The battles of El Nowhere-a

It was the monthly club night and being available WillB and I decided to again bring out the collections of "colonials" for a game of "The Men Who Would Be Kings" ( TMWWBK) rules.

In this case his WW1 Kings African Rifles would face my 1920's era French Foreign Legion  somewhere in what is now modern day Mali during a border dispute in 1927.

My French Foreign Legion contingent in action near El Nowhere-a 

Will's KAR 

We were joined by the two Jims,  JimF becoming "French Jim" and JimL becoming "British Jim".

We rolled for our commanders and poor French Jim rolled double ones which left him with an absolute poor leadership rolls to make all game long.  Mine were only a bit better but the leadership number in these rules are extremely critical.  Will did very well with his British rolls, "British Jim" not as much.  

The old mud 'temple' is one of those mash paper paste packing crates and one found in my brother's recycle bin at Christmas.  The original and rather too regular oval top opening was enlarged and made ragged and a few wood rods glued in to give the impression of a fallen roof. I didn't put much time into it in any event.   The 'market' is from Will's collection of terrain pieces.
 The tents are old 'dixie' paper water cups, cut down and overturned. Now OOP I assume.

Again I will not go into the details of the game, mainly as I cannot remember them (!)  not having them jotted down at the time as I do when doing solo play. But do remember my machine gun giving the British "Hero of the Empire" unit a couple of casualties causing a pinning and later another poor roll by Will in their rally test thus have them depart the battle rather early in the contest. One could say they did a ignoble scarper or if you want the British perspective, you can read Will's post at link

 However the French could not move with their poor leadership and the firepower of the British eventually overwhelmed the legionnaires.  

The elite FFL under what had become rather dubious leadership.

With a rapid conclusion of that battle, we had time for another.  We changed the table orientation to allow the forces to get at it quicker.  We also forego any leadership trait rolls opting for a universal 6+ for each side. The elite Foreign Legion having +2 discipline, the KAR +1 as per the unit points.  

British Jim's unit in soft cover of the market during the second engagement.

Again in this game, numbers would overwhelm quality, with the poorer shooting KAR getting more shots into the outnumbered but elite Legion who could make most but not all the necessary pinning and rally tests required of them from the lead flying their way.  

This will probably be the outcome, tactical mistakes not withstanding, with most regulars vs regulars actions.  In more asymmetrical battles, this may not be the case.  

Two tents.  Will B. suggested I should try to relax.

You can get the British perspective with Will's very nice write-up on the games (see:link)