Taking Manga --- the action....

The action commences ....

The British start their advance; in the centre are British regulars, supported by naval landing party, with East Africa volunteers on the right flank.

On the left flank, the Kings African Rifles take the lead with the Indian troops in support...

The forces of Nambuzo advance to take up forward positions...

The Nambuzo forces take up their positions, the irregulars on the left flank, askari in the centre and the German mercenaries on the right flank.

The British continue their advance and will soon come into contact with the opposition...

The British move up and into firing range....

The Nambuzo askari machine gun prepares to open fire....

The Nambuzo irregulars open fire from hidden positions, cutting down over half of the East Africa volunteers..

On the other flank, the African Rifles taken some casualties and fall back into some cover...

the East Africa volunteers have retreated and the Naval landing party moves up to fill the gap ....

The British regulars who had been on the front edge of the plantation took heavy casualties and routed running back towards their start line. The Naval landing party were greeted by a hail of fire from the Nambuzo irregulars, men go down and the landing party fall back...

The landing party form a line to hold their position as the Indian troops move up...

The British regulars have rallied and form a line to hold the back end of the plantation....

The Naval landing party take even more casualties and fall back, leaving the Indian troops with no support.

The Indian Troops and African rifles are holding their positions and inflicting casualties on the opposing askari and German mercenaries.

Emboldened by the retreat of the British forces to their front, the Nambuzo irregulars move into the plantation...

and charge straight into the Indian troops - a desperate fight ensues.....

The Indians get cut up badly in the fight and the remnants retreat down the road.....

The Nambuzo irregulars then regroup and move towards the British regulars ....

meanwhile the askaris and German mercenaries are slowly advancing ....

The Nambuzo irregulars charge the 'thin' British line ...

The British line does not hold and they retreat .....

A victory for the Sultanate of Nambuzo

---oXo---

Notes:

• British losses 55%, all units retreating and not fit to stand and fight. 
• Nambuzo forces 30% losses, following up and harrying the British forces.

Overall the Nambuzo forces, especially the irregulars had the best firing dice rolls and the best saving dice rolls when they were hit.  The British forces dice throws - low number of hits on firing and failed to roll well on saving.... end result they got a drubbing.

Taking Manga - Deployment ...

The two sides have been deployed... 

The British forces are in their start positions ready for the off..... 

The forces of Nambuzo just outside the town of Manga...

to be continued....

Taking Manga ?

Its back to East Africa and the Sultanate of Nambuzo for my next game.  I've worked out a scenario loosely based on the battle of Tanga 1914 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Tanga).

Concept: British have landed on the coast at the headland by the bay near the small port town of Manga, they will deploy their force and advance to take the town.

Map from Wikipedia..

I decided to fit the main area of action onto my gaming table, for simplicity I decided to omit the railway line and replace it with part of a line of hedging.  For the best playable setup I rotated the action area by 180 degrees...

A view of the game table....

part of the port is represented...

The British forward scouting party have moved up from the landing area ....

The British view down the table to Manga in the distance...

The British troops are moving up into position. Of course the landing didn't go un-noticed and the forces of the Sultanate of Nambuzo are also moving up to defend Manga. 

more pictures and the game action report as things develop....

FFL Mounted Company ...

 All the figures for the Foreign Legion mounted company completed. Marching & mounted men..

Deployed with horse/mule holders...

FFL Project - In preparation..

 Algerian Spahis (gringos40),

 Mounted arabs - Wargames Atlantic Afghans, with some modification ( I may do some more green stuff work)

 and camel mounted desert raiders.. (Redoubt with some spare parts from the plastic Afghans)

Down the Umpopo river...

 Laura Lambert was re-united with her friend Lady Penelope and survivors of the geographical expedition at Nbisi (after their harrowing experience in their attempt to reach Ngongoloo). (see here for game report)

They decided to take the geological samples down the Umpopo river to Lukolela.

---oXo---

Laura Lambert, Lady Penelope, Robert Odd and his valet (servant) Harry Fitzroy (Fitz); embark on a fast launch from one of wharf at Nbisi on the river Umpopo. Fitz takes the tiller, while Robert Odd keeps a look at out the front. On board is a small crate with the geological sample; plus another box Laura Lambert brought with her; Laura also has her favourite machine gun too.

They passed a group of hippos about a quarter of an hour later...

A bit later on the sound of motors behind them attracted their attention, two launches heading towards them ...

They rounded the next bend in the river, the launches were closer - they could see they were armed; then the lead launch opened fire with their machine gun... 

Some shots hammered into the side of the their launch; Laura fired back with her machine gun. Then she opened up the smaller box she had bought with her - hand grenades - she threw one at the nearest launch - missed !

They rounded the next bend, exchanging fire. Laura with her small SMG and the launch behind them with the twin machine gun.

Laura picked up another grenade and threw it ... by luck (?) it landed and exploded in the back corner of the attacking launch...

The lead attacking launch drifted towards the bank ... all was not so well on their launch as Fitz had been hit and was badly wounded. Robert Odd moved him into the bow of the launch and took control of the tiller, Laura opened fire again...

The attacking lead launch was nearing the river bank but the second one was now moving up quickly...

The second launch started to catch up to them and opened fire, Laura fired back and lobbed a hand grenade that missed. A shot creased Robert Odd's left arm, but he would be ok for a while - able to work the tiller.

They approached the Matadi rapids, Odd steered the lauch through...

it bounced off a large rock but everyone managed to keep their feet; Odd just steered it way from the next large rock

and out the other side of the rapids...

Odd let the launch drift slighty (but held position).  As Penelope bandaged Odd's arm; Laura kept a watch to see if their pursuers passed through the rapids... The lead launch started through ,,,,

The cross current caught it and pushed it up onto a large rock ripping out the bottom of the hull and the launch was stuck ...

The second launch came up and tried to pick up the men of the stranded launch, two of them fell in as they tried to get across, one succeeded..

the second launch now tried to pass through...

and it ran up onto a rock;  seeing it stuck Laura threw a grenade - dead hit on the front deck ..

the launch then slipped off and drifted over towards the bank taking water... 

Their pursuers out of the way, they carried on down stream, before they knew it they were on top of some hippos...

who weren't too pleased to be disturbed and rocked the launch about... 

luckily nobody fell in but the launch was damaged, a small leak appeared near the bow...not enough to sink the launch - some bailing was needed..

They limped into to the trading post at Lukolela, where they saw to Fitz's wound.

there was a Colonial Police post nearby so they made their way there for further assistance; lugging the box of rock samples with them.. it seemed they were now safe.