A Bad day at Vulture Rock

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The land is quiet.  Sand devils stir the dust here and there.  High in the sky vultures circle lazily.  Wheeling above the not quite dead creatures hidden from Binky's view.  Adrian wipes the sweat from the eye pieces of his binoculars.  "It's a trap," he says quietly to Binky.  "I tend to agree, old man.  Still we're here now, might as well have a look," smiles Binky. 
Binky takes the right wing and Adrian the left.  No reserve this time!
Binky moves ahead on the right according to plan. 

If you look carefully you can see the vultures in the top left of the picture.  They're from Irregular miniatures.

The first natives are spotted off to the left.  They do not appear hostile but Adrian forms all round defence as he moves cautiously forward.

The two herons (grey birds) are made from Miliput and pins.

The vultures' view of Binky's party.

The brown vultures are home made from Miliput.  I did not have "green stuff" when I made them.

Are they hostile?  The way back is looking quite dodgy!  The tribesman close in at the rear.  While not actually hostile things are beginning to trouble both Adrian and Binky.
Binky has trouble too.  Is it an ambush?  The natives are on all sides now.  A strong force of rifleman in front of Binky, some archers off to the right and several musketeers and spearmen on the left and rear.  Adrian unpacks the howitzer!
Ambush!  Binky comes under fire.  The askaris return the fire and fell several enemy.  Binky orders the Nordenfelt into action.  It fires a single round and jams!  Things look bad!
Adrian does not hear the excepted chatter of Binky's Nordenfelt and suspects the worst.  Preparing to support Binky in the area where the vultures can be seen, Adrian exchanges his hunting rifle for his trusty long rifle.
Adrian's Sikhs bring their pack howitzer for action. 

The model gun is based on the Hotchkiss 37mm gun.  It is made from scrap bits of plastic, is oversized, too modern for this game but looks the part!

An "Italian" Bersaglieri officer calls on Binky to cease fire!  With his known fondness of all things Italian, Binky fails to recognise the evil Ribi N’Aa who has trailed them for many months to exact his revenge.  Binky orders cease fire. Hoping to gain time to clear the jammed machine gun.  And in return he is rewarded with a hail of fire as the tribesmen get into superior positions.

 

At the rear, Adrian's Askaris and Sikhs rout the tribesmen with a combination of rifle and artillery fire.  While on the left ...
The Snake Warriors close in to hand-to-hand range and a fierce battle ensues.  Bayonet against spear.
Eventually the warriors are driven off and the casualties pulled back for treatment.
Binky is shot down together with his trusty bugler who tried to protect him with his own body.  A Hales rocket explodes amongst the riflemen - routing the survivors.

The rocket trail is made from a piece of plastic coated wire and the "burst" is a cotton ball that has some sparkly stuff in it.  It was bought in a pack of about 8 in a local art store.

The tribesmen start to withdraw by putting up such a hail of fire that shoots down Ramsden and Otto.  Only Adrian and Henry are on their feet and fighting.  The Askaris are dropping around them.  Fortunately the tribal leaders are all dead or crippled and the tribesmen are withdrawing although victory is within their grasp.
  At the end of the action Binky and Ramsden were not dead as first thought though both were severely hurt.  Otto was injured.  But 4 Askaris were dead and 2 more wounded. 

 

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