Snipers On The Veldt - A Boer War Game In 28mm.

Snipers On The Veldt

It's 1901 and Boer guerillas are everywhere, out on the veldt is a small patrol of Imperial Yeomanry. Just brought in from Great Britain and full of derring do, these warriors of Empire are out searching for an elusive enemy, watching up on a kopje a group of Boer snipers are waiting.

Just a little closer, and.......shots are fired! Whether it was excitement, fear or a bit of both, but it seems the Boers fired too early, and they all missed their mark, the Yeomanry at first don't know what to do, but they soon dismount and take cover.

There is a brisk too and fro, bullets ricochet off rocks and whizz past ears, each side know approximately where the enemy is but not exactly as men duck and change position, just the odd sighting and a close shave.

The Yeomanry commander shows his inexperience and orders a frontal attack, the Boers kill one of them the instant he shows his head, but the attack presses on.

In the melee two more troopers are wounded, one fatally, and the commander is eventually killed also. One of the Boers receives a nasty wound. The boers take up their wounded comrade and disappear, the Yeomanry are left with their dead and wounded.

Skirmish At Burning Farm - Transvaal 1901. A table Top Game In 28mm.

              Skirmish At Burning Farm - Transvaal 1901

A party of Northumberland Fusiliers under the command of Sergeant (Stomper) Armstrong with support from men from the Staffordshire Mounted Infantry, were ordered to torch a farmstead 20 miles west of Krugersdorp.

This act of aggression was too much for a small commando of Boers who soon started to pepper the British with rifle fire. Three soldiers were immediately wounded, one (a corporal)

managed to crawl and hide behind a mound with a few other soldiers. One Fusilier on the far side of the burning farm managed to bag two Boers with incredible rifle skills while the mounted infantry flanked to the north.

Seeing the mounted infantry advancing on their flank the Boers panicked and started to withdraw, seeing this Sergeant Armstrong ordered the Northumberlands to advance.

                          

 

Soon overwhelmed the Boers surrendered, the action had cost the life of one Staffordshire Mounted Infantryman and six Northumberland Fusiliers wounded. The Boers had lost five dead and four captured, two of whom were wounded.

The Battle of Jones's Kopje 1901 - Hobbs End Gazette. A Tabletop Game In 28mm.

                 HOBBS END GAZETTE

                                                                September 21st 1901

Our South African correspondent Tarquine Squears was on the scene when the Boers blew up the railway track leading to Kroonstad, he was staying with the garrison of a blockhouse on the veltd nearby.

The garrison is made up of men from the Royal Fusiliers and a section of Australian troops of the third contingent, several volunteers from Hobbs End are serving with the Fusiliers.

A party of Fusiliers went to inspect the damage and soon Mauser rounds started to whistle and crack over head. Our attention was drawn to a nearby kopje with distant figures moving around.

The men soon started advancing in open order supported by riflemen, two Fusiliers were soon dropped by very accurate Mauser fire. Moving forward as fast as they could the infantry were in a precarious position as there was not much cover.

The Boer riflemen were deadly and soon British and Australian troops were strewn across the veldt, but the attack went on. The Boers were not without casualties and they were soon mounting, the infantry were about to assault the kopje.

Bodies littered the kopje, Corporal Jones took control of the Boer position and the remnants escaped on horseback to fight another day. It had been a costly day with 12 Imperial casualties and 6 Boer, the area is now called Jones's Kopje.

Tarquine Squears, Hobbs End Gazette 1901