Kweeziland Campaign

[bulldogger2000]

Looks like great fun.  Who makes the Zanzibari cavalry?

[pbjunky1]

The cav are scratched from Fireforge mongol cav  with GB Arab heads and some sword arms from GB some from FF.  Bandoliers and slung rifles are Warlord Games. There are plasticard strip  straps as required and some have green stuff surcoats.  Quecumba Salad (red turban) is a Perry metal that I got 2nd hand with a GB sword arm and BT shield on FF horse.

[bulldogger2000]

They look great!

[Bryanbowdell]

Fort Soixante-neuf, bringing French civilization to the people of Kweeziland

[Sunjester]

Nice!

[Sir Rodney Ffing]

Fort Soixante-neuf, bringing French civilization to the people of Kweeziland

But will it be manned by regular troops?  Better check the storehouse to find out! 

[pbjunky1]

bringing French civilization to the people of Kweeziland

Whether they want it or not!

[pbjunky1]

Round 4 :Action  at  U’booti

Round 4  games started with the French launching an attack column into a tribal area following the ‘Take the High Road’ scenario. We changed things a little in that the French had to establish a bridge head across the river to succeed, the tribal forces didn’t have soft cover around the bridge but could hold any number of units in reserve for a flank attack.
Following Commandant Rene Renault’s  recent alcohol driven  questionable performances a new commander was  appointed, the freshly arrived in the colonies  Duq D’arling.  Renault was  the 2iC but under the watchful eye  of  D’arling.  Renault rolled for 7+ leadership  but managed to avoid  the ‘Drunkard’ trait this time around instead being ‘Cad’. For his part D’arling was a  6+ leader with ‘ Jolly Sporty’ allowing his unit to move at +2” at the double.
The French  had two units of irregular infantry (Tirallieurs), a unit of irregular  Spahi colonial cavalry, some unenthusiastic  tribal levy and a unit of  Elite French Foreign Legion.
The tribals were led by the aging Unkl Rumpo and aesthetically challenged Desmond Tetsi . Their    leadership  was  7+ all round with  ‘Bald as a Coot’ and ‘Ugly’ Clearly inspiring leadership  was going to be in short supply  for the tribals. They had two veteran, fierce units, two standard units and two unenthusiastic units.
The objective was the small bridge crossing the  U’booti river.

The idyllic looking U’booti  river valley, don’t be fooled by that small looking river, being impassable except by bridge  its clearly wider and deeper than it looks on the photos, it  would probably  be crocodile  infested as well if the hippos hadn’t killed them all.


The French  started off with initiative as the attackers and in a hitherto unseen display of co-ordination managed to move all their infantry units except the tribal levy up to the river bank  all doubling up at around the  same move distance. Clearly D’arling was having a sobering influence on Renaults previously haphazard approach to command.

French units moving across the battlefield in a  co-ordinated manner – almost as if they were listening to their orders.



For their part the Tribals kept two units for a flank attack  and four units on the far side of the river, two in cover and two ready to contest the  bridge.

The tribals  first order to the units near the bridge was ‘Go to Ground’ . One of the units was clearly not listening  to Rumpo’s  indistinct  croakings as it failed repeatedly and took several casualties failing pinning  and  rallying tests and falling back from the river in disorder. The second unit although gone to ground was targeted by close range shooting and again pinned.

Neither commands nor bullets convinced this unenthusiastic tribal unit to go to ground


Tribal attempts to bring on the flank attackers failed dismally ( they needed 6 on turn 2, 5,6 on turn 3 etc) until the  5th and 6th rounds by which time their comrades at the bridge had  taken several casualties each.

A late arrival of veteran tribals, clearly they got distracted on their flank march.



The French tribal levy, by now moving in support of their column screened their comrades for a round  manfully taking shooting casualties from one of the flank attackers and eager to impress passed their pinning test.

That gave D’arling the time he needed to get his Spahis into action and  leading them  with elan  he dealt the tribal unit a severe beating in two rounds of combat.

The dazzling display of gaudily clad French cavalry  was clearly too much for the tribal forces who fell back overawed .


With one flank secured D’arling raced his cavalry across the field of battle  to prevent the second flanking tribal  unit  from launching a charge at the bridge. He may have had some help from the tribal levy but I’m sure that won’t be mentioned in dispatches.

Dash, elan and 19th century bling what more could you want from a commander


Meanwhile at the bridge the natives launched two attacks at the Tirallieurs both should have won  but both ended up in draws with the tribal units severely depleted after shooting and now melee casualties,

Two attacks with advantage to the Tribals, both repulsed (drawn) by the stout defence of the Tirallieurs




The sorry state of things  for the tribals as the game draws to a close



In the final turn the Tirallieurs, unopposed by any enemy units planted the tricolore on the far  bank of the U’booti  gaining a full victory for the forces of La Republique.



As dusk falls on the victorious days actions D’arling explains to Renault the awe inspiring qualities that a bright, shiny uniform has on the natives.

[Bryanbowdell]

Another excellent write up Pete.....you can never over state the effect of shiny uniforms have on the natives!

[pbjunky1]

Fight for the M’Pooping pass

The scenario was again based on ‘Take The High Road’ from the rule book. This time the point to be seized was a pass into the M’Pooping foot hills which controlled access to the tribal heartlands. The colonial force was a German Imperial strike column marching to seize the pass, the defenders a tribal force.
The Germans rolled  +5 leadership for the commander & 2iC however Haidenfhart was back to his usual shaky self with ‘bag of nerves’ trait.  Von Krumpwinkle the 2 iC was  ‘a dammed fine fellow’ so at least neutral in trait. The Germans looked at the French tactics in their game and decided that tribal levy were the way to go but  ‘out- frenching’  the French took two units instead of one to guard the flanks of their   two standard  regular units and one elite unit 

In what was to prove an evening of poor rolling at crucial times the tribals rolled  +6 leadership for their commander  Nasti  N’vishus but he was ‘brutal’.  His 2iC  Haile Suspishus was a better prospect at +5 leadership and ‘destined for greatness’ though again dice rolls at crucial times were to let him down. The tribals took 3 x standard units with fierce and one elite unit with fierce.

A view from the forested plains to the pass through the M’Pooping  foothills.


The Germans set off in columns all marching more or less together and dispatching the tribal levy as a flank guard.

All that time on the drill square clearly paid off- not like that random French meandering in the previous game.


The tribals kept one unit out of sight in the foothills  on each flank and sent out one unit on each flank to infiltrate behind the German columns. Nasti’s units tried to avoid rolling at all costs and carried out free actions where possible.
Nasti  N’Vishus surveys the scene of his planned for glory unfortunately the dice had other plans for him.


Nasti N’Vishus’s  flanking unit deciding to try to move at the double, a risky option applying a -2 to their leaderhip.


What followed next proved a debacle for the tribal forces. They decided to charge the German tribal levy to chase it off but  movements on both flanks fell short and they received some spears from the levy and  rifle rounds from the German regulars which caused casualties before combat could start.

Despite his -2 to leadership Nasti’s  flank force charged  home and defeated their  levy opposition however in subsequent rounds the levy rallied and stood firm. The  tribals now were in light cover and received some accurate regular shooting.

As the levy fall back and rally (all 4 of them) the tribal assault on the regulars falls painfully short


Things panned out similarly on the other flank though here the levy eventually won their combat.

Maybe those levy weren’t really so unenthusiastic


As noted earlier in an effort to relieve their colleagues the two tribal units  had passed charge actions and threw themselves down the hill at the regulars. Both could have reached with doubling both just failed leaving them as short range targets for the regulars.

Rolling a 1 and a 2 for extra movement wasn’t enough to double into combat but was enough to leave the tribals as a tempting target.





Nasti’s units were soon fleeing given the effect of his brutal trait.  Haile’s units fought on for longer but poor dice in the melee and rallying phases meant they were whittled down  leaving the Germans to seize the pass unopposed.

With only two enemies left in the unit Haidenfhart  felt brave enough to advance on to the objective.


The German suffered no regular casualties so not testing the nervy Haidenfhart urge to leave his men in the lurch in this game

[Traveler Man]

Great stuff! 

[Bryanbowdell]

French reinforcements can now arrive much faster, and bring the light of civilization into the darkest corners if Kweeziland

[pbjunky1]

Round 3 a
Rumpo’s  bit of bother
As an interlude we decided to have some native force on native force action with the colonials adding support but not fielding actual units.
Following defeats in recent games one of the tribal factions has suffered a  rebellion against its aging chieftain  Unkl Rumpo. His ambitious but ugly nephew Desmond Tetsi has broken away  from the main tribal grouping with a few followers and seeking colonial backing declared himself rightful chief. The Germans were the colonial lending him support. The French taking advantage of the situation backed Rumpo.
Rumpo’s forces were  7 x fierce tribal units and 1x average tribal unit with the French lending 1 x irregular mountain gun as support for the loyalists.
Tetsi had less tribal units , 1 each of elite, good, ave, poor so the Germans lent him an advisor, Kapitain  Stroker and a regular quality mountain gun  along with 2x Ruga units and some irregular sharpshooters.
We had allowed Tetsi to spend points on terrain rather than troops but no, flash a few gaudily clad Ruga and some ordnance in front of him & Tetsi forgot all about the benefits of hills & rivers.

As it was 36pts each we had three leaders per side the main man and two sidekicks. The rebels had Tetsi who was a weakling but 5+ leadership, Von Stroker  had ‘Jolly Good Chap’ but was +5 leadership anyway and Jiba Jaba Zalot who was +6 leadership but ‘Destined for Greatness’

Unkl Rumpo  was 5+ leadership but ‘Pleasant Manner’ so no positive trait, his portly 2ic Undu M’bra was +7 leadership but again ‘Dammed Fine Fellow’ meant no trait. The French had supplied their tribal levy leader  Mungo Jerri as the other 2iC to nefarious ends as it later turned out and he had  5+ leadership and ‘Favourite Nephew’ trait.

We played the game as an encounter battle with the loyalists as the attacker and rebels as defender.

The heavily forested plain of Kerrang,  scene of the action


Throughout the action Rumpo displayed a mixture  of cunning through  advanced years  and what appeared to be dementia also due to  advancing years.

Rumpo set up a  seven unit left flank strike through heavy woods onto the lightly defended hill where Tetsi had located his gun.

He claimed it was like the famed Horns of the Buffalo but with one horn- so presumably Horn of the Rhinoceros, or is that something to do with an aphrodisiac, Rumpo wasn’t quite sure but he knew it looked good.

Rumpo’s impressive Horn



Von Stroker aligning the sites of his gun, little knowing the Horn of the Rhinoceros was soon to be upon him!



Rumpo’s forces had initiative and started by bombarding Tetsi’s gun which was perched conveniently on the side of a hill so it could see but be seen over the battlefield. A casualty was caused but no pinning. Under  von Stroker’s command the gun counter batteried  and caused a casualty  which pinned Rumpo’s gun.

Never a keen student of tactics Tetsi had spread his units along his base line so most of his forces faced terrain bereft of enemy.
To keep these occupied Rumpo set his average unit to advance and display against them keeping them occupied  whist his Horn of the Rhinoceros crushed the weak units supporting Tetsi’s gun.  This display of cunning was marred somewhat by his forgetting where he was and not joining  the seven fierce tribal units in the Horn  but instead  wandering across to  join  the one average unit that was most of risk of attack and totally unsupported.


Within three turns the Horn of the Rhinoceros had wiped out Tetsi’s two poorer quality units and overrun the gun killing Von Stroker  in the process. Almost one third of the rebels lost for little impact on the loyalists.

The devastation caused by the Horn


Tetsi’s other  units were slow to respond and couldn’t get across to support the gun and its accompanying units. Also Tetsi’s two best tribal units  were distracted by Rumpo’s  average unit dancing around in front of them.

Tetsi’s lack of that ‘book larning’ is coming back to haunt him.




As the  elite and  good rebel tribal units advanced Tetsi’s unsupported average unit fell back using some forest as cover its job done.

“Isn’t that that old b.....d Rumpo ”? you can almost hear the rebel units asking each other as they spy the poorer quality loyalists through the trees.



Then calamity occurred, the average unit  failed an at the double move and was javelined and then charged  by the elite  rebel unit.

Inspired by Rump his loyal tribesman stood their ground but over a couple of turns were whittled down until Rumpo looked around and found no one  but himself  left standing in his unit.

Some  of the Horn of the Rhinoceros units were now engaging the rebels who’d advanced to meet them and hot fights were developing with the loyalists now  enjoying  numerical advantage.

“Unkl Come to safety, come to safety” the nearest loyalist units cried to their leader.  Rumpo fled his now massacred unit  but in his confused state  joined the next weakest unit  which was taking a lot of casualties from the irregular sharpshooters.
Clearly Rumpo can’t identify out of 5, 10 and 14 which is the highest number



Despite being in the thick of it again Rumpo was ok and his forces gaining the upper hand were poised for a final victorious charge across their whole front.

At this point on the verge of a crushing victory Rumpo  for reasons best known to himself  handed  control to his French appointed 2iC Mungo Jerri allowing him to  roll for the to be glorious charges, only  5ups were    needed. The results  two 1’s twice and two 2’s.
Rumpo’s whole line stood motionless handing initiative to the Rebels all chances of a crushing victory now gone.

Fortunately Tetsi  returned the complement by having his sharpshooters miss all 10 of their shots. Other  rebel units however engaged in combat and in the next two rounds both Rumpo and his aesthetically challenged  nephew were laid low.

Tetsi with his sole remaining unit member, clearly he should have studied those  famous traditional fighting formations like the Horns of the Buffalo or Horn of the Rhinoceros.



Rumpo was carried from the field with several  vicious wounds from a Ruga machete to his person. The loyalists claimed he would survive but this looked very unlikely.

Mungo Jerri and  Undu M’Bra led the counter attacks and after several more rounds of combat  the remaining rebels fled the field.
Loyalist forces unimpressed by the  gaudily clad Ruga  drive off the remaining rebels.



The planned  for easy victory had in the end  only  been won  by the  devastation of the tribal forces. Rumpo was stricken  and his units  virtually wiped out thanks to the questionable dice rolling of the French appointed side kick. There are rumours afoot that it was all part of a French plan to weaken the tribe and have their puppet Mungo Jerri take over. We’ll have to see how this develops in the future.

Meanwhile having backed the winning side  the French will now gain porters so their guns will be mobile as if limbered, they also get points off some of their tribal units. All in all I’m sure the Duq D’arling  considers this a good day for the French cause.

[Plampers]

Hi Pbjunky,

One of your players Bryan has been sharing this via the Facebook MWWBK's group page, and it looks great fun and to be honest the exact idea I have in my head for a campaign. You mention using the El dorado Campaign system basics with Tweeks? Do you have any info you could possibly share on the structure other than the intro post? I know its lazy to ask you and not devise my own but it sounds spot on to the sort of game I want to run/play

Cheers

Plampers

[pbjunky1]

Hi Pbjunky,

 Do you have any info you could possibly share on the structure other than the intro post? I know its lazy to ask you and not devise my own but it sounds spot on to the sort of game I want to run/play

No problem I'll send you the backing notes for the campaign if you pm me with your email. I tried to post them on the forums but the table content wouldn't post.