"WWI East Africa scenario help?" Topic

Hello TMP, (I posted on LAF also)

I'm reaching out to the group due to your extensive knowledge of the WWI period. One of my club mates, Jennifer is planning a small WWI East Africa skirmish on 27 July and is looking for scenarios as she is short of time to develope one and I don't have the time right now either to assist and playtest before the club game.

She sent me an email stating:

Though if you have any ideas for a small-scale scenario involving 25 Belgians, 20 Germans, 10 porters and a handful of civilians, I'm all ears.

I have 20 German Marines, 20 Asia Korps, about 20 Belgians, and more porters if that helps. Everything else is unpainted.

I have lots of Sikhs and Indians but from the 1880's to 1900 for my colonial projects that could be pressed into service if needed.

Any assistance will be greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
JB

The internet is your friend.

TMP link

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THE LAST CRUSADE
Rules for gaming the Great War in the Middle East & Africa, maps for scenarios, good biblio.1 vol, 96 pgs 2003 US, OMM PUBLISHING
NEW-wire bound softcover ..see our WARGAMING RULES page for more books on this subject

LETTOW-VORBECK: WWI East Africa Wargame
Lettow-Vorbeck is a game covering the East African campaign of 1914-18. One player controls the Allied units and tries to clear German East Africa. The other player controls the Germans and tries to prevent it, or failing that, to grab a source of supply in one of the surrounding Allied colonies. The Germans historically eked out a win by grabbing a supply source in the British colony of Northern Rhodesia even though they had been chased out of their home colony.

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there ia also a Tanga scenario book.I don't know who publishes.There are a ton of battles to pick from."Brigade Games" from their Skirmish Elite series has a Tanga 1914 ,scenario book ,that would suit you.Now they are at Historicon right now..

Could always steal a bit of the plot from the 1976 movie "Shout at the Devil", with a raid/ambush against a German tax collector column in East Africa (the objective is to grab the chest of taxes.) Don't know where you'll get Sean Connery or Lee Marvin minis on such short notice, though… ;-)

Sgt, here's a link to the basis for a Ost Afrika scenario I put on, with force compositions in the range of what you listed above – "Relief of Saisi, Northern Rhodesia" (you could use the mission's template to design a similar attack mission tasked with breaking-through an enemy cordon surrounding some besieged friendly troops) -

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A link to my AAR posting – which has lost its pictures unfortunately -

TMP link

Here's one of the pictures from the above scenario – German Ruga Ruga (Hilfskrieger) out front as pickets, backed up by German infantry (here Feldkompagnie Askari), but these could be substituted by Schutzenkompagnie infantry, if this is what's available from the pool of miniatures above, and could also consider a combined contingent of Force Publique Askari and your Indian Infantry if more attack mass is thought required vs. the German units, if to make the scenario more competitively balanced?

oldcontemptable, great links there, thank you!

Jurgenation, thanks as well. I actually have the skirmish elite and found it last night.

Your time and assistance is much appreciated.

Cheers,
JB

Zephyr1- that ones going in the gotta do file. I'll be on the look out for suitable Minis in the future. Thanks.

SgtG, a few more pics of the forces designed for the scenario above -

FlyXwire, amazing table and Minis! Very inspirational…
That's the ticket scenario right there. I'll substitute the Schutzen and create the combined force as recommended. I love this period and I love designing scenarios. However time just didn't permit this time.

Thank you!

Cheers,
JB

FkyXwire, outstanding! I owe you a couple of beers.

FlyXwire, I see you painted the Tiger Minis German Marine gun crew as Belgian? Or are they painted generic enough to be either????

Good eyes! (I love those Tiger minis too – great character)

The German Maxim crew has fig(s) with the grey-blue puttees to suggest their alignment, while the Belgian crews are mostly in their transition to khaki, but with one member still wearing the blue trousers/pantaloons. With the flux in Force Publique uniform changes that occurred during the war, and the German forces borrowing anything they could scrounge, I'm thinkin' the MG teams could be used "vice versa" – for when needing more on one side of a scenario vs. the other (and close enough for King's African Rifle MGs too -and/or when not European crewed).

Btw, I'll be getting that fur mat back in action in a few weeks time, but for a Zulu War game.

JB, hope to see an AAR of your's and Jennifer's game if you have the opportunity to post one of it!

FlyXwire, I love the forethought and reasoning behind those paints jobs and multi use. Your layout of the troops for the rules is great as well so there is no confusion, well done.

Looking forward to seeing that mat back in "action".

An AAR may not be possible by me as I have family commitments and can only stay for part of the game. Sadly enough…

But thanks again and keep posting those awesome AAR's, it helps my motivation, lol.

FlyXwire, going to pull the troops together this weekend. Do you have a pdf, pic, or hand drawn pic of the map for this game? I've drawn one out based on the pic above but some is not visible.
Cheers,
JB

JB, just set the board up out on the deck, but by memory, so somethings might differ from the original. The rock outcrops are on elevated ground, and the maize field is high, so the center of the battlefield had these dominating features for the Belgians to negotiate (and to spot behind, since they obscured much of their LOS, and therefore the location of the German positions). The Germans were allowed to have their Ruga Ruga scouts out – choice of in the crop field or on the central heights. The remainder of the German force was deployed in the sunken wadi (a natural trench), or partially on the high ground on their main position's rear/flank. That's basically it – much of the Belgian player's success depended on how well they used their MGs and light artillery piece for support. Put on the game twice, and it was the better use of the fire support, bearing down on the route in the center that 'opened the can' best. Once the Force Publique secures the field and central hill, then these can become stepping off points for their main assault. In the second running of the game, the Belgian infantry commander stacked up his units in echelon within the crop field, preparing a wave assault (a neat idea and tactic).

The game has no 'time limit', other than whatever is available for its hosting, and this allows the Belgian players to scout, secure, and develop their main attack properly – I'm sure the scenario has a number of different approaches that might also work too.

Change what you need, and certainly put your spin on the scenario, looks like you'll be able to enhance the action and its force pool also – and good luck, and to Jennifer too!

FlyXwire, simply Outstanding! Thank you! I will pass on all your data and your enthusiasm. Much appreciated.

ah, mea culpa! I meant Roger Moore, not Connery. (I knew one of the James Bond guys was in "SATD", just named the wrong one… ;-)

@FlyXWire, just checked out your "Harry's Afrika" page and other bits of your website. Quite nice. Also really liked what I could make out of your Ost Afrika scenario. Too bad the pics disappeared.