Round 3a
Dust up at the Tembe at Haka JumbaIn the second of our 3a round games (native v native action) we had a tribal force versus Zanzibaris. Each side received colonial backing (but no colonial troops). We also wanted to include elements other than troops, namely boats and forts. We adapted the rules we used in ourWW1 in Africa campaign for gunnery against buildings and boats
http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=70406.0We had the self styled Zanzibari Amir F’ymuni who has set up a Tembe on Lake Kweezi and flushed with confidence from his tacit backing by the Germans was carrying out his depredations in the surrounding tribal areas with renewed vigour.
The tribal forces of Chief Ayvgut N’hope were cowed by the firepower donated by the Germans (1 unit with modern rifles trained to veteran status, a regular trained Maxim and two mountain guns) so sought out a colonial force to offer them support. The British deemed this a fight worth taking up so supported the tribals with 2 regular mountain guns, a unit of veteran sharpshooter askari and HMS Bertie mounted with a 9 pounder.
I set a nominal points value for the village of Haka Jumba and the Tembe (4points and 12 points respectively) and allowed 32 points of Zanzibaris on top of this. They had 1 unit each of militia, standard and guard (the latter the vets with rifles) Zanzibari. They had 2x irregular mountain guns, the HMG and 1 unit of Baluchi matchlocks.
The tribals had , from the Brits the 2 x 9 pounders, one 9 pounder on HMS Bertie and the askari. They had 3x veteran and 3 x fierce tribal units, 48 points in total.
Scene of the action; the tembe at Haka Jumba
With so many forces to command we had the CiC and two 2iCs on each side. So the tribals had Chief Ayvgut N’hope with his rather dopey son Prince Ludacris. The British forces were under the command of Lieutenant Horace ‘spanker’ Crabtree.
It was when rolling for leadership and traits that things started to unravel. Avgut N’hope , had started as a 5+ leader but got the trait ‘Bulletproof Bumbler’ so went to 9+. The Prince rolled 7+ leadership but was ‘Idiot’. Spanker Crabtree was a 6+ leader but had ‘ Coward’. Fortunately as he was on board HMS Bertie this didn’t impede his activity.
Amir F’ymuni had a 6+ leadership and somewhat uncharacteristically for such a despicable character ‘Sporting Umpire’. His 2ic Mustafa Fag was 7+ and ‘Terrible Planner’ . The third Zanzibari commander the Baluchi mercenary Jafaar Khazi was again 7+ with’Bald as a Coot’
All in all not an inspirational set of leaders.
The Tribals elected to lauch an attack from the right flank whilst HMS Bertie supported with a bombardment from the lake. The two British mountain guns would support as best they could from the jungle on the right and then move forward to keep up with the attack.
It looks impressive but the tribals all want to be somewhere else and the gun keeps bogging down or not firing.
The Zanzibaris had first turn and started randomly amongst the various buildings so those on the left started moving to support their right flank and those on the right opened fire on the massed tribals.
The HMG caused a casualty on a tribal unit who with The Chief’s dubious 9+ leadership became pinned and eventually after three turns of failed rallies left the board. The other two units under Ayvgut N’hope did stay on the board but in an approach more resembling the Hokey Kokey than the Horns of the Buffalo struggled to make headway, failing pinning tests and rallies and so retreating before rallying and moving forward again.
Prince Ludacris threw his three units forward and despite a couple of ‘Idiot’ rolls and a repulsed (drawn) combat with a militia Zanzibari unit supported by one of the 9 pounders his units eventually force their way into the village.
Ludacris units moved forward despite his idiocy and eventually take the village.
Spanker Crabtree’s expert gunnery pinned and then destroyed the HMG and he set about shelling the Tembe from HMS Bertie with supporting fire coming from the second British 9 pounder. After several hits the corner of the Tembe started to collapse. Tribal units surged forward to charge the breech- well it would have been like that but the 9+ leadership of Ayvgut N’hope meant they crept forward and hopefully threw a few spears into the hole that now appeared in the side of the Tembe before taking a casualty and falling back.
Don’t be fooled by that native horde at the breech, they’re just peeping in and ready to run away.
The Baluchis and one of the Zanzibari guns was causing mounting casualties amongst Prince Ludacris units, Chief Ayvgut N’hope’s units only actually moved forward because their retreat pace was half their move forward pace but it was slow going with little hope of a successful attack at the end of it. The British 9 pounders were frequently bogging down. Things were looking bleak for the chances of a successful tribal attack. Then up stepped the heroes of the hour, the askari unit. Skirmishing forward keeping up a steady fire, causing and taking the odd casualty, never failing a pinning test they ended up leading the tribal attack inexorably towards the Tembe.
Stalwart Baluchis holding fast
Meanwhile Spanker became a little overexcited. He’d initially held HMS Bertie out of range of the Baluchi shore gun but emboldened by his gunnery success he ordered The Bertie forward to engage the mountain gun situated on the lake side.
Though he caused a couple of Zanzibari casualties they proved they were made of stern stuff not pinning and returning fire.
Steady as she goes Spanker, aren’t you getting a bit close to that shore gun?
One shot skimmed across the deck killing a British gunner and pinning the gun for one turn. Unperturbed Spanker held his station. It was a mistake as the next Zanzibari shell was a direct hit on the Bertie’s engine shaking the crew and disabling the craft.
‘Cripes that’s torn it ‘ or words to that effect, Spanker is going to have a lot of paperwork to complete to explain that.
By now Prince Ludacris units were getting the better of the Baluchis which left the Zanzibari guard unit isolated but clinging on to the Tembe.
In a dashing show of courage the askaris forced their way in and overcame the weakened guard unit to capture the notorious Amir F’yamuni.
One of the tribal units managed to join the askari in the tembe courtyard at the death but it was definitely a case of for propaganda purposes.
Amir F’yamuni is captured. A Tribal unit has joined the askari for propaganda purposes, unfortunately for them the British only believe in showing British propaganda hence only the askari appear in this shot of the successful conclusion to the action
With that the tribal/ British force had conducted a winning days activity , there was just the unfortunate disabling of the Bertie that Spanker had to somehow explain to his superiors.