Friday 15 February 2019

Algeria 1837 using Bloody Big Battles test game #1

My Algeria 1830s-40s project is nearing completion so we gave the armies a run out to see if the rules, unit ratings and terrain worked.  The scenario covered a French expedition to subdue the Arab and Kabyle tribes of the Tell Atlas.
Kabyle mountaineers
The Terrain
Looking north from the ountains
A Kabyle settlement

The table was setup with a French outpost at the northern end of a plain. There are a couple of Arab encampments on the plain. The southern end is mountainous where the Kabyle have several settlements.

The French force

Allied Arab cavalry lead the columns out of the Fort 

#
Unit
Bases Type Skimishers Morale Trait Weapon
Command 2 Ldr
2 Foreign Regt Btn 5 Inf 1S Trn Devastating volley SM
2 Bat' d'Af 5 Inf 1S Vet Devastating volley, Aggressive SM
2 Line Infantry 6 Inf Trn Devastating volley SM
1 Zouave Btn 5 Inf 5S Vet Woodsman, Aggressive SM
1 Turco Btn 4 Inf 4S Vet Woodsman, Aggressive SM
1 Chasseurs d'Afrique 4 Cav Trn Ragged volley, Aggressive SM
1 Spahis 4 Cav Trn Ragged volley SM
1 Allied Arab Cavalry 6 Cav Raw Ragged volley SM
1 Mountain Arty Regt 3 Art SA

The Algerian force
Arab cavalry threaten the rear of the french force

#
Unit
Bases Type Skimishers Morale Trait Weapon
Command 2 Ldr
2 Kaid's Guard 5 Cav Vet Ragged volley SM
9 Arab Cavalry 6 Cav Trn Ragged volley SM
5 Arab Infantry 4 Inf 4S Trn Ragged volley SM
7 Kabyles 4 Inf 4S Raw Woodsman, Aggressive SM

The Woodsman trait is Can evade as cavalry vs non Woodsman unit and Ignore difficult terrain

At this period the French Foreign Legion was a collection of battalions lumped together by nationality, eg Polish, Italian, Swiss etc, and wasn't as good a fighting force as it would later become.

The best troops in the French African army were the Zouaves and the Bat' d'Af, the Battalions of Light Infantry of Africa, made up of men with prison records who still had to do their military service or soldiers with serious disciplinary problems.

The Algerian forces were more than a match for the French inflicting several defeats on the invaders. The Arabs generally fought from horseback and were often as well armed as the French. The Kabyle, given the terrain, usually fought on foot and were excellent at skirmishing.

Setup

The French start in Fort Louis, The Kabyle and the Arab infantry start with 2 units at each settlement. From turn 2 a D6 worth of Arab cavalry units arrive on the eastern and western edges. they can move but cannot charge on their inital turn.

The Game

The French objective was to capture the 5 encampments, 2 on the plain and 3 in the mountains. The Algerians had to stop them.

 Kabyle encampment in the foothills
 Arab encampment on the plain
 The French expedition leaves Fort Louis - I have no idea why the are marching backwards
The French are almost in reach of the encampments on the plains but with cavalry to their flanks and rear inevitably form a "square"
The Kabyle leave their mountain camps to engage the French
 Rodge made these terrain pieces for his 28mm North West Frontier
They are excellent ground  for 10mm mountaineers
 On the western flank the French form line against Arab attacks
However Arab cavalry start working around their flank
Kabyle skirmishers force the French to halt. 
The French western flank hold against Arab charges and Kabyle musketry
 On the eastern flank the allied Arab cavalry get pushed back into the square after attacking the encampment 
 In turn the Arabs launch an attack against the Foreign Regiment  
 The Arab Kaid watches as his troops engage the Foreign Regiment  again
 The repeated assaults force the Foreign Regiment to retreat leaving a huge gap in the flank 
 The allied Arab cavalry charges to the rescue whilst the Zouaves form a square
 Arab cavalry oblige the Zouaves by charging them
 After 2 rounds of drawn combat, each side loses a base, the broken square repels the cavalry 
The western flank at the end - both sides at a stand-off
The eastern flank at the end - the Arabs have the upper hand

A victory to the Arab and Kabyle forces as the French failed to get a single encampment. The French eastern flank looked very dodgy  although they probably had enough firepower to hang on.

We will give this another run out with the mountains along the long edge to se if the French can even get a foot in the foothills

The French were outnumbered 2:1 in bases but do have the advantage of Devastating Volley (Shift Right) ,Target is Cavalry (Shift Right) and Skirmishers (Shift Right) so when they DO roll decent dice it is quite effective.

I made a couple of changes to the standard Bloody Big Battles rules. 
  • For the Woodsman trait see above. 
  • Smooth bore musket range was increased from 3" to 6" inches 
  • A unit in square is treated as being in a town for melee 

Otherwise the rules worked well, as always, with cavalry being very dangerous with their 18" move and 2 changes of direction..

Thanks to Mark, Rodge & Shaun for playing. Rodge's mountains are cracking terrain pieces.

The Arab cavalry are mainly Littlewars Miniatures from Lancashire Games with some Pendraken and Old Glory.

Everything else is Pendraken Miniatures

The tents and the fort are by dreamholme Scenics


5 comments:

  1. What a wonderful looking game Alan:).

    ReplyDelete
  2. That was one enjoyable AAR! Love the collection and the terrain too, it looks like what I imagine Algeria to look like.

    ReplyDelete
  3. these hills and the tents look great. Must have been a wonderful game

    ReplyDelete
  4. A rarely played period, beautiful terrain and figures, love the Kabyle settlement...Great report!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the report, looks great!

    ReplyDelete