The Sword and the Flame - The Battle of Chamla Valley, Part III

The battle had raged and the blue-turbaned Sikhs had their backs to the wall. They were threatened to the front and to the rear. The distant Pathan's rifles fired again and, to the Sikh's horror, their commander clutched his shoulder and spun to the ground. A quick check showed that he was wounded. The Sikh's relief turned to dismay as they saw that their previously wounded sergeant had taken another bullet which did him in.

The nearby Pathan spearmen seemed to be content lurking in the scrub. A Sikh cried out and pointed; A previously hidden line of reserve Pathan hurried to the edge of the rocky ground across the road and leveled their rifles to fire. The final reserves had arrived. All at once the bizarre behavior of the spearmen became clear: the Sikhs were pinned between the distant rifles and the nearby spears. They were to be held in place while the newly arrived rifles applied the killing blow!

Besieged on all sides, the Sikh commander ordered his troops to form square. They swiftly complied, checked their ammunition, and vowed to sell their lives dearly. As the rifles exchanged fire, the Sikh's training began to pay off as their shots began to find their marks. Rifle-bearing Pathans began to fall.

Realizing that the battle may be lost, the spearmen charged the wounded in hopes of demoralizing the Sikhs. The cowardly tactics did not pay: volleys into both groups of Pathan rifles felled enough warriors to cause the rest of the tribesmen to panic! They fled the field and the Sikhs had prevailed.

Although the Sikhs were victorious, they realized that they were in no shape to continue into the valley to scout the outpost. Both leaders were down. Many were wounded. They formed into column and began the march back to camp.

(We had a great time playing with The Sword and the Flame rules for the first time. They were easy to figure out and gave us a wonderful game. We did have some questions surrounding the splitting up of units, but we'll check with the various resources and get it sorted out.)