French Legion Column Leaves Makroudh...

 A camel train approaches the town of Makroudh ...

as usual people were about their daily business...

Just another today for the locals. The shouts of 'clear the way' were heard; people moved out of the way. A column of French troops was on the march from their headquarters on the other side of Makroudh...

they marched on out of the town...  the column headed out into the desert......

Taking on Water at Harira ....

Continued from this post...

https://carryonchaps.blogspot.com/2024/05/last-train-to-makroudh-at-harira.html

---oXo---

The train for Makroudh puffed around the last bend on its way to Harira...

Capitain Lefiche watching from the top of the blockhouse at Harira is relieved to see the train approaching; his eagle eye spots a flash of something from among the rocks to the south... could be trouble on the way too...

The train pulls up in the station, the fireman jumps off to position the water crane and start the pump.

Attackers appear out of the desert from the south-west and advance toward Harira...

Another smaller group of attackers advance form the north-east...

the attackers close in and open fire to little effect...

at the other end of the town, the attackers hang back and trade shots with the defenders...

The main force of attackers continued their advance ..... coming under fire from the block house and the machine gun on the rear flat car of the train.

undeterred they kept on coming .....

but suffer heavy casualties.....

At the other end of the station, the attackers unable to make headway started to back off...

At the blockhouse end of the station, the attackers make an impetuous charge .....

The attackers outgunned and badly shot up, fell back to regroup....

The defenders left the blockhouse to help protect the train and to be ready to get on board once the necessary water had been taken on....

During the attacks at either end of the station, a couple of small groups of attackers had moved around both sides of the town...

One group was held off by legionnaires firing on them from the station.....

The group on the other side of the town had little or no opposition and moved cautiously towards the train....

The driver sounded the whistle to signal they had finished taking on water, as the french troops got onto the train a couple of them jumped onto the flat car and then to the ground on the other side in order to make stand to defend the train from a small group of attackers...

The driver opened the throttle and started starts to inch forward ... slowly the train pulled away...

then moved as fast as it could down the line to safety..........

---oXo---

Notes

1. Forces for both sides

• Train Passengers: 10, only 4 armed with pistols.
• FFL: Train guard - 8, including a machine gun,  Harira detachment - 12
• Attackers - 40 in 4 units of 10, plus a nominal commander with a  standard bearer

2. Losses for both sides were

• FFL: Train guard - 2,  Harrira detachment - 6
• Attackers - 20

2. The scenario was setup with the arrival of attackers skewed to the either end of the game table  simulating an advance from the south-west and an encirclement force from the north-east. This was done to provide a reasonable chance for both sides to succeed, otherwise it would have been more like a Kobayashi Mau scenario for the FFL.

Tinkering with the passenger coach ....

The train is late, partly as I'm painting some extra FFL figures for the train guard and also that I'm tinkering with the passenger coach. I wanted to be able to get figures on the end verandas and also inside.

I removed the stuck on roof and replaced the verandas with larger ones, then started adding padding strips to the top of the coach body to allow for the height of a figure..

padding strips added and a new roof made from card, which can be taken off when needed...

end veranda, with figure - just about OK...

back in the train....

Last Train to Makroudh ...at Harira...

At Harira a telegram was delivered to Capitain Lefiche, he read the telegram from Bourek... 

"Fort Lepoulet under intermittent attack, expect train soon for Makroudh.  Evacuate your outpost on the train after it has taken on water".

The outpost was put on alert, half the men manned the block house while the rest took up positions around the town. Some on roof-tops to keep a look out for trouble and a couple to guard the pump room for the water crane.

Capitain Lefiche, positioned himself on top of the block house; he had a good view of the railway line to the south-west and the most likely direction of a potential attack ...

All they could do now was to wait for the train .....

Off to the Desert ... a little more progress

 The tunnel mouth painted...

sorting out the configuration of the train for the game; a temporary coal bunker on the first flat wagon and possible positioning of the FFL train guard on the flat wagons ..

I've order some more FFL kneeling figures to use for the game, a few figures to paint when they arrive. At least now I can focus on the game scenario and any special rules...

Off to the Desert... scenic additions needed for the game ...

A couple of scenic items needed for the game setup made today..  

1) A water crane, the game scenario requires the loco to take on water before the train can proceed...

2) a tunnel entrance and large hill at one end of the table; hill is just a piece of old Daler mounting board covered with strips from copies of another backdrop item.

will paint up and finish the items as needed. 

Off to the Desert... setting up the table ...

Setting up the game table for a FFL game ...

Basic table cover of sandy'ish coloured felt onto the table ...

Backdrops added ...

Cardboard cut-out hills on the backdrop and some lumps and bumps added ...

A bit of scatter terrain added ...

The scenario I'm working on has a railway station in it ....

The train for the scenario ....

initial setup completed ...

some pictures of the town and station...

The army blockhouse ....

scouts from a desert tribe doing some 'train spotting' ...

well the basic setup is done, some table dressing to be done-  boxes, civilians etc 

I will now fiddle with it as I work out the game scenario.....