Fletcher's Boma part 2Turning the battle into a wargameI wanted to refight this battle using TMWWBKs. I felt given the small number of British using TMWWBKs with the Skirmish kings optional rule was the best bet. First, I need to work out what the two opposing sides looked like. Hopefully the information here could be used to help re-fight this battle with another set of rules if TMWWBKs is not your cup of tea.
The BritishBy 1895 the British forces in the Central African protectorate were really staring to find their feet. The various African irregulars in use in the early 1890s were now becoming uniformed and trained soldiers that the following year would become the Central African Rifles. The initial Indian soldiers 70 Sikh infantry, and a handful of Muslim cavalry, had done sterling service and had been recently replaced by 200 new Sikhs as their enlistments expired. Both these groups were officered by the British both official military men and sometimes important local settlers.
For this battle command was given to Corporal William Fletcher of the Royal engineers I can’t find much information on Corporal Fletcher though I assume he is one of the three Royal engineer NCOs Lieutenant B.L. Sclater R.E brought with him when he was appointed to Harry Johnston’s Staff. It appears that later in 1895 Corporal Flecther is credited with building the Chikala road. Other than that, I don’t know much about him. I suspect he was chosen to lead the little expedition to build a fort for his engineering skills rather than any particular military talent he had. Having said that in this battle we will rate him quite highly as he brought his little command through a battle mostly unscathed and victorious despite the heavy odds.
Accompanying him and seemingly Corporal Fletcher’s number two was an Atonga native Sergeant called Bandwe (let that sink in). Sergeant (in later years Sergeant-Major) Bandwe was an interesting character who later gained some fame after single handedly capturing the Arab Slaver Mlozi. According to Harry Johnston
Bandawe, an ex-mission employee of the Livingstonia mission from (as his name implies) the mission station at Bandawe, Johnston describes Bandawe as ‘the invaluable Atonga sergeant’, and goes on to say that he ‘learnt to play the harmonium quite well; and after one or other of our victories on Nyasa used to make for the nearest mission station with some of his men, and slinging his rifle at his back would sit down and play and sing hymns of triumph.
Another description of Bandwe can be found in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research article RACE AND HIERARCHY IN BRITAIN’S COLONIAL ARMY IN NYASALAND (MALAWI), 1891-1964
The local Nyasa ‘Irregulars’ who were attached to the armed forces in the early 1890s operated under the command of their own Sergeant, Bandawe. Bandawe’s style of leadership owed as much to traditional forms as to modern military structures; one officer noted that ‘before they started they shouted their war cry in a band together, and [Bandawe] danced a war dance in front of them’. However, Bandawe was also a former pupil of Christian missionaries, able to read and write, and had worked as an interpreter prior to joining the Armed Forces. Bandawe’s position was therefore derived from a capacity to act as a cultural intermediary, as well as from his ability to command the loyal following of his irregular troops.
It also seems to have been Sergent Bandwe’s idea to bayonet charge the 2000 strong enemy after the ammunition ran out so for this battle and because of his exploits later in the war against Mlozi we will rate him extremely high in game terms
For the rest of the little expedition, we have six Sikhs and a handful of Atonga soldiers for use in TMWWBKs, using half size skirmish kings units, the most obvious thing is to have one unit of Sikhs and two units of Atonga Askari. With Corporal Fletcher leading the Sikhs, one of the Sikhs and sergeant Bandwe leading the Atonga Askari. The Sikhs should very good regulars constantly showing themselves to far better than the opposition they encountered, while the Atonga soldiers while certainly not as good as the Sikhs, by this point they had combat experience and the benefit of being trained by the Sikhs for several years so I feel should also be rated as regulars. I further back that up with the fact they finished the enemy off with a bayonet charge not something you normal see irregulars to do.
Weapons wise the whole expedition would have been equipped with the ubiquitous Enfield -Snider rifle which despite being thirty years old was still doing sterling service in African colonial conflicts in fact the Central African rifles didn’t get upgraded to Martini-Henry rifles until1899.
We must also mention the relief column they didn’t play a massive part in the battle, but their timely appearance did panic the Yao attackers and give the British a morale boost just as their ammunition was running out. The relief column consisted of two local settlers who operated coffee plantations no doubt tough chaps, who new which end of a rifle was which, as many of these early African settlers were. They brought with them several local Atonga labourers we have no idea what weapons they had during the Karonga war a few years earlier the Atonga labourers working for the African Lakes Company had everything from sniders and muskets to spears and knobkerries they are probably best represent by two units of tribal infantry each lead by a Settler.
I feel like this would be a good time to quickly mention the Boma (fort). We don’t have much to go here other than it was a pole fort which means logs instead of the thorn bush sometimes used in Africa. I did wonder what sort of fort the expedition could have put together in such short time. Interestingly Harry Johnston describes a fort built during an early campaign in his book
Building fort Johnston” We then took advantage of a moonlight night when the moon was half full to work almost twelve hours on end and by the next morning our camp was completely surrounded by mud and sand breastworks behind a revêtement of bamboo”A second description of this early fort can be found in Zambezi Sunrise” by W.D. Gale, Timmins
In the meantime, Johnston and his force were busy fortifying their position. Captain Maguire designed a fort and in six days Fort Johnston was established. It was a circular redoubt with an internal diameter of ninety feet. The centre was occupied by a low circular house used as a provision store and cooking place. The magazine, on the side nearest the river, was dug partly underground and protected by a strong platform of earth heaped over a stout wooden framework. On this platform, which was about eight feet above the level of the fort, a sentry was stationed day and night, looking over the immense stretch of flat plain towards Lake Nyasa. The fort was defended by a rampart of bamboo and sand, surrounded by a deep ditch. It was a secure position.So, it seems something quite substantial could be thrown together in a relatively short time if needed. Below is the stockade at fort hill that was built in the far north of the province but seems like a reasonable design for Corporal Fletcher’s little Boma
For the British then I suggest the following small field force at the Boma. Obviously Corporal Fletcher and Sargeant Bandwe will lead a unit each while Lance Naik Singh is fictious, but it was common practice for Sikhs to lead African troops in the early days of the protectorate. Being based on a historical action I’ve chosen the leadership values and traits already.
Corporal Fletcher – Destined for Greatness, Leadership 5
Sikhs – Regular infantry, Elite, Fierce, Sharpshooters
Sergeant Bandwe – Hero of the empire, Leadership 4
Atonga Askari – Regulars
Lance Naik Singh – Steady, leadership 6
Atonga Askari – RegularsWe also need the relief column who may appear during the game given these were local European settlers and their African labourers rather than actual military units I’m going to assume they had a few guns mixed with spears and tribal weapons and count the relief column as 2 units of tribal infantry
Mr Hinde -Pleasant Manner, leadership 7
Atonga Labourers – Tribal infantry
Mr Starke – A damned fine Fellow, Leadership 7
Atonga Labourers – Tribal infantryChief Kawinga’s ArmyChief Kawinga was Wayao and by this point in the 19th century the average Yao warrior was armed with muzzle loading gun and a knife or small axe. Accounts of fighting between the Yao and the British generally emphasizes that the Yao fought as skirmishers firing from cover or in loose lines. According to Harry Johnston “having dropped to one knee and fired their guns, they hastily retreat and reload their guns, while another rank takes their place”. Yao marksmanship was poor in this battle (in fact in most battles) as like many Africans they tended to aim to high a problem that was compounded by poor quality powder and ball. As well as Kawinga’s own men the army also contained a contingent of fighters from Yao chief Zarafi lead by one of his sons. For game purposes both these groups should be irregular infantry.
Interestingly in this engagement the Nyasaland journal version says this “Contrary to their usual practice, Kawinga’s men charged with great courage, although they were again and again repulsed by the rifle fire of Fletcher’s men”. The decision to charge the British could have simply been because two thousand men figured they could overwhelm less the twenty men easily enough or it might have been because a portion of the army were according to Johnston “many of them recruited from amongst the warlike Anguru of the countries east of Lake Chilwa”. The Nguru (now referred to as Lomwe) may have had a much larger portion of spears in their ranks. The only photos I have found of Lomwe have spears with no guns in sight. It’s possible Kawinga gave his Lomwe recruits muskets, the truth is we don’t know for sure, but for game purposes I think it will add to the game if some of the Lomwe are classed as tribal infantry.
Appearance wise the Yao should generally be depicted in a wrap around skirt or loin cloth with a musket (something like Wargames Foundry’s Askari or tribal musket men). Yao chiefs and important individuals took to dressing like Arabs, so this is useful for showing unit leaders. The Lomwe are the same but liked to braid their hair and ritually scar themselves. Spears seem to have been light suitable for throwing (Foundry tribal spearmen would do the job)
From a game point of view Kawinga isn’t really going to run out of men and destroyed Yao units should just be recycled because of this it doesn’t seem worth giving Yao units named leaders or leadership traits. In fact, Kawinga himself doesn’t seem to have got anywhere near the fighting while the only other leader of note, one of Zafari’s sons, might have been involved as he was captured and later beheaded. Instead, we will just class all Yao units as leadership 7 with an unnamed leader (ideally dressed like an Arab or Ruga-Ruga for easy identification).
The percentage of irregular infantry to tribal warriors should heavily favour the irregular infantry but it will probably depend on what miniatures you have available.
Yao warriors – Irregular infantry, poorly armed, poor shots
Lomwe Warriors – Tribal infantryTable set upWe don’t really have much of a description of the battlefield other than the British had built a small Boma along the route to the mission station at Domasi. The attack took place in spring which is rainy season so the area should look quite green and lush. I’d suggest putting the boma in the middle of the table with a track or road nearby then place several clumps of brush and rocks around to give the Yao some cover. Here is an example I came up with for my game.
Ways to Play the Battle
To try and give this game a flavour of the real battle we will need a few scenerio specific rules. If you are playing this as a two player game I sugest the Yao player gets 10 units ideally 8 units of Irregular infantry and 2 units of tribal infantry but if you need to change the percentange to suit you miniature collection it shouldn’t be a massive issue. As a multiplayer game I’d give one player the British and divided the Yao up as evenly possible. I think you can play this battle solo as well but ill add some notes on altering the Mr Babage rule at the end of this article.
Which ever way you are playing the three British units should start the game inside the walls of the boma. If you are playing two player the Yao player can divide his units between the north, east, south and west table edges in any combination he wants. In a multiplayer game give each player a table edge to deploy on.
The Yao player as the attacker goes first
The boma counts as hard cover for anyone inside the walls and as an obstacle for anyone trying to enter or exit the Boma over the wall. British units can enter/ exit via the boma gate with no penalty. The brush and rocks count as soft cover and difficult terrian for the three british regular units but not for the Yao or relief column units.
Any Yao units that are destroyed can be recycled back into play until the turn the British relief column arrives. After that the Yao must fight the rest of the battle with whatever units they have left. Recycled units in a two player game arrive the, turn after they where destroyed, on a randomly rolled table edge in a multiplayer game they arrive on the table edge of the player that controls them place them after the roll for the relief column but before the turn starts.
From turn 4 on the british player rolls one D6 for the relief column. Roll before each turn starts the column arrives on a 6 on turn 4, 5+ on turn 5, 4+ on turn 6 down to a minium of 2+
When the relief column arrives randomly roll to see which table edge they apper on they can be activated as soon as they are deployed
The arrival of the relief column will also signal the British regular units running out of ammunition. For the rest of the game the three british units can only fight with bayonet and are not allowed to fire for the rest of the game (time to give the Yao cold steel)
The arrival of the relief column had an adverse impact on Yao and boosted the morale of the defenders. From the turn it arrives all Yao units become Discpline -1 while all British units become Discpline +2 for the rest of the game.
The Yao win if they can wipe out all the British units currently on the table (ie they don’t have to wipe out the relief column if they havent yet made it on to the table). The British win if the drive the Yao off by destroying or routing all units on the table (ie reycled Yao units that didn’t make it back on the table don’t count).
Playing Solo with Mr Babbage
Mr Babbage is an execellent set of solo rules that I’ve enjoyed using. The biggest issue, using them to solo game this historical battle, is native units have a chance to appear whenever colonial units move in this particular battle the colonial units have no reason to leave the protection of the Boma and consequetly no Yao units would appear. So for this game we need to change the way the yao units appear on the table after that they can be run using normal Mr Babbage rules and table 2 native actions.
To deploy the Yao we will divide the table in to four quarters of North,South, East and West (see map) each turn. At the start of each turn, until the British relief column arrives at which point no more Yao will deploy, for each quarter roll two d6 a 4,5 or a 6 indicates a unit of Yao has deployed to find out were in the quarter they have deployed roll a d6 and consult the table below. I suggest the Yao begin with a pool of ten units off table you can use any mix of Yao irregular and Lomwe tribal infantry ideally there should be more Yao than Lomwe
1-2. unit of Yao irregular infantry deployed in the middle of the table edge
3-4. unit of Yao irregular infantry deployed 6” from the middle of the boma wall
5. unit of Yao irregular infantry deployed in cover (dice randomly to decide which patch of cover they deploy in.
6. unit of Lomwe tribal warriors deployed in cover (dice randomly to decide which patch of cover they deploy in.
If you don’t have the correct type of unit just swap it out for the unit type you have available, you can keep adding Yao units to the table until your pool of ten units is used. You don’t need to use Mr Babbage’s Native Recycling table any destroyed Yao units are immediately added back into the Yao pool of units and can return to the battle until the turn the British relief column arrives at which point no more Yao will appear and destroyed units (and any units still in the Yao pool) will no longer return to the table. At that point the game will end when either the British or Yao are destroyed or fled the table.
23 December 2008, 02:11:59 AM
