A Canadian colonial clash

 The Battle of Batoche, 1885 

While the famous American conflicts against the native populations of the ‘West” were almost over by the time of this battle, Canadian expansion into the Prairies was continuing apace.  In the area of Saskatchewan, the indigenous Cree and Metis ( a mixed race and culture of farmers and hunters of French-Canadian and Native inhabitants ) were feeling the pressure on an ever increasing eastern homesteader possession; with Louis Riel the ‘spiritual’ leader of this very autonomous people. History has called this conflict ‘the Northwest Rebellion’.

While a few other major skirmishes had occurred, it was at the village of Batoche in modern-day Saskatchewan, Canada that the decisive battle to end their resistance to this pressure was backed by the military of the Canadian government which rested upon militia units from the eastern provinces.  These units made up of civilians were certainly enthusiastic enough but inexperienced.  The few Metis were often good shots and very experienced in ‘field craft’ but ill-supplied.  

Faced with the Canadian advance upon their ‘capital’ village, the Metis built small, effective and well disguised, three-man rifle-pits blocking the plodding Canadian advance by Frederick Middleton.   

The Metis rifle pits.  The figure within are Brigade Games Boers without any alteration.  Period photos show the Metis in similar attire.

What is interesting about this whole affair is the decisive battle was a prolonged four-day affair with only some 24 dead and 76 wounded total from both sides from the 1,166 engaged (Wikipedia). With my calculator at the ready, this is only just over 8% casualties over a lengthy 4 days. With an eight hour ‘work day’, this would have on average 1 casualty every 20 minutes or so.    No Somme, Cannae, Shiloh, or Little Big Horn here.  But with that, most rulesets have great clumps of miniatures removed from firing and combat.  Obviously this will not do.  However my new, go-to rule set of “The Men Who Would Be Kings” (a colonial set by Osprey Publishing) could be modified to accommodate the lack of casualties but still have units pinned, unable to effectively operate and have ‘morale’ issues to prevent much activity.  One other aspect of the battle was the ever decreasing ammuntion supply of the Metis.  They simply did not have the supplies needed.  Their fire had so decreased by the fourth day, along with the withdrawal of many who had given up the fight, that the Canadian soldiers frustrated by their commanders slow activity took it upon themselves to charge the Metis rifle-pits thus ending any further Metis resistance. 

The 'TMWWBK' rules are adequate but for two small changes.  First, any casualties would be limited to one per successful firing regardless of the actual number of hits. Pinning, not casualties, would be the important issue.  Secondly the Metis would set up in the rifle-pits designated as ‘hard cover’ and combined with their good-shooter ability and the Canadian militia poor firing, will have the unequal shooting which occurred.  However, the Metis ever decreasing ammunition supply would be handled by giving them a secret die roll (from the Canadian player) how many shots they would be allowed. I gave a 1d6 roll per rifle-pit;  but each day would see that amount decreased by one. Thus at best the Metis would have only 50% firing minus any further casualties or abandonments in the final phase of the game.   The Canadian player might see less fire power but would be unsure of the amount remaining thus continue with caution which was the trademark of the engagement.  

A “day” ( the historic battle lasting four days) would be 8 turns in length.  The Canadian player must have overcome all resistance to win.  If at the end of each ‘day’ (the 8 turns) and the terms of victory not met, the ‘day’ is over and the action pauses.  Immediately in the ‘morning’ the players can reposition their units with their morale afresh  (minus previous casualties of course ) in any new attack position along the start line for the Canadians or any available rifle-pit for the Metis.   

a Canadian Rifle unit in a staged photo.  During the game they did not reach this close to the Metis rifle  pits!

a red tunic clad Canadian militia unit. Indeed, some of the units sent by the Government, were still to wear their dress uniforms including the Home Service uniforms  

The TMWWBK rules are interesting as activation and morale are key aspects but can be very dice fickle.  The resultant lack of action and easily gained pinning effects are perfect for re-creating this battle. The photos are from my second solo play-test.  

The Canadian Militia, whose dress was very much influenced/copied that of the British home country, were in either contemporary rifle-green or red tunics.  As far as I know, the only source for miniatures are 1980s RAFM miniatures.  These are small “true 25mm” very stiff in posture and lacking multiple poses.  Thus I needed to create my own and used Perry Union ACW plastics. While not completely accurate, they do look the part and I needed to only to remove the oval badges and green-stuff the glengarry caps or, in some cases, add a Perry ‘Home Service’ helmet head.  (indeed some units wore these! )…. oh, and a different paint scheme, of course.  Much of the militia had no other uniform for campaign but their full dress version.  

The Canadian uniform of the era

The very dark green - almost black of the Rifle Regiments. I highlighted a dark green over a black base color on the miniatures.  

the model within the Park Site's pavilion 

I built my model rifle pits on this example.

The Army of Major Might

Will Bailie, a wargaming buddy of mine has his focus on the Indian/Afghan area for some time now and has created his own imagiNation world of a Indian Sub-continent land called Jhamjar (yes, like jam jar... so lots of "food you put on toast" puns possible among others).  He put out a call for local fellow gamers to add a contingent should they wish within the confines of era and geography.  (Link: Jhamjar explained )

 As I had some Boers laying about "without a home" , I decided to quickly base them for the task.
The following is my contingent's tongue-in-cheek backstory:

  
Major(recently retired)V.G.Might, late of the South African forces stationed in the Sinai at the end of the First World War, did not want to go back to Pretoria.  He felt many of his (former) command felt likewise.  Victor Might was dissolutioned fighting an ‘Imperial War”.  A dreamer and reader of grand adventures in the back and beyond of Asia and one morning, after a much gin-fuelled read of “The Chalice of Hunn-Nee”,  began his recruiting drive.  He found a large body of men armed and looking for adventure and offered them images of riches and exotic lands.

Courtesy of his ‘procurement officer’, a rather daring individual who boarded commercial ships as they transversed the Suez Canal, asked for their shipping manifests (often at gunpoint) and removed whatever would be useful.  One such vessel was transporting suits of men’s civilian clothing. “Can’t be wearing our old khakis can we?”  To the Major’s liking, as they were of somber tones; to these were added bandoliers and, of course rifles, by far the easiest to obtain. Razors were rare however, much to some of the men’s delight.

The army was given its employment the day when the Major’s second, Piet Rasponse “Rasp” Berry asked scratching at his growing beard, “So where do we find this chalice?”
   Might did not look up from his worn atlas of Asia, “Well, Rasp, the Huun Nee is thought to reside in the Bai Lie Temple somewhere in the Imagitush Mountains.”
   “And how, pray tell, do we get to this ‘Bai Lie’ place?” asked Rasp.
    Pointing a finger somewhere on the old page, Might responded, “Through this Jhamjar region it appears.”

…So there is my backstory to why a bunch of Second Boer War figures would be in a remote section of Asia. But how they are to be deployed, whose side are they on, and their quality is yet to be determined.

Photos of Might's 'Army' on the trail to Jhamjar

The "Cattle" Expedition

Up to now I have always had plenty of time to engage in my favourite hobby, but with the recent employment at a 9-5 job, my wargaming time has significantly decreased.  As my dearth of posts recently can attest, it is certainly a time killer.  “Try to do any with that AND three kids!” was the retort from a couple of my wargamer friends!

Anyway, as a last, before Christmas game, I hosted a colonial British Afghan expedition to supply cattle to a far outpost.  Using my “veteran” (painted c.1987) Ral Partha ‘true 25s’,   I had all six of the players play on the same side, while I would control the natives via “auto-pilot” chart and hidden deployment.

In a rare cooperative method the gents allocated troops and deployment sharing an overall plan.  Sort of countering this, I also added my patented card sequence which uses a sequencing hierarchy to have the players move, should they choose, before others.  Some used this, others just flipped over the next card they had, but this together with the rules (The Men Who Would Be Kings - TMWWBK) ensured a lack of foreknowledge of who-moves-next.

The Imperial force marches

The terrain was largely unknown to the players - but of course they had the 2,000+ feet of elevation advantage standing around the table,  the normal “does this give me cover?” was necessarily indicated.

The logistical centre of the column advances

My collection is a bit on the small side, but with no way of adding to, I went with dividing all the units into six figures (8 for the natives) using the half-size option and increasing the speed and decreasing the shooting hits to offset.  So with that, and the usual poor shooting of the warriors under my diced control, the overall casualties were light (perhaps more realistic than the normal for most wargaming huge casualty numbers?)

The Gordon Highlanders having covered the left bank of the waterway, crosses to join the column

We still employed the rule’s activation which had the effect of the metal soldiers acting more prudently than their erst while commanders who might wish them to advance across open ground to “check out the unoccupied village” but the unit quite unwilling to move from their cover….

It came as no surprise to the colonials that as they neared their destination, the inviting British Regimental flag (they could not have seen the blood smears) was taken down and replaced by a horde of tribal warriors.  These were largely dealt with by rifle fire from the near by rocky knoll (and my usual very poor dice rolling for the apparently inept locals).  Throughout the affair I would regularly roll low - a string of four 1s at one point - so the tribal warriors seemed to have little heart in fighting and would rather withdraw than to engage, but much to the relief of the Colonial players.

The fort with one of the tribal units having charged outside the gates

The Highlanders, having gained the top of the knoll, exchange shots with the unit in the tower.

The mountain gun, at the right, sets up for the final shots of the battle.

 The mule-borne mountain gun was however finally set up and after fighting off three (!) separate attacks of the half-hearted natives (my dice rolling in full evidence here) to finally put in two blasts to knock down the gate.  With the fort retaken and the cattle still safe, the players rejoiced in their victory.
….then put on their coats and went out into the rain for home…..

Zulu using TMWWBK

The British camp defence. The British rifles in line provided huge firepower.  The NNC, with their red rags around the heads for identification,  provided additional firepower....well a bit anyway and luckily were not challenged in combat.  

Having just looked at my 15mm Zulu War collection the previous day when the call went out to host a game I thought of using them - they have been in the boxes much too long!  Hmm, using which rules?  Having played “The Men Who Would Be Kings” recently I figured I could guide everyone through and as JimF also joined, he could help.  Actually the first time using tribal forces by any of us (and it showed!) .

 I took the roll of the Zulu in my recreation of the famous Battle of Isandhlwana so I wanted the British players awed by the numbers facing them. They were not; despite having painted and based the remaining 96 I had yet to do, during the previous day. This ultimately gave the Zulu 6 impi/units with 48 figures each.  Actually not as impressive as it might sound as TMWWBK has the British infantry unit at 12 figures and a tribal at 16.  My 48 still represents the 16 strong tribal unit but in bases rather than individual figures; but the look on the table does somewhat display the historical strength disparity in this battle.

The 'historical attack' of the Zulu upon the British at the mountain of Isandhlwana.

While having appealing mass, still represents the 16 suggested by the rules.

I was discouraged almost immediately by my poor activation rolls for the Left Horn which did not get the order to advance apparently. Wrong side of the hill from the rest?  But the other impis were soon advancing at the double toward the British lines.

Francis commanding half the British which included the Natal Light Horse and he had them scout the plateau then do a sneaky move to go between two Impi,  which had left a gap, to move into the rear hoping to distract them (me) from advancing further.  I ignored that move and managed to move into contact of the left flank British company destroying half of that formation but excellent dice rolling by Jim (six of the twelve dice were 6s!) had my boys bounce off.  That was the closest the Zulu would get to any victory.  The overwhelming firepower by the British would not allow the Zulu to make contact despite their excellent discipline.

The excellent 'leadership' bonus of the elite modifier and my decent die rolling, had the Zulu arrive this far...they will however be shot up soon.....

The Left Horn finally came into range but by then the other units were spent.  In the post battle analysis, my advance without waiting for the Left Horn units was criticized as not timing the attack to arrive together. Probably correct. Using “Go To Ground” activation might have saved those units of ‘the Loin’ shot up, for later.  Also we started to talk of tactics (!) like using one unit in line to soak up hits as others come behind still fresh.  I set up my units as per the historical model and the usual Zulu way, but food for thought.  

only 5 of 16 left but my die rolls their bravery and discipline keep them in the battle.

While using 15mm figures, we made no changes to the rules including that of distances so using inches.  The Zulus with the extra d6 of movement and my unusually good activation die rolls for most of the game had them moving rapidly…into the rifle fire…. and defeat. History not repeated.

The Engagement at Bombuko Mission House

The Engagement at Bombuko Mission House Feb 2, 1917

JimF offered to host at the Trumpeter’s club’s monthly GameNight to have his nicely painted Belgian Force Publique vs my French Foreign Legion….


Dear Mere,

It is your son, the legionnaire ,  writing again about my latest action. Of the preamble, mine is not to reason why, but to do or die; and so we of the Legion are to advance a great distance to a place to gather some gold but it is that our elite but small force must engage a larger for of Force Publique in dense terrain somewhere in Africa.

somewhere in Africa....

As we must advance, we brought our new artillery.  The colonel did some “horse trading” and sold the original 75 gun gained with the crew and now is using other model.  The colonel says “it looks better the part”.  Whatever.  It was useful in causing many casualties on the nearest blue clad Belgian askari unit.  But throughout the battle it would be slow to move into position.

the new artillery piece (a Reveresco British Howitzer)

To the right, the second company came under long range rifle plus machine gun fire and rapidly were decimated and soon were hor-de-combat. For our part, we also had too many bullets coming our way and loses building.  Only our superior discipline had us still in the fight.

Editor’s Note:  the plus 2 really helps on the dice rolls!

Jim's rather nice FP (Foundry Figures)

But nevertheless we needed to move into a thicket to offer some protection. All thought of advance quickly forgotten.  Captain Premiermont was extorting us with “Think of France! Think of France! when a bullet struck him down.

Pressure from the right

from early in the battle, Captain Premiermort in on the right.  

Editor’s Note: Yes, once again I rolled double ones for Leader Killed.  But heck with six different rolls of a total of only three on two dice rolled at various times during the game as an indication it was enviable. 

The Artillery having ever so slowly moving at only 4 inches a turn, finally engaged far targets and doing some good but the askari to our right were now putting us under heavy fire.  Again, our discipline kept us together, however, with only three of us remaining we were pinned and finally forced to retreat into the open.  The end was nigh.  As I write this last passage I hope tha…….

The end of the Legion.

——————————

Jim’s use of rubber terrain pieces and plastic aquarium plants was fairly effective.  The heavy vegetation did not help either side as the dominance of rifles and modern firepower.  The The Men Who Would Be Kings rules are as we came to understand are not designed for two equally modern armed to have a good game.  Well, OK, maybe good for August 1914 in northern France at the start of WW1 when such conditions helped establish the building of trenches.  In that case, as our game demonstrated in the choices during the game made by Jim and myself, advancing is impossible thus doomed and defensive cover required to survive. Long range artillery is needed and more troops required for any attack.  So in many ways this game was very much like the early battles of WW1 when 200,000 casualties occurred in the first month; but a “classical colonial” game is was not.

The battles of El Nowhere-a

It was the monthly club night and being available WillB and I decided to again bring out the collections of "colonials" for a game of "The Men Who Would Be Kings" ( TMWWBK) rules.

In this case his WW1 Kings African Rifles would face my 1920's era French Foreign Legion  somewhere in what is now modern day Mali during a border dispute in 1927.

My French Foreign Legion contingent in action near El Nowhere-a 

Will's KAR 

We were joined by the two Jims,  JimF becoming "French Jim" and JimL becoming "British Jim".

We rolled for our commanders and poor French Jim rolled double ones which left him with an absolute poor leadership rolls to make all game long.  Mine were only a bit better but the leadership number in these rules are extremely critical.  Will did very well with his British rolls, "British Jim" not as much.  

The old mud 'temple' is one of those mash paper paste packing crates and one found in my brother's recycle bin at Christmas.  The original and rather too regular oval top opening was enlarged and made ragged and a few wood rods glued in to give the impression of a fallen roof. I didn't put much time into it in any event.   The 'market' is from Will's collection of terrain pieces.
 The tents are old 'dixie' paper water cups, cut down and overturned. Now OOP I assume.

Again I will not go into the details of the game, mainly as I cannot remember them (!)  not having them jotted down at the time as I do when doing solo play. But do remember my machine gun giving the British "Hero of the Empire" unit a couple of casualties causing a pinning and later another poor roll by Will in their rally test thus have them depart the battle rather early in the contest. One could say they did a ignoble scarper or if you want the British perspective, you can read Will's post at link

 However the French could not move with their poor leadership and the firepower of the British eventually overwhelmed the legionnaires.  

The elite FFL under what had become rather dubious leadership.

With a rapid conclusion of that battle, we had time for another.  We changed the table orientation to allow the forces to get at it quicker.  We also forego any leadership trait rolls opting for a universal 6+ for each side. The elite Foreign Legion having +2 discipline, the KAR +1 as per the unit points.  

British Jim's unit in soft cover of the market during the second engagement.

Again in this game, numbers would overwhelm quality, with the poorer shooting KAR getting more shots into the outnumbered but elite Legion who could make most but not all the necessary pinning and rally tests required of them from the lead flying their way.  

This will probably be the outcome, tactical mistakes not withstanding, with most regulars vs regulars actions.  In more asymmetrical battles, this may not be the case.  

Two tents.  Will B. suggested I should try to relax.

You can get the British perspective with Will's very nice write-up on the games (see:link)

The 2nd Battle of El Blundar

After the debacle against the Arabs, see my previous post for details [link ] , the Legion assigned those officers to less dangerous posts and assigned new officers to command the escort of the donkey train to a distant fort....or in other words I rolled up their new characteristics.  Not too bad with good numbers and only one coward! He must had been a Flashman type as his leadership was very good meaning the unit will follow orders and maintain cohesiveness but not allowed to get near the enemy charge distance. Oh well, shooting will be the standard tactic this day.

The rules certainly do not require officer characteristics and these smack a bit of role-playing.  There are more generalized charts to establish command qualities; rolling a 1 will give you a fairly poor leadership, a 6 very good; and this varies being regular or tribal.

In this case I gave the French Foreign Legion units very good commanders and reduced the firepower of the Arabs giving them 'tribal' status which gives them more units and better fighting characteristics.

With the forces set, the battle plans were made.  The Arabs would again wait in ambush withholding fire...what worked once will work again.  The legionaries with knowledge of the ambush would attack the southern flank of the wadi and roll up the line. The machine gun on the left would cover any attack over the open ground and the middle rifle unit would be a fire reserve.  Thusly the Legion's right flank rifle unit, the 1st company,  advanced in skirmish formation and started firing into the wadi full of the waiting desert men.  The close range shooting did significant casualties prompting that unit to lose heart and vanish into the desert. The tribe beside it seemed unaffected by such self-preservation and were not pinned. Indeed that unit fired at the 2nd company who were at long range for the Arab's obsolete weapons causing no hits among the riflemen.

The 1st company in firing position.

Using their free actions, the 'right flank' Arab units moved along the wadi toward their 'left' and the advancing FFL to prevent the enfilading of their position.  Despite the protection of the wadi, the legionnaire's 'sharpshooter' status paid off as the Arabs suffered many casualties and continued to be pinned in the wadi.

While the firefight was going on at the wadi, to the north-west, the two units of Arabs emerged from behind the hill and advanced upon the FFL left held by the machine gun.  Despite the 'free action' which allows the tribal forces to move without an leadership/activation test, they had a lot of flat desert to cross and the machine gun opened up at long range causing casualties and with pinning tests and subsequent failed rally tests, very quickly both Arab units were swept away by the effective (read: lower dice roll required for hits) of the well-manned legionnaire gun.

Arab units in the wadi with casualties markers and pinned indicators.  Masters of concealment aren't they!

The second company having briefly helped the machine gun deal with the western attack, they now moved to the right and with the combined firepower of the formed up 1st company, quickly dissipated further Arab resolve.

The path to the fort now lay open.
--------
Due to having only two units of rifles and only one machine gun, I was 'forced' to upgrade them significantly to obtain the prescribed 24 points of a field force.  As I have no intention of increasing the legionary numbers and think the upgrades suit the perceived quality of the FFL in any event, I am very pleased the numbers which happened to be in the purchase do work for the game.

Of obtaining and painting the Arabs?  I actually think the use of the sisal mats quite interesting as I can place the markers directly on them and think they play the part well.  Could use dust storms with coloured cotton batting, but I have more of the sisal and will, I think, cut appropriately sized circular patches.


 

Engagement at El Blundar. FFL action.

January 6, 1927

Dear Mere,

I have my arm bandaged but do not worry as I was lucky to receive but a minor scrape.  I am afraid many were not so fortunate.  

Yes the bullets were flying but only from the Arabs. (see previous post for pre-action report) 

The first shots mowed down our machine gun crew along with its officer in the first moments. The remaining soldier made a runner quickly thereafter.

We literally did not see the enemy the whole time, with them in cover, the dust and the smokeless powder of their rifles.  They are very good shots and surprisingly well-led with the ability to keep up the fusilade.  

We just could not reply. Once the casualties immediately occurred, we were pinned and could only try to rally with the sergeants and corporals yelling us to keep together. Our officers were useless. That is all we could but try, sometimes with our superior discipline to keep order.  Then another round of fire would occur and again all we could do is rally.  No order could be given to fire back.

I did hear the rattle of the Arab machine gun but it quickly stopped for a time but later would add to our woes.  

Within minutes all our units were moving away from the enemy.  Surprisingly the volume of fire diminished and a new unit, unseen by many but I am told was ready to pounce upon us from a slight rise but did not make any move nor did any from the wadi.  It is what saved us from total destruction. Nevertheless, we had 16 casualties from 31 of us who started the battle.  

I know that you like animals and can be relived to know the donkeys had more sense than our officers and bolted immediately and thus were well out of range and thus spared.  

I am tired but hopeful our next battle will fair better.  
Love to the family 

_______
Editor notes:  While the discipline of the Legionnaires was very good at +2, the poor officers I foisted upon them rolling for officers at 9+  - ugh - certainly did not help the die rolls.  The units lasted longer than one could hope but it just meant they were in for another round of fire.  The arabs activation was universally good (of course I would roll well FOR THEM as, if you were like me, cheering for my newly painted unit of the French Foreign Legion….) but like the narrative letter above indicates, the hot streak of the Arab's activation would lessen eventually and allowing the Legion to retire.

“The Men Who Would Be Kings” rules do have their quirks and should units fail to un-pin, little can be done with them but given the scenario, probably a logical outcome.
The rules do allow for a more respectable 'choice' of leadership.  Random dice still, but giving more competent leadership quality.  My roll for the Arabs was exceptional of course!.

Note the substantially fewer models, and the pin markers.  My 'desert dice' on show.  You need lots of dice for TMWWBK.
Arab units somewhere in the distance unseen.

The new FFL

The Wargame Narrative

January 5, 1927

Dear Mere,
Happy New Year  
Sorry to not have written for sometime now but, really nothing to write about. We must still do our chores, clean the latrines, clean up, do the laundry.

But yes, some fun stuff too like get ready for our march into the desert to relieve a small fort near the mountains.  For us it will be a new experience.  Recently we veterans were grouped together in a new unit and given a fresh ‘regimental touch-up’ .

Of the trek I cannot say much. I am told it will be a boring travel over flat, featureless terrain and we will probably not see the natives should they dare to have at us.


We are commanded by officers we are not familiar with, so none know their quality - more on that later!  But we are of the Legion Etrangere Francaise so can probably overcome any deficiencies of any officer foisted upon us.

                                                                                                                        Page Deux

The march is well under way under the unrelenting sun.  Sous-lieutenant Premiermort turned to the sergeant and stated he “has a feeling the natives are close”  We look around but see nothing but flatness, a broken line of thin bush and heat waves.

Then the bullets start flying….

———

My preparations for the game:

I gained this collection of French Foreign Legion c. 1920s , as a fellow wargamer quietly brought a box of partially painted figures of mixed origin to the club.  A kinda aborted project he needed space and put a very low price on them.  Normally I do not buy painted figures but this was a good bargain and he gave me puppy dog eyes :)

 Originally I was going to re-primer but upon further viewing decided to just touch up and give them a wash.  With two coats of dullcoat I am pleased with the results. Not my usual style of painting but certainly do play the part well; the “regimental touch-up” as noted in the letter above. Also note that veterans means experienced by another - like pre-owned cars and 'experienced' golf balls....

The number of figures were pleasantly perfect to create a complete Field Force to which I added a few smaller sized donkeys I had waiting for some paint,  to include for any scenario design and simply because they look good together!

As the previous owner super glued the figures to the bases and had applied a couple of different methods of basing using sand,  I could not redo the basing - at least not with a heck of lot of effort! - and so did what I could to make myself happier with the bases. While not ideal, the GW round bases are not bad for the type of game.

A mixed collection of manufactures including I think (?) Old Glory and Tiger Miniatures

The basing is still a work in progress. Might dry brush additional sand colours and add a bit of dead grass to cover up the obvious figure's base lines.

The donkeys baggage train.  Many scenarios employ baggage for victory conditions.

Re-reading the above "Narrative" preamble, the reader will induce a number of issues which will influence the game.  Boring terrain for example as I have nothing for North Africa!  And of not seeing any natives?  It will certainly be the case as, again, I have none to play with and so the game will be the ultimate solo affair ; without another player, without terrain and without an enemy!  All will be up to my imagination and the dice.

The featureless terrain - as I have little for this period and region.  The scrub is brown lichen and the clumps of 'straw' are markers for the hidden Berbers.  They are obviously masters of the art of fieldcraft and are impossible to see.....as I have none! ;)

I am using “THE MEN WHO WOULD BE KINGS” rules by Dan Mercey for colonials.  Among its fun characteristics is that of rolling for the traits of the officers commanding each unit.  Well, as
suggested by our legionarire writer to his dear mother, my die rolling poor, as it often is, was to foist officers of 1-2, 1-3, and 6-5 onto the three units of my field force.  That is to say, one officer has “ a fine moustache” (which indeed the diced for figure actually does have!) but he is very poor commander ; as is #2 but he is “bullet-proof” so unlikely to die and bring in a better rated sergeant!   And for the machine gun, it’s officer is short-sighted so the machine gun cannot fire to advantage at long range targets…

And as I determined the officers not to be of the highest quality, they did not think to have scouts and so will be ambushed accordingly.

The terrain, what there is of it, has a small dry stream bed behind thin scrub to hide three groups of riflemen with modern arms together with a machine gun but poorly handled.  The fourth rifle unit was in hiding laying down behind an almost indiscernible rise of land.

The two Legion rifle units are in line of march with the machine gun and baggage mules between.

Each side has 24 points.

We start the game with the bullets flying….

TO BE CONTINUED

Palestine 1917

Yes, not all World War One battles must be in the mud and cold of the Western Front but can be in the dust and heat of the Middle East.  My "Palestine 1917" collection is one which I really have forgotten how/when/why I have the figures.  But as they are 1:72 (20mm) plastics, I changed my usual method of painting to a white primer, basic colours without much worry about "keeping inside the lines" and finished with a wash/dip. One of my very quick doings.  Not good by any measure but fine for this minor diversion.

Australian Mounted Infantry in the desert

In keeping with my current interest in Dan Mercey's series of "Rampant" rules, I thought to use his "The Men Who Would Be Kings" colonial rules for this campaign.  Not historical for sure, but it should give a reasonable game and is malleable enough.  I want to use airplanes (and tanks?) but I think even that is conceivable within the framework.

The organization of the units was the most difficult point, trying to decide, based on the numbers I had, and the suggested sizes of the rules; what would 'feel' best for the scale of game I wish to portray.  To be honest it is more the former than the latter which dictated the result.

An infantry unit (company?) will have 12 bases (of two figures each), an artillery unit (section or battery?) of four guns equating to the 4 crew in the rules and 4 machine guns again matching the number of crew within the TMWWBK rules. A gun is removed rather than any figures. The doctrine of the day had machine guns generally operating in whole units than independently as part of an infantry command; so the use of groups of machine guns is not strange and fits with their effect within the rules.

Ottoman Turk Infantry

Turkish machine gun unit

Turkish artillery.  Not well served in this game through rather poor dice rolling for them.

Turkish cavalry. Did give them the lance advantage in combat but were destroyed before able to use them!

The Australian mounted infantry would have been a challenge but surprisingly the HaT box contains 12 mounted versions, 9 on foot (in nice kneeling and firing poses, rather than some of the silly poses one often gets from the manufacturers in this scale of plastics) and 3 horse holders (actually looking the part!).  As the rules do not make a distinction between mounted and dismounted and suggests a mix of ‘operations’ a benefit, the box nicely fits within the scheme. Therefore each unit has a mix of poses.  One certainly could divide up the poses as so to replace the mounted version on the tabletop with the dismounted version should the unit dismount on the tabletop but the mix allows a doubling of the number of units.

Sample of the mounted infantry basing

my two units of mounted infantry. 

The morning before club night I made a spur of the moment decision to probably put on the game and thus a day of frantic cutting of bases, gluing of figures, quickly painting of bases, and making terrain occurred. Newly purchased hills at the last convention B&B made their debut as did some rocks I picked up along the way!

Still don’t know about the final terrain on the bases; whether I leave them as is , sort of old school,  or try to match with the mat better.  Simple is good sometimes.

During lunch I was quick reading the rules as this would be my first go at them. (lots of page flipping during the game unfortunately)

While the rules are certainly designed for the Hollywood version of colonial warfare, they adapt easily for this era.  However I did not give gone-to-ground or close order, etc. as these are not applicable to this era.

With modern warfare is less ‘personable’ , I did not use any leadership traits and leaders and simply gave all the Aussies 6+ and the Turks 7+ leadership - a historical reflection I consider (the rules range from superior 5+ or abysmal 9+)  Both have modern rifles but the Turks are downgraded in most categories.  Just means more of them on the tabletop!

 As the game was ad hoc, I gave the players (FrancisM as the Australians and DennisC as the Turks) a brief scenario and even briefer descriptions of their troops.    The Australian Mounted Infantry, as befitting their excellent war record, were significantly upgraded, while the poor Turks historically were seconded in this campaign and so downgraded with the result they have more units on the table including large numbers of machine guns and cannon.  The points were approximately the same for this game but much of the Turkish units could not redeploy against the Aussie attack on the flank of their hasty defence.

Start of the game. The Turkish wide deployment result of not sure the direction of the Australian attack as theirs was a desperate rear guard action.

I do have Australian infantry painted but they did not participate in this campaign, having been sent to the Western Front after Gallipoli.
FrancisM ever the comedian offered that:  “You know how the Aussies are. After a night of heavy drinking, they forgot the horses!”  So mounted infantry but without the mounts?, I reply.  “Exactly!”, he beamed.   Yeah, OK, I guess that works for me, I concluded.  I rated them as infantry nonetheless.

A significant action in the battle happened as I gave the beleaguered Turks a unit of horse; but as they came into the battle, the fortunate die rolling of Aussie firepower destroyed them.

The Turkish cavalry (bottom) already at half strength and pinned, would not make it through another turn unfortunately.
The rules have infantry and cavalry units with 360 degree arc of fire.

The effectiveness of the mounted infantry was certainly evident.  With future additions of heavy weapons they will be a potent force. But I think with a more historical use of defensive positions, well placed machine gun and artillery, should allow the Turks a better go of it.