Seven Years ‘ War, 25th November, 1759
Battle of Chinsurah
INDIA DURING THE 1750s was a tangled from the Dutch port of Chinsurah,
web of political manoeuvring as which was sure to be the first place the
European nations bribed, bullied and Dutch army would head for.
back stabbed the various Indian noble Forde soon learned that the Dutch
houses into giving them exclusive access army was indeed marching on
to their ports and, thus, the profitable Chinsurah. Once there they would have
markets beyond. Chief amongst these a safe base of operations and be in a
were the British East India Company, position to recruit local forces. Forde
whose military commander in chief, felt that he could not attack as the
Robert Clive, had already won a British and Dutch were not at war, and
significant victory at Plassey in 1757 to so he sent an urgent message to Clive in
drive the French out of Bengal. Calcutta. Clive received this message
Also vying for access to trade in whilst he was playing cards and, without
Bengal were the Dutch East India leaving the table, he simply wrote on the
Company (‘Vereenigde Oost Indische back of Forde’s note: Dear Forde. Fight
Compagnie’ or VOC) In November them immediately, I will send you the
1758, the Dutch representative had order of Council tomorrow.
secretly approached the ruler of Bengal,
Mir Jafar, offering to replace the British
as his protector in exchange for THE BATTLE
exclusive trading rights. Mir Jafar was OF CHINSuRAH
By Pete Brown
an incorrigible political schemer and it
suited him to play one European side off Forde chose a battlefield half way
against the other and so in late 1759 he between Chinsurah and Chandernagore,
gave his consent to the scheme. straddling the road that connects them.
In October 1759, an Dutch army On his right was the village of Biderra
of 1500 men landed in Bengal, and on his left was a grove of mango
consisting of regular European troops as trees. In front of his position appeared
well as Malayan irregulars. Robert Clive to stretch an unbroken dusty plain. In
was in Calcutta at the time, but when fact, there was a significant ravine in
informed of the Dutch incursion he front of the British centre.
wrote to the Dutch representative and Forde concealed his cavalry and
demanded their withdrawal. In addition, artillery in the mango grove and
he ordered Colonel Francis Forde to placed his sepoys and European troops
take 500 men and seize the town of in the centre and holding the village
Chandernagore. This town was not far on the right.
Sioux War, 1876-77
Battle of Dead Mans‘ Creek
THE HISTORY OF the inexorable Fight in 1866, or much larger battles
westward colonisation of the such as that fought by George Crook
continental United States during the at the Rosebud in 1876.
eighteenth century has undergone However, it also gives us the
something of a revision over recent opportunity to play less historical games
years. Gone is the overarching view with more of a Hollywood bent. If, like
of ‘manifest destiny’ to be replaced me, you were introduced to this conflict
by a view much more sympathetic to through the Saturday afternoon western
the thousands of native Americans movies of John Wayne and Audie
who were killed or driven off their Murphy, you will want to recreate
land to allow the United States to games with embattled wagon trains
come into being. The conflict being surrounded by war whooping
between the Native American tribes, Indians who are rescued in the nick of
the Government forces and new time by the bugle sounding US Cavalry!
settlers has come to be known Whichever sort of game you prefer, the
amongst wargamers as ‘The Pony Pony Wars does provide the wargamer
Wars’ and is usually represented as with a unique and colourful period that
the period between the end of the is also loads of fun to play.
American Civil War and the last
‘battle’ on the plains at Wounded
Knee in 1890. The war saw victories A QuESTION OF SCALE
and defeats, as well as atrocities and
By Pete Brown
massacres, on both sides, the truth of When wargaming this period, the first
which is still debated today. challenge we face is scale. This is a war
Wargaming the Pony Wars in which ‘battles’ were tiny in
allows us to play the role of the comparison to those in Europe, with
colourful characters of the period, even the largest encounters having only
such as Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse and, a couple of hundred combatants on each
of course, the flamboyant George side. Some battles were little more than
Armstrong Custer whose defeat at skirmishes and consequently we should
Little Bighorn in 1876 has got to be scale down our interpretation of a
one of the most studied battles in ‘standard unit’.
history. We can re enact historical Generally speaking, the tactical
skirmishes, such as the Fetterman unit during these campaigns was a
