Azande vs. Cannibals vs. White Explorers

[Operator5]

I ran my first game of In the Heart of Africa and it was a three way set up with me playing Cannibals (running a mix of figures), Joe running Azande (using Zulu models) and Mike running White Explorers (which we ran as a larger than allowed unit since this was just a fun run to get the hang of the rules).

The Azande were getting good Movement rolls and quickly advanced on both the cannibals and the White Explorers. Unfortunately, that also took them into the guns of the explorers quickly as well.



The White Explorers, after advancing slightly, hold their position and wait for the ensuing attack.



In the middle, the Azande and Cannibal Warriors mix it up. Joe had some really bad die rolls, so even though he outnumbered me, he ended up getting seriously hammered. You can also see that I still have not finished my guys and their weapons have not been added.



Here we see my pygmies trying to hold the flank, they shot up some Azande, but were routed when they lost nearly half their numbers and then I lost the Army leader.



The most heroic moment, though, goes to Sgt. Smythe as he stacks up bodies of Azande warriors all around him so that his men can reform a firing line elsewhere. In the end is cut down by cannibal musket fire.



We had just under 300 points per player and probably made a few mistakes along the way, but everyone had fun and in the end, the White Explorers won the day with just 2 models left after the the final two cannibal units were routed. The game played in about 2 hours with roughly 30 models (except the Explorers who had 7). The rules were simple and quick to pick up for all of us.

[Mike D. Mc Brice]

Looks and sounds very good! Did you use agile Spearmen with the Azande and how did they work? After reading the rules I was curious if the short ranged attack is worth the reduced combat value.

[Operator5]

The Agile Spearmen worked, however, when they were facing +3 Warriors or White Men, the reduced fighting value hurt them. I would hate to have a whole force of them unless I could have numerical superiority.

[Plynkes]

That's why a Warrior costs more than twice the points of an Agile Spearman (9 compared with 4). The compromise is to go with Agile Warriors, I guess. A bit cheaper than a Warrior and only 1 dice pip worse at HtH fighting, plus they get the ranged attack.

Nice one, Rich. What make are those Zulus, by the way?

[Operator5]

Those are Joe's and he got them from Wargames Factory.

The plastics are okay from game distance, but unless you are willing to putty them after assembling, you can tell they are plastic up close.

[Plynkes]

I thought the poses looked like WF. But I had dismissed the idea, as they look pretty good in your pictures, whereas in all the other pics I've seen of them they look horrible. "Good from a distance" then? Well a nice cheap way of bulking out a big army if nothing else, I suppose.

[Mike D. Mc Brice]

That's why a Warrior costs more than twice the points of an Agile Spearman (9 compared with 4). The compromise is to go with Agile Warriors, I guess. A bit cheaper than a Warrior and only 1 dice pip worse at HtH fighting, plus they get the ranged attack.

Nice one, Rich. What make are those Zulus, by the way?

You've mixed these up, it's Spearmen and agile Spearmen. Spearmen have +1 close combat and both cost 4pts.
Warriors cost 9pts but have +3 close combat.

I was just curious how you play agile spearmen, idealy you move very close to throw your spears and hope you cause enough enough damage to take the impact out of the charge that will surely come in the enemys activation.

[Plynkes]

You've mixed these up, it's Spearmen and agile Spearmen. Spearmen have +1 close combat and both cost 4pts.
Warriors cost 9pts but have +3 close combat.

I don't think I've mixed anything up, he was comparing Warriors with Agile Spearmen and saying how the Agile Spearmen can't cope with them. I was just pointing out that while they are totally outclassed by Warriors, the points costs of the two types reflects this.

Warriors have their counterpart in Agile Warriors (4" thrown range, +2 close combat, 3+ Morale, 8 points), the same way Spearmen have their counterpart in Agile Spearmen. So your "Agile" style army can still have some of its units composed of reasonably good fighters if you want it to.

[Operator5]

The best way I have found for the Agile Spearmen to throw their spears if they do not have enough charge range or before an enemy charges them.

Nothing breaks a charge better than losing the chargers before they can contact you. 

[H.M.Stanley]

I have the Death in the Dark Continent rules.

I see that North Star are selling the Heart of Africa rules too. Worth my getting them?

Thanks

[Plynkes]

I enjoyed the few games we had, though I play other rules now. If you like the Chris Peers style (not everybody does) it is a fine game.

I'd say the army list book is definitely worth the money for any Darkest Africa gamer, though, whether you buy the main rules or not. Gives force composition ideas for dozens of East and Central African forces, including explorers and invaders.

[H.M.Stanley]

I enjoyed the few games we had, but I found I preferred Triumph and Tragedy for my Darkest Africa skirmishing and moved on to that.

I'd would say the army list book is definitely worth the money for any Darkest Africa gamer, though, whether you buy the main rules or not. Gives force composition ideas for dozens of East and Central African forces, including explorers and invaders.

Thanks for that chap.

I'll stick with DitDC for now then as the book has many army lists and there is a pdf of supplemental lists on the NS site

[Plynkes]

It is a slightly different sort of game. More skirmishy, with individually-based figures that are removed as the unit takes casualties. So it depends whether you want big battle or skirmish really, the earlier game is pretty much the skirmish scale version of the later game, except that DITDC has a bigger geographical remit.

So if you want to do a few skirmish games it may still be worth getting, as the two don't sit in quite the same gaming niche.

[H.M.Stanley]

It is a slightly different sort of game. More skirmishy, with individually-based figures that are removed as the unit takes casualties. So it depends whether you want big battle or skirmish really, the earlier game is pretty much the skirmish scale version of the later game, except that DITDC has a bigger geographical remit.

So if you want to do a few skirmish games it may still be worth getting, as the two don't sit in quite the same gaming niche.

I started out thinking about a skirmish game but as i have the lead for 2 x 300 point Explorers and Cannibals "armies" in DITDC [plus Pygmies] i can always downsize 

[H.M.Stanley]

And now i'm hooked on In the Heart of Africa