David was interested in the Sidney Street siege of 1911, and wrote this historical outline for the ColonialWars discussion group when the topic of gaming with Victorian 'Bobby' (police) figures came up.

This scenario was never played by the Ouargistan group.

When Constabulary duty's to be done,
A policeman's lot is not a happy one...

-- Gilbert and Sullivan, The Pirates of Penzance, 1879

The Sidney Street Siege London, 1911 A Historical Scenario Outline

For those interested in police gaming with Foundry's or other manufacturers' Victorian/Edwardian 'Bobby' figures, the Sidney Street siege of Dec. 1910-Jan. 1911 has some fine scenario possibilities. Rather like the Wild West on the streets of London. In the following account, the quotes (in color) and pictures are from John Wilkes' The London Police in the Nineteenth Century.

The Historical Events

Late in the evening of 16 December, 1910, Police Constable Piper knocked at a house in Houndsditch near a jeweler's shop at which tunneling sounds had been heard. The man who opened the door looked so suspicious that Piper pretended nothing much was wrong and went for reinforcements. The two constables, a sergeant and two plain-clothes men in the neighbourhood were rounded up...

"Police Sergeant Bentley knocked at the door. It was opened, Bentley went in. After a few seconds there was a blaze of a revolver, flashes and shots. A whole gang of people [probably only four] raced out except for one man who took cover. There was a furious struggle, with the [unarmed] police going for their men even as they were being hit again and again by bullets. One member of the gang shot another by mistake, and at this they ran for the entrance to the street, dragging their wounded comrade with them, while injured and dying policemen were helped by the first people to come out of the surrounding houses. "Things were so confused that the gang managed to get away, and it was not until about midnight that Detective Superintendent Ottaway arrived with a group of armed policemen..."

The police later found the wounded man, now dead, in a room filled with guns, ammunition, and anarchist revolutionary literature. They took into custody a woman in the room and a fellow who knocked at the door and asked to see Fritz, during the police search (d'oh!). From these and other informants, the police learned that the dead man was part of a group of Latvian and Russian anarcho-communists who used England to hide out and get money for their revolutionary activities in Russia. By Christmas, five had been arrested but the police had not rounded up all of the Houndsditch gang and could not prove that any of the prisoners had fired the deadly shots.

The remaining revolutionaries were in a section of London populated by recent Russian and Latvian immigrants, many of them Jewish, who did not speak English and whose experiences in their homeland had taught them to hate, fear and avoid police. Many of the Jewish residents expected a police pogrom because of the deaths at Houndsditch. Their sympathies were, to a great extent, with the revolutionaries, and they did what they could to put the investigation off the track.

By 2 January 1911, the police had located two of the revolutionaries, Svaars and Joseph, in a brick block of flats at No. 100 Sidney Street. Because of the gang's firearms, the police called up only unmarried men for the assault, and armed them, bizarrely, with single-shot rifles which had been fitted for .22 caliber practice ammunition, as well as some short-barreled revolvers and shotguns.

Through a Yiddish interpreter, the other families in the building were brought out without arousing the revolutionaries, who were on the second floor, accessible only by a narrow stairwell.Direct assault was judged impractical if not suicidal. It was decided to offer the men a chance at surrender, but pebbles thrown against the window to attract their attention were answered by a hail of bullets. Police Sergeant Leeson was hit twice, and had to be helped away under fire.The revolutionaries were equipped with Mauser "broomhandle" semiautomatic pistols which carried ten shots, fired a flat-shooting high-velocity .30 caliber round, and which could be quickly reloaded from compact ten-round stripper-clips; the police, surprised by the volume of fire, answered ineffectively with their slower-loading weapons.

A hurried call was made to the Home Secretary, requesting the help of the army. Twenty Scots Guardsmen arrived from ceremonial duty at the Tower, as did the Home Secretary himself, one Winston Spencer Churchill (illustration at left). They took up positions in surrounding buildings and prone on the pavement at the ends of the street. Crowds had gathered, and the police tried to keep them back, worried that the hostile immigrants might come to the aid of revolutionaries. The anarchists moved from window to window on the second floor and attic, constantly firing, while the soldiers and police poured bullets upwards into the house. When army marksmen began firing into the upper windows from a nearby roof, the revolutionaries moved to the first floor, but found themselves uncomfortably exposed to fire from the police on the ground.

At about 1 p.m. Svaars apparently set the house on fire. The police waited for a desperate rush out by the gunmen, which never came. Firemen arrived, but Churchill ordered them away. The roof caught fire and fell in. The police later found Joseph dead of a gunshot wound and Svaars, apparently suffocated by the smoke.

Four other members of the gang were later arrested, but were not convicted because it was believed that the killer of the Houndsditch policemen was the man found dead in the room shortly after the initial incident. Later investigation has apparently revealed that this was an error. Wilkes says: "The prisoners had to be given the benefit of the doubt, and were all eventually released. The man who most probably killed three London policemen went back to Russia and became a secret policeman himself. He was executed by Stalin in the 1930s."

Though casualties during the siege amounted only to one policeman wounded, the press made much of the terrible threat of the semiautomatic pistol; it was a precursor by 80 years of the semiauto hysteria of the 1990s. The Metropolitan Police themselves adopted a Webley .32 semiauto pistol in 1911, apparently impressed by Svaars' and Joseph's volume of fire, if not by its results. Ironically, more deaths were caused by the house blaze than by all the gunfire from both sides - only Joseph died from a bullet, Svaars was killed by the house fire, and a neighbor was killed by the collapse of a wall related to the blaze.

By compressing the two actions into one event, the Sidney Street seige could make a great semi-skirmish scenario, if reasonable blocks of buildings can be created, and enough police and civilian figures can be found. The revolutionary gang, only one or two of whom are armed, breaks out of the house near the jeweler's as the unarmed police try to tackle them. They run round the corner to the hideout, where they barricade themselves in, not knowing if they have been followed in the darkness. This should result in several revolutionists in the house, not just the historical two. At the house, more weaponry is available. The surviving police call for armed backup, which arrives at dawn. After the house is surrounded, the police must try to extract the innocent families on the first floor. After the firefight starts, the army is called in. Hostile crowds begin to gather and these crowds grow throughout the game.   Click on picture for larger image with historical notations. Click Here to see a possible Table Layout and Building Drawings

Scenario Rule Suggestions:

Gamesmaster - The game is best played with a gamesmaster who is the only one who knows the special features of the situation, such as the probabilities for crowd reaction, the effect of the Mauser bullets on bunched-up squads, and so forth. In the actual siege, the police were facing a situation that was new to them - an unknown number of suspects, well-armed with high-capacity weapons, quite a different from the usual police calls that could be handled by unarmed Bobbies.

The Revolutionaries are played as individual figures. After reaching the hideout, they are all armed and presumably well-supplied with clips of ammunition to keep up a constant fire. They may decide to break out instead of dying in the building, but will decide this only after the police make their presence known and only by individual die-roll. If one decides to break out, make a 50% roll for each of the others to see who joins him. Anarchist objectives are escape or glorious death without leaving any members in the hands of the police (they fear brutal interrogation, which might cause a captured member to betray comrades elsewhere in the movement). They also get points for police casualties.

Police and Soldiers might be in small squads of three to five. Police have low rates of fire and poor accuracy. The soldiers are somewhat better. Because of the threat of the gang's escaping, police must seal off the whole block, while mostly unarmed police control the crowds. The commander must decide how many of his armed policemen he will use to fire on the building, and how many he will use to seal off the escape routes. Note that their training and their truncheons give the police a significant advantage over revolutionaries or civilians in hand-to-hand combat. Police objectives are the capture (more desirable) or death (less desireable) of the revolutionaries, with minimal police and civilian casualties (even hostile civilians, if unarmed, are to be subdued, not shot).

There are always enough police. After a certain number are killed or incapacitated, the figures are recycled as reinforcements from the edge of the table on the far side of the crowds. Soldiers are not recycled.

Groups of Civilians can get attitude and action rolls, to see whether they decide (small chance, but one that cannot be ignored) to help the revolutionaries by hindering or attacking the government forces - clogging the streets, blocking reinforcements, rushing the police, throwing stones, even taking the odd shot or two from a revolver. If the revolutionists break from the building and make it into the crowds, they have a good chance of escape. The police will have to form a wedge and go into the crowd after them, and this may well galvanize the civilians into action. However, if the revolutionaries attempt to reach the crowd by firing at the policemen who are holding back the crowd, then it is very likely that some members of the crowd will be hit or will fear being hit, and the reaction will likely be panic or hostility to the fugitives.

Churchill can float around as a random factor, exercising his talent for tactical meddling by ordering squads to do something other than what the police commanders order. He was criticized for taking charge of the affair, a foreshadowing of his later military meddlings.

The Mauser's high-velocity fully jacketed bullets frequently passed straight through their first victim with the possibility of hitting someone beyond. This might be a factor if the police bunch up. The gamesmaster should not explain this to the police in advance; let them learn it the hard way. The army's rifles do the same.

Night - The fact that the first part of the scenario takes place at night makes the pistols effective only at point-blank range, giving the police a chance to close with the gang. The anarchists at this point should have very low morale, wanting mostly to shoot their way out and escape without leaving anyone in police hands to be interrogated.

The Buildings are brick or stone and provide excellent cover. Provision should be made for a police figure's morale failure and routing from a large volume of fire aimed at him, even if the policeman is not hit. The anarchists should be able to use covering fire (multiple unaimed shots with lower chance of hitting) to try to suppress or rout policemen or soldiers; this would be especially important during a breakout attempt.

The stairway up to the hideout probably should not look TOO hopeless, in order to tempt the police into a risky assault. This might be where the multiple penetrations of the Mauser could turn the tables, or where the fearless coppers break through. Once the police are in the hideout, individual anarchists may choose to jump out the windows and make a break for it without the usual die roll to break out.

Building Models - The blocks of buildings, reduced in size for playability, could be dummied up quickly by drawing up one or two building fronts and backs, printing multiple copies on brick-red paper and gluing them side by side onto thin posterboard shells of the blocks. Only the fugitives' building within the block of flats need be modelled with full interior and staircase; buildings used by the police and army marksmen can be a posterboard false front with ledges for the second floor and roof; many of the buildings can be presumed to be locked and barred by terrified residents and don't even require cutout windows, though a portable section, similar to the fugitives' building section, and a corner store section might be built, and temporarily placed if the anarchists kick their way into another flat. The other blocks can be false-front shells of posterboard only. Check the craft store for cream and grey and brick-color posterboard.

Figures - Since British police armed with rifles and shotguns are practically unobtainable (though Wessex Games has announced armed bobbies for the near future), a reasonable substitute might be colonial-helmeted military figures simply painted blue for the longarm-equipped bobbies (clip the bayonets). Illustrations of the siege show the police in overcoats, actually. The Scots Guards should technically be in long grey winter coats with peaked hats, but khaki WWI or even colonial types would serve adequately. The anarchists could be converted from Wild West desperadoes or Victorian civilians, but Cannon Fodder miniatures makes an Irish Rising/Anglo-Irish war (1916 - 1920) line which includes one figure with a Mauser pistol and other appropriate types. Doing civilian crowds will probably take all your Victorian, Anglo-Irish war, and Wild West civilians plus those of all your friends, and many will look a bit prosperous for revolutionary sympathizers. (Unless Wessex would like sculpt up some shabby Victorian immigrants, and revolutionaries with Mausers?????? And dare we hope for a classic editorial-cartoon anarchist revolutionary, frantically posed with full beard, broad-brimmed hat, overcoat and fused cannonball-bomb?). One possibility is to let only two or three civilian figures represent the crowd at each point, but leave a marker noting the full number. If activity occurs at one of the points, gather all the civilian figures from the other points to staff the crowd at the point of interest.

Figure Sources (25-28mm)
WestWind's Gothic Horror line contains four good Victorian Bobbies and eight Thugs (great as civilians), as well as Citizens and Harlots. In addition there are many figures from horror movies that might be convertible to civilians.

Old Glory has Bobbies and London Thugs, Holmes and Watson, and Jack the Ripper in the Gothic Horror/Streets of London line. These appear to be the same as the WestWind figures.

Eureka's 'Victorian,' 'Pax Limpopo,' and '100 Club' lines contain Victorian London policemen, thugs, ladies, gentlemen, nannies, and street urchins.

Wessex Games has armed London police figures.

Cannon Fodder Miniatures (CFM) has an Irish Rebellion line called "The Troubles". It has civilians, irregulars and paramilitary/police including one in peaked cap (T19).

Reviresco makes an Anglo-Irish War line with armed desperadoes and civilian figures.

The Virtual Armchair General's Thrilling Combat line has many early-19th Century thugs and civilians intended for use with its B'hoys rules (gang warfare in old New York).

Icon makes a 'London Resistance' set in it's Dr. Who line which might provide crowd figures (most have old style weapons). At one time they are said to have had a Victorian Bobby in the line, and they might be amenable to a special order if the quantity were large enough.

Frontier makes British civilians and a pistol-wielding Bobby in its "Mad Dogs and Englishmen" line.

Figure Sources (54mm)
Edwardian Miniatures makes 54mm Edwardian-era Bobbies in their Accessories line.

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