I had Martin over at the weekend for a full days gaming - we would be joined by James in the afternoon. So for the morning we decided to revisit Death in the Dark Continent rules . We had played a game previously where it had gone very one sided with the European forces annihilating the natives. , and we wanted to revisit it.
This time I set up an ambush game with high quality Beja opposition (Elite Warriors) in tough terrain to ambush a column of 3 Egyptian battalions , a field gun, a Naval Brigade detachment with Gardner gun and a baggage train. I wanted to see how things would go if we have the Beja a lot of advantages - and after all its was Martins turn to be the Army!!
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Beja , spy the opposition from the rocks... |
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It looks quiet out there.... too quiet.. |
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Column has to cross the table with 2/3rd of its fighting units in tact. |
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Right then - time for the off... what can possibly go wrong... |
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On the left two warbands appear , the Egyptian 1st Battalion lines out and blasts away - Martins dice are hot.. |
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2nd Egyptian battalion marches around the mesa .. and discovers a bad tempered war band - that surprises them and puts the entire Battalion to the sword...more Beja appear from the gully.. |
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Despite how useful it would have been I could only roll a "1" for movement for the war band in the gully - it took too long to get out and play a part harassing the column in the centre .. |
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The columns fire was telling and Beja decided to retreat back in the tall grass across the wadi. |
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The Egyptians enter the marsh and tall grass area - the gun team from the navy find a path through the gully.. |
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The Beja bounce another Egyptian battalion destroying it ,the 3rd one saw them die and then ran off themselves. Next target was the sailors. |
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The Navy look on in distain as the Egyptians melted , and they blew huge chunks out of the Beja in front of them -- but at this point the column has lost too many stands to still win - the Navy withdraw for now... |
It was a good game , which did look to be going either way - while the columns had reasonable fields of fire it blew the Beja away - mind Martins average score a d20 must have been 16 - (when you hit on 14+!). However when the visibility was down and the Beja could get in they were lethal as my melee dice were on fire too!
It was a hard scenario for the column to win I think, with tough terrain to cover - but the result at least proved that the rules can deliver for the natives in the right situation.
We will play them again , but still think there are some things we don't like which will need a tweak.
Great looking game, Dave. You really do know how to put on a show :-)
ReplyDeletecheers!
DeleteLooks wonderful Dave!
ReplyDeleteThanks Peter I was good fun!
Deletewas a cracker, I would rather have receiving charge firing that a bonus in the melee. Or have a counter roll for defenders. Both roll and attackers get bonus plus difference between dice. That would work better I think
ReplyDeleteyep - it was odd not getting a chance for the defender to not really influence the melee outcome!
DeleteImmersive and wonderful report, must be a real pleasure to play on such a beautiful table!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
DeleteThose are some cracking photos, Dave. It certainly looks spectacular.
ReplyDeleteCheers . It did look good
DeleteFun! I was rooting for the camels.
ReplyDeleteYes, more camlesnext time
DeleteLovely looking game , ambushes are always a very tricky scenario to manage to get some equality 🙂
ReplyDeleteCheers. Indeed they are .. but this wasn’t far off as game
DeleteWonderful looking game Dave!
ReplyDeleteChristopher
Cheers !
DeleteThat's a damn fine looking bash you've got there Dave!
ReplyDelete