Unyamwezi - The Land of the Moon

[Lowtardog]

Fantastic game report, minis and well hate the fact it all looks and played so well . I have the rules but not dabbled with them. Planning to ue for Maori wars but not think they quite work for their style of fighting.

[Barry S]

Wonderful table and report
 
Thanks or posting it. I also appreciated your thoughts on TMWWBK.

[Miantanomo]

Great game! I was looking at trying out TMWWBK, so I'll keep your recommendation in mind!

[Dr. Moebius]

Hello Plynkes,

have you ever thought about Death in the dark Continent by Chris Peers?
You just need to group your forces on multibases.

What about using your own rules? I think all the Lion Rampant based rules have some great basics but I have some problems with them myself. The rules are great for adding own stuff or change some parts of it to fit the setting or the historical background. By example: Give every leader an amount (1D6) of re rolls for activating at the beginning of the game etc.

But most mportant, do not loose your enthusiasm for playing wargames again cause the rules you are using are no fun. There are hundreds of great rule sets out there these days. In addition it would be a shame not to see this great painted miniatures and terrain any more.

Cheers
Alex

[airbornegrove26]

Plynkes Ol' Chap that was a fun read!  Really glad you shared it with us all.  I was about to ask why you'd changed from T&T as I always enjoyed your reports with them, as I read on I saw your answer to that.  As for rule sets I've been having a ton of fun with Donnybrook lately http://www.leagueofaugsburg.com/shop/products-cat-1.html.  It really gives the feel of those old battle reports we used to crave around here back in the day.   

Now for anyone about to say well those are set up for a different era.  These are easily adaptable to suit your period/genre, I've been playing fantasy and sci fi games with them.  And I really need to get some Colonial games in with them as well.  Anyone I think it would fit your style of play very nicely.

As for the game, man oh man that really brought a smile to my face.  I always enjoyed your reports, and it's a welcome site to see a fresh one.  You got me wanting to get my colonial collection down from the shelf and get a game in.

[Dr Mathias]

That was an enjoyable read! Those baobabs are the business... I was going to make my own but if they look like that why bother?

Congo is a pretty fun game, my go-to for Africa before that was The Sword and the Flame. I couldn't ever bring myself to multi-base for DitDC.

Glad to see another Plynkes report!

[Plynkes]

Thinking about The Sword and The Flame as a fall-back. We did enjoy our game of that very much. Bit of head-scratching needed there to stat out the various Darkest Africa unit types, though. Something I'd rather not have to do, due to laziness. Probably going to give TMWWBK another try or two, though, and maybe tinker with it a bit.


As for Congo, well, I do own those rules and a campaign is planned, but that's a whole other project that I want to keep separate from this one. Looks like fun for Quatermain-style expeditions, but not so sure it is suited to the big(ish) historical(ish) fights planned for this project. Appreciate the suggestions, though.

[fred]

Great write up.

Interesting thoughts about the pinning effects. We have only played with European Regulars vs Natives, but haven't seen the pinning to be that bad. Some of it comes down to dice rolls.

The one rule that I haven't really got my head round, that should help the natives is the Go to Ground option. But I can't work out how to use it usefully, it seems to just hide your troops too far away.

As you say the character traits really make the game. My worst was my cavalry commander could be ordered by the enemy on a roll of a 6 each turn. First two turns I roll a 6, and watch my cavalry trotting back off to camp, clearly thinking they where on a reconnaissance rather than a raid. But this just made the game more fun.

[Patrice]

Fascinating! I shall follow this with great interest.

[Codsticker]

I couldn't ever bring myself to multi-base for DitDC.

Glad to see another Plynkes report!

An inexpensive and time saving option would be to use something like these skirmish trays or regimental trays from Warbases.

[syrinx0]

Perhaps just a tweak or two to the pinning rules for muskets/poor troops would make it work for your purposes.  Well done battle report and a great looking table.

[Happy Wanderer]

Hi Plynkes,

Great to see you posting again  

Regards pinning effects in TMWWBK. I think you answered your own question. If it’s a simple case of you feeling, rightly so IMO, that muskets should be less effective in the hands of irregulars than regulars with modern rifles ala Martini-Henry’s, then just add a special case rule for them...not to forget Irregulars cannot use close order -I assume the Arabs were rated Irregulars.

Can I suggest perhaps that “targets forced to take a pinning test apply a +1 or +2 to any test taken, unless shot at by troops issuing Volley Fire?” This would restrict the really effective pinning results to firers able to use the close order volley fire rules ie regulars. It makes irregular firers a little less effective.

Alternatively, you could allow that +1/+2 only for Fierce Warrior tribes hit by any, but close order Volley Fire. This makes the firing result more specific to the target unit type, not the shooter.

So a loose gaggle of musket armed Arab slaver types would be much less effective at firing like disciplined regular infantry; or
Fierce warriors are more likely to close except against disciplined regular Volley Fire. This still however allows for regulars with Muskets to fire effectively...one crisp volley and all that...

I think this would put your loose order musket armed irregular Arabs in a much less capable spot firepower wise.

These types of period tweak rules are well within the remit of TMWWBK style games IMO.

...maybe worth a try in your next game...please report back if you do!


Cheers

Happy Wanderer

[Bugsda]

Brilliant pics as ever, glad you're back to work 

[Plynkes]

Thanks, Happy Wanderer, that is just the kind of suggestion I was seeking. Why I brought the issue up was I thought I remembered reading somewhere about someone else having problems with the pinning rules and tweaking them, so I was hoping I could get some advice and profit from other people's experiences (people who know the game better than me) rather than have to unnecessarily reinvent the wheel. I'm a lazy sod when it comes down to it and will always let someone else do the work if I can. 

[Plynkes]

I think all the Lion Rampant based rules have some great basics but I have some problems with them myself. The rules are great for adding own stuff or change some parts of it to fit the setting or the historical background. By example: Give every leader an amount (1D6) of re rolls for activating at the beginning of the game etc.

I like that re-rolls idea. It is similar to an idea we thought of before we even played the game. One thing I feel the rules lack is an overall command unit. Purely from a tabletop aesthetic point of view, I like to have a commander or a chief with a little gaggle of bodyguards or other entourage, perhaps with a flag, too. It just looks nice on the tabletop and gives a use to all those personality figures you accumulate over time. We were thinking of adding these to the game, but giving them some command abilities too, such as the ability to grant failed activation or 'unpinning' re-rolls to nearby units. So we will probably incorporate the re-roll idea into that change. But we wanted to try the rules as they came before we started messing with them so left that idea on the shelf. I think we may well use it in our next game.