Last Train from Jinshui

Shamelessly stolen from the Major General.
Have a look at the original scenerio: The Last Train from Goldwasser, adapted with the kind permission of the author.

Scenario Outline

Thigimi Province lies along the coast of China, just up the Moucao river from Shuisha. Prior to the outbreak of the war, the Emperor had allowed (anachronistically, as fate would have it) a railroad to be built into the rich community at Jinshui to bring in European goods and opium. With the outbreak of war with China, General Lord Parsley Garnish has comandeered a train to take himself, his command and Sir Rand McNally, as well as the last of the garrison's ammunition and opium from the warehouses out of Jinshui. Unfortunately, by the time the train is loaded, the small irregular force in Jinshui have barricaded the bridge and called up an Imperial relief force from Fatcao.

Objectives

Forces

British
On Train
1 unit (20) of 99th Infantry + Lord Garnish & Sir Rand with staff + trainmen
At Ruins
1/2 unit (10) of Royal Marines + 1 unit (20) French Turcos + 1 Cannon (may set up anywhere between ruins and hills in the pass)
At Town
1/2 unit (6) of Bengal Lancers
In Launch
1 Bow Chaser gun + 1/2 unit (10) Royal Marines + 3 sailors
In Cliffs, at pass
1 unit (20) TaiPing Rebels (cannot be meleed or move out of cliffs; need not be evacuated).

Appropriate Officers.

Imperials
At Bridge
1/2 unit (10) Citizen's Army Infantry (rifles) and barricade of 12 stones.
In Pass
2 units (20) Imperial matchlocks, 1 unit (20) Imperial Archers, 1 unit (20) Imperial Pikes, 1 jingal (enter between trees)
1/2 unit (6) of Bannermen Cavalry + 1 unit (20) of Imperial Pikes (enter between trees and mountains)

Commanders and Appropriate Officers.

A Report of the Action

By the time the train was ready and loaded, the Citizen's Army had made it to the bridge and blocked it off with a barricade. Sir Rand quietly cursed that merchant who'd held them up so long. All because he couldn't leave his favorite song bird behind.... Lord Garnish acted quickly, knowing that the Imperials were sending a force to intercept them. Les Turcos and a half unit of the Marines they'd brought went ahead to clear the way ang guard the pass, along with a field piece of the Royal Artillery. They took station in the ruins across from the train bridge.

Meanwhile at the far end of the pass, General Da Toh Yue arrived, leading the Imperial army newly arrived from Fatcao. Problems plagued the Chinese from the earliest appearance in the pass, with a traffic jam in the rear ranks slowing their advance. The pike and cavalry were in good order on arrival, but the majority of the force, pikes, matchlocks, archers and artillery were in total disorder, fighting to the first in precidence. Unfortunately for the Chinese, the artillery lost that struggle and wouldn't make themselves known until much later in the battle.

At the bridge, shots were traded between the Westerners and the barracaded Citizen's army. Royal artillery canister shot, followed by telling fire from the Marines made short work of the men on the barricade. There was only a single casualty to the British, a wounded Marine. With most of their number wounded, the Citizen Army melted away, down the banks of the Moucao and off into the underbrush. The Marines started forward slowly (very slowly) to take possession of the barricade, obviously testing for traps the whole way. In town the train set out, as did the Navy's steam launch. Having apparently become bogged in reeds or fighting a strong current, headway for the launch was quite slow.

Making considerably better speed, however, was the half wing of Fane's horse cantering up the road toward the ruins, lances high. At the same time, in the pass, the Imperial Chinese cavalry shot ahead of their infantry support. They quickly found themselves coming under the guns of the TaiPing rebels who had stationed themselves on the clifftops. Leaving behind the matchlock armed infantry was not, perhaps the best idea, a lesson which they learned their lesson the hard way, loosing as they did two men, all of their horses, and wounding all the the survivors.

Dispite their early success, the situation facing the troops at the ruin was getting grim. The Marines were edging foreward to deal with the barricade, but that left only the single gun and the Algerians to hold the line against the approaching Chinese Imperial Army. Though they were still distant, the dust cloud had resolved itself in to men with guns and long pointy pikes, outnumbering them by three to one.
Not that things looked much better to the Chinese, however. Staring down the muzzle of a Royal Artillery field piece and with a platoon of wild-eyed Algerians with modern rifles between you and your objective can be somewhat off-putting. This is especially true while advancing with weaponry best suited to the wars of your grandfathers (or even their grandfathers).

The train and launch continued to labour toward the bridge while the Sikhs made good speed on the road, anxious to come to the support of their brothers in arms. Cutting past the ruins, the Sikhs formed line and charged, lances down, into the front rank of Imperial pikes. At the same instant they were counter charged by a second unit of pikes. The aftermath wasn't pretty. While they took a toll on the Imperials, the Sikhs were cut to ribbons. Two dead, two wounded, one fled, with the wounded and Lieutenant Smightily captured. Their gallant charge, however, combined with the ongoing harassing fire of the Tai Ping from the cliff, achieved one objective. It was enough to hang up the Chinese advance for a time. In fact, it appeared as if the Imperial matchlocks were more interested in dislodging the TaiPing rebels than stopping the Westerners. Rumor did have it that the Tai Ping leader had been romancing the General's favorite concubine.

The one bright spot in the picture for the British was that the Marines had managed to clear the tracks and the train was nearing the bridge. In the launch, the crew had finally realized to pull in the sea anchor and had begun to make good speed. As they were nearing the mouth of the pass, the Navy-men began readying their bow chaser. Also being readied though, was a Chinese fieldpiece, situated on a hill with a clear view of the Algerians and the Royal Artillery. The man laying the Chinese gun had both an eagle eye and steady hand. The first shot told terribly against the RA gun crew. Two dead, two wounded including the Captain Snit. Dispite the dishonour of abandoning their gun, they were forced by circumstance to make for the safety of "anywhere else".

The Chinese column, having now cleared the Tai Ping from the cliffs (and putting a bullet into their leader, serves him right), surged forward in a push to re-take the bridge. Quick fire from the Algerians and the Marines checked the advance, however. The train slowed, and for a second the officers and men thought that perhaps it would stop to disgorge the unit of Infantry aboard, or perhaps to pick them up. But no such luck. With a shower of smoke and sparks the engine chugged across the bridge. Seeing that the situation called for a steady withdrawl, but honour demanding that no gun remain behind, Sergeant Mosley Able lead his men forward into the ruins to take charge of the now abandoned fieldpiece.

As the Marines began their strategic retreat, the Chinese Jingal opened up again, this time against the unlucky Algerians. The telling shot wounded almost half the line and killed Captain Renault outright. This was answered, however, by the RN steam launch which had pulled up to the pass and was now in a position to make itself known. A round of canister from the bowchaser went through the matchlock infantry advancing against the Marines, cutting a swath. The Marines pulled back toward the bridge, hauling the 9 lb gun with them, but the Algerians were in a tight spot. With their wounded, they would be left with only three rifles to guard their retreat. Menaced as they were by the Imperial Pikemen, they opted to stand their ground, take the charge and give their best, with all able guns firing.

Unfortunately it didn't quite work out that way. The line of uninjured soldiers stood to, under the brave leadership of their sergeant, raised their guns, aimed, fired and....missed. Perhaps it was the fear of those pointy pikes, perhaps the rumors of cannibalism among the Imperial forces, but whatever the reason, every single shot was wide of the mark. Bracing for the worst, the Algerians took the charge from the pikemen. The two groups clashed, bayonet against pike, but in the end the greater reach of the pikes won the day, and the Algerians broke. Dragging their wounded behind them, the few unwounded soldiers took to the hills, leaving their dead (including Captain Renault) on the field.

But the sacrifice of the African rifles was enough to buy time for the Marines, encumbered as they were with the gun and their own wounded, to make their way over the rails to the foot bridge. There was an attempt to take the gun over the rail bridge, but the ties were spaced too far apart to make for easy transit and the Marines refused the dishonour of leaving the gun behind. The Navy launch, while still not landing it's contingent of Marines, made up for it's earlier tardiness by now covering the escape of the Marines still ashore. With a final heave and grunt the Marines pulled the cannon over the foot bridge and made good their escape.

And so the British influence in JinShui came to an end.

Conclusion
This was a victory for the British, but by no means a grand one. Yes, they did achieve their major objective, getting the train full of civillians and cargo away from JinShui, but in the process they lost a unit of Algerian rifles supplied by their French allies; Captain Renault, the white French officer was killed; the crew of the field piece was decimated and run off, leaving their weapon behind; and a wing of Sikh cavalry was cut to ribbons, this time with the white officer (and a Briton to make matters worse) fallen into the hands of the Chinese!

In Pekin, General Yu has even managed to turn this into a Chinese victory! In his telling to the Son of Heaven, he played up the fact that not a unit of his was routed and in the process he managed to run the westerners out of JinShui with their metal demon. The destruction of the TaiPing troops also played well at the Forbidden City, dispite the fact that the General spent more time on them than on going after the Westerners. No need to burden the royal personage unimportant with details.

Around Whitehall, there have been a few questions concerning the unscathed escape of the entire unit of 99th Foot onboard the train, and the Navy is under some fire for their tardy arrival as well as not landing the other half unit of Marines to support their fellows. On the plus side, however, the Marines did manage to save the gun from falling into enemy hands, which always looks good to the politicians.
For their sacrifices, however, the men involved have all earned Sir Rand's eternal praise.

Many thanks to David Helber, the Major General for this very enjoyable scenario.

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The Last Train from JinShui