Death in the Dark Continent and the British South Africa Company (BSAC)

[Helen]

So guys, my latest thoughts has me looking at this period (Dylan is probably saying another convert!) and the BSAC. Why you ask? Australian volunteers my dear chaps.  

A couple of questions for the learned folk out there who use the rules:

a. Are the rules fun to use?

b. If I was using the BSAC against the Matabele how many miniatures would I need for both sides? Important note due to budget. Rough figures quite okay.

For the folks who are very keen for the period are you aware if Nick has further plans for the range.

Thanks for your comments.

Cheers,

Helen
(The Converted)

[Plynkes]

Ooh, I hope you do. I want to see your painted figures. I own the rules set (out of curiosity more than anything) but haven't actually played it, so I can't say if it is fun or not. It uses two or three figures based on a stand, and my collection is all based singly, so I probably won't be trying it out any time soon (though of course it is possible to get around these issues).

Looking at the army list I reckon you're going to need 150+ Matabele figures, maybe less if you have more skirmisher units (they have 2 figures to a base whereas warriors have 3) or a full compliment of elites (as they will eat up more of your points allocation as they cost more). Haven't quite got my head around the BSAC list yet, as it is a generic "British in South Africa" list and a bunch of the things on it aren't available if you are building a BSAC force. I'll get back to you on that.


Don't bank on these numbers though, I'm rubbish at doing maths in my head. I may well have made a total mess of it.   If you can wait until later when I'm not at work I can draw up two sample armies for you and then we can do a head count.

[Mac]

I have them, I played them and they work. I don't know why but I found them a little dry after a while. also a couple of the scenarios don't seem to have been play tested.

I have since moved on to Black Powder. I have also since got a Matabele army mostly painted.

here is a game report.

http://macslittlefriends.blogspot.com/2009/10/death-in-dark-continent-first-game.html

[Helen]

Thanks Dylan and Mac for your replies and comments.

Dylan, I notice from Nick's store that there are downloads of lists, additional rules, further suggestions to the rules an amendments.

From Northstar's Rugga Rugga Publications Death in the Dark Continent" downloads:
"LIST 21). MATABELE, & 22). ZULUS. Elite Warriors with breech-loaders should cost 12 points, not 14.
LIST 21). MATABELE. Under the Rudd Concession of 1889 the British agreed to provide Lobengula with 1,000
Martini Henrys, which he seems to have kept under his control and issued to units on the most critical battlefronts.
The result was that in some battles the Matabele had more breech-loaders than their British opponents. The present
rule that up to a quarter of the musket-armed troops can be re-equipped with breech-loaders does not really reflect
this, so replace it with the following:

After 1889, any or all musket-armed Skirmishers and Elite Warriors may replace their muskets with breech-loaders
(12 points per base if Elite Warriors, 8 points if untrained Skirmishers).

This also gives the Matabele army a bit more distinctiveness, rather than just being a “poor man’s Zulu”, and the
combination of Elite Warriors with breech-loaders should be fairly deadly, especially against native opponents.
Unfortunately the heavily armed gunboat on the Zambezi which Lobengula was also promised does not seem to
have materialised!"

Naturally, some reference material would be handy for this period. Suggestions please!

Thanks Mac for the gaming report. I read this yesterday from another site.

I'm not into painting hordes of red coated Englishmen, but something a little different where you can have a little fun.
Cheers,

Helen

[Plynkes]

Did you ever catch the mini-series Rhodes, Helen? As I recall it had a few Matabele war action scenes...



I'll get on to those army lists in a bit, I promise. It's been a long day.    I have noticed that for the BSAC list the troops are mostly light horse, so you will need mounted and dismounted stands for everybody, doubling the size of the army. A bit unfortunate if you are on a tight budget. There is also now a separate list on the North Star site specifically for the second war, which has a somewhat different character.

I don't really have any specific recommendations for this setting, I'm afraid. It isn't an episode in our history I have looked into in any detail beyond the broad strokes of Pakenham's The Scramble for Africa.


Those are some great pics, Mac. I enjoyed your report. Hope you'll post some more pics of your collection some time.

[Helen]

Did you ever catch the mini-series Rhodes, Helen? As I recall it had a few Matabele war action scenes...

I'll get on to those army lists in a bit, I promise. It's been a long day.    I have noticed that for the BSAC list the troops are mostly light horse, so you will need mounted and dismounted stands for everybody, doubling the size of the army. A bit unfortunate if you are on a tight budget. There is also now a separate list on the North Star site specifically for the second war, which has a somewhat different character.

I don't really have any specific recommendations for this setting, I'm afraid. It isn't an episode in our history I have looked into in any detail beyond the broad strokes of Pakenham's The Scramble for Africa.


Those are some great pics, Mac. I enjoyed your report. Hope you'll post some more pics of your collection some time.

Thanks Dylan for replying.  I don't think I've seen the mini-series. I'll look at it later. If memory serves me correctly was Martin Shaw a main character?

I think I'll just use dismounted miniatures for the moment and work on the cavalry later. Maj Wilson will be mounted.

Enjoy the remainder of the evening.

Cheers,

Helen

[Plynkes]

Looking at the Matabele list, if you go for lots of expensive options like the elites with modern guns you mentioned above, you can get the army down to less than a hundred figures, assuming a standard 300pt army. But it is probably a distortion of historical forces, and not reflective of actual armies. It has only one unit of melee troops, and three with rifles. For a more balanced army with a decent amount of hand to hand fighters, I still think we are looking at somewhere between 100 and 150, maybe more, depending on how many gun-wielding guys you want, and how good you want them to be. But it is possible to have an army of less than 100 figures that obeys the army list rules.

I'll have a look at the BSAC options tomorrow.


Yes, Martin Shaw played Rhodes. Amazon.co.uk have it for about nine quid. I seem to remember enjoying it at the time, but it was a while ago, and I can't remember too much about it. I may get myself a copy.

[Helen]

Thanks Dylan. I've ordered the rules through Nick as a starter plus the osprey on Queen Victoria's Enemies - South Africa. I appreciate your time on this.

Cheers,

Helen

[Plynkes]

The smallest gameable BSAC force you can get for the points would be about 24 guys (2 units of six stands, or three of four - Light Horse just have two guys to a stand whether mounted or dismounted) plus a Maxim gun. The Maxim gun eats up a lot of points, thus reducing the number of figures you need to buy. Or you could afford a couple of light field guns instead of the Maxim. There is a compulsory "native contingent" element to the force, but as this army is designed for all kinds of South African outings, such as the Zulu War, I'm not sure if it applies to Matabeleland. I don't know the historical force composition well enough to comment upon that. So you might need a few friendlies too. You could get away with a small scout unit of a couple of stands.

However, if you pay the points for Light Horse but only use them dismounted, you are not getting full value for those points, because you would be losing so much of their mobility. So really we are looking at 48 guys plus a gun or two. But of course, to start with you could just go with the dismounted stands and use some kind of token or counter to indicate when they mount up. Not ideal from an aesthetic point of view, but a fair compromise to get you gaming. Or you could just do defensive battles where they are laagered up* and fighting the enemy off Rorke's Drift style to begin with.





*I don't know about you guys, but I feel like getting laagered up tonight, too.

[Plynkes]

Had a bit of a nose through my Colonial Armies: Africa book. During the 1893 war the settler forces had the assistance of 1800 Tswana from Bechuanaland, so you have plenty of scope for native auxiliaries if you want to use them. Doesn't say what kind of troops they were (horse or foot), or whether they were dressed in European or African fashion, unfortunately. Wikipedia calls them "allies" which puts me more in mind of warriors fighting in traditional fashion than a colonial-style levy.

There's a Tswana chap on the cover of one of the Ospreys on the Boer Wars:


(He's the one on the right, obviously.)

I don't know if North Star are going to make any Tswana but I don't think they'd be too hard to convert from existing figures if not. Some of the Matabele already have big pompom things on their heads, you'd just need to scratch-build the distinctive Tswana shield (if indeed they were dressed in native fashion).

There's also a really cool pic in the book I mentioned before of a barefoot native scout/guide in the 1893 war wearing a slouch hat, an old 1870s era British Army scarlet jacket (complete with corporal's chevrons) and a pair of light-coloured shorts. He carries a bandolier and a quiver of javelins, along with what may be a Martini slung across his back. It's a conversion just crying out to be done.

[Helen]

Thanks Dylan, you have been of great assistance. I heard from Nick of Northstar and he had the following to say:

"Hi Helen
 
There won't be much more for the BSAC and Shangani patrol. I want to do a couple of characters from the Matabele rebellion, Scout Selous and Col. Baden-Powell, and then a couple or three packs of regular Imperial Hussars who showed up towards the end of the campaign. We really need to get the maxim gun and 7pdr cannon finished and that will probably be it unless we are over-whelmed with requests for other packs.
 
Following this, I will do another tribe like the Ila, just 4 packs of warriors, then move onto Boers. The Boers will be able to be used for the 1st Boer war, the Jameson raid and also as more irregulars alongside the BSAC.
 
After all that we aren't sure.
 
Regards
Nick"

The Tswana sounds like a suggestion to Nick. After all you can't have enough natives from different parts of the continent.

Thanks again Dylan for your help.

Cheers,

Helen

[James Morris]

I've played a lot of games of DITDC and would thoroughly recommend them.  They give a fast moving game with a result in about an hour and a half.  Armies are pretty quick to collect, especially if you have any guns in your force, which increases the points value of each stand of troops.  The rules are classic Chris Peers, in that no space has been wasted on diagrams or photos to make them more accessible, but they do play well and have few glitches.  Playing natives charging at a line of regular troops isn't much fun, but there are many interesting options for terrain, and Chris's enthusiasm (and research) for playing various African forces is contagious once you get started.  I'd agree that the scenarios need more work - the parameters are so vague, you need to be careful to use some common sense not to end up with an unbalanced game, but they are a good starting point.

One more point - although figures are supposed to be based on 60mm bases, because the unit formation rules are so loose, we have had no problems playing with a mix of individually- and group-based models.

Hope that helps!

[Helen]

Thanks James for your comments. Nice to know about the basing too.

Cheers,

Helen

[aecurtis]

Oi, Plynkes!  Multi-basing isn't a problem.  I got the rules when North Star put them on sale earlier in the month; I had been drooling over the adidtional lists posted online.  I'll be doing the same thing I did when adapting Peter Pig's "Patrols in the Sudan" for 28mm: taking the collection of figures individually mounted on 1" fender washers and making up sabot bases for them.

With PITS (and conveniently, 60mm base width is common to DITDC and double-sized PITS!), I just took bases scored and snapped from inexpensive linoleum tile (one could use MDF); tack on the requisite number of magnetic rounds*** with glue; paint the tops of the magnetic rounds drab or brown; and "terrain" the rest of the base to match the washers on the figures.  When attached, the figures just blend into the base nicely.

***Being a frugal Yankee, the magnetic rounds are punched from offcuts of sign stock (free or for next to nothing from the local store) with a 1" scrapbookers punch.  Cheap bases, cheap magnets, sand and paint: pennies to convert an individually-based collection to a proper "army" on defined bases.

Allen

[H.M.Stanley]

The chaps at one of the clubs i go to (with James M) are heavy users of DitDC and do regular campaigns. Its because of their enthusiasum for the game that i started Explorers and Congo Cannibals**

I've played half a dozen time and enjoyed each one although there's a couple of things here and there that i thought were clunky [maybe because i'm not that familiar with the rules]

My figures are also based singularly for other rule systems but, like the others, i use simple sabot bases

** Nick's Matabele with non-standard shields

Its a very addictive period although i have to admit that my projects have been side-tracked, for now

Enjoy

James W