Mafrica #1 Van Deers Farm

Date: 10 October 1898/2018
Location: Van Deers Farm
Situation: Imperial Supply Column Moving South

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VAN DEERS FARM ALONG THE SOUK RIVER

"Vader, the English are coming this way again."

"Ja. I see them now Margaretha." We must be pleasant to them."

Vanguard of Lieutenant Hawkings Supply Column

"Lieutenant Hawkings, Sah.' Van Deers Farm is just up ahead."

"Very well Sergeant Hicks. We'll camp there for the night. Pass the word."
"Sah."

"Do you see 'em Nigel?"

"I do my blind friend. Dinner an' make no mistake. 

Our cooking pots will be full tonight Charlie."

All was quiet at the rear of the supply column.
Flankers reported nothing amiss but....
Just as Nigel and Charlie were about to pot a few boars for dinner....

Enemy musket men hidden by vegetation and high stone walls of the Souk River Bridge secretly flanked the Imperial Advance Guard.  

Soon fire was exchanged.

Then they crossed and headed right to harass the Scotsmen and to support native spear and sword armed friends.

Who suddenly appeared in front of the Imperial van. Their shocking appearance and resolute advance found the Imperials just able to form a firing line to oppose them. It was a close run thing.

As these developments occurred, Lt. Hawkings ordered the 24th Foot detachment forward at the double to support the Scots and the 7 Pounder RML cannon to crown the high ground to the upper right. The buffs formed a firing line ahead of the supply wagons.

Next the buffs moved forward whilst the naval detachment double quicked to the hill.

All formed a respectable firing line.

But there was no time for congratulations. Events moved rapidly. The Van Deers Family already cruelly in the path of the foe lost Vader Van Deers and mother suffered a wound. The daughters stoutly stood their ground firing away as the enemy came on.

On they came, foes with throwing and stabbing spears. The two Imperial companies bravely fired, carried wounded to the rear and fought in hand-to-hand combat.

Back on the hill, Lt. Hawkings barked, "Give those poor devils some support! 

But, the end came too soon. There was no time to do more than watch the few minutes in which the gallant defence of the farm ended in favor of the Zulus.

The Rear Guard reformed an all-round defence. They waited for the inevitable turning of the Impi's chest directly toward them and the appearance of the horns encircling them. But this did not happen. The foe was spent.

 Hawkings: "Lt. Wright, we'd better get out of here while we can."

Wright led the decimated command back to the north as Hawkings and the Buffs protected the rear. Some survivors from the farm fight eventually joined the column. 

The Zulus did not pursue. Perhaps they were stunned by losses. We do not know. They were apparently content to have stopped supplies reaching an Imperial garrison to the south.

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CLOSING REMARKS

1. Histori-Figs owner Mike Taber granted us the opportunity to show and use Jack Scruby's Mafrica Map. We show a portion below. The Van Deers Farm action took place on the Souk River just barely north of the lake of the same name in the upper center of the map.

Jack Scruby's concept adapted the Second Period of Colonization on one imagineered continent featuring shifting alliances of native and Imperial powers. Hence in our first game we have Zulus allied with Masai though historically the two were separated by more than 2,500 miles. In Mafrica this does not matter. Plus we adopted the "Old School" principle of use miniatures we have ready.

(2) Natives: Dave G., Chuck L. (The Lucky) and Todd B.

(3) Imperials: Bill K. and yours truly Bill P. (chronicler of the General Pettygree stories)

(4) Design: Dave G. and Bill K.

(5) Terrain: Chuck L. and Bill P.

(6) Mostly 28mm miniatures: Dave G., Chuck L., Todd B. and Bill P.

(7) Rules: The Sword and The Flame 20th edition with aspects of The Africa variant.

(8) Played on a Wednesday evening in 2.5 hours. There may have been tenish turns and we certainly had a ton of fun.

(9) What's next? Mafrica #2 The Imperial Counter-Attack.

(10) See you next time.
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Design Secrets: Making The Battle of Shalalabad

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Date: 15 September 1905/2018
Location: Shalalabad Mountain, Northwest Frontier
Situation: Imperial Garrison Awaits Amrahn Kahn's Storm and General Pettygree's Relief Column

Photo: Courtesy of Bill K.

The Battle of Shalalabad was a wargame at a fictional location. Each September friends gather to participate in our "Annual BIG Colonial Wargame." Last year we were in The Sudan. This year found us marching north of the celebrated Khyber Pass deep within The Northwest Frontier. 

Let's talk about designing the game.

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PARTICIPANTS

Behind Shalalabad Mountain

Seated left to right: Curt B., Greg B., Bill K. and Todd C. Standing left to right: Yours truly Bill P. aka General Pettygree, Jim P. aka Der Alte Fritz, Dave G. and Chuck L. aka The Lucky.

Chow Time

Eating and wargaming are vital ingredients on game day. The guys brought veggies, drinks and other goodies to share and consume throughout the day. Here we enjoy sandwiches foraged from a custom sandwich tray  made that morning by a local grocery store.

 Food and companionable conversation about numerous hobby topics. 

Happy Birthday Curt (pointing), Bill K. (orange hat) and Chuck (serving cake).

Birthdays are tracked and a custom cake was ordered from the same grocery store that made our sandwiches. We do this for Saturday games. Dorothy P. routinely asks if we have a theme."Mountains" was my answer this time. You see the result within scrumptious butter creme frosting. Underneath was marble cake.

THEME

The secretive Amrahn Khan (second from left) will soon be widely known. 

His hatred for anyone unwilling to worship the goddess Kali in implacable.

Naturally he has a plan for world domination commencing with....

Bombardment and storming of the Imperial garrison at Shalalabad. 

Meanwhile General Pettygree hastens to relieve the garrison whilst....

His Advance Guard deploys near Shalalabad (off image upper left).

Typed mission orders of several paragraphs or lengthy speeches about them are no longer practicable for me. After everyone arrived at this game, observed terrain and contemplated known unit deployments (most of them), players were given small envelopes. Amrahn Khan's commanders received the above. 

The Shalalabad Garrison received these easy orders while....

The Advance Guard received these brief particulars.

What about my command? Here it is. Pettygree would arrive in the turn after lunch per a decision Jim and Curt made for me. They chose Option #1 in the right-hand note in the preceding photo. Meanwhile, as host I was free to answer questions, initiate new players to the rules and get things underway beforehand.

Why after lunch as opposed to a particular turn? Reason: So the lancers would have time to arrive, deploy and affect the battle. I've found that saying X Unit arrives on Turn 5 does not always work out as a best practice to make a game flow well. Plus, I like a little fog of war now and then.

As part of this though, I used a timer to speed things along starting on Turn 2. Five minutes was allowed to move units and in general six minutes for fire. It was enough. This works amazingly well to speed games along to get in the most turns possible. Otherwise the natural tendency to take one's time and engage in companionable banter really does reduce the number of turns that can be played. We had ample time for chit chat during lunch and later when eating birthday cake.

CLOSING REMARKS

(1) The game was played in two zones; near Shalalabad and forward of the Imperial Advance Guard camp. Two player groups played at their own speed never minding coordinating turns in the other zone. This works well, is somehow really nifty and gives a good fog of war representation. This way the game plays on, is more efficient, faster and nobody sits around waiting very much. Motto: We play games to move units and throw dice.

(2) What About Battle Reports?
Jim wrote a superior AAR on his Der Alte Fritz Blog. See:

https://altefritz.blogspot.com/2018/09/over-khyber-pass-shalalabad.html

(3) As for my own battle report, I have a backstory and photographs I hope you will find interesting, very different and compelling. The plan is to place this in the book General Pettygree is writing. See the blog post immediately preceding this one for an explanation.

(4) Shalalabad's mountain once was a terrain divider on a model railroad layout. Chuck supplied pathways, hedges, the redcoats, the stream, some vegetation and several mountainous terrain items. Large trees and the tower were made by HG Walls. Other buildings and bridges are Miniature Building Authority products.

(5) Thank you sincerely for looking in. I hope you enjoyed the information, presentation and concepts some of which you might adapt for your own group of game friends.

(6) Last my dear Pettygree story readers, I hope you will give Jim the honour to read and comment on his blog and place remarks at the bottom of this report for mine --- at the word Comments below.

Until next time I remain,
Your Obt. Servant,
Bill P.

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Gen. Pettygree Is Writing A Book

I HAVE MORE STORIES TO TELL YOU

"Excuse me General Pettygree. Your readers are here."

"Very well Mr. Barnes. "I’ll speak with them now."

"Thank you for seeing me. I appreciate it. Many of you have followed my singular career in the Nile Delta, Sudan, Northwest Frontier and Britain on my blog; Campaigns of General  William Augustus Pettygree."  

"In most stories I was a soldier serving Queen Victoria." 

"However, there are other fascinating adventures of rugged men, strong women and dark foes whom you do not yet know which need telling. Their unique experiences in astonishing places woven within desperate circumstances and new eras compel me to present them to you."

"That’s what I'll be doing next at greater length than possible here. Only a short story book format can do this. As my chronicler Bill Protz did in almost one hundred blog stories, we’ll advance new tales by briefly captioned photographs. The difference will be much greater depth of story and characters."

"Excuse me William. Dreadfully sorry. We need to be at Lord Basingstoke’s before seven for dinner."

"Quite right Mary, my darling. I'll finish in a moment." 

"Bill and I estimate Book #1 will be available between January and July 2019. Meanwhile, here is a teaser as the motion picture people call it." 

      The 1929 Buhl CA-6 Sesquiplane’s Wright Whirlwind 300hp engine was useless, on fire and the propeller was frozen in place. Speaking silently to herself, “Trees ahead. Pull the wheel back a little. Respond damn you! Up a smidgen. Yes. Bravo my wounded girl.”

      The aircraft jerked as the undercarriage clipped treetops along the eastern coastal ridge. Bearing 225˚ an undulating field beckoned her down. It was so very small though and the far edge was bordered by more trees. But, it was all the aviatrix had as she descended. 

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CLOSING REMARKS

(1) Does this mean my blog stories will cease? No.

(2) There is much to sort out with self-publishing and distribution.

(3) Wish us luck will you?

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RIDING WITH THE COLUMN

EN-ROUTE TO THE NORTHWEST FRONTIER Commentaries About Our Hobby

#2

See General Pettygree's,  RIDE WITH THE COLUMN, SIR!
Where: Preceding this report

General Pettygree, in the past month your orders to ride with the column more worked. The men are now markedly more cheerful and industrious because they endeavored to be with their mates more in hobby activities rather than isolating themselves for all manner of reasons. Here is what happened....

Winston just related how hobby activities of one of the units under my command beat it's hobby funk. It found time, energy and gumption to get out to attend The Little Wars Convention and game several times in the homes of one another on occasional weekends and also mid-week after work.

Our lads sailed in the 1750s and 1942, flew in the skies near Guadalcanal, perilously entered a recently discovered tomb, commanded submarines, tested new WWII land rules, defended the Earth versus alien spacecraft and more. Let me however, concentrate just a little on Bill's Annual Birthday Game Day. I heartily recommend the concept to you.

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Date: 5 May 1932, 1942 and 2018
Locations: Egypt and The Southwest Pacific
Situation: Bill's Annual Birthday Game Day
Raison d' etre: Game with your mates more. Reduce self-imposed isolation

Seated on Lohalo Ridge, Desperatu Island left to right: Morgan E., Dan E., Jim H., Keith J. and host Bill P. Standing left to right: Dave G., John B., Kurt D., Lewis S. and Chuck L. Not pictured: Bill K. Most played in two games.

Morning Games (10:00 am)
Tomb Raider Game 1 (Chuck L.)
Naval Thunder off Desperatu Island. (John B.)

Lunch: Noonish
Participants brought beverage and/or chow to share.
Main Course: Sandwiches and meatballs.
Dessert: Many goodies plus an afternoon birthday cake.

Afternoon Games (1:00 pm)
Tomb Raider Game 2 (Chuck L.)
Invasion of Desperatu Island (Bill P.)

Bill's Birthday Cake had a South Pacific Theme as you see. Prodigious!

So you see, one person did not do everything. Participants ran games, brought miniatures and shared bringing chow. All came in hopeful anticipation for laughs, friendly competition and companionship impossible to achieve unless one stands side by side in flesh and blood with his mates.

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SUCCESSFUL TIME CONSUMPTION INGREDIENTS:

1) Rules were uncomplicated/unmassive. Main rule books were barely consulted. Reasons: Quick Reference charts, knowledgeable judges and companionable players.

2) Practice the rules.

3) Set-up before game day.

4) Involve others in judging, commands and bringing miniatures.

5) Emailing orders for the invasion of Desperatu Island before game day. See examples next.

A portion of Desperatu Island's east shoreline. This image was emailed to Dan E. commanding Japanese Special Naval Landing Force combatants landing left of the breakwall. In this way Dan could see his landing zone, 1st Mission orders and make plans before game day.

Keith J's SNLF was ordered to land to the right of the previous image directly in the harbor.

Here we've turned around looking out to sea. Bill K's Coastal Patrol Force received this image and 1st Mission orders in the event of a Japanese landing.

Some Japanese players also received this aerial recon photo showing the US 26th Cavalry patrolling the beach and harbor.

USA view from the interior of the island. 

John B. and his 4th Marines received this image before game day to conserve planning time consumption on game day.

That's the Lohalo Ridge Watch Tower in the distance where John was posted. Desperatu Harbor is beyond the ridge.

5 May 1942: Imperial Japanese Navy arrives in the Strait of Desperatu Island. Though engaged by US and Australian warships (Naval Thunder game we played earlier in the day), only one maru carrying men and supplies was sunk. Thus, the invasion went ahead as planned.

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CLOSING REMARKS

1) That should do it men. Contact your mates and plan something today. There is nothing like a locked in future game date to rout the blue devils holding you back.

2) Thank you to the gallant friends who helped make my 2018 Annual Birthday Game Day terrific and rewarding. I ran out of room to include more people in the festivities. Some were unable to participate.

3) Buildings are Miniature Building Authority. Warships are from Richard Houston.

4) Have a comment? We hope so. Please place it below in Comments. We want to hear from you.

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