The Denizens of Africa Frolic Before Battle
We successfully got TWO scenarios of the Tanga Campaign done this Sunday! Despite a no-show by Nate, I did have Steve, Nichols, and Scott show up to get this shin-dig going.
We are using the Skirmish Elite - Tanga 1914 campaign set-up. The initial five scenarios involve the British attacking the German garrison on Mt. Longido. The scenarios are well-designed and allow for variable additional units to maximize repeat play. One time a side gets an extra unit, next a pair of hidden "skirmishers", next time off board artillery. Each game can have drastically different factors affect play.
Of course, we're playing Gnome Wars, so the British are replaced by the Swiss, and Askari troops are replaced by Teddy Bears.
In the real world, the British used a two pronged simultaneous attack to invade the colony of German East Africa. Ground forces would cross over the border from British East Africa (modern-day Kenya) and either defeat or detain the forces defending Longido Mountain, part of the range that includes Mt. Kilimanjaro. At best this force could seize essential wells on the mountain, as well as the local rail hub. The second attack would be an amphibious assault outside of the port city of Tanga. If both attacks were successful, the British hope to have the two forces connect via the rail line and work their way south to conquer the rest of the colony.
In the Gnome Wars world, things are not much different. After the previous Wishing Well campaign, the Swiss and Germans are definitely at war, and it has begun to spread around the world to their colonies. Gnomish Africa is a land of many exotic sentient species, as well as a land of opportunity for ne'er do wells like the Irish and Scottish Highlanders looking for the better life.
In this part of the world, the Germans hold a distinct advantage in the public relations war. They have a very good working relationship with the native Teddy Bear population, and have a well trained and well paid army of these creatures at the ready. These Teddy Bear Askari are poor shots, but ferocious in hand-to-hand combat, and rarely waver when faced with adversity.
The Swiss have focused primarily on mining prospects in the colony, so they have largely ignored their Teddy Bear population. They have sent over numerous units of Sikhs to help with colonial defense, but they have adjusted poorly to the climate and morale is tremendously low. The Irish immigrants working the mines have been used for defense and local law enforcement, sometimes as mercenaries, other times as conscripts to the Swiss Army.
There are also some special rules I've implemented to follow troop morale, enviroment, and to adapt to the special rules Gnome Wars has:
*All figures upslope are fired upon as if they had light cover, if other cover modifiers come into play, this rule is ignored.
*Melee is fought in the two-round format.
*A Swiss alphorn must be playing for any unit to advance. Each round a unit must roll a d6. If a 1 is rolled, the alphorn stops playing and the unit can not advance unless another has made their roll earlier in the turn.
*In mountainous scenarios, Swiss may only tunnel on the same level of elevation.
*Machine Guns make a roll on d6 after they are fired. On a 1, the machine gun runs out of ammo and a figure must run back to "base" and resupply. On a 6 the gun jams, and the team must spend the next turn clearing it. They then roll another d6, and so long as a 6 is not rolled, the jam is cleared and can be fired the following turn.
*Sikhs for the duration of the campaign are of such poor morale/discipline that they must remain in base-to-base contact at all times. They can not volley fire, and are subject to morale rules with a starting break number of 9.
For each scenario, I'll do a separate post for each after-action report, and provide the Gnome Wars conversion to troop selection and the variable forces available. Please be aware that the terrain is crude, but quite effective, and that numerous units may have partial base coats, if just a primer coat.
And no Fisher-Price leopards were harmed in the playing of this campaign.
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