New Chris Peers Rules

[Plynkes]

Called Death in the Dark Continent. I read in his article in the new Wargames Illustrated that he was working on something along these lines, so this must be it. It would seem they are designed for larger combats than In the Heart of Africa. So a bit of a step up in scale from the skirmishes of the previous game, then.




North Star has 'em:
http://www.northstarfigures.com/prod.php?prod=194

[Gluteus Maximus]

I see he's showing off by putting those lovely, unobtainable Zanzibari Regulars on the cover     

Hopefully someone will buy a copy soon and give us a proper review of the rules.

Definitely very tempting, though!

[Mors]

I have just ordered , i was going to get some WF Zulus anyway and £42.00 post free for the rules , 60 zulus and 20 brits seems like a reasonable deal . On a side note , can anyone tell me which issue of Wargames Illustrated had Chris Peers WW1 Africa amendments for In the Heart of Africa? 

Thanks

[Plynkes]

Issue 190 (July 2003).

[Mors]

Ohh thanks Plynkes , I will check if I got that issue, if not ebay hopefully

[fairoaks024]

My copy arrived yesterday, fast work from northstar.

First impressions, fairly old fashioned layout, lots of text closely spaced and no illustration.

The rules are larger scale than 'In the heart of africa'  also cover a larger geographical area as previous rules pretty much tied to foundries ranges.
Although still not a 'large battle' set.

army lists aren't too restrictive and command seems realistic for the period.

i'll be trying them out this week to see how they actually play as opposed to how they read.

i am cautiously optimistic.


regards

jim

[axabrax]

Any way we could prevail upon you to list the armies?  Oh, and is there a table of contents this time? (Something that always bugged me about the other Peers rules I have.)

Steve

[fairoaks024]

hi steve,

no contents list or index, though there is a contents list of the armies on page 28.

the armies in order are...

generic villagers
west coast chiefdoms
mandinka
ashanti
dahomey
touareg
hausa-fulani emirates
buganda
azande
jungle cannibals
pygmies
egyptians
turkish slavers
mahdists
ethiopia
warrior herdsman
masai
ruga-ruga
ngoni, sango, bena & shangaan
arabs & swahilis
matabele
zulus & swazis
boers & basters
explorers
naval landing party
british in west africa
british in south africa
french colonial
anglo-egyptian
germans in east africa
force publique
british in east ans central africa.

thats 32 lists, many of which can be used for other tribal groups too,
so a pretty extensive coverage, should be something for everyone in there.

regards

jim

[fairoaks024]

sorry, forgot to say,

the physical quality of the rules leaves something to be desired ( although i may just have got a bad copy.)

they are staple bound and mine is misaligned so one half of the pages are narrow and the other half stick out of the cover quite far, and the pages are in at an angle.

still perfectly usable, butalready page edges are getting ragged from less than a days reading.

hopefully this, as i say, is only my copy and not the whole print run.

regards

jim

[axabrax]

Hey thanks for that. I will now be buying this supplement thanks to your post listing the armies. Wish there was a Sudwester list for the Germans, but I can probably cook one up for myself.

[Poiter50]

I made up an index for In the Heart of Africa, PM me for a copy.

Any way we could prevail upon you to list the armies?  Oh, and is there a table of contents this time? (Something that always bugged me about the other Peers rules I have.)

Steve

[steders]

I skim read the article, are the native troops mounted on multiple bases rather than individually?

[chicklewis]

Everything except cannon and machine guns are mounted on multiple figure bases, but you get to decide how big these are, and how many figures to put on each.

A 'unit' consists of two to eight 'bases'.  You get to decide how many bases to buy for each unit you are allowed.  This decision turns out to be extremely deep and important, as larger units could be more vulnerable but easier to control, while smaller units may be more durable, but won't all be able to fight close enough to the commander to remove disruptions. 

I like the rules quite a bit.  And one can try them out by making rectangles of cardboard and writing troop types on them. 

Chick