A few figures that have been hanging around for years

These were figures that I got with the Congo Mungo Ma Lobeh campaign supplement, which features the real female explorer Mary Kingsley.

The picture above is Mary Kingsley and her adversary in the campaign, Uguwa, a powerful sorceror. The picture below features two bearers. Bearers are always useful for all manner of games set in Africa.

I have to admit that I've never actually played the campaign, mainly because we stopped playing Congo at the club ages ago and no one seems interested in picking the game up again. However, all is not lost, because these figures could easily be used in all manner of Pulp games.

I'm happy to finally get these painted up, even if they do end up sitting in a storage box until a suitable need arises.

Big Congo - a bit of an experiment

A few weeks ago, we were having a conversation at the club about how Congo could be adapted for larger games and games in different periods and locations. There were two different periods that we thought would work pretty well and they were The Wild West and Mexico during the age of the Conquistadores. I think that we have a bit more thinking to be done on these, but I am sure that the game mechanisms would translate pretty well.

The other thing we discussed was whether we could use the rules for larger games with more players and more figures. This post is about this, and some specific rules ideas that I wrote up for a specific experimental scenario. Here is what I wrote;

Big Congo special rules

This scenario has a small European force defending a village, kraal, trading post or similar built-up area. This is surrounded by a compound contained within a mixture of light and hard cover, plus buildings. One building/open area must be designated as a Dressing Station (see below).

Light cover could be hedges or light fences. Hard cover could be walls, sandbag defences or substantial fencing. This force is facing an attack from a local native ruler with a grudge against the Europeans. Perhaps he has been deprived of his income from slavery or maybe his dispute is over grazing rights, proselytising missionaries or some other insult to his dignity. Unable to resolve this issue via peaceful means he has assembled a force of tribal warriors, some equipped with firearms and mercenary fighters.

The game should be played on a 6 x 4 table..

The territory could be open savannah or a jungle setting. Regarding forces, it is pretty much what is available, but there really needs to be a much larger native forces attacking a smaller, but better-armed European one.

Composition of forces

Defenders

The defenders can choose from the White Expeditions list and could be something like;:

1 x Explorer
1 x Retired Officer
3 x Soldiers
1 x Adventurers
1 x Trained Askaris
1 x Askaris
1 x Ruga Ruga
1 x Loyal Warriors (see Forest Tribes army list for stats)
Any number of civilians, bearers etc.

Of course, if there is a different range of figures available, more groups could be included.

The defenders may contain 1 x Missionary. This character will add +1D6 to all dice rolls for units within a radius of M distance. The missionary is taken from the total number of available civilians. The presence of the Missionary will allow any non-European defending unit targeted by a Ritual to ignore the result if it can successfully roll against its Bravery. Any unit within M distance may also re-roll a failed Terror test. The Missionary does not need to be attached to a specific unit. The Missionary has stats of Shooting (0) Combat (6) Bravery (8).

Characters may leave a unit and join another at any time as part of normal movement.

Dressing station

All defender casualties are placed in the dressing station. In the round after they have entered the station roll 1D6. If the roll is a success, the figure is only lightly wounded and may return to its unit. Figures cannot do anything except move (at distance M) until they are back with their unit. If the roll is 1, the figure is dead and is removed. Figures can be rolled for again at the start of each round. There are up to two civilians in the Dressing Station, acting as doctors or nurses. Each doctor figure can roll a maximum of 3D6 per round.
 
Civilians

The defenders have a number of civilians amongst their numbers. Up to two civilians (not bearers) may be placed in the Dressing Station as medics. One civilian may act as a Morale Booster. This figure is an Inspirational Person. Any unit to which the Inspirational Person is attached may re-roll all dices scores of 1. The Inspirational Person has stats of Shooting (0) Combat (6) Bravery (10).

Up to four civilians (not bearers) may be armed. They have the same stats as Scouts (i.e. D6 for all characteristics).

Any other civilians present are simply unarmed and with no specific role. This includes any bearers on the table.

Native Attackers

The Native forces will be led by a Native Warlord (King). Up to two other characters may be taken. If available a War Horn may also be taken. The War Horn may only be attached to a unit armed with assegais.

Note: if a Witchdoctor is taken, he cannot influence any European units or characters, only other African ones.

Characters may leave a unit and join another at any time as part of normal movement, apart from the King, who must remain with his Bodyguard at all times. The size of the Native force really depends on what is available. Units in BOLD are obligatory. For example;

1 x King
1 x Bodyguards
1 x War Horn
2 x characters of choice
2 x Bundukis
1 x Fanatical Warriors
0-2 x Ruga Ruga
0-2 x Married Warriors
0-3 x Warriors
0-5 units of Young Warriors
0-2 x Pygmy Archers
0-2 x Pygmy Warriors

Fanatical Warriors and Married Warriors may make a Charge move (distance L) if they pass a Bravery dice test.

Native reinforcements

Each native casualty is removed until a complete unit has been destroyed. This unit can then rejoin the battle on the following round from the edge of the table as a unit of reinforcements. Reinforcements should move at double speed until they are within the zone of battle. Native reinforcements will be the same type of unit as the original one being replaced.

Pygmies

Pygmies will be ordinary units of natives and count as being in light cover when being fired upon. They make their saving throws using 1D6 and add 1 pip to their dice scores. Pygmy archers do not have poison arrows in this scenario. Pygmies count as being unseen until they are within 1 x L +1 x M distance from a defending unit.

Defensive cover

Defenders count as being in light or hard cover, unless clearly in the open. Saving rolls from Shooting are made on 1D8 for light cover and 1D10 for hard cover. In Melee, the defenders will roll 1 extra Combat dice if in light cover and 2 extra Combat dice in hard cover.

Long range shooting

All troops (defenders and natives) equipped with rifles (not muskets) may opt to shoot at Long Range. Each dice rolled suffers a -1 penalty for this.

So, that was the starting point for the game.

As things turned out, the European defenders had;

1 x Explorer
1 x Retired Officer
1 x Kirangozi
1 x Missionary
1 x Inspirational Person
2 x Medical Staff
4 x Soldiers
1 x Adventurers
2 x Trained Askaris
2 x Askaris
2 x Ruga Ruga
1 x Loyal Warriors (see Forest Tribes army list for stats)
2 x Bearers(who were just there as scenery really)

The Attacking side was huge. There were three players, each with seven or eight units and a couple of characters apiece, plus the King and his Bodyguards.

We played the battle out in a fairly busy forested region. I took the European side and the African tribes were played by Nick, Andy and Craig. Here is the table before the game started.

The woman in blue is the Inspirational Person and my Missionary is the younger woman in the green skirt on the right edge of the picture.

 

Here are the Africans. Lots and lots of troops.

Here is the defending force from the other end of the compound.

 

 
The defenders take up firing positions and await the onslaught.

What we agreed to do was this. Each player on the African side would have two Action cards per turn and could draw one Totem card per turn. As the Defender, I was allowed one Totem card per turn and four Action cards. The Turn would be as follows;
a) All four players choose an action card and play them. These are resolved accordingly.
b) the Defender then plays one action card in turn against each Attacker.
It took a while to get everyone onto place, but once this happened, the game proceeded pretty quickly.

As the game played out, it became apparent that the sheer weight of numbers would eventually favour the attackers and it was only a matter of time before the defences were breached and inevitably the defenders began to come off worse in hand-to-hand combat. As casualties mounted in the dressing station, so did the number of dead. Clearly this station was a pretty insanitary place and the medical staff were not qualified enough to do much to patch up their casualties.

In the end, the clock defeated us, but as things stood at the end of the game, it seemed obvious that the Africans would triumph. There were simply too few troops to defend the outer compound and the end would undoubtedly be grisly for all concerned.

We agreed that the experiment was relatively successful, but that there probably needed to be a number of adjustments to the special rules. A couple that seem to make sense are;

• Increasing rifle range to L+M as standard.
  

• Allowing two rounds of rifle fire per shooting action inside Range L (but with a success score of 6 required for both shots).
  

• Not giving the defenders any extra combat dice when fighting behind cover but possibly giving them a saving throw  for any casualties caused.
  

Anyway, definitely an interesting experiment.

Some extra firepower for Congo

I bought these Wargames Foundry figures a while ago, at the Colours show at Newbury Racecourse, but only recently got round to finishing them off. Both sets are intended to feature as Soldiers under the Congo rules, but will also be suitable for other 19th century adventure and skirmish games.

First, I have eight British infantry in colonial uniform. Yes, I know a group of Soldiers for Congo is only four figures strong, but the blister pack had eight miniatures, so I painted the lot, intending to give me some flexibility as to what games I can use them for, and also maybe for some non-standard games using Congo rules where, more than one group of Soldiers could be allowed. They would be great in other 19th and early 20th century settings. Who knows? They could even be the basis for a small force for Sharp Practice if and when the rules get extended beyond the Black Powder era into colonial times.

My second set are from Foundry's "Egyptian Adventurers" range, which has some terrific miniatures. These are described as being "French Foreign Freebooters", which I take to mean that they are either former Legionnaires or deserters.

In any case, I've tried to make them true to the look of Legionnaires, but not stick that closely to real uniforms. I especially like the character with the keffiyeh-type headgear. He will play the role of a Retired Officer in my Congo games. I had originally planned to give these guys dark blue tunics, but a test painting revealed that it simply didn't look right, so they have khaki tunics, such as were issued to  the Foreign Legion in West Africa towards the end of the 19th century. I used Vallejo Green Ochre for these, because I think it looks closer to the uniform colour in most illustrations of the period than any other shade I possess. I also took some liberties with the colour of the puttees, mainly to break up the overall whiteness of the uniforms, but also to give them more of a feel of former Legionnaires and mercenaries rather than serving troops.

More recruits for my Congo expedition

I've been working to get the rest of my Congo figures painted before Sunday, because I am playing a game with them. The good news is that I've finally finished them and here they are. First, here is the expedition's Kirangozi or guide, with two bearers.

And now some armed figures to protect the expedition and fight off other explorers. First, there are four trained Askaris with rifles. These have been given a basic uniform;

Next, some more Askaris, equipped with muskets and locally-recruited. These guys have less training and a less uniform appearance;

Now for the rest of the expedition's troops. First some Ruga Ruga, mercenary fighters who are little better than bandits, once again equipped with muskets;

And finally, five young tribal warriors, armed with assegais and shields. I could also use three of these as scouts if required.

These last two groups feature in other columns and expeditionary lists, such as the Zanzibari one that I will be working on next. I also have some other figures that I will be painting up, but I'm keeping those secret for now.

Some 28mm figures for Congo

I've had some figures for Congo for a while now, but painting them has been a slow activity. I made a start a while ago, but then bought a load more figures at Colours in Newbury the other week.

Still, the first elevn figures are now complete. They are all Wargames Foundry 28mm figures from their Darkest Africa range, some of which I bought as a Congo "White Man's Expedition" box set, and the rest in a blister pack at Colours, described as "Deadlier Than The Male".

These are three Stout Chaps, ready to brave the perils of the Dark Continent.

And not to be outdone by the men, here are three Liberated Ladies, to accompany the chaps and make sure they stick to the task in hand. I am not sure about the fourth figure. She clearly went to the Wrong Sort Of School and appears to have gone native.

Finally, here are four more Ladies, who will no doubt feature in all sorts of games. I can see the young woman with the book perhaps being some kind of investigator of suspicious supernatural goings-on. The one with the pistol clearly isn't going to put up with any funny business and the fashionable lady-about-town with her prim elderly companion may well end up in the jungle in some capacity.

Unhappily, after I'd photographed them, I noticed that there were a few bits of extraneous fibre stuck randomly to a couple of the figures. This has now been removed, but I couldn't be bothered with photographing them again.

These could also be used in some Sharp Practice scenarios set in a slightly later period than the current rules.

I have a whole load more Foundry minis to paint now; Askaris, Ruga-Ruga, tribal warriors with assegais and shields, Zanzibaris, Baluchis, a few British infantry and a few French freebooters who look like deserters from La Légion Étrangère, who will be perfect as soldiers in an expedition of some kind. This is beginning to look like an excellent project.