It was not long after dawn and breakfast was eaten on the
march. In the distance the firing had reduced to sporadic outbursts
but, ominously, a column of smoke rose. Checking his compass Binky
realised that it was on the bearing of Jizuz Noeware. The village was
obviously under attack. Would they be in time? The
buildings are made from card tubes (snacks and suchlike) with thin card
roofs covered in pollyfilla, a kind of flexible wall plaster. The
"grass" is a door mat cut up into sections. The village fence is made
from twigs. |
The table before forces are deployed. |
Capt. Adrian Ryce -Pepper with his bearer Mamoud, Sergeant
Achmed Tokar and askaris on the left flank (right of the picture).
Gerald Ridd with his Askaris advance in the centre. And Binky and Mauro
Impeccunio on the right wing (left of the picture) advance across the veldt
to wards the burning farm. The figures are mainly
Foundry and West Wind with Dixon pack mules. The MGs are scratch built
from plastic rod. |
|
As the relief force breasts the low ridge they see the
mission and village is under attack by a force of natives.
The defenders are mainly Foundry and the attackers
Copplestone N'Goni. |
|
Binky deploys his Nordenfelts on the ridge with a screen of
askaris. They have not been noticed yet by the tribesman attacking the
mission. |
|
The attackers take heavy fire from the palisade and from the
rear. Their morale falters and they halt only to take another
devastating volley. |
|
They break and run. |
Adrian checks out the ruins. |
The vultures feed well.
The vultures are from Irregular Miniatures. |
|
His reconnaissance complete Adrian moves out towards the
village. Suddenly, over the ridge to his left a huge force of warriors
charge into view. He cannot reach the village safely now. |
|
Gerald (played by Brian - left) inflicts casualties with his
Nordenfelt while Adrian (played by Andrew) watches the approaching massed
tribesmen. |
|
The tribesmen charge forward with their female archers on
the flank to pin down Adrian. Adrian turns at bay setting up Binky's
Nordenfelt amongst his own Askaris. This could be a last stand, he
thinks! |
|
"Steady lads, mark your targets! Wait for my order," says
Gerald calmly as the Nordenfelt is set up. |
|
"FIRE!" The Nordenfelt and the rifles of the Askaris
crash out felling almost the entire regiment. |
|
On the other flank, Adrian is hard pressed. "Fix
Bayonets!" There is furious fighting at the palisade where Binky
has to resort to fighting with his sword to stop the attackers. |
|
Caught in a crossfire from the stockade and from Adrian's
force the Zebra Plumes are shot to pieces. The survivors flee.
All except the archers who loose off one last deadly volley before following
their men folk. |
|
Suddenly, it is all over. The attackers flee leaving
Adrian's force badly mauled by the archers. |
|
In the end The defenders lost 2 dead, 1
crippled and 5 wounded Askaris - almost all in Adrian's force and the
villagers lost 12 killed, 4 crippled and 9 wounded. The attackers
suffered nearly 70 killed and crippled. The vast majority from the two
Nordenfelts.
Despite their losses the N'Goni escaped with over 30 villagers as slaves
and a huge herd of cattle. Binky determined that the mission would
have to wait while he pursued.
Late in the afternoon Ramsden brought in the baggage and two hot air
balloons appeared on the horizon. Henry Jones had caught up bringing
with him much needed medical supplies and an experimental gun for Adrian to
play with. Binky decided that these balloons would be ideal vehicles
for the pursuit. |