First Look at April

Well here is your first look at April and it looks like we have another small fight on our hands. (Click on map below for a larger image of the mid-April situation.)

David's force is "on the river" so there was no chance of a battle there (at least not yet . . . eventually I do hope to build some riverboats).

Alex was facing a daunting task with W'tut's Rebellion Index at 9 . . . but I rolled a 13 so no battle there.

Pete didn't seem to be in much danger since Swati's Index was only a 4 . . . and indeed I rolled an 8 for him . . . so no battle there.

That leaves me. Well I was moving into Wazri with a Rebellion Index of 8 . . . any of the other rolls would be okay . . . but I rolled a 6 . . . so Captain Ellis will at least outnumber his "Pashtun-like" opponents. I suspect that at least some jezails will open up on us from long range (and beyond our range), but we will see.

Reinforcements:

David, Alex and Pete each chose the British Officer option, while I picked the two Brits option. New officers are:

Lt. Nigel Weston (Dec, 1874)
Lt. Lloyd Evans (Jan, 1875)
Lt. Brandon Sinclair (Feb, 1875)

-- Jeff

March Results & Reinforcement Choices

Campaign Situation -- April 1st, 1876

Click twice on the map to left for much larger image.

March saw a battle in M'tubel and some really nasty weather in the badlands of Luni (which was quite bad for those who were injured).

Following the "Medical Report" are brief reports from the field relating to the experiences of the various River Commands.

Medical Report:

Lt. Neil Cosgrove, commanding 21st MNI was evacuated to Kyro, but his head wound has worsened to "serious".

Lt. Pete Kipling, adjutant of the Tyger River command, failed to improve and remains in stable condition.

Pvt. Angus Grant of the 92nd Foot (Vile River Command) died from the spear wound in his stomach which he received last month.

Pvt. Elliot O'Neill of the 88th Foot (Tyger River Command) failed to respond to treatment for the bullet wound in his leg. His condition is now listed as "serious".

Pvt. Gordon Ogilvy of the 72nd Foot (Wazu River Command) remained in "stable" condition.

Havildar Sonam of the 4th Gurka (Vile River Command) was evacuated to Kyro and remains in "serious" condition.

Gurka Rai of the 4th Gurka (Vile River Command) was evacuated to Kyro and his condition has improved to "stable".

Gurka Gurung of the 4th Gurka (Vile River Command) was evacuated to Kyro and his condition has improved to "stable".

Gurka Thapa of the 4th Gurka (Vile River Command) was evacuated to Kyro and has recovered from his injuries; and is fit to return to duty.

Sepoy Onkar of the 45th BNI (Tyger River Command) has died of the wound he received from the camel riders.

Sepoy Kulbir of the 45th BNI (Tyger River Command) failed to improve from his head wound and remains in "stable" condition.

Sepoy Gauri of the 21st MNI (Vile River Command) was evacuated to Kyro and his condition has improved to "stable".

Sepoy Bhanu of the 21st MNI (Vile River Command) was evacuated to Kyro and remains in "stable" condition.

Sepoy Chand of the 15th BNI (Wazu River Command) recovered from his injuries and returned to duty.

Cango River:

After spending February "on the river", during which Sepoy Harjot (#6) joined the 2nd PFF as a replacement for the late Sepoy Jarjot. Capt. Davidson responded to the grave reports coming out of Jadu.

Indeed upon landing the situation in Jadu seemed very grave. Merchant Patrick Duncan of the Jadu Trading Post was essentially under siege. But when Captain Davidson brought his sixty rifles to the rescue, only a brief firefight served to disperse the single Jadu jezail unit that was harassing the Trading Post.

Unfortunately Pvt. Evan Sykes (#8) of the 24th Foot was slain in the exchange of fire and Pvt. Owen Williams ($6) also of the 24th foot was wounded. In addition, Sepoy Jairaj (#18) of the 2nd PFF was seriously wounded . . . and one of the mules received a flesh wound in the hind quarter.

A later search of the jezail's location resulted in the discovery of six dead hillmen and several more blood trails. Indeed word seemed to spread quite rapidly and there was no resistance during the rest of the month.

Tyger River:

The terrain and weather were the principal enemies as Capt. Webley-Grant marched his forces from the District of Luni back into the G'umb velt with its teaming insect swarms. The hot, dry and rugged terrain along with the insects made the march most unpleasant. The wounded were particularly strained by the conditions as the medical report will verify.

Nevertheless, they were again greeted well by the G'umb people. The only casualty was Pvt. Clayton Brooks (#3) of the 88th Foot who broke his left forearm in a fall.

Vile River:

After defeating M'Shoota and burning the village of M'Eezee, Captain McMurdock's column suffered no further troubles.

He did dispatch the wounded on four mules along with two muleteers and four Sepoys (#4, 10, 13 and 18) to Kyro along with a request for Royal Navy support. In addition, he temporarily assigned Lt. Sharp to command of the 21st (Madras Pioneers) since Havildar Lakshmi had been newly promoted and could use a more experienced officer in command.

Turning east, McMurdock moved his forces from the jungles of M'tubel onto the plains of the Z'ooli veldt. Perhaps because of the accounts of the battle of M'Eezee had preceded them, the Z'ooli received the column with much ceremony and goodwill.

A native runner reached the column with a letter from Reverend Vernon of the M'tubel Mission. In it he passed on the information that word had come that Trader Thompson of the Dinga Trading Post had been attacked by Dinga natives and needed help. If Captain McMurdock takes "to the river", he could reach the District within the month (and get reinforcements from Kyro -- see new rule in notes); or if he turns south as he had planned, he won't be able to get there until July at the earliest. It is decision time . . . what will he do?

Wazu River:

Captain Ellis' column crossed from Fuziwa into Mazood near the headwaters of the West Wazu. They were well received by the Mazood tribesmen. Indeed the only real misfortune suffered was when Pvt. Angus Morgan managed to sleep near an anthill and woke up with nasty biting crawlers all over him. His resulting "dance" left his fellow Scots in hilarious laughter. So he is now known among his mates as "Antsy Angus, the Dancing Fool".

Reports from the south suggest that Ellis will continue in that direction.

Following are the current Rebellion Index for the various districts:

• Alex's Cango River districts are in red
• Pete's Tyger River districts are in green
• Murdock's Vile River districts are in purple
• Jeff's Wazu River districts are in blue

The following "codes" will be in effect -- and the die roll in parentheses indicate how many points the Rebellion Index will rise each month if not visited:

• Home Districts are marked with * (d6-4)
  
• Mission Districts are marked # (d6-2)
  
• Trading Post Districts have a $ (d8-4)
  
• Normal Districts are unmarked (d6-3)
  
• "Beja" Districts are marked -- (B)
• "Dervish" Districts are marked -- (D)
  
• "Egyptian" Districts are marked -- (E)
• "Pathan" Districts are marked -- (P)
• "Zulu" Districts are marked -- (Z)

CANGO RIVER:

Tewfiq * -- (E) ---- 3
Derf # -- (B) ------- 6
Jadu $ -- (P) ------- 2
Zirak $ -- (P) ------ 3
Anwak -- (D) ------4
Bele -- (Z) ---------- 5
Noair -- (D) -------3
Quett -- (P) -------- 4
W'tut -- (Z) -------- 9

TYGER RIVER:

Nukar * -- (E) ---- 4
Ta'ish # -- (D) ---- 5
Afridi $ -- (P) ---- 5
Swati $ -- (P) ----- 4
Dendoa -- (B) ---- 7
G'umb -- (Z) ------ 2
Luni -- (P) --------- 2
M'wez -- (Z) ------ 2
Umma -- (D) ----- 5

VILE RIVER:

Urabbi * -- (E) --- 2
M'tubel # -- (Z) -- 2
Bejj $ -- (B) -------- 5
Dinqa $ -- (D) ---- 10
Alghaz -- (D) ----- 6
Ghilz -- (P) -------- 5
Tarqa -- (P) -------- 5
J'ele -- (Z) ---------- 3
Z'ooli -- (Z) -------- 2

WAZU RIVER:
Kamel * -- (E) ----- 4
Baqqar # -- (D) --- 4
Fuziwa $ -- (B) ---- 2
Shluk $ -- (D) ----- 8
Dwari -- (P) ------- 5
Likaz -- (Z) -------- 7
Mazood -- (P) ---- 2
Ngoon -- (Z) ------ 4
Wazri -- (P) ------- 8

Reinforcements Choices:

All commands will get some reinforcements delivered to their home ports. Each player will have his choice of one of the following options:

1. one British Lieutenant
2. one artilleryman
3. one cavalryman and one Sepoy
4. two "Britons"
   
5. one Gurkha and two Sepoys
   

Please inform me of your choice of reinforcements and next move as soon as you decide.

Rule Clarification

If you choose to go "On the River" for your monthly move, besides allowing you to end up on any District the river touches, this will allow you to visit your home port to both drop off injured and pick up reinforcements (but only up to the limit of your organization -- in other words I've only painted 20 figures to a platoon so you can't have more than that in it).

Doing this however does NOT permit you to "pacify" your "home district", just to visit and exchange troops.

-- Jeff

1st Campaign Battle Fought!

note -- game was played August 8, 2011 with Murdock playing the British and Alex running the M'tubel (who look surprisingly like Zulus).

(Also note that Murdock has posted his own account of the battle on his Murdock's Mauraders blog.)

The word along the river was that the main focus of strife and discontent within the District was a certain Chief M'Shoota (shown with rifle and yellow plume in image -- click for larger view). This was confirmed by Reverend Wilfred Vernon, the head of the mission in M'tubel,

Chief M'Shoota was ruler of the village of M'Eezee, so Captain McMurdock determined to burn that village to the ground. He therefor set out with his entire command to do just that. His command consisted of:

• Capt. McMurdock and Lt. Sharpe
• Lt. MacDavid and 18 other ranks of the 92nd Foot
• Sgt. Woodley and 9 other ranks of the 58th Foot
• Lt. Cosgrove and 19 Sepoys of the 21st NMI
• Havildar Sonam and 8 Gurkhas of the 4th Gurkha
• 6 mules and muleteers and two wounded

While relatively flat, the terrain was heavily forested with tropical plants (dark green areas were heavier jungle than the tall grasses of the lighter green areas), making movement difficult.

The "jungle telegraph" had obviously preceded them because M'Eezee had been cleared of all except warriors by the time the British reached it.

However before they could, in fact, reach M'Eezee, a band of black shield M'tubel charged the Gurkhas (who were scouting ahead of the main body) from the cover of the jungle.

While the Gurkhas rifle fire dropped a number of the M'tubel, disrupting their throwing spears, it was the work of the Gurkhas kukris that ended the fight. This was especially effective when Havildar Sonam took the head off of the black shield's leader with a single blow.

Still, the black shields outnumbered the Gurkhas by two to one, so the fight was not all one-sided. Gurkha Gurung (#5) went down with a thrown spear to his chest in the initial charge; and Gurkhas Limbu and Kunal (#6 & #9) were killed. And before the fight was won both the Havildar and Gurkha Rai (#3) were also seriously wounded.

Nevertheless, the bulk of the black shields lay dead or dying and only a fraction were left to flee.

As the rest of the company closed up to tend to the wounded, a band of white shield M'tubel also attacked the column's left flank from cover hitting the Madras Pioneers (21st NMI). Sadly Havildar Bama (#2) and Sepoy Hati (#19) were slain in the resulting hand-to-hand fighting; and Sepoys Gauri (#3) and Bhanu (#20) were wounded.

But the Pioneers held . . . chiefly because Sepoy Lakshmi (#5) personally slew at least four of the white shields while protecting Lt. Cosgrove from their spears. With the death of Havildar Bama, Gosgrove promoted Lakshmi to the rank of Havildar as his new second-in-command.

As this fight was ending, a band of red shield M'tubel made a huge charge that ended just short of hitting the 58th and part of the 92nd in the rear. (see image -- and click as always for larger view).

Fortunately the British units were able to turn about and deliver deadly volleys into the red shields.

Indeed, between the Brits, Highlanders and four remaining Gurkhas, the 19 of the 20 red shields fell from the withering fire over the next several minutes without ever successfully closing to hand-to-hand.

With all three M'tubel bands broken (and the leaders of each unit dead) the survivors gathered in the village of M'Eezee for a last stand. But as an Imperial volley dropped more of the warriors, the remaining white shields routed and the rest of the prepared to run as well.

At this point the saddest event of the day occurred. Chief M'Shoota, who had remained at a distance throughout the running battle fired his only shot . . . indeed it was the very last shot of the battle . . . and dropped Lt. Cosgrove with a bullet to the side of his head.

With that the M'tubel having lost fully three quarters of their warriors, abandoned the village and Captain McMurdock's forces then burned it to the ground.

================== XXX ==================

Notes from the battle:

• rules were "The Sword and the Flame: 20th Anniversary Edition"
• we used one of the Virtual Armchair General's TSATF card decks
• the huge red-shield "charge" mentioned above was not a charge in rulebook terms. It was a normal 3d6 move for which Alex rolled 15" plus an extra 3d6 bonus due to a special event card from the above-mentioned deck and he again rolled 15" for a total move of 30"!
• at one point, the 92nd Highlanders drew a "bad ammo" event from the deck above and the only shot from the unit that struck home was from Lt. McDavid's pistol.
  

Casualty Report :

21st NMI (Madras Pioneers)

• Lt. Neil Cosgrove -- wounded
• Havildar Bama -- dead
• Sepoy Chandrak -- dead
• Sepoy Hati -- dead
• Sepoy Gauri -- seriously wounded
• Sepoy Bhanu -- wounded

4th Gurkhas

• Havildar Sonam -- seriously wounded
• Sepoy Limbu -- dead
• Sepoy Kunal-- dead
• Sepoy Rai -- seriously wounded
• Sepoy Gurung -- seriously wounded

Afristan Map after Victory:

So moves for the March turn are now due.

Remember that you can move into any adjacent District or travel through a maximum of one hex of a District in order to reach another district. An example of this can be found in the Tyger River area.

The Field Force is in Luni. It could move to G'umb . . . or it could travel through one hex of G'umb to either Swati or M'wez (with a slight penalty to the Rebellion die roll).

Of course, if like the Cango River Field Force, you are "on the river", you can move to any District which the river touches.

-- Jeff

Battle vs M'tubel on Monday

Well it now looks like Captain McMurdock will draw "first blood" in the Afristan Campaign . . . and, most likely lose some of his troops as well.

He has been charged with pacifying this rebellious district by burning the village of M'eezee. But whether this will be easy or hard we should find out on this coming Monday afternoon. So in the meantime, I need to paint some Zulus (who will act as M'tubel) and create a village to be burned.

Meanwhile all of the players have made their reinforcement choices. Pete and Alex both chose option four (one Briton and one Gurkha) while Murdock and I both chose option two (one Cavalryman and one Sepoy).

By the way, the available reserves can always be seen by clicking on the appropriate River Valley Command in the top right hand column, then scrolling down to the bottom of the forces list.

-- Jeff

February Results and Reinforcements

Campaign Situation -- March 1st, 1876

Click twice on the map to left for much larger image.

Well as "March comes in like a lion" we have our first confrontation between Native troops and one of our commands.

The Vile River Field Force has met resistance upon entering the district of M'tubel.

Sadly, since I'm only in the process of painting the proper type of troops, we may need to wait a week or two before fighting this out.

Following the "Medical Report" are brief reports from the field relating to the experiences of the various River Commands.

Medical Report:

Pvt. Paul MacArthur of the 72nd Foot (Wazu River Command) has died of the wounds he received from that jungle cat last month.

Gurkha Thapa of the 4th Gurkha's (Vile River Command) has had his condition upgraded from "serious" to "stable".

Sepoy Chand of the 15th Bengali Native Infantry (Wazu River Command) has recovered and has returned to duty.

Cango River:

After the funeral service for Sepoy Japjot, Capt. Davidson's command left the fertile farmlands of Anwaki and hurried across the dry veldt of Tewfiq to the Tewfiq Trading Post. Here they learned that things had indeed gotten much worse at the Jadu Trading Post . . . so Capt. Davidson decided to requisition boat in order to "take to the river" as the quickest way to reach the trouble spot.

While at the Trading Post, Lt. Appleby's "problem child", Sepoy Prakash (#7) somehow manged to knock over a large display of heavy crates which all fell on top of him . . . yet somehow he escaped injury.

Later, when boarding the boats, Prakash managed to upset one of the boats and was not seen again until the boat was successfully righted, when he was found to have been knocked unconscious and had been trapped face-up in the air pocket under the boat. Havildar Granth and several other members of the 2nd "Piffers" now feel that Prakash is a good luck omen . . . he certainly was lucky while at the Trading Post.

Tyger River:

Captain Webley-Grant forced marched his command across the arid grasses of G'umb toward the badlands of Luni. His reception in both Districts was quite hostile, bordering on open rebellion.

While traveling past one of the G'umb villages, some children threw rocks at the troops and Sepoy Kulbir (#19) of the 45th BNI was struck in the head and remains unconscious a few days later. In addition, one of the muleteers received a broken arm from a thrown rock and now has to ride one of his mules.

If possible the atmosphere in Luni was even worse than in G'umb. Webley-Grant's second in command, Lt. Pete Kipling was shot in his right (shooting) arm from ambush. While he seems to be out of danger, he won't be able to use his pistol well for some time (+2 penalty on die roll).

In a similar incident, Pvt. Elliot O'Neill (#6) of the 88th Foot was shot in the leg and is confined to riding a mule; and Sepoy Onkar (#13) of the 45th BNI is in "serious" condition from a bullet wound he received from some camel riders.

Nevertheless it seems like the "show of force" has (for the time being at least) quieted the discontent . . . at least enough to delay open rebellion for a while although it seemed like a close-run thing.

Vile River:

Having successfully quieted the discontent in Ghilz, Capt. McMurdock led his troops to the confluence of the White and Blue Viles and crossed the White Vile into the troubled Jungles of M'tubel.

As they crossed the White Vile, they were greeted by a hail of spears and Private Angus Grant was critically wounded with a spear to his stomach. Several volleys into the jungle apparently dispersed these natives . . . although no bodies were found after the encounter. Since then the column has been continuously harassed and a battle seems inevitable.

Wazu River:

The two columns of Captain Ellis and Lieutenant Jeffers crossed their respective West and East branches of the Wazu and re-joined to quiet the discontent surrounding the Fuziwa Trading Post.

While not received exactly warmly by the bushy-haired hill people, Ellis' command encountered no active resistance. Still, Private Gordon Ogilvy (#8) of the 72nd Foot slipped and fell down a hillside and is rather substantially banged up and will be out-of-action for a while.

Following are the current Rebellion Index for the various districts:

• Alex's Cango River districts are in red
• Pete's Tyger River districts are in green
• Murdock's Vile River districts are in purple
• Jeff's Wazu River districts are in blue

The following "codes" will be in effect -- and the die roll in parentheses indicate how many points the Rebellion Index will rise each month if not visited:

• Home Districts are marked with * (d6-4)
  
• Mission Districts are marked # (d6-2)
  
• Trading Post Districts have a $ (d8-4)
  
• Normal Districts are unmarked (d6-3)
  
• "Beja" Districts are marked -- (B)
• "Dervish" Districts are marked -- (D)
  
• "Egyptian" Districts are marked -- (E)
• "Pathan" Districts are marked -- (P)
• "Zulu" Districts are marked -- (Z)
  

CANGO RIVER:

Tewfiq * -- (E) ---- 3
Derf # -- (B) ------- 6
Jadu $ -- (P) ------- 11
Zirak $ -- (P) ------ 3
Anwak -- (D) ------2
Bele -- (Z) ---------- 3
Noair -- (D) ------- 2
Quett -- (P) -------- 4
W'tut -- (Z) -------- 8

TYGER RIVER:

Nukar * -- (E) ---- 4
Ta'ish # -- (D) ---- 4
Afridi $ -- (P) ---- 3
Swati $ -- (P) ----- 4
Dendoa -- (B) ---- 7
G'umb -- (Z) ------ 3
Luni -- (P) --------- 2
M'wez -- (Z) ------ 2
Umma -- (D) ----- 5

VILE RIVER:

Urabbi * -- (E) --- 2
M'tubel # -- (Z) -- ???
Bejj $ -- (B) -------- 5
Dinqa $ -- (D) ---- 6
Alghaz -- (D) ----- 5
Ghilz -- (P) -------- 2
Tarqa -- (P) -------- 5
J'ele -- (Z) ---------- 3
Z'ooli -- (Z) -------- 9

WAZU RIVER:
Kamel * -- (E) ----- 2
Baqqar # -- (D) --- 2
Fuziwa $ -- (B) ---- 2
Shluk $ -- (D) ----- 4
Dwari -- (P) ------- 4
Likaz -- (Z) -------- 6
Mazood -- (P) ---- 5
Ngoon -- (Z) ------ 3
Wazri -- (P) ------- 5

Reinforcements Choices:

All commands will get some reinforcements delivered to their home ports. Each player will have his choice of one of the following options:

1. one Artilleryman
2. one Cavalryman and one Sepoy
3. two "Britons"
4. one "Briton" and one Gurkha
   
5. four Sepoys

Please inform me of your choice of reinforcements as soon as you decide.

-- Jeff