Disaster with the Doukkala on the Burning Sands TMWWBKs campaign

The legion assault the Doukkala

Flushed with success from the battle with the Beni Ashan, Captaine Steger opted to press on.  The next tribe on the trail was the Doukkala.  Again the French tried to be diplomatic about things but the Touareg continued to question the captain’s family lineage and declined his offers.  Rebuffed the Captaine order the second half of his column to advance and burn down the Doukkala village.

Camp defenders

Tuareg relief

Since the force purposes was destruction the captain dispatched the expedition’s field gun commanded by gunnery chef de Gras who has a reputation as a steady fellow under pressure. Escorting the gun was the third and fourth sections of legionary platoon, the fourth section of the tirailleur platoon, with the cavalry and mounted infantry sections attached.  Third legionnaire section is commanded by Caporal Sant Simone who has a reputation for being lucky. Fourth legionnaire section is commanded by Caporal Castilo who is destined for greatness or an early grave. Fourth tirailleur section is commanded by Onbasi le pont troisieme he is either corrupt or incompetent or both, regardless, he is a terrible planner and his men always seem to run out of ammunition at the worst possible moment.  Sous Lieutenant Lausanne leads the cavalry section and has a reputation of being as blind as a bat. Fortunately short sightedness is less of an issue when you are intent on running someone through with a sabre.  Sous Lieutenant Rochambeau leads the mounted infantry section he is a bit glum, a soothsayer predicted he would not return from the trip and now he feels unlucky.  Not on the expedition but of some concern is Sous Lieutenant Hill, who is developing a reputation as a shirker (see note1).

The looted field piece attracted a lot of legion attention 

Defenders fire on the advancing mounted section

In response the Doukkala gathered to protect their lands. The camp was protected by wheezy old Al Zurbian commanding the irregular infantry.  The bumbler Al’kehab commands a band of tribal warriors. While Al’Durum commands the tribe’s pride and joy in the form of a looted field gun. Coming to the camps aid is a relief force.   The relief consists of Ali Hamusta commanding the tribe’s most aggressive cavalry which is unfortunate since he is a yellowed bellied coward. His cousin El’Doner commands the irregular cavalry and he is a damn fine fellow. While, the terrible planner, El’Shish leads a band of tribal warriors (see note2).

firing from cover the defenders engage the infantry

Caporal Castilo squad led from the front and get pinned by the defenders

With gallic panache gunnery chef de Gras sighted his gun and fired the first shot of the engagement, his target was Al’Durum and Tuareg cannon. The shot hit home and half the Tuareg crew were wiped out with the reminder were pinned in place.  The rest of the force moved towards the Tuareg camp, with Caporal Castilo section leading the infantry. With their gun pinned only old Al Zurbian’s riflemen could respond and shooting from hard cover they managed to knock a few mounted legionnaires from the saddle. Meanwhile, far away, the Tuareg relief column raced to the camp.

Al’Durum gun section reduced to a single man without firing a shot

De Gras and Castilo focused on the Tuareg gun eventually managed to silence before it could fire a single shot. Lausanne led the cavalry charge that swept into the camp and started to burn the tent. But the Tuareg were not idle, Al Zurbian’s men traded fire with the approaching legionnaires their rocky hill cover offering better protection than the legionnaires in the open. Al Kehabs warriors charged the French cavalry burning down the village but he was beaten back. 

Cavalry charge the camp

Defnders try to repel the cavalry

Cavalry repel the defenders assualt

The relief column arrived lead by Ali Hamusta. The French promptly reacted and shot the tribal cavalry to pieces. But it was the high water mark for the assault. Lausanne’s cavalry were overrun by the rest of the relief column and Al Zurbian’s men were able to finish of Caporal Castilo squad.

Mounted infantry storm the camp

Camp relief force makes an appearance

With two units down the French broke contact and pulled back.  The battle left eight French dead and a similar number wounded.  After the defeat with the Doukkala the Captaine turned South and quickly overran the tribes of the Fenassa and Ghezaoua through a combination of bribery and coercion.  The pause in the fighting allowed all units to recover their injured from the field hospital.  However, the advance has abruptly stalled when word reached the Captaine the Ait Ammarte to the North are attacking the now friendly Beni Ashan.

current returns

French supply line under treat

Note 1: Nuts, I did not roll for Sous Lieutenant Hill’s trait in the first game. For some reason I thought the crew weapons did not have any character. We corrected that is this game, fortunately for the Tuareg, Hill rolled low and became a shirker. There was a little rejoicing at this news around the tribal camp fires.

Note 2: The Tuareg leaders are getting traits.Initially I was not going to bother with this since they are effectively NPC and I wanted to reduce the dice rolling for creating the Tuareg. Since then I wrote a script to automatically create the force, it was not hard to adjust to create leaders and their traits. Now the names of the great Tuareg leaders such as Al Durum and El’ Kehab can strike fear into the hearts of the French.

That is all for now thanks for stopping by   

alana, 'ana 'aydaan bunduqiatan masdis, 'ant abn almaeiz