The Queen's Justice

After the recent weeks employed on refurbishing older figures and painting those newly acquired, I felt we might give the Heart of Darkness collection a run out on the tabletop battlefield here in GHQ. Back in the day when our original collections hit the table we would have used Chris Peers' Death in a Dark Continent rules. But as in many other areas our hobby has moved on and so we are giving our Frankenrules, first seen a couple of months ago in a game with Paul, a second run out. Phil as our rules junkie in residence will no doubt have something to say about the experiment in due course...

On to the game then! In the opening scenario it seems King Bykalaizii m'Tuubi has been somewhat abusing his position as the dominant influence on neighbouring native tribes, fermenting unrest and interfering with the local commerce of the British SCEA Company! 'Robinson of the River' has determined the errant monarch shall feel the force of the Queen's justice!

To that end he has gathered his force, lead by the fearsome Askaris of the Queen's Own SCEA Rifles and the famed Sikhs of the Jalfrezi Rifles, fresh from triumphs on the NW Frontier in Rhanzlistan. Accompanied by two mountain guns this formidable array of Imperial might should soon put old Bykalaizii in his place!

The peaceful and tranquil abode of King Bykalaizii m'Tuubi and the P'Doki, totally unaware of what the wrath of Robinson of the River is about to unleash on them.

Activation and movement rates are borrowed from Bolt Action. Each side has 12 elements in the game, so 12 dice, with a Red End of Turn dice added for jeopardy. In addition at the start of each turn until every unit is on the table the arrival point of the Natives is determined by a three sided dice, each number corresponding with three tiles on the tabletop battlefield. 

All units in this run through are designated as Regular units as defined by Black Powder Mk2. Most Colonial units are of 6 figures, some native units are up to 12 figures and could be Large in future games? The Jalfrezi Rifles are charges here by a unit of P'Doki warriors. We add Closing Fire casualties into the total when determining the outcome of Hand-to-hand fighting. [Having used Hail Ceasar Clash and Sustained in the first trial of the Frankenrules we used the Black Powder rules' version today.] The P'Doki came off worst in this instance...

The second unit of the Jalfrezi Rifles catches the Pygmies in the open with a devastating volley! Phil suggested rather tongue in cheek that perhaps they should be a Small Target!

The Sikhs bring their mountain gun into action to further inconvenience the Pygmies! They become Shaken with excess casualties and fall back Disordered on failing their Morale roll.

The P'Doki attack is supported not just by the Pygmies but also the famous Lion Guard. The violence of the attack sees the Sikhs Shaken by losses and they must take a Morale test.

Unsurprisingly they fail and Rout. Our House Rule will allow two chances to Rally when their Order Dice is drawn.

While the Jalfrezi Rifles are engaged on his left flank Robinson has thrown three units of irregular Askari forward towards the King's Kraal. The leading element is surprised by P'Doki warriors who burst from cover. Although their Closing Fire is desoltary they are made of steam stuff and beat the Warriors in Hand-to-hand combat.

The Jalfrezi Rifles and their supporting Mountain Gun have blunted the attacks from the P'Doki Warriors and their Pygmy allies. This flank has seen several Turns of heavy fighting with fortunes ebbing and flowing.

While much attention has focused so far on the Left flank of Robinson's forces he has taken advantage of the scattering of Bykalaizii m'Tuubi's main forces by the random entry dice to advance largely unapposed on the King's Kraal. 

More P'Doki Warriors appear on the flank ofvthiscadvance rushing forward to engage our hero and his entourage. They ate greeting by a volley which Disorders them and leaves them Shaken! Oh, its those damned 'dice gods' again...

Morale check duly failed of course! The Warriors flee in Rout ~ remember the two Rally chances though!

Two units of the Queen's Own SCEA Rifles drive off more P'Doki Warriors opening the way to the King's Kraal and possible victory!

Finding the King's Kraal largely undefended, the irregular Askari waste no time in putting the huts to the flame! By now Bykalaizii's army is Broken. The remnants skulk away back into the forests to regroup and heal their wounds. The King's Kraal will be rebuilt and Bykalaizii m'Tuubi will wreak his vengeance on Robinson of the River!

A thoroughly entertaining game for both players. The game threw up one or two ideas which we incorporated as we went along. The red End of Turn dice introduced degrees of jeopardy in early turns, but then seemed to hide at the bottom of the dice bag! Some modifications were trialed to the Firing and the Hand-to-hand stats for Robinson's group and for the Europeans leading the Irregular Askari which we felt reflected rather better their attributes. Certainly handling the Natives after the early interrupted Turns (red dice effect) proved challenging and allowed Phil's more disciplined units to steal a march on Bykalaizii! We will reflect on the game experience over the next couple of weeks and perhaps try another run through.