Unyamwezi - The Land of the Moon

[Romark]

Excellent 

[Plynkes]

The left horn, forgetting any idea of coordinated tactics, burst out upon the Arab flank, the Groin-Rippers leading the way.





While Nomba's men cautiously continued their advance under fire down the centre.





The Groin-Rippers steeled themselves, ready to charge...




What a load of Balochs.

But before they got the chance, Rameez Hasan, commander of the Baluchis, wanting to seize the iniative and confident in the swordsmanship of his men, ordered them to charge first.





A ferocious melee ensued.





On the other flank, the sounds of battle made the already jittery Wa-Ngwana several shades jitterier.* Waiting for the now out-of-sight Tuta right horn to descend upon them was playing on Sidi Bangalore's nerves. A notorious coward, he was frantically racking his brains for a pressing reason to be ten miles away. Only the manic screaming of the normally genial sheikh kept him and his men in their place.


*I didn't think "jitterier" was even a word, but Firefox's built-in spellchecker doesn't seem to have a problem with it.




The melee seemed to be turning against the Baluchis, so they extricated themselves and pulled back.

(In the background there we can see Nomba's Window-makers, who were by now starting to take a few casualties from the cannon fire.)






Just when they thought they were out of it, the Baluchis were charged by the Bringer of Tears. His fierce veterans tore into the flagging Baluchs.






By the end of the fight only two remained. Rameez Hasan had fallen in battle. His tale was over. Things were looking bleak.



One more of these to come, I think...

[Clearco]

This is really a PLEASURE to see, Plynkes! 

[marianas_gamer]

So great to see you back in the game! Wonderful table, minis, and very amusing narration. You are at your best in Africa.
Lon

[Plynkes]

Surprisingly, things settled down now on the Arab right flank. Despite being outnumbered, and their leader being as blind as a bat, Mussoud bin Sayf's men managed to keep all three of the enemy's units in the vicinity at bay. Disciplined musketry was keeping them pinned down and at arms length. Hmmmm. More about that later.




As the day drew on and the shadows lengthened, over on the other side of the battlefield, the Tuta right horn was emerging from its long flank march through the dense bush.





They burst into the open, but Sheikh Hamdan was confident that the combined firepower of the cannon and the Wa-Ngwana could prevent them from closing. But he reckoned without Sidi Bangalore. The dirty coward took one look at the bright spears of the approaching enemy and pissed all down his own leg. He wasn't getting paid enough for this malarkey and so he hastily pulled his men back out of the enemy's charge range.





He had abandoned his comrades manning the cannon, and by themselves they had no chance. The despicable recreant had condemned them to a horrible death, and they went down in a fury of terrifying stabbing.

Sheikh Hamdan, who never wanted much more out of life than pleasant company and conversation, would never again sit on his veranda drinking coffee and regaling his guests. He had fallen, killed by the very men he himself had hired to solve the region's violent problems. Idiot.





Now was the turn of the Young Bulls. They were eager to wash their spears, for the other bands had won glory this day and they had none. They pursued the fleeing Wa-Ngwana enthusiastically.





They say fear gives men wings, but the Young Bulls were indeed young, and fit too, and they were in no mood to let their prey escape. They had no desire to be shown up in front of their more experienced brethren. They wanted blood and fell mercilessly on the Wa-Ngwana. Sidi Bangalore's cowardice had not availed him at all. He could not escape the fate he had been imagining for himself all day. Far better would it have been to have met this end bravely in the beginning than die this ignominious coward's death, surely?

Well, yes. But that's easy for me to say sat here at the keyboard in this warm comfy room, miles from any danger. Judge him not too harshly. He could not overcome his nature (which had been decided for him by a bad die roll at the start of the game).






Meanwhile Mussoud's Arabs had successfully kept their foes at arm's length with their firepower. As the sun dipped below the hills they prepared for a last stand if the horns moved to envelope them. But the Tuta were exhausted and demoralized, and nightfall brought an end to the engagement. The Tuta were content to slink away with the cattle they had. The casualties they had suffered were probably bad enough for them to call an end to the whole business. So the Arabs, who were also in possession of the field had reason to feel like winners. But it was at such a cost that there would be much weeping and wailing in Kazeh for months to come.


Going strictly by victory points the Tuta won the game. They had stolen enough cattle and killed enough Arabs to edge it. But the Arabs had done well to survive such an onslaught with any men left at all, even though they were almost wiped out.



Next: Thoughts on The Men Who Would be Kings and its suitability for gaming this kind of endeavour.

[Captain Blood]

Great stuff. A return to form in some style Plynkes

[Plynkes]

Thanks for all the comments, guys.  

So, let's see if I can order my thoughts on The Men Who Would Be Kings into some sort of coherent structure. I must admit, my feelings are mixed. I was very much looking forward to playing it, on the page it seemed perfect. But that feeling didn't quite survive the transition to the tabletop.


What I Liked

Leader Traits  - Absolutely loved these. Massoud's short-sightedness, Sidi Bangalore's filthy cowardice, Nomba's contempt for his own men, Sheikh Ramdan's pleasant and genial nature, (even though it had no bearing on the actual mechanics of the game) all these things brought the leaders to life as characters and allowed us to weave our own little story. You might say that the coward trait lost the Arabs the day, but we were having so much fun with this aspect of the rules that we didn't mind at all.

Fast Play - The game rattles along at a nice pace, with streamlined mechanics that also feel like they have a bit of depth lurking beneath the simple surface. I don't have the patience for endless charts and tables or complicated procedures these days. For me fast, simple play is good.

Activation Rolls - I was a little wary of TMWBK's I Go, You Go aspect, as that is something I had largely left behind in gaming a long time ago. But having to roll to activate your units mitigates this somewhat, as you're never quite sure they're going to actually do anything , and this is dependent on their quality and the quality of their leader. The kind of friction this causes mixes things up a bit and I like that. Well, mostly. This is a double-edged sword I think, for this one makes an appearance in the "What I didn't Like" section too, as you will see almost immediately.


What I Didn't Like

Activation Rolls - Yeah, I know I said I liked them, but there are problems. I like the idea that the different troop types have certain activities that they can always do, and some they have to roll to do. Firearm-based troops can always fire, melee-based warrior-types always get to move. It plays to their strengths. But there is a certain unbalancing aspect to this, I think. In practice your firearm guys always get to inflict harm on their foes no matter how lousy, ill-trained or incompetent they are. But warriors, always have to roll to make that charge, as attacking isn't a free action. So unlike gun-armed troops, they always have to make a roll to inflict harm, no matter how disciplined or experienced they are. And that leadership roll can be a real bitch to pass sometimes. This seems slightly off to me. And it combined with my next point to almost ruin our game...

Pinning and Rallying - It is ridiculously easy to inflict pinning results on enemy units if you have firearms. And when pinned you are effectively out of the game for a turn, for the only option you then have is to rally. And that brings on the next thing: Rallying. While getting pinned is trivially easy, getting out of that situation is much, much harder.

So we reached a point in the game where a single unit, and the two survivors of another unit, managed with their fire to keep at bay about four times their number. And every time a unit was lucky enough to rally it immediately got pinned again. And on those rare occasions when it wasn't pinned at the start of its own turn and so could actually try to charge its tormentors, it would fail to activate. In this manner three near-full strength units were whittled down to almost nothing, and they had nothing they could do to get out of this predicament.

Now if the shooters had been disciplined European regulars, this would have been a perfectly acceptable result. That's exactly the kind of thing modern rifles did to native forces. But they weren't. They were extremely crappy irregulars with shitty muskets. This felt wrong, and more importantly removed fun from the game and replaced it with frustration. I think firearms in the hands of such forces are a bit overpowered, and perhaps some tinkering is required to get a better result (both in the sense of being fun, and of being more historically accurate).

I'd be interested if anyone else has come across this, and what if any, their solutions have been. But as it stands it doesn't feel to me that these rules are all that suitable for such Darkest Africa battles that are essentially native vs. native. My gaming pal Sickly reckons it may simply have been a long string of unlucky rolls, and that we should give it a few more goes. He may be right, but I'm not so sure, and am already halfway to looking for another rule set.



This is part of the reason my project has stalled. I was entirely set on using TMWBK, but now the wind has gone out of my sails, and I am unsure how best to proceed. Any insight from fellow LAFers on this issue would be most welcome.

[FifteensAway]

Very nice looking game - and I shall come back later to investigate closer your response to the rules.

More importantly, your game earns a 15 point 'Critter Score'!  Five points, for the rhino, one point each for the eight cattle.  And?  Well, two points for skull!   Yee-haw!  

Edit: "They are quite easy to miss, but careful examination of the photos will reveal that there were also three baboons on the table. Do they score points?"

Upon further review (and after the author's very broad hint), additional points are due - but how many points for 'camouflaged' critters?  Normally I'd award three baboons five points each...hmm....    Maybe, in this instance, three points each for a nice round score of 24!  

[Hammers]

A beautiful game, Dylan! And I am sure worthwhile playing, depsite a few frustrations.

[Plynkes]

More importantly, your game earns a 15 point 'Critter Score'!  Five points, for the rhino, one point each for the eight cattle.  And?  Well, two points for skull!   Yee-haw! 

They are quite easy to miss, but careful examination of the photos will reveal that there were also three baboons on the table. Do they score points? 

[robh]

I was entirely set on using TMWBK, but now the wind has gone out of my sails, and I am unsure how best to proceed. Any insight from fellow LAFers on this issue would be most welcome.

Have you considered taking the really good Character Traits from TMWBK and adding them to something like "Triumph and Tragedy" or "Heart of Africa"?  I think they would be a great fit, especially for T&T.

Lovely looking game and table, good to see your collection in action again.

[Plynkes]

I was sort of hoping for a fresh start with new rules, for this new lease on my wargaming life. I have enjoyed both those rule sets in the past, and while I wouldn't go quite so far as saying I was exactly tired of them, I am in the market for a change. I want something new rather than going back to my old reliables.

But that certainly bears thinking about, if I can neither find anything else I like, nor iron out my differences with TMWBK.

[Arundel]

Mind you, I haven't actually seen them, but would Congo work for this project? They seem to be awfully popular these days...

I greatly enjoyed your report. As the others have said, your table looks gorgeous! I think my favourite has to be that rather astonishing baobob tree. Love it! 

Back with rules: Just curious, have you ever tried Mr Mersey's Lion Rampant rules? They share some of the rules philosophy behind TMWWBK. I only ask as I'm gearing up for a project centred on them and would be interested to learn if you have the same reservations regarding the Medieval set.

[Codsticker]

I was sort of hoping for a fresh start with new rules, for this new lease on my wargaming life. I have enjoyed both those rule sets in the past, and while I wouldn't go quite so far as saying I was exactly tired of them, I am in the market for a change. I want something new rather than going back to my old reliables.

But that certainly bears thinking about, if I can neither find anything else I like, nor iron out my differences with TMWBK.

I think 3 games is the test threshold for me. If at that point there are things that I can't easily work around then perhaps the rules are not for me.

[Phil Robinson]

Superbly wonderful  thank you for posting this my good man. You have inspired me not to sell my Darkest Africa collection.