The Race to the Middle of Nowhere

[Plynkes]

Having recently completed my Force Publique skirmish force for Triumph & Tragedy and also just acquired a mass of painted Ansar figures from our very own Matakishi, I thought we'd combine these two circumstances with a bit of a test drive of some of the special rules from the upcoming T&T colonial supplement.

It's the 1890s, and the Great Powers are scrambling to get their grubby paws on every last little godforsaken bit of Africa that doesn't already have a European flag flying over it. The French, keen on nabbing a chunk of the Sudan, are racing forward to stake their claim. Britain, the nominal landlords of the Sudan, lease the Lado enclave to King Leopold of the Belgians and his Congo Free State. This is done with the clear intent of stopping those pesky French from barging in and acting like they own the place.


So the Belgians send a small expedition from the Congo into the unknown jungles and swamps towards the Nile. They will set up shop in Equatorial Sudan, heading off the French and everyone gets to have a good old laugh at their expense (Hurrah, etc.). The only slight technicality is that the Sudan is currently in the hands of the Khalifa's Mahdist state. No one seems to have consulted them about all this. Everyone seems to  have regarded that as a trifling and inconsequential detail.

But wait, what's this? In addition to the very public official expedition, there is another secret, bigger one, led by Baron Dhanis. He has special orders, not just to drive the Dervishes out of the Lado enclave but to push on down the Nile to Khartoum, give the Fuzzy-Wuzzies a good old kicking, and claim the entire Sudan for King Leopold!!!

WHAT???!!! OUTRAGE!!! PERFIDY!!!

That's just not bloody cricket. I always fancied Leopold as something of a knave, but this takes the biscuit. Walloping dopey natives on the head and pinching all their rubber is one thing, but backstabbing your old mate, Blighty? This catapults him into a whole new league of villainy.



See? I've a good mind to write a strongly-worded letter to The Times.

So anyway, this was the background to our game. It saw a small Belgian advance party pushing forward into the unknown. They had to secure a pass between hills that led in the direction of the Nile. Barring entry was a somewhat larger force of Dervishes. We decided that to win the Belgians had to exit half their fighting force at the far end of the table, through the pass. Either that or give the enemy such a drubbing that they no longer had any say in the matter of who goes through the pass.


The Belgian force of Askari, Zande scouts, allied cannibals and a machine gun cautiously probed forward.

Waiting menacingly in the hills were rifle-armed Dervishes...




And there were swarms of melee troops hiding on both flanks in the dense jungle and long grass...

(Yes, these are entirely the wrong kind of Dervishes for this time and place, but let's not worry about that right now, okay? What do you mean you wouldn't have noticed if I hadn't said anything? Bugger!)


There were further Dervishes in a location unknown to us in the Belgian team. Either lurking off-table or hiding somewhere in the undergrowth. Added to the tension (and therefore the fun) a little.


Once in range the Askari engaged the enemy riflemen with disciplined volley fire. The machine gun provided support.


I was slightly worried about the Dervishes creeping through the bush and threatening my right flank. After much dithering I decided to send in the cannibals to root them out. They would be outnumbered so I wasn't all that confident in the result, but I thought it better to do something positive than to just sit there fretting and let events unfold on me.


But to my delight those fine young cannibals performed admirably. Not only did they tumble the Dervish hordes into oblivion, but they did it without losing a man. And then they started squabbling amongst themselves about whether to have a Dervish and vegetable stir-fry or a nice traditional Dervish kidney pie.


Meanwhile back in the centre, the exchange of fire was starting to go the way of us Belgians. The volley fire combined with the morale-sapping effect of the machine gun was begining to take its toll on the Dervish riflemen. One flank stoved in, and the centre crumbling, it was looking bad for the Ansar today. But there were still many warriors in play, and we didn't know where half of them were.




Continued...

[bc99]

Why have you done this to me? Now this awesome post is totally going to derail my current attempts at finishing a project and soon I'll have a painting station loaded with orcs, hobbits, and... Belgians!

Great stuff, thanks, love the scenery too!

[n815e]

Trying to maintain focus on WWII...  Trying to maintain focus on WWII...

[Furt]

Beautiful miniatures (as usual) and cool looking game.

Hats off Plynkes - well done.

[Plynkes]

The Mahdists needed to do something quick to turn the situation around. They were losing men both to the long range fire and a steady trickle of warriors were quietly sneaking away from this bloodbath.

An all-or-nothing charge at the Belgian left flank was called for. Unfortunately most of them were cut down by the steady fire of the well-trained Congolese askari.


But give them their due, these Mahdists are brave lads. The survivors kept coming and these remnants crashed into the scouts. But after a sharp fight it was the scouts who emerged triumphant. Nothing was going the Khalifa's way today.

Time to mop up any remaining pockets of resistance. The scouts and the cannibals were both sent forward on their respective flanks with this in mind.


Soon the cannibals ran into the last hidden unit of Dervishes. Maybe they were still feeling bloated from their earlier meal (I couldn't eat another thing!) or with nice full bellies perhaps they didn't have the same appetite for this encounter. Whatever the reason they did not fight so well this time. The Mahdist warriors avenged their comrades and chopped the cannibals into little bits.


The scouts had a better time of it, and continued their good performance by seeing off the last of the Dervish riflemen.

Now came the decisive moment. Over-confident and flushed with sucess, the second squad of Askari had moved forward to help in the mopping up. They were met with a headlong charge by a bunch of screaming fanatics...

As the fight began we realised the result of the whole game would come down to this. If the Belgians lost the fight and were wiped out, combined with the loss of the cannibals and the odd casualty from rifle fire, it would mean we no longer had enough men in play to satisfy the "half our men through the pass" victory condition. After victory had seemed so secure it looked like it would be snatched from our grasp! Yikes!

But it wasn't. The bayonet did good work now, as the bullet had earlier. Disciplined, grim and determined, they would not be denied. Victory! And now the new tenants were well on the way to taking possession of the great prize: Their very own stinking pestilential swamp brimming with discontented religious fanatics. Yay!

All they had to do is wait for Baron Dhanis and the main force, then it's Christmas in Khartoum, and we can cock a snook to both the Brits and the French. Uh, Baron Dhanis? Where are you?

Baron? Shouldn't he be here by now?

Well he didn't show. Turned out that his troops mutinied on him, and now the entire north-eastern Congo was swarming with murderous ex-Askari slaughtering anybody and everybody in their way, and the Europeans all hiding under bushes lest the mutineers decide to chop off their taters for earrings...



So that was that, all Leopold's grandiose dreams of a Sudanese empire come to naught and crumbled into dust. He was out of the race...


Serves him right for cheating.

So just two horses left in the race now. Who will plant their flag and claim Equatoria? (more to the point why would anyone want to?)
  vs.
Digital viewers can watch it live by pressing the red button now.

Well, that's that. I'm done. Maybe some chat about the new T&T rules tomorrow, right now I'm too tired and need to go to bed. But I'll leave you with some shots of the gamers gaming...

[Hammers]

Oh goodie! I'm brewing a cup of coffee and moving over to the comfy armchair to read this...

[Mosstrooper]

Very nice game ! , looking forward to the Colonial supplement coming out , have been thinking of dabbling with T&T in the Indian Mutiny .

[Hammers]

But to my delight those fine young cannibals performed admirably. Not only did they tumble the Dervish hordes into oblivion, but they did it without losing a man. And then they started squabbling amongst themselves about whether to have a Dervish and vegetable stir-fry or a nice traditional Dervish kidney pie.

Ha! 

Did you use some kind of notoriety rule for the cannibals? I read somewhere that the Congo cannibals weren't really on  a steady flesh diet but cultivated this rumor about themselves to big themselves up.

[matakishi]

Bloody Hell, that was quick
Excellent as always, very inspiring, good work that man.

[Driscoles]

I am always delighted how exciting and wonderful  you tell your tales. Always with the right pinch of humor !
Thanks for posting this Plynkes.
Björn

[Steve F]

I'm glad to see the Force Publique following the tradition that all Belgians must take a small white dog with them when travelling abroad.

Lovely stuff.

[Plynkes]

Did you use some kind of notoriety rule for the cannibals? I read somewhere that the Congo cannibals weren't really on  a steady flesh diet but cultivated this rumor about themselves to big themselves up.

No they had no special rule of that sort, but it is a good idea. Perhaps I should have done.

I don't know the truth of the matter of cannibalism. Certainly many tribes cultivated the image to terrify their enemies, and some peoples of this region today claim their forebears were cannibals (and there are reports of it still going on in various modern conflicts in the region). Of course, it might not be true. I seem to recall reading of the cannibal allies of the Belgians eating Congo Arabs during the campaign against them. I think Chris Peers wrote that the Arabs were particularly terrified of suffering such a fate, as they thought they couldn't get into Paradise without a proper burial ceremony. It was certainly thought to be solid fact at the time. This is one of those things that can be a controversial topic in these post-colonial times (some would go so far as to say the whole idea was made up by wicked Europeans to emphasize how barbaric the natives were), and I'm neither properly qualified or have the inclination to get into a deep discussion of that sort.



The new "Volley Fire" rule was fun and interesting. We limited the number of volleys, even though we had a train of porters, as having to make decisions about ammo conservation adds to the fun of playing I think. But due to the presence of the porters we allowed more volleys than the standard number without a baggage train. It can be deadly, and I would say it very much contributed to the Belgians winning the game. Interestingly my first volley conducted by nine askari managed to kill eight enemies (thanks to the re-rolls), but the second time I used it I scored no hits at all, even with all the Volley Fire re-rolls! So even with this deadly power nothing is guaranteed.


The hand-cranked machine gun was also critical to our sucess. Its physical effect was minimal, but its long range and the morale effect it had on the enemy made it something of a battle-winner. The Ansar just didn't want to stick around to face it and it drove them off the left-hand hill, even though it had only actually killed a handful of them.


I think without these two rules the Belgians might have been in trouble. The sheer number of natives probably would have swamped them, had the Ansar players chosen to risk a charge by all their men at once. I like the flavour these additions give to the game, but I think it means I'm going to have to paint more natives or allow Europeans only a small number of volleys. They can be devastating, but they should be. It's a question of balancing things, which is something I'm a bit rubbish at when designing scenarios, it must be said. I didn't bother with points, it was just all my Belgians against all the Ansar. But despite their catastrophic level of casualties the Mahdists came within an ace of winning the game, so I guess I didn't do too bad.


@ Steve F. Between us we Belgian players decided the little dog was either Milou/Snowy's father or grandfather. My colleague said that the commander on the mule was Tintin's dad, but I reckon the ginger fellow helping out with the MG is a more likely candidate. 

[Hitman]

I really like how you had a movie photo and then followed it up with your miniatures photo. Great job!! It looked as if the movie became real life in miniature form. The figures and terrain are also very nice as is the game report. Looks like it was a lot of fun. Thanks for sharing.
Regards,
Hitman
 

[Trooper]

Why, Monsieur Plynkes, you spoil us with these amusing battle reports and your excellent figures.

Cracking stuff as always.

[Red Orc]

 

Great report of what looks like an excellent game. I love the over-arching storyline, and all the little details... this is just fabulous.

Now, why aren't you doing this over on the VSF boards, more specifically in Atlantis (link)? It's not all Imperious Suits and Improbable Automata, you know, there's a lot of guys in Red Coasts (or, in some cases, Blue Coats) standing in lines firing at each other as well. Also, there are no known Belgians, or small white dogs, currently on Atlantis and I think you might be the man who can change that...