What can one say about a 29 turn scenario which goes down to the last die roll, well here goes. The scenario takes place at night with large Indian forces with Tanks and Mortars, trying to clear roads and towns without losing to any steps. Right from the start it should be noted this is going to be a tough scenario for the Indians to win, the darkness as always helps the weaker side and the Raz morale will help in the many assaults which will occur in this scenario. The Indians advance onto the board and begin to clear the roads however, Raz began almost at once to harass the Indian lines of communication and the rebel artillery began to cause the light Indian tanks some issues, however the Indian steamroller continued at began to assault the main town making good progress although losses began to mount on both sides, very soon the Indian step loss cap had been exceeded. The town was taken except for on enclave which held onto almost the last turn. The Indian attention now fell on the small village to the south which was stoutly defended by HMG, RAZ and INF with support units dug in. The rebel forces had now also re-occupied vital road hexes meaning that it would be very unlikely that the Indian player could win this scenario and would have to take the village to make it a drawn game. The last few turns were wild with some very strange die rolls, at one stage every unit in the village was demoralized, however the Indians were the first to rally and on the last attacked the village again which resulted in the last RAZ unit being demoralized again. However the Hydrabad player had a roll to rally this unit and even if disrupted will deny the Indian player the draw. Tension was high as the roll was made, 7 required for a famous win.....9 rolled. A fair result one might say. What a great scenario lots of fun, leaders deserting, lucky rolls followed immediately by unlucky rolls, a great PG gaming experiance.

Continuing our campaign to finish Indian Unity, Violent Resistance was next on the list and it did not disappoint. The objectives for the Indians to attain a major victory were very steep:

1. Maintain road control across all three maps
2. Secure ALL town hexes on the middle map (24)
3. End the game losing less than 10 steps.

A minor victory would be 2 objectives and a Draw would be attaining at least 1 objective. Knowing how much I LOVE ROAD CONTROL VICTORY CONDITIONS I went into this game shooting for a minor as I was hopeful that the night conditions would allow a good advance before being threatened by the Hyderabad on board Artillery. Indian foot units proceeded straight towards the towns on board 24 with a small contingent, heading into the woods to clear any rebel units there. The Stuarts, meanwhile, headed north to speed around the hills and light woods and approach from the north, where the big guns were blocked by the large town in the center.

Despite some early successful hits by the artillery, spotted by pesky officers in the woods, The Indian troops were able to make it to the large town with about half of the game yet to play. methodical assaults into the town eventually cleared the larger one except for a lone AT gun and RAZ units that were able to stave off Indian assaults until almost the end of the game. Meanwhile, other units went about securing the area, destroying the rebel guns and making a final advance on the single town hex on the south of the Map. Unfortunately, the tenacious fighting of the Hyderabadis were able to inflict the required 10+ step losses so the remainder of the game was focused on gaining control of both towns and preventing kamikaze assaults by the Hyderabads.

The Hyderabads were able to keep several RAZ units close by to continually feed the defense of the single hex and with 2 turns left, the Indian units were able whittle down the rebels to a single RAZ and leader and to maintain a combined arms assault, however, an infantry unit and the Stuart in town were disrupted so obtaining the draw looked very dim. Dim as it was, I did spot an opportunity for the Indian LT COL to take 2 INF from the larger town and jumping on trucks, were able to get into position to relieve the disrupted units in the final assault.

On the final turn, the Indians launched the final desperate assault that did not kill the RAZ unit but caused a demoralization to the RAZ in town. All he needed to do to rally (he was helped by a leader and in a town so his morale went from 7 to 9) was to roll an 8 and unfortunately (or fortunately for the Indians) he rolled a 9, fled and effectively ended the game.

Both Wayne and I agreed that though it was a tough slog for the Indians to gain the victory, the back and forth play along with the night rules (which I am usually not a fan of) made for a very fun and exciting scenario that hinged on the last play of the game. A solid scenario in a book that for the most part, does not disappoint!

This was played in two sessions face to face with Hugmenot in our continuing series on Indian Unity. I apologize to Daniel for the dice in question. Apparently fate had to even out my luck from my play with Vince.

The Indian goal is to secure a town and the roads leading up to it to facilitate their advance towards the center of Hyderabad. The Hyderabadis want to stop them from doing this and cause losses to the Indians. As usual the indifferent Hyderabadi regulars are supported by the Razakar fanatics. Interestingly, the Razakars during the earlier scenarios are liabilities with virtually no combat effect and low morale. As the campaign continues, however, they become more radicalized and their morale improves such that they often deny the Indians a morale bonus in combat. If they take losses, however, their morale plummets and they are easily chased.

Early on, the Hyderabadis were very effective, easily reaching the loss totals required for a minor victory at the half way point. It became apparent in addition that the dispersed Hyderabadi troops would be able to contest road hexes such that the best option for the Indians would be to focus on taking the large town on board 24. Indeed, such a capture would only provide the Indians with a draw (which Daniel and I feel is the likely result of a contested battle) as their minor victory would then match the minor victory claimed by the Hyderabadis.

Standing in the way of such a capture, however, were several stacks of Hyderabaids. The largest included 18DF and a leader giving them an actual higher column than any of the projected attackers. Having just cleared a town hex of Indian defenders I felt confident that this would be the hex that would give me the chance to win. Unfortunately, a DF attack caused a step loss with a morale cascade which was not able to recover immediately. In the following turn the Indians assaulted and although the battle for that hex raged for 5-6 more turns it was never really in doubt.

With 5 turns to go it appeared that the town would fall. Three hexes remained contested but in none of them could the Hyderabadis contest with more than the "5" column. In one hex a lone Razakar faced down an imposing attack including armor and sappers. Starting on the 18 column and moving to the 24 column, Daniel attacked the Razakars, always failing to get the step loss that would have changed the high morale fanatics into terrified remnants. Disruption after disruption was followed by recovery after recovery with the game ending with the Razakars still in the town hex in good order. A Hyderabadi major victory as they denied the Indian any level of victory.

I give this one a "3". There is a good balance in the scenario but there isn't a lot the Hyderabaid player can do but to set up, and counter the Indian player. In that it is much like the early war Eastern Front scenarios where masses of Hyderabadis will be lost.