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Introduction

We designed Srirampur for the sole purpose of playing out a Colonial battle, something the folks here have been drooling about for quite some time. With the arrival of Piquet and its Colonial games supplement (Din of Battle), our job became more interesting and easier.

Srirampur is named in honour of our (currently) overseas member Sriram Sundararajan who sent us the Piquet DoB supplement from the US.

Srirampur is a key town in North India straddling the rail route and key roads(and hence the supply lines) to most of the Northern and Western outposts of British India. The Town belonged to the Province of Awadh(Oudh) before the British took it forcefully citing the strategic importance of the place. The Nawab of Awadh did not like this any bit from the very beginning, but was forced to keep quiet for fear of further reprisals from the British. The British had apparently promised the town to the King of Gwalior in exchange for levies and taxes and this only made it more imperative for the Nawab to recapture the town. He waited and waited but there seemed to be no way that he could regain the town.

However, come 1857, almost all of India was mutinying against the British and the colonial rulers were having their hands full. The garrison which normally guarded Srirampur and Durgapur(which neighbored Srirampur) was out hunting for mutineers leaving only a sketchy town guard behind. The Nawab saw his chance and called for help from the French, who were at the time in Baluchistan trying to work out an alliance with the native Pathans. The French were willing to risk it and together, the three forces The French, the Pathans and the Nawab's levies set out for Srirampur.

Word reached the British late about the crisis. They recalled the Garrison from search operations and brought in Gurkhas from Calcutta. A reluctant Rajah of Gwalior was coerced into lending a hand with promises of loot. And thus began the rush for Srirampur....

Map and Terrain

Srirampur is flanked on the South by the border hills(across which lies the roads to Peshawar)A rail line and several roads connects the town with the rest of the region. There is another small town nearby called Durgapur.

Forces and Objectives

The British (with Gurkhas and the forces of King of Gwalior)

Objective: Seize and hold Srirampur; clear Durgapur of any enemy presence.

The French (with Pathans and the troops of the Nawab of Oudh)

Objective: Seize and hold Srirampur; clear Durgapur of any enemy presence.

Note: Select commanders and decide BDV, mood etc. as per DoB rules.

Deployment

British forces can deploy in the first 1/3rd of the table from the North edge, and the Rajah's Farm, Nanga Hill, Chotta Jungle and the hill in the North-East corner.

French forces can deploy anywhere in the first 1/3rd of the table from the southern edge and Srirampur, the woods to the south and South-West of Srirampur.

Durgapur is off limits to both sides during deployment.

Sequence Deck

We experimented with a double sized sequence deck for this game to accommodate the increase in number of forces. To avoid making new cards for the deck, we used a standard 52 card playing card set for the sequence decks of both sides. We found the experience satisfying as the game got faster and there was less reshuffling of cards than usual. The sample sequence deck is given below. Go ahead and change the deck if you feel that there should be a change.

There are less TAD cards in the beginning, but you can add them as the game progresses. For this purpose, just declare and existing card as a TAD card. The British get more melee resolution cards to model the Gurkhas willingness to melee and the Pathan's preference to skirmish. The French get a stratagem card to model better leadership than the British whose good leaders were busy fighting the mutineers.

British forces

French forces

Special rules

We have borrowed the concept of flank marches from the De Bellis Mulitudinis rules and adopted it to suit Piquet.Both sides can choose to send a flank march. The appearance of a flank march is determined thus:

The marchers move at the speed of the slowest unit in their group. They can move off board (starting form baseline) every time a suitable Infantry/Cavalry/Artillery move card comes up for their side by expending one pip per card. Their movement range depends on formation. For easy calculation, they are assumed to move in normal terrain.

The flank marchers arrive at their destination in the same formation they started(which must be declared to the umpire before the game begins). A commanding officer must accompany each flank march. A side can send only one flank march per flank.

In case both players send a flank march on the same flank, both marches are abandoned and the marchers enter the flank edge of the table in their respective deployment areas.

You may modify/not use this rule as necessary, but we should say that it added to the flavor and uncertainty of the battle!

Event cards: Every time an event card comes up, the following event list is consulted and the result determined:

Armoured Train: An armored train chugs in. Toss a coin to determine the direction. Heads and the train comes from the East, and tails will bring the train from the West. Upon arrival of the train on the table edge, both sides will roll 1D20 to decide the ownership of the train. The party who scores higher can claim the train and declare that any *one* non-elite unit of their choice to be in the train. Refer DoB rules for trains for further information.

Town catches fire: Toss a coin to decide whether Srirampur(Heads) or Durgapur(tails) catches fire. All troops inside will come out at a normal move and will be disorganized. The troops will try to move away form their enemies in trying to evade fire, failing which they will take a loss of 1D4 stands for every phase they stand in the fire.

Ayo Gurkhali!: All Gurkhas who have a line of sight to enemy go berserk. They will go out of command and advance one full move to their nearest enemy.

Allah Akbar!(Different from the card given in Piquet) : All Pathans who have a line of sight to enemy go berserk. They will go out of command and advance one full move to their nearest enemy.

You can think up of more events as convenient.

Artillery Units: Both sides can deploy only one Artillery unit in the first turn. Both sides shold roll 1D10 every turn to check for arrival of the rest of their artillery @ one artillery unit per turn, beginning in the second turn. To succeed in the roll, they must get 5 or below in the die, incresing by one every turn. I.e, in the third turn they can get a unit if they roll 6 or less, in the fourth turn it becomes 7 or less etc. The units will arrive on pre specified positions on the base edge.

Stratagem card: Stratagem card can be used by the French as specified in Piquet. In case they choose to place an ambush or a sniper, it should be placed within their allowed area of Deployment.

Need for an Umpire

We would recommend using an umpire to oversee the flank marches and ambushes etc. This would prevent the players from knowing the strategy of the opposing side. He can also decide on the events and their occurrence.

Battle Reports and your comments

Ravi Mohan has written a detailed battle report of this scenario. Please inform us if you play this scenario. We would be glad to read a different battle report and see how the game turns out for others. We are looking forward to hearing comments/suggestions from you.

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