Second Battle of the Pyramid

Tim did another great game, part 2 of:

http://vsf15mm.blogspot.com/2007/09/battle-at-great-martian-pyramid.html

Following the defeat of the Cephalods at the First Battle
of the Great Pyramid the British expeditionary force
encamped on the field of victory . Their Imperial Martian
allies had suffered great losses so retired to their cities to
regroup.Many weeks passed and they were put to good
use fortifying the position with stone walls and artillery
sangars. The construction was ably supervised by
Major J Chard V.C. of the Royal Engineers with his
team of experts. In all this time no sign of the Cephalods
was detected. Then one day large dust clouds were seen
to the North and scouts reported three columns of
Cephalods approaching. As the encampment was put
into a state of defence an Imperial flyer landed with news
that the Imperial troops were a short march away and
rushing to aid the British. The Cephalods struck first.

Two large bodies of Cephalods made straight for the
main defensive square and the British confident behind
stone walls made ready to receive them. A third column
of Cephalods on their right wing swept past the pyramid
and made for the laager of the armoured brigade. The
Cephalods had learned the lessons of their previous
encounter and generally the fighting machines preceded
their numerous infantry.Their cavalry and flyers were
held in reserve.The armoured brigade and Cephalod right
wing locked into an indecisive struggle that caused significant
losses to the Cephalod infantry but the tanks and fighting
machines, protected by armour, fought on though suffering
damages on either side. The main British position was
hammered by the Cephalod centre and left wing columns,
becoming slowly written down in the exchange. The
Cephalods were able to withdraw units that had suffered
casualties but the British, tied down in their fortifications,
dared not follow up for fear of being caught in the open by
the fighting machines. Fresh Cephalod units were fed into
the fight, including flying riflemen, the fighting machines
closed to short range and the British started to crack. First
the artillery was silenced then the redcoats started to give
ground.

As the infantry fell back into the open they were cut down
by the fighting machines. The Naval Brigade were pinned
on their face of the fortification and subject to a devastating
charge, in the rear, by the winged lancers. The ensuing
Cephalod flood swept all before it. On the Cephalod right
pressure by the arriving Imperial Martians allowed the
armoured brigade to disengage but it was too late to save
the British infantry as the victorious Cephalod fighting
machines blocked their path and badly disrupted their
formation.

That's where we closed the evening. It's going to be difficult
to write this one up in the Official History of the campaign
(currently in preparation for our club's amusement). I think
my way out will be to invoke the 'Indians don't fight at night'
excuse and oblige the Cephalods to disengage. This game will
force a reshaping of the next couple of chapters in the history
but that's not a bad thing.


The game was played on 12th December at Staines Wargamers.
As always the author has been somewhat biased by being the
commander of the Cephalod army but this is how we saw it and
we wrote the history :o)



Tim