Askari - several years in the making

[has.been]

First of all Bob, we played not under Rebels & Patriots, but (at your request)
under another set of rules, 'The Men Who Would Be Kings'
 
405 & 406 = The Schutztruppe started the battle concealed in the village.
                    They only came out after the final whistle blew.
407 The bearers pass a herd of Zebra.
408 While Giraffes move slowly passed concealed Germans.
409 Hippos swim downstream, towards the main British boat.
410 & 411 The Elephants close with the wharf. JC (Navy commander) is worried,
                he has had bad run ins with African Wildlife before. Sailors 'Abandon Ship!'
                The Navy concentrates its firepower on this twin attack & manage to drive
                off both the Elephants and Hippos. The Column commander wishes that a
                similar amount of lead was aimed at the Germans.
     

[has.been]

412 = The view from the North ridge, just before the Askari guns opened up.
413 = And from the Southern Ridge, where we see some concealed MG teams.
414/15 = Enraged Elephants attack the compound. The Navy drove them off with
               no loss, but seemed to forget about helping the column.
416/17 = Just to show the wildlife were not all anti-British, the herd of Giraffe
               proceed to amble across the front of the Germans on the Southern ridge.

[has.been]

418 & 419 = The Germans behind the South Ridge form up & advance.
420 = Zebras move away from all the noise.
421 = Giraffes do similar
422 = With the battle all but over, the Schutztruppe finally come out
          of hiding.

Given that the Germans had the advantage of surprise (I thought) the scenario
could be balanced somewhat by:-
1) Giving them 'unreliable' troops (but they, especially on the Southern Ridge,
     proved to be more than adequate)
2) Having the animals randomly move/act/react (The Brits, Navy in particular
    felt they were definitely pro-German)
3) Giving the Brits the chance to talk/plan together as both the column
     and the boat had Radios. (in fact they were only used once in the entire game)
4)  Giving the Navy the largest preponderance of artillery. (One gun was not used
     through-out the game as its officer was 'Short Sighted' & couldn't give a fire
     order above short range! The Germans never came that close. All the guns
     mounted on the boats were not used as the Navy player believed a 'German'
     who said there were no spare crew for them.

The British were also, IMHO hampered by a defensive mentality.

The Column concentrated on running the gauntlet of both German controlled flanks.
Had they moved aggressively against  either one, the other would have had spend
time moving (Not guaranteed given their poor quality Askari) or do their firing at
the less effective long range.

The Navy dug in  at the wharf, & did little else. Had they moved against the Germans
holding the Southern ridge, they would have (at the very least) relieved the pressure
 on the Column, & might have rolled up the Germans there. The Sailors were the
best fighting unit on the table, but never got the chance to show it.

It matters not a pinch of snuff, as a good time was had playing on Bob's lovely table,
while fed & 'watered' by the same Bob, our genial host.

[flatpack]

Sorry Pete.
Typo at my end this morning.
Anyway, nice to roll the dice and have some fun.

[Westbury]

Another glorious British defeat 
Worryingly, both recent defeats have occurred with me and JC in charge - time for a new High Commissioner 
In my/our defence I'm not sure there was much we could do really; the boat was a long way away and we were attacked on both sides by forces we didn't know the quality of. The major draw back of course was that radio messages for help fell on deaf ears!

[MaleGriffin]

WoW! Impressive! Fantastic figures and scenery! Inspirational!

[marianas_gamer]

Excellent, sounds like great fun and better yet you have good stories to slag off each other for years to come!

[flatpack]

Slag each other off ?
We had games from years ago to do that 

[Digits]

Great looking game guys!

[FifteensAway]

Yea-haw and little fishes (or bigger hippos)!  What fun.  Of course, I had to peruse the wildlife before reading the 'competing' reports.  Maybe forty critters in view across the reports - and apparently two species of giraffe (I sympathize, if I hadn't done a major repaint I'd have three species of giraffe in my collection!). 

I suspect the reason for all those smiles at the end of the game had much to do with the wildlife and its interference.  It's one thing to face human opponents in a historical battle - but how do you handle angry animals and still do your duty! 

Loved it all!   

[Golgotha]

Very inspiring - did you need to make any tweaks to the Rebel and Patriot rules - had never considered them for this sort of setting/period but would like to give it a try...

[has.been]

Very inspiring - did you need to make any tweaks to the Rebel and Patriot rules - had never considered them for this sort of setting/period but would like to give it a try...

This time it was TMWWBKs, so fine 'straight out of the box'.
We have used Reb&Pat (which I prefer) On that occasion, if
I recall, very little tweaking only making up a few rules for
Armoured cars. We didn't want them to be too reliable so
the harder you pushed them (i.e faster) the more likely they were
to break down.

[flatpack]

Freshly finished new British gunboat, sneaks into port.


Not used in anger just yet.

[has.been]

Nice close ups Bob. I only remembered when I looked through
my pictures that I had missed it during the game, but to be fair
it was the other end of the table.
 

[Lord Raglan]

Love this thread 👍🏻