Our third day at Lake Tarawera started around 7am with ablutions, and was quickly followed by our usual high fat, high cholesterol breakfast of fried bacon eggs mushrooms and tomato!
The game commenced around 0930 and what a treat today - Mark had devised a WW1 in E Africa scenario involving three separate game tables to cover multiple actions around Lake Victoria in 1915.
The three tables represented the British HQ at Kisumu - which must be held at all costs - a German wireless station at Bukoba that is vital to their war effort, and the German HQ at Shirati.
The night before, whilst most of us once again over indulged in alcoholic beverages of various types,
our esteemed commanders - Rick for the Empire and Paul for the beastly Hun - played a small board game Mark had devised to work out our pre game moves. The result of these activities were as follows:
I had advanced overnight through the jungle with 6 companies of Kings African Rifles (KAR), two HMG's and a mountain gun, arriving just before dawn at Shirati.
Chris had landed 3 battalions of Brits and an HMG plus a unit of Frontiersmen at Bukoba, to assault the wireless station, aided by naval gunfire support from the ships pompom gun and our C in C Rick remained at Kisumu with 3 battalions of Sikh infantry, 4 HMG's and a field gun.
Meanwhile, Hauptmann Paul had assigned both Barry and John to defend Bukoba with a unit of sailors, two mountain guns, three companies of Schutztruppen and three HMG's in trenches, whilst he took simultaneous command of two companies and an HMG at Shirati AND the main assault force on Kisumu, comprising two mountain guns, several HMG's and 6 battalions of Askari and Schutztruppen.
My game was quite quickly resolved after I realized that the intelligence briefing I had received to the effect that Paul's forces might be caught in column of route as day broke at Shirati was wildly optimistic and in fact, all that I had to oppose my 6 companies plus support was one HMG in the house and a couple of companies of infantry. After several rounds of pretty ineffectual fire exchanged between the opposing forces - mainly because Paul's guys were behind a stone wall or inside a building and saved hits on anything but a 1 and my chaps had gone to ground in the cover of a native village and a banana plantation - the Germans had a sudden rush of blood to the head, quit their safe position, leapt over the wall and charged downhill against my leading company of KAR who were defending cover AND supported by an HMG - the result of this rash move may well be imagined!
At this point it was obvious my force was excessively strong for the mission it was expected to carry out, so one HMG and three companies of KAR were dispatched back to Kisumu to assist the Sikhs.
Our action at Shirati lasted a couple more moves but the end was nigh - one company charged the house and wiped out the MG there, then the last company of infantry was brought to battle and defeated. One KAR company was lost in the action, but the remaining two were able to put the German HQ to the torch!
Meanwhile at Bukoba, despite being outnumbered by the defenders, Chris's Brits were doing a sterling job. The Navy engaged their opposite numbers in the Kriegsmarine in the local fort, whilst the three companies of regular infantry managed to overcome John's defending Germans on the hilltop, despite three HMG's and a system of defensive trench works - simply outstanding! The navy gun boat took a lot of damage from Barry's two mountain guns but stuck to their work, raining down pompom fire on the little fort. The Brits finally broke through and demolished the wireless tower and set the radio shack alight. In the withdrawal, they lost about half their number, but those who remained will be telling the story of their days work every Remembrance Sunday/ANZAC Day for the next 50 or 60 years!
On the third table, Rick had his work cut out for him as the majority of the German forces emerged from the jungle, accompanied by a significant amount of supporting firepower. As always, Paul deployed his forces with skill and pursued his assaults with aggression, and the Sikh defence began to crumble. At least one unit quit the field early, and others were pushed back from the outer defences closer and closer to the town. Rick's luck was summed up when a fresh Sikh battalion was able to charge one of Paul's Askari units in the flank - yet were still beaten off and forced to retire! Fortunately, because we had found Shirati so lightly defended, my KAR and HMG arrived back at the most opportune moment and although they played no active part in the outcome, their mere presence forced the Germans to retire after having fired Piggots store, a minor achievement for them.
So the game of three games came to an end in the early evening of our third day and the conclusion was overwhelming victory for the British! Following are pictures of the days events:
What a great game, enhanced by Marks stunning hand built scenery, buildings and models. Figures are all Brigade Games and were contributed by John, Rick, Barry, Mark and myself - with the exception of the RN crew who are Pulp figures from Canada, and the Frontiersmen, who are my Old Glory Mounted Infantry in slouch hats!
Game Four tomorrow night - and its another visual stunner - Spanish Civil War using Empress figures, all collected and painted by Rick, who also designed the scenario.
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