This simulates the activity of a company of the French Foreign Legion in North Africa sometime in the early 1900s. I have taken the role of Major Moselle, who is the commander in chief of the detachment, as it takes up its garrison duty for six months, in the depths of the Sahara desert.
Moselle has three platoons of infantry, one of which is commanded by Captain Macron, his executive officer. He also has an artillery section, with one gun and an MMG, ably led by Captain LaSalle. Two lieutenants make up the full complement.
On reaching our post, we quickly found that the local Bedouin were already up in arms. There was a big gathering of Arabs at the oasis, and some further unrest in the local village. Lieutenant Verte and his platoon set off for the village, with the gun, while LaSalle and Macron took second platoon and the MG team and made for the oasis.
 |
| The Legion company assembles at the fort |
Both units had to move through the mountains to reach their locations. There was a big battle in the oasis, which saw dozens of enraged locals rush a Legion square, but the MG team saved the day here, and broke the back of the enemy. A further mopping up operation at the oasis was also successful.
 |
| Legion (red) attack the oasis with one MG and two officers |
The real trouble emerged as the Arabs from the village attacked Verte and his platoon in a narrow pass (see below). Again the Legion stood its ground successfully, but there were some casualties on our side.
With both the village and the oasis now looking peaceful, it was time to regroup at the fort. Rumours were however reaching us that there was trouble in the Kasbah. It had not turned nasty yet, but the locals were looking restless. Lieutenant LeJaune's platoon was sent out, with the artillery as back up. Once they arrived in the Kasbah - which they could reach without going through any of those pesky mountain passes - it turned out that the Kasbah was indeed in full and open revolt.
 |
| Lieutenant Verte is ambushed in the hills |
Luckily, at this time HQ in Algiers had seen fit to send Moselle a fourth platoon, this time under the command of the English officer Lieutenant Rose. He and Verte took their platoons to assist at the Kasbah (see below). It turned into a fine old battle, but the Legion looks like it is containing the situation, although with some losses.
I'm getting the hang of this game so far. It is really a solo, operational level game. We are still early in our tour, and I'm sure local resistance to French rule will pile on the pressure. It is posited as the easiest of the counter-insurgency simulations in the book: they get bigger and more ambitious in both scale and complexity as you proceed.
I like the way cards are used to track levels of local unrest, and control when Arabs take up arms. They can throw up surprising situations. The key is getting enough troops to a location within the constraints of the game, so that you stand a good chance of winning.
I think I got lucky early on with the ambush in the mountains, as the enemy rolled poorly, letting young Verte off the hook. I am starting to take some casualties, however, and there is also an interesting mechanic tracking morale back at the fort.
I am not sure whether it is better to send troops to an area which is starting to look restless, and run the risk of that provoking a riot, or wait until jihad has been declared, and then send the Legion into an already violent situation.
I've not fully explored the entire system. Hopefully more to come later in the week.
 |
| Rock the Kasbah! |
Comments
Post a Comment