalry lost their Close Combat and retreated. The Anglo-Egyptians chose not to follow up on their victory.

The British fired their artillery at the retreating Mahdist cavalry, hitting them and causing them to retreat off the battlefield.

(At this point, under Mark's rules, the Anglo-Egyptians had won as the Mahdists no longer had units in each of the columns of squares, but I decided that as the Mahdist cavalry could return next move, I would continue the battle.)

Turn 2

Both sides threw a D6 die to see who had the initiative. The Mahdists threw 2 and the Anglo-Egyptians threw 4 ... so the Anglo-Egyptians had the initiative ... and chose to go second.

The Mahdist cavalry returned to the battlefield.

The Mahdist artillery fired at the units in the centre of the Anglo-Egyptian line. As a result, the British Highlanders lost 1 SP, the Sudanese infantry retreated off the battlefield, and the General was unhurt.

The Close Combat on the Mahdist left flank/Anglo-Egyptian right flank was ineffective.

It was then the turn of the Anglo-Egyptians ... whose artillery fired at the Mahdist cavalry, causing them to lose 1 SP.

The Sudanese infantry returned to the battlefield, and the Anglo-Egyptian General moved to join the Anglo-Egyptian artillery.

The Close Combat on the Anglo-Egyptian right flank/Mahdist left flank continued, and the leading Mahdist infantry unit lost 1 SP.

Turn 3

Both sides threw a D6 die to see who had the initiative. The Mahdists threw 6 and the Anglo-Egyptians threw 3 ... so the Mahdists had the initiative ... and chose to go first.

The Mahdist artillery fired at the Anglo-Egyptian artillery and hit them. This caused the Anglo-Egyptian artillery to lose 1 SP, although the Anglo-Egyptian General emerged unscathed.

The Mahdist cavalry charged into the Anglo-Egyptian troops in the centre of the Anglo-Egyptian line, but their attack was ineffective.

The Hadendowah infantry charged the Anglo-Egyptian artillery, but in the fighting the leading Hadendowah infantry unit lost 1 SP.

The Close Combat on the Mahdist left flank/Anglo-Egyptian right flank continued ... and resulted in the leading Mahdist infantry unit losing another SP and being destroyed.

The Mahdist General moved forward to support the remaining Mahdist infantry unit.

It was now the turn of the Anglo-Egyptians to activate their units, and they chose to resolve the Close Combats that were taking place along their whole front.

The fighting between the Anglo-Egyptian artillery and the Hadendowah infantry was inconclusive, but in the centre the Mahdist cavalry was defeated and lost its second SP, resulting in its destruction.

On the Anglo-Egyptian right flank/Mahdist left flank the fighting caused the British infantry to lose 1 SP.

At this point the Mahdists no longer had any units in the centre column of squares and had lost 5 SPs whilst the Anglo-Egyptians had units in all the columns and had only lost 3 SPs. The battle was a win for the Anglo-Egyptians ... but not an overwhelming one.

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This battle took less than twenty minutes to fight, and that included making notes for this battle report and taking the photographs. Whilst it was not quite as sophisticated a game as a normal PORTABLE WARGAME one, it was fun and had I wished to, I could easily have fought five or six battles (i.e. a complete campaign) in an afternoon without any problems.

I think that this concept has great merit, and I suspect that it will develop into a useful adjunct to the normal PORTABLE WARGAME stable.

My thanks go to Mark Cordone for coming up with this; he deserves the full credit for what might well be a quantum leap forward for the genre of small, fast play gridded wargames.