THE FINAL ACT:
Fresh Ghazis appear from Maiwand and advance to north edge of Mundabad Ravine, in preparation for charging the 66th Berkshires on the lip of the ravine above…
66th are arrayed in open order, to lessen damage from artillery and regular infantry volleys advancing towards them from the north…
Unfortunately for the Berkshires, a BLACK JOKER is pulled, enabling the Afghans to give a BONUS MOVE to any of their units on the table. The card was assigned to the newly-arrived Ghazis, who then managed to charge into contact with the 66th. After passing a morale check, the 66th were allowed to reform into close order. But they were still under attack by 61 Ghazi fanatics – led by Malalai of Khig – and even with their “+1” for defending in close order, to balance out the Ghazis’ own “+1” for charging fanatics, the odds were not in their favor. They managed to win the melee, but emerged with only 6 fighting effectives out of their starting strength of 20…
The British artillery continued to retire south, across the Ravine, under cover of the baggage guard, all of which had now taken up positions in the buildings and walled gardens of Khig, including the cavalry, which had dismounted in order to add their carbines to the firing line. Baggage train itself and medical camp kept falling back to the South as well…
With multiple batteries of Afghan artillery and brigades of regular infantry closing in as the rest of the British force headed south towards the Ravine, the game was called, and a narrow victory awarded to the Afghans.
The British had managed to get all but one of their guns (Hector Maclaine’s, which – just as in the real battle – was overrun by the Afghans) safely out of reach of the enemy, and with the baggage guard well-ensconced in the built-up area of Khig, had a good base around which to arrange defensive positions, from which their guns could do damage to the advancing enemy…
But with the 66th Regiment having taken such steep losses, there were probably not enough troops left to sustain such a defense for long, especially considering how little damage the British had managed to inflict on the Afghan artillery…
The British had engaged and destroyed almost all of the Afghan Tribal and Ghazi fanatic forces, but this still left twice their own number of regular infantry and cavalry, as well as near all the Afghan artillery, intact — including the deadly battery of Armstrong Rifled Breech Loaders, which outranged their own guns.
The British fared better than they did on the original Maiwand Day, but were not able to “overthrow history” and pull out a surprise victory.
