The Lost City of Kaara`am A T+T Battle Report

[Driscoles]

Hello,

we played a Darkest Africa game yesterday using the T+T rules. We wanted to find new rules for firing, close combat, events, shaman curses etc.

We were pretty impressed by Plynkes game and also wanted a treasure hunt.

The board was 7" x 4" long, with a river, lots of jungle and a lost city on a hill.
The treasure was somewhere there. It must !

There was also a trading post were the two expeditions hoped for more information.



The Expeditions were led by Lars as Lawrence Deardon Smythe and his  force containing Askaris, Scouts, some bored and rich europeans looking for treasure.

Me was playing Ali Al Ber Lin a Mullah and his followers consisting of Arab riflemen, swordmen and some tribal musketmen.

Both expeditions had about 370 pts.

Grimm was playing the Natives who wanted to keep the intruders hands of the holy city of Kaara`am.

He had a Hero a Shaman two large units of spearmen, Ruga Ruga, Native Musketmen and Bowmen.

All in all about 580 Pts.

At least one native unit had to be placed on the other river side, one could be placed in ambush and the rest around the outpost.





We had six good events on the table. We used markers for them. Whenever one was turned we rolled on a list to find whats happening. The events were things like a good resting place, clear water, fresh fruits. You could reduce supressed markers or heal wounds from casualties.

Anyway...there were also bad things to happen. Therefor we used a poker card game. After every round each player could pick a card from the stack. Whenever a black card  ( 2, 3, 4 to 10 ) was turned he had to find out the event ( which was on a list ) and could play it against another  player.
The list had goodies in it, like the good old venemous snake, killer apes, lions, a marauding elephant bull etc... It was pretty funny....Especially the elephant  

Here at this picture one of Grimms natives is attacked and killed by a killer ape. Nasty creatures...I can tell....



The Arabs are moving carefully through the jungle...From the distance they hear the cracking sound of gun fire.



Lawrence Deardon Smythe was in trouble. He was attacked by wild savages.



The thick and high  gras made long range defensive fire impossible and so the first line of defense was overrun and cut down.

( Reminded me a little bit of the indian attack on the red coats in THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS )

And now the natives are keen on Deardon Smythe glasses...



I was pretty relaxed and my Arabs were good on there heels. We had a little encounter with some native bowmen, killed two and had no casualties. Things were going great. We just have to cross this clearing and there is the outpost...



That was the time when the ambush came on top of us ( ambush ? are we playing with the ambush rule ? )

Yes Björn....We do ...




Grimm unleashed his crack spearmen on my "not so crack" arab riflemen and killed every f*.,= one of them and laughed his evillaughter...



While the natives were having a party my arab swordmen ran a countercharge on them and pushed the tribal warriors  away.

Sorry no picture...I was still grieving on my very expensive riflemen unit. But here is a nice picture of the nature around river Buro.



Deardon Smythe was constantly attacked by natives. His expedition melted down until only his scouts and some rich europeans were left.

My Arabs made it into the outpost... Only four more natives to kill ...



and a Lion....



Deardon Smythes last scout was killed at the river banks by the Tribal Hero.



And finally the last survivors of Deardons expeditions made it also into safety.

After 4 hrs of gaming a lots of laughter, tears and lots of coffee we decided to end the game as a draw. But we will continue the treasure hunt next time.

Thanks to Grimm and Lars. Both had lots of good ideas for new rules. Grimm did some Witchdoctor magic. No fireballs or such. It was more like curses and JUJU magic.

We are also working on a volley fire rule and using supression markers as negative modifiers for close combat.

We used foundry miniatures from there Darkest Africa range. The animals were Ral Partha and plastic stuff. No animal was hurt.

Thanks for reading and I hope we can soon present part two of the adventure.

Cheers
Björn

[Captain Blood]

Another lovely looking table. Sooooo enticing.  :love:

[Plynkes]

Tidy. Awesome-looking table. Juju and curses? Please do tell (or are you saving it for a supplement?).

[Hammers]

Cheers
Björn

Did Grimm dress up for the role as witch doctor  (as I understand is customary in many gaming clubs/conventions) or does he really look like that? :-)

Veryveryvery nice table. i am sick with envy.

[DFlynSqrl]

Great report and awesome looking table.

I also like the random giant ape attack.  That's when you know it's a good game.  

[Le matou rouge]

Like everybody, I'm very impressed by the good-looking table, but I really like the pictures on the wall too  :love:

Thanks for the report (Plynkes is indeed a great inspiration (?)   :wink: )
 
meow,
Matt

[PeteMurray]

Grimm, what is the best thing in life?

"To unleash your spearmen on your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentation of their women."

That is an extremely fun looking game. I don't know why Darkest Africa games make for such fun. Is it the animals? The crazy units? Black-magic-afflicted dice?

I wish I could have joined you. Great report!

[flytime]

Looks great ! I think I´ll have to play another round of T&T as soon as possible.

[Operator5]

I must make time for a T&T game. That looked awesome Bjorn. Besides the great looking board, the beautiful figures, you were having a great time and that's what matters most.

[Helen]

Great report, lovely table and figurines. What I love was the photo of the hand coming out of heaven

Sort of Monty Python don't you think :

Okay, I'll now go and hide my head under the pillow

Thanks for the gaming report.

Helen

[twrchtrwyth]

Lovely looking game, thanks for sharing.

[Malamute]

Great stuff as usual. Very nice terrain, great looking figures, superb scenario

[Gluteus Maximus]

Great report, lovely table and figurines. What I love was the photo of the hand coming out of heaven

Sort of Monty Python don't you think :

Okay, I'll now go and hide my head under the pillow

Thanks for the gaming report.

Helen

 ::  Maybe Grimm is a divine being after all

[Driscoles]

Hello,

thank you all for the kind words !

Plynkes : We can send you some new rules  for playtesting.

Hammershield : Grimm usually looks like that. He constantly carries terrainpieces around.

Matt : Iam a big TinTin fan.  As you might have guessed.
 

Helen : I also thought of Monty Python when I saw this hand.
16 Tons !

Cheers
Björn

[Doomhippie]

It sure was a fun game. Besides playing with two really nice persons the game did indeed bring up many situations where the original rules are a little awkward here and there. But that's the fun part of playing games. You always end up realizing there are limits to a set of rules. As the European player I had hoped to achive more by a more disciplined fire line but it just didn't work out. So we had a discussion afterwards about little details of the rules. Well, Björn certainly got this dreamy look in his eyes when Grimm came up with a few simple yet cool adjustments.

Now it would be unfair to blame the rules for my disastreous performance. Thinking back I think it might just have to do with the fact that I didn't even manage to pass a single morale check after losing close combat. That's what you get if all you think about is shootinhg savages and plundering their holy city.

Well, another costly mistake was standing next to the table full of nicely built terrain. I ended up buying all kinds of terrain material the next day and I'm broke once again. I'll never be able to afford a new computer that way...  :cry: