T&T - Advice please on how to start an African Jungle Explorer Expedition

[H.M.Stanley]

Hi. I have the T&T Rules and the Colonial Supplement.

I'm wanting, as the title suggests, to see if the rules will allow me to do an Explorer Expedition in Africa with Congo Cannibals etc providing the foes. I have some Explorer figures, Askari and a reasonable number of baggage bearers which i've multi-based. I'm planning on pickng up about 50 Native figures next week.

I've played only the one game so far but don't really have a handle on the rules yet.

Any advice about how to go about it would be very much appreciated.

Many thanks

James

[James Morris]

This sounds like an interesting project and is definitely do-able with T&T.  T&T is very versatile and quite forgiving of tinkering.

To start with your expedition, obviously your lead explorer would be (I hope!) a Hero.  Give him an ability like Crack Shot (if he's gun-happy like the real Stanley) or something else appropriate, perhaps also a morale ability like Steady to help rally his Askaris around him.  

Other explorers could also be Heroes, though more than two in a force will probably be overkill.  You could group them into a very small unit rated as Veterans, perhaps.  T&T recommends various unit sizes but I've had plenty of good games using some small units for specific purposes.

Askaris will probably work well in units of 8-10 (maybe even as low as 6).  Depending on your opinion of them you could rate them as Trained or maybe even Raw, or a mixture of both.  If you have a tried and trusted unit it could be rated as Veteran, but I'd limit it to one.

As for the opposition...I'm no expert on the Congo cannibals but they would surely merit a trait such as Aggressive (from the Colonial Supplement.)  However, if you want loads of them, they don't want to be too handy. Raw might be a fair categorisation for many of the warriors, with one or two Trained units representing the braver/older warriors.  Unit size would probably be best at a minimum of 10 models, maybe 12.  Naturally they will need a Hero to lead them as well.

Hope that's of some use.

Cheers

James

[James Morris]

Here's also a rough idea for two forces that I think would play well against each other, depending on scenario etc:

EXPLORERS
Lead explorer - 1 x Hero - rifle/ pistol
Other explorers - 3 x Veterans - rifles
Brave Askaris - 8x Trained Soldiers - rifles
Local Askaris - 8 x Raw Soldiers - rifles or muskets
(maybe an extra Local Askaris 8 x Raw Soldiers)
Baggage carriers - need protecting - anyone though of some rules for these?

CANNIBALS (caveat: based on no research whatsoever)
Chief - 1 x Hero
Experienced warriors - 10 x Trained Warriors
Cannibals - 12 x Raw Warriors
Cannibals - 12 x Raw Warriors
Cannibals - 12 x Raw Warriors

Just some ideas. I'm sure others have much better ones!

[Westfalia Chris]

I think James' outlines for the two forces are very good, and you could do far worse than use those for some starter games to get acquainted with the rules.

As for further suggestions, apart from supplemental rules writing, editorial work and proofreading, I must admit I've not had too much experience with the colonial rulebook except for some playtesting. That said, I think it would be easy enough to use the "Pack Trains and Transport Units" rules (p9ff. in the Colonial Supplement), and have two or three bearers in place of the pack animals suggested. H.M. Stanley, you mentioned your bearers being multi-based, so depending on the number of figures on each base, you could have one to three multibases for the baggage train. Just make sure you keep track of individual casualties some way or other.

In one of the playtesting games, we used a ratio of 1 wagon equals 2 carts equals four pack animals equals 8 bearers, which is the same as found in the book (minus the bearers, as the wars portrayed in the book made greater use of the animal and vehicle baggage variety). In addition to the actual transport unit(s), your baggage train also contains a guard contingent of 5-10 infantry.

As for the "other explorers", I am currently (well, since late autumn 2009, cough cough) building a German East Africa mixed column of Marines, Sailors, and Askaris, and intend to use the extra European characters as "Leader" models for the native units.

[H.M.Stanley]

Thank you Gentlemen!

Stealing your ideas, and James' lists in particular [i'm grateful] i have in mind just the one, perhaps two, Explorers only one of which would be a Hero. Bearing in mind i don't know the how the "lables" affect each unit in the games as yet ....

Askari, for me, would be Trained at best, more likely Raw. One unit of each sounds fine; Raw outnumbering Trained.

The Bearers in some shape or form are a must & should outnumber the Askari, as i'm looking at 1860/1870 which is a little earlier than the T&T rules generally. I have some pack animals in there with them too. More OG Bearers are on order to mix with my Foundry. I'd be happy to mark casualties until i can remove a base etc. I only have 2 x Bearer figures to a 40x40mm base at the moment [and 9 bases of them] but the bases and figures on them will increase when i get those extra OG. They should be Raw

The Cannibals, or certainly mine, should be Aggressive [ive no idea about the game effect but it sounds right] as i'm thinking Soko of the Upper Congo - even if that means limiting some of their numbers. One of their unit being Veterans makes a lot of sense. No firearms for these either as its not how i want to use them. Ambush rules then?

My figures are based but not painted as yet so i have some time to have a think about how i want to use them.

My Askari are Copplestone Shuttentruppe & East African Askari so they can in time change to a more, erm, puniative type German force for variety

Time to study the rulebooks perhaps but that's a great start.

Thanks again

[Westfalia Chris]

I would suggest starting small, maybe two units of infantry and a hero, to get a feel for the flow of the rules. The rest should develop naturally.

As for the bearers, there is obviously nothing to stop you using more than the "basic" eight bearers. It will certainly make the game more challenging if you have to guard and control a whole bunch of not necessarily enthusiastic folks who carry you essential equipment (notably ammunition, although you could include rules for supplies and water if you play in a campaign context). Do what you think feels right. Raw Quality is perfectly good, they are no soldiers, afterall, and cannot fight themselves, anyway.

As for unit qualities, that again is up to you. We have found that the game works best if you limit the higher qualities quite restrictively, e.g. to a maximum of one unit of each type, and depending on the setting using no "Elites" at all; usually, we have a single "Veteran" unit per force, although you could change that for special scenarios or, again, for a campaign, where a unit could be "promoted" for a number of "points", e.g. surviving with less than 25% casualties while inflicting more damage on the enemy, securing an objective, or something similar. This is obviously a bit dependent on how familiar you feel with the rules, but African Adventures lend themselves to that kind of mini-campaign in quite a nice way. My point is to focus indeed on Raw and Trained troops, although too many Raw units are quite tricky to handle, too.

As for the time frame, I certainly wouldn't worry about that as long as you keep the weapon selection "historical", i.e. limit the higher-quality firearms quite strictly to the Europeans, and have muskets or even "export muskets" for the native troops.

[H.M.Stanley]

Thanks WC

All sound advice. I'll have to have a think about the Bearers - too many non-combat folk could be problematic i suppose, but for me, Porters/Bearers are an essential part of the period i.e. bogging off at the drop of a hat. Well i would .... Perhaps 2 x Pack animal's worth then, but count the 8 x[multi] base as a single "figure" for aesthetics only

[Plynkes]

I don't see a problem with counting bases instead of figures if you want to do it that way. Some of the slaves in my Zanzibari caravan army are multi-based and I shall not be worrying about tracking separate casualties, I shall just treat each base as a single entity however many figures it has on it (they're roped together anyway, so if one gets hit the other isn't going anywhere).

It will certainly make the game more challenging if you have to guard and control a whole bunch of not necessarily enthusiastic folks who carry you essential equipment...

If you read the accounts of explorers, for many of them this was their main headache, more of a pain in the arse than either disease or unfriendly locals. The askari too (if you can separate them, there was often a thin line between the askari and porter job description, a lot of porters were armed, though sometimes only with melee weapons). Insubordination, jettisoning or losing their loads (either accidentally or on purpose) demands for more pay, causing trouble with the locals over theft or women (or theft of women), sit-down strikes and refusing to go on, and very commonly, desertion. Arab caravans were generally mostly slaves, so they had the threat of the lash to keep discipline. European explorers had free porters being paid a wage. The porters knew they had the power of withdrawing their labour, and they exploited it to the hilt to try and fleece as much as possible out of the explorers.

Rules for unruly underlings might be better left for a campaign system, but it might be fun to have some unreliability built in to them using event cards or something actually during a game.

[H.M.Stanley]

And there's another thought - my Pathans as Zanzibari Slavers!! [what can i say, i'm a purist]

Thanks for the comments about multibases. So, 8 bases of Bearers with the Guards/Askari not having to "babysit" (unlike with Pack animals) but not allowed to stray too far from them?

Mr Morris - how many points were your example list to? I'm painting NWF at the moment as i'm determined to finish at least one project

Thanks
James

[Plynkes]

I've played games where we didn't use the rule where baggage elements have to be accompanied, mostly because that rule didn't exist at the time. Certainly makes sense for porters, as opposed to donkeys or camels. This isn't official rules, but I think you could have porters move about without an escort, but if you risk it and decide to have no guard they are automatically captured if overrun. So you have to make the choice whether to waste men guarding the baggage who could be in your front line. The more tactical choices you have to make, the more fun the game is, as far as I'm concerned.

Or you could treat them as a normal fighting unit (that happens to be carrying the baggage), just one that is pretty crap at fighting.

A coffle of slaves would obviously need guards, though.

Pathans as Zanzibaris? Why not? (Though if you have any in poshteens they'll likely get a bit bleedin' hot! )

[Driscoles]

Very interesting thread.
I think there will be no problem to use the T+T rules for Darkest Africa.
We played lots of games using the rules.

As a guideline I suggest the following for the explorers

1 Hero
2 Leaders
1 Unit 6 to 10 miniatures Askaris ( Raw or trained )
1 Unit 6 to 10 Miniatures Askaris ( Trained )
1 Unit Bearers ( raw ) as baggage train accompanied by 2 to 4 armed askaris.

Using more ( 4 to 5 ) units on each side allow the game more tactical depth.

For scenarios I suggest the use of random encounters with animals, threats of all kinds ( native curses, traps, forgotten cities, swamps, random events with native hunting parties or villages etc. ) 

Have fun
Björn

[H.M.Stanley]

Thanks Bjorn - i really need to read the rules 

"...Pathans as Zanzibaris? Why not? (Though if you have any in poshteens they'll likely get a bit bleedin' hot! )" 

I was thinking of a 3rd force with the Explorers and Natives. I don't have any troops wearing budgie-smugglers but i'll make sure they leave the fur coats at home

[James Morris]

Mr Morris - how many points were your example list to? I'm painting NWF at the moment as i'm determined to finish at least one project

Thanks
James

Points?  I have to confess I don't use the points system at all!  Once you've played a few games you get a good feel for what makes a fair game,  It's the usual caveats with Colonials (which I think the T&T Colonial Supplement supports well with the Traibal Traits): don't play a game with sword and spear-armed natives attacking Colonial forces over flat ground!  Use interesting scenarios where the Colonial forces' advantage of equipment is balanced by other factors. 

[H.M.Stanley]

Points?   I have to confess I don't use the points system at all!  Once you've played a few games you get a good feel for what makes a fair game,  It's the usual caveats with Colonials (which I think the T&T Colonial Supplement supports well with the Traibal Traits): don't play a game with sword and spear-armed natives attacking Colonial forces over flat ground!  Use interesting scenarios where the Colonial forces' advantage of equipment is balanced by other factors.  

To put it a different way then & with your original lists in mind, would Hidden Foe, Throwing Spears & Aggressive (on the one Warrior unit) tip things too far in favour of the Natives?

[Driscoles]

I do not use points either. They are just a guideline for beginners and a little help for gamers who need a point system.

It depends on what tabletop you fight. Open field of fire- advantage for the whites even if the natives have the skills.
Lots of cover. Advantage natives. No matter what skills they have.

The skill rules are  for the colonial flavour and to differ the  natives. They also can have impact on a game. I found out in recent games that the "throwing Spears" rules are a mighty thread to the white units. Especially when the units are small and the native units are  big.

In my NWF games I used the Hidden Foe rule  for the Pathans. But to win a game I had to move my other units. So only one unit was held back on higher ground and sent fire down to the British.

One rule that made a difference between victory and loss is the Brave rule. Raw units are a little bit improved and I think this reflects the willingness to sacrifice of native raw troops.

Anyway... I hope you will have fun.