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THE AFRIBORIAN HERALD: THE CAMPAIGN GAZETTE.
The Afriborian Campaign is situated in an imaginary world that resembles our own planet and its history (roughly 1874-1914), but events that took place in our world might be set at different dates or in different places in the Afriborian world, thus making any resemblance between Afriboria and real history, -people, -events and -places purely a matter of imagination.

The "AFRIBORIAN HERALD" is the campaign gazette of the Afriborian wargame/roleplaying campaign and reports on the events on the Dark Continent.
The rules used for this engagement are "Afriboria - Miniature battles in a colonial setting", fastplay card driven colonial rules (downloadable for free at http://www.tsoa.be/ - Antwerp Fusiliers rules section). This battle was played solo, with 4 command cards per side. Given the small scale of the skirmish, no event cards were used. Each turn, the solo player picked 2 command cards (his choice) from the hand of the active side and casts 1D6. 1-3 activated the first card, 4-6 the second. Pretty straightforward, but it worked rather well.

SCENARIO NOTES.
The allied basecamp is defended by 4 (Franco-Belgian) units:
- (1): 8 fig B-class Belgian "Brigade Navale" with a sergeant.
- (2) A-class French "Infanterie de Marine" MG.
- (3) 8 fig B-class Belgian askari.
- (4) 6 fig A-class French "Infanterie de Marine".
The officer commanding the camp (Cpt Eduard Geudens) is with units 2 & 3.

The "Devils' Own" Arab raiding force is 8 units strong:
(1) One 8 fig C-class archer unit & one 8 fig C-class spear unit.
(2) Four 8 fig units (2 B-class spearmen & 2 C-class archers), forming a "company", commanded by a tribal overlord on foot.
Unit colours (see rules) for 1,2 & 3 are mixed red-green-blue.
(3) Two 5 fig units of B-class camel archers, forming a "platoon", commanded by a tribal chieftain on horseback.

Scenario objectives/victory conditions: The three (immobile) trucks in the yellow rectangle have to be taken by the Arabs in order to "overrun the camp" and win the battle. However (contrary to the standard Afriboria rules), Arab units entering the ZOC of a defending allied unit must stop and battle. The hills shown at the bottom of the picture (to the left and right of unit "4") are impassable terrain.

The Arabs must retire from the field (= allied victory) if they have not been able to take their objectives by turn 20 (=10 turns for each side).

The main line of the allied redoubt is manned by the Belgian askari, Cpt Eduard Geudens, the French MG and the Belgian "Brigade Navale" (with sergeant).
The Arab left wing (camel "platoon" with the tribal chieftain on white horse) and centre
(infantry "company") deploy for battle.
The Arab right wing (a unit of spearmen and a unit of archers) take up position on the heights.

***** THE AFRIBORIAN HERALD **** issue 7
 ****** THE EYES AND EARS OF THE DARK CONTINENT ******
"THE FOUR FEATHERS".
"Battle for the basecamp"
Once the allied expeditionary force had reached the foot of the Rif mountains, a base camp was set up. This camp would hold the stores for the columns in the field, a hospital for the wounded and an airstrip for the German plane. All supplies from El Tap would be transported to this site and stored there, awaiting further distribution. It was crystal clear for both the allied command and DOW (the "Devil's Own Warlord", commanding the tribes of the Rif) that without these logistics the allied field forces would have to stop their advance - due to lack of supplies - and fall back to El Tap. Since both Lord Hamilton (sorry,... Colonel Earsome!) and FFL Colonel Rico Sanscheveux - the French commander - insisted on leading their own column into the Rif, it was decided that the Belgian representative - Eduard Geudens - would be in command of the camp. Since he was a civil servant of the "Société Commerciale de Brazzaville" and not an officer, he was temporarely commisioned, commanding his own askari, a "Brigade Navale" taken from the crew of the Belgian schooner "Belle Hélène" and a French "Infanterie de Marine" unit and MG. Since all commands for both the Belgians and the French were in Voltaire's language, this would not be much of a problem. Next morning the British and French field forces marched out of the camp, accompanied in the air by the German plane.
The field forces had hardly been gone a couple of hours when a dustcloud rose from the plain in front of the base camp: DOW had sent an army to erase the allied camp from the earth...
Eduard Geudens ordered his troops to hastily construct a redoubt in front of the camp. Unfortunately, he had not enough units to man the whole lenght of it, so his forces had to be spread out behind the crates and barrels that formed a meager redoubt. No time left to think it over: warriors, camels and warflags emerged from the dust, accompanied by fearful warcries: "Allah! Allah! Dow! Dow! Death to the infidel!". The allied defenders grasped their rifles and waited grimly for the inevitable...
The Arabs - flags flying - emerge from the dust. Once the enemy infantry is within range, the allied units open a devastating fire, but there are just too many Arab warriors... (*1).
Whilst in the centre the Arab "company" pins down the Belgian Askari and the French MG, the Arab camelry charges the French Infanterie de Marine on the allied right flank. They nearly succeed in breaking through with their first attack, killing a third of the gallant defenders (*2).
The Arab camelry - on the verge of a breakthrough - ran out of arrows and had to fall back to re-supply... (*3)
The "Devils' Own" fare better on the allied left flank: a unit of spearman enters the redoubt in an undefended section and charges the Belgian "Brigade Navale" (*2).
This could have been a classic western scene! The defenders are just about to be overrun when a unit of Bengal lancers from El Tap arrives on the spot! (*4)
On the allied left flank a unit of archers has also penetrated the defences. The Belgian "Brigade Navale" has been thrown back and the French MG is about to be annihilated. (*5)
The fierce Arab camelry charges the French "Infanterie de Marine" once more and kill the brave fusiliers to the man. The trucks seem to be within easy reach and the tribesmen cry victory...
... too soon, unfortunately: the Bengal lancers close the gap in the defences and prove more than a match for our Arab friends!

 

In the meantime, the Belgian "Brigade Navale" has repulsed both spearmen and archers and the central Arab "company" has not succeeded in throwing back the askari. With the sun setting, the Arab tribal overlord decides to call it a day and pulls back the remnants of his force to the safety of the Rif. The tired and decimated defenders now tend to their wounded and dead comrades. It has been a close call, but the base camp still stands...

Eduard Geudens wonders how well the field force has done. Well, he'll soon find out...

TO BE CONTINUED...


Eduard Geudens and
his faithful servant Simba. Simba
fought with the "Brigade Navale".

BATTLE NOTES.

(*1): (turn 1 - turn 4) By carefully playing the cards, the Arab army has been moved in a position whereby if forms a straight line, ready to take on the enemy. The Arab "company" in the centre is lead by a B-class spear unit accompanied by a tribal overlord (thus able to suffer more casualties before having to retreat due to "flags" cast).

(*2): (turn 5) The Arabs are now being allowed to play the "all-out offensive" command card, enabling all their units to move into contact simultaniously.

(*3): (turn 6): Fortunately, the allies are able to counter with the "short of supplies" command card, sending the camelry back to its starting position.

(*4) (turn 8): More luck for the allies: with the pressure eased a little, they are (finally) able to play the "reinforcements" command card they have been holding sice turn 1; the result is the arrival of an A-class cavalry unit (Bengal lancers)!

(*5) (turn 9): The C-class archers cast 3 dice in an attack against the MG and hit 3 figures; none are saved! During turn 11 they will kill the 4th figure and thus destroy the MG.

With hindsight, the allies have certainly been very lucky indeed to receive the Bengal cavalry as reinforcements. Otherwise, the gap in their line created by the destruction of the "Infanterie de Marine" would have sealed their faith, since the camelry would have been able to take all three trucks in 2 moves without opposition. As it was, the two camelry units were stopped and virtually annihalited by the lancers. By then turn 20 (end of game) had been reached. A defensive action is often a bloody occasion and this one was no exception: the allied troops had suffered about 50% casualties and the Arabs no less than 65%. Contrary to the character of the allied officer (Eduard Geudens), the allied sergeant has proved to be of little use in the action, but "that's the way it was"...