in darkest africa (4)

5/21/2018 In Darkest Africa (4)

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WARFARE IN THE AGE OF EXPLORATION, 1855 - 1876SOME SCENARIOS FOR WARGAMING DARKEST AFRICA.

BY CHRIS PEERS.

PART ONE: TWO EXPLORERS COME TO GRIEF.

Until the recent release of Foundrys Darkest

Africa range, the period of exploration innineteenth century Africa has never been apopular subject among wargamers. In fact itis seldom considered as a sphere of military

operations at all - in marked contrast to a selectedfew of the later campaigns of colonial conquest,especially in South Africa and the Sudan. But notto worry. Historically-minded gamers who havebeen tempted by Foundrys figures will not haveto restrict themselves to small-scale skirmishes.This must have been one of the most

unremittingly violent eras of human history, with slave-raids, armedexploring expeditions, native resistance, tribal migrations andvendettas merging into one vast multi-sided conflict covering half a

1). NIGHT ATTACK AT BERBERA, 19th APRIL 1855.

century and half a continent. A lot of the fighting, of course, was

between illiterate peoples who left no records, but in the books of theEuropean explorers of the time there are more than enough accountsto keep the most bloodthirsty wargamer happy.

The main difficulty is what scenarios to pick from the countlesspossibilities on offer. The scale and complexity of the fighting, in fact,makes it very difficult to provide even an outline of events in a fewpages. So what I would like to do in this three-part series is to presentjust a handful of actions which would be suitable for reconstruction aswargames of one sort or another. Or if re-fights are not to your taste,they will serve as examples of the forces, tactics and generalconditions which might have been encountered by your fictionaltribes or expeditions.

The first of these battles is a small-scale fight which would be idealfor recreation as a one-to-one skirmish game. It involved a surprisenight attack by a band of Somalis on a party of British explorers, and isprobably fairly typical of countless minor raids. The only reason weknow about this one is because, in two respects at least, it was nottypical: most of the intended victims survived, and two of them wrotebooks about their experiences. Our two witnesses, in fact, are among

the most famous names in African exploration: Richard Burton, whowrote up his account in First Footsteps in East Africa, and JohnHanning Speke, who gives us his version in his What Led to theDiscovery of the Source of the Nile. From these two sources it ispossible to reconstruct this desperate little fight in some detail.

In the spring of 1855 the two explorers were in what is now Somalia,where Burton had just completed a perilous journey to the hithertounknown city of Harar. Together with a couple of other Britishofficers, Lieutenants Herne and Stroyan (all four were on leave orsecondment from the Indian Army), they were encamped not far fromthe little port of Berbera. There were rumours that some of the localtribes were hostile, but Burton, who was in charge, seems to have

disregarded the warning signs. In fact the Somalis were convincedthat the explorers were spying out the land in preparation for a Britishinvasion, and a coalition of tribes was coming together with theintention of driving them out.

Early on the morning of 19th April, the unsuspecting expedition was


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camped on top of a rocky ridge, three quarters of a mile outsideBerbera. This site had originally been chosen so that in the event oftrouble it could be protected by the guns of the Mahi, an East IndiaCompany schooner which had been anchored off the town.Unfortunately, by the time of the attack the Mahihad been calledaway on blockade duty - a fact of which the local tribes were wellaware. The camp consisted of three tents pitched in a line along theridge, with about a dozen paces between each. An inlet of the sea wasnot much more than a musket shot away to the front. The middle tent

was a big Rowtie, or Indian Sepoys tent, pent-house shaped,supported by a single transverse and two upright poles and open at oneof the long ends. The camels were tethered below the ridge in front ofthe tents - ie. between them and the sea - and the horses and mules asimilar distance behind. The baggage was piled in the open, betweenthe middle and left-hand tents; it included a number of big woodenboxes, which the attackers were to find useful as cover.

The explorers party consisted of 42 men: the four white men and theirpersonal servants; a dozen African and Arab askaris, each armed witha flintlock musket and a sabre ( all raw recruits, and unaccustomed towarfare says Speke); and about 20 friendly Somalis. More usefulthan all the rest put together was the Somali Ras or caravan leader,Mahmud, who because of his skill as an intermediary with thetribesmen was always referred to as El Balyuz, or The Ambassador.

The odds were heavily in favour of the hostile Somalis, who camefrom three different tribes, and numbered altogether about 350.According to the description in Speke's book, all Somali warriorscarried a spear, a shield, a long two-edged knife and a war-club,which he calls a shillelagh. Burton described them as displayingwily valour rather than reckless courage, and considered that theirmode of warfare was not particularly deadly in a stand-up fight,although they could carry out spectacular massacres if they caughttheir enemies unprepared. Guns, he tells us, were virtually unknown inthe 1850s, and although the warriors professed to despise them ascowardly weapons, inreality they were terrified of them. At present,he writes, a man armed with a revolver would be a terror to thecountry.

The morale disadvantage under which the Somalis laboured when

facing firearms is something which will have to be borne in mindwhen reconstructing the coming fight. As far as hand-to-hand combatis concerned, Burton - who was an expert fencer with the sabre - hadalready had the opportunity to match his skill at arms against that ofthe Somalis while en route to Harar. He concluded that a good fencercould easily defeat a warrior equipped with spear and shield, andproved his point in a duel with a noted Bedouin spearman. Burton hadalso demonstrated his ability to dodge a thrown spear, which heregarded as a puerile weapon during the day when a steady man can

easily avoid it. (This was not so easy at night, of course, when youcould not see it coming.) Wargamers usually assume that a nativewith a spear is more than a match for a European in close combat, butthe events at Berbera were to prove that Burtons dismissive verdict inthis case was correct.

The Battle.At sunset on 18th April, three mounted Somalis approached theexplorers' camp and were apprehended on suspicion of being scoutsfor a raiding party. This is undoubtedly what they were, but theysomehow managed to talk their way out of trouble, and assured thedefenders that the local tribes were still friendly. So the party went tobed as usual, taking no extra precautions. By the early hours of the19th it appears that everyone was asleep, except for the usual twosentries and the Balyuz, whose job it was to supervise them. Stroyan

was in the right-hand tent, with Burton and Herne in the big tent in themiddle, and Speke in the one on the left. The native servants and allieswere, as usual, sleeping in the open.

Sometime between two and three oclock in the morning, Burton andHerne were woken by the Balyuz with the news that the enemy wasupon them. While Burton reached for his sabre, his companion, armedwith a Colt revolver, dashed outside to see what was happening.Herne quickly gathered together a few of the askaris, but these ran offinto the darkness as soon as the enemy came in sight. Hordes ofSomalis on foot were already charging right into the camp from theleft and rear. Herne got off a couple of hasty shots, then ran backtowards Burton's tent. On the way he tripped over a guy-rope and aSomali rushed forward to club him. He shot the man down, thenscrambled back to where Burton was waiting.


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The latter had by now woken the other two officers, and Speke soonjoined Burton and Herne at the big tent. Stroyan, however, was neverseen alive again. His body was later found with a fatal spear-thrustthrough the heart. (A Somali named Ao Ali claimed the credit forkilling Stroyan, and adorned himself with the ostrich feather to whichthe deed entitled him.) The askaris and friendly Somalis had alldisappeared by this time - the coast being open to them, says Burton

with understandable cynicism, they naturally ran away, firing a fewuseless shots and receiving a modicum of flesh wounds. The threesurviving white men stood at bay in the tent, blazing away into thedarkness while their assailants showered them with javelins, stonesand daggers. Burton was still armed only with his sabre, but his twocompanions each had a revolver, with which they managed to keep theenemy at a distance. Most of the Somalis moved off to loot thebaggage and drive away the expedition's camels, but about twenty ofthem surrounded the tent, crouching low or taking cover behind thenearby boxes to avoid being silhouetted against the sky.

After about five minutes, however, the defenders ammunition wasbecoming exhausted. The enemy were now getting bolder. Althoughthey still hesitated to charge they were coming closer, hacking at theguy ropes and beating at the tent with clubs to knock it down. This was

an old Arab trick, the idea being to entangle their victims in the canvasso that they could be speared in safety. Burton therefore gave the orderto break out and run for it. Speke, who was suffering from ophthalmiawhich impaired his night vision, was in the lead, but on emerging fromthe tent he hesitated for a moment, being unable to distinguish anytargets. He was hit on the leg by a stone thrown by an unseen Somaliand almost knocked down, so he ran to the fly of the tent and duckeddown low, so that he could see the silhouettes of the enemy who werepeering over the boxes. He fired at three of them and saw themdisappear, though he admits that he did not know whether he had hitthem or not. (This eminently sensible manoeuvre of Speke's hadunhappy consequences later on, because Burton seems to havethought that he was retreating. He shouted to him, Don't step back, orthey will think we are retiring. This rebuke was fairly mild by thestandards of the irascible Burton, who probably soon forgot all about

it. In fact in First Footsteps in East Africa he pays tribute to thesteadiness of both of his comanions. But Speke seems to have broodedover the incident. Long afterwards, when delirious with fever, hebrought it up again and accused Burton of calling him a coward. Thetwo men never forgave each other.)

As the three moved forward again, Speke now found himself a fewyards behind the others. A huge warrior suddenly appeared in front ofhim. Speke put his revolver against the man's chest and pulled thetrigger, but (any skirmish wargamer will know the feeling) theweapon chose this moment to jam. He raised the butt to hit hisopponent over the head, but the Somali was quicker. He swung hisclub and struck Speke across the chest. The blow winded the explorer,

and the Somali snatched the revolver out of his hand. Several otherwarriors jumped on Speke, and he was quickly tied up and draggedoff, a prisoner.

Meanwhile Burton, Herne and the Balyuz were making their escape.Burton cut his way through with his sabre, with the Balyuz runningbehind him, trying to push him forward to safety. This well-intentioned action nearly had disastrous results. Burton, feelingsomeone shoving him from behind, mistook him for an enemy, andturned round with the intention of cutting him down. The Balyuz criedout, and Burton hesitated. As he did so he took his eye off the ball for amoment, and a Somali stepped forward and either stabbed him with aspear or threw it at him from very close range. The weapon wentthrough Burton's cheek and came out on the other side of his face,smashing several of his teeth in the process. Such a wound would have

put most people out of action, but not Burton. Leaning on the Balyuz,with the spear still sticking right through his head, he staggered on. Afew of the servants and friendly Somalis were seen hanging aroundoutside the camp, but they were unwilling to approach the enemy.The only man that showed presence of mind, one Golab of the Yusuftribe was sent to find a boat, and Burton and the Balyuz left theirpursuers behind in the darkness.

Herne was not far behind, guarding the rear. Speke saw him emptyinghis revolver into a crowd of Somalis, and noted that from theresolution with which he fired at them, he must have done somedamage. When his ammunition was finished he defended himselfwith the butt of the pistol, and received several blows from the Somaliwar-clubs in return. Herne, like his companions, seems to have been aremarkably tough customer. Burton comments that with the

exception of sundry stiff blows with the war-club, Herne had thefortune to escape unhurt. Obviously a little thing likebeing whackedover the head with a club hardly counted as much more than aninconvenience (Good God, man! Had to put up with worse than thatevery night in the dorm at public school. Made me what I am!) Not


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surprisingly, the Somalis seemed reluctant to closewith him. He passed through a group of about a dozen,who kept shouting Kill the Franks!, but thisadvisory role was as far as they were prepared to go.They made no further attempt to stop him as heescaped in the direction of the sea.

Spekes Amazing Adventure.In the first light of morning Herne, the Balyuz and a

badly wounded Burton met up on the shore, fromwhere they made their escape in the native boat. Theenemy had disappeared with their loot. Spekeeventually rejoined his companions after a real BoysOwn adventure, which is not strictly relevant to thegame but is too good to omit altogether. His handswere tied in front of him, and throughout the night hewas alternately threatened and forced to watch thevictorious war dances of his captors. Eventually one ofthe warriors came up and started stabbing at him with aspear. One thrust went right through Speke's thigh, atwhich point he decided that he had better dosomething. He leapt up and struck out with his boundhands, knocking his assailant off balance, and then rantowards the shore, dodging the missiles that were

hurled after him. At last he reached the town ofBerbera and safety, having walked and run at leastthree miles, as Burton explains, after receivingeleven wounds, two of which had pierced his thighs. Atouching lesson how difficult it is to kill a man insound health!

The Characters.Because of the small numbers involved it wouldprobably be best to play this as a conventionalskirmish game, involving, on the explorers side atleast, a handful of named characters. These will be:

Lieutenant R. F. Burton(on leave from 18th Native

Infantry (Bombay), Indian Army): Leader of the party.Equipped with a sabre, with which he is anacknowledged expert. (He is also a crack shot with apistol, if he can get hold of one.)Lieutenant J. H. Speke(Bengal Light Infantry): OneDean and Adams percussion cap revolver. Speke istall, strong, and a fast runner. He possesses anincredibly tough constitution. He is also a noted big-game hunter, but on this occasion his shooting isaverage at best, because of his night blindness.Lieutenant G. E. Herne (Bombay Fusiliers): OneColt percussion cap revolver. Another hard case.Speke also pays tribute to his coolness and courage.The effect of his shooting is not known, but he is aprofessional soldier, so treat him as an above average

shot.Lieutenant W. Stroyan, I.N.: Percussion caprevolver, six shot, type unknown. Less is known abouthim than the others, but Burton refers to his manlycourage, physical endurance, and steadyperseverance, so we can safely give him the samecharacteristics as Herne.Mahmud, The Balyuz (Mijjarthayn tribe):Flintlock musket and sabre. Not recorded as havingactually done any fighting, but he is loyal and brave,and for game purposes he should be regarded as ofabove average competence.Golab (Yusuf tribe): Would have carried typicalSomali weaponry. Did not run as far as hiscompanions, but did not actually stand and fight

either. Make him take a pretty stiff morale test to doanything more positive than carry messages.

A handful of askaris armed with flintlock and sabre,some of whom just might hang around long enough toget a shot off before they leg it. Make them test morale

before they get involved; any shooting should beunaimed snap shots. The rest of the askaris andfriendly Somalis might as well be ignored for all thegood they were.

Lots of hostile Somalis (Eesa Musa, Habr Gerhaji andMikahil tribes, if you must know): All armed withspear, shield, club and dagger. Most were prettypathetic. They were reluctant to close with the enemy,their blows were feeble when they did, and their aim

with missiles was nothing to be proud of either. Muchof this ineptitude can be attributed to their fear of theenemy's firearms, but their whole style of warfarewas not designed to do decisive damage. Burtoncomments that, in marked contrast to the situationamong the Arabs, you hardly ever saw a Somali withbattle scars. Whatever rules you use, Somali moralewill have to be handicapped fairly severely to give thedefenders a chance. The warrior who disarmed Spekedid fairly well, though - well enough perhaps tojustify nominating a handful of men as above-averagefighters.

Rules.Depending on the level of personal detail which yourequire from a skirmish game, there are plenty ofsuitable nineteenth-century rule sets. You could trythe rules in my In Darkest Africa campaign article(see WI 132), in which case you will need some firingstatistics for revolvers - I suggest treating them thesame as Pygmy Archers, but with an automatic kill ifthey hit - and thrown spears, daggers etc. - say a basic4 to hit at up to 4", treat for effect as unpoisonedarrows. Give the explorers a +3 in close combat, andtreat all Somalis as ordinary Spearmen. Limitvisibility to about 6" because of the darkness. All thewhite men and the Balyuz will count as officers, butthe Somalis should only have two or three leaders intotal, so that most of them will be hanging around

realistically most of the time for lack of points toencourage them.

Also designed specifically for this period is WithSword and Bayonet by Tom Penn, published byTabletop Games. This is more of a conventionalskirmish set, and covers weaponry, wounds,individual morale etc. in considerable detail. But italso includes provision for organising non-characterfigures into groups of ten or so, which are then treatedfor most purposes as a single figure. This makes thesystem especially suitable for games like this one,where there is an enormous disparity in numbers andeffectiveness between the two sides. You could alsotry Western Gunfight rules like Foundrys Rules

With No Name. It would be quite fun givingcharacteristics to the various participants based onwhat we know about their actions in the fight. Forexample:

Lt. R. F. Burton- Legend; Bossman, Strong, TrueGrit, Crack Shot, Knifeman.

Lt. J. H. Speke- Shootist; Strong, Swift, Hard asNails (eleven wounds and still lived to tell the tale.How hard can you get?), Lucky.

Toys.As for figures, Foundry produce a Burton and a Speke

in their Darkest Africa range, although they are notdesigned specifically for this battle, and so are notcarrying the right weapons - Burton has a revolver,and Speke a double-barrelled hunting rifle. Of coursefigures in nineteenth-century dress carryingrevolvers can be found in any Wild West range.


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Foundry also have a wide selection of other European adventurers,askaris and African spearmen, not to mention baggage.

They do not produce any specific Somali figures as yet, althoughgiven the enthusiasm with which Mark Copplestone is expanding therange I would not be surprised to see some in the future. Both Burtonand Speke give us descriptions of their appearance. Somali warriorsusually wore the tobe, which was basically a white sheet drapedover one shoulder and secured round the waist by a sash. Shields weremade of leather. They were small, round, convex and usually white.There were, according to Burton, a hundred ways of dressing thehead - including turbans for chiefs or elders, lions manes worn aswigs, ringlets, shaved heads, and feathers worn in the hair. Somenomads bleached their hair, then either left it in the resulting lightstraw colour or dyed it red with henna.

The nearest thing I can think of in existing figure ranges is probablyPunic Wars period Numidians. Otherwise, it is not going to matter toomuch if you use ordinary African spearmen in loincloths. Neither willyou really need 350 of them. Most of the warriors did not do a lot in theactual fight, but were occupied in plundering the baggage, stealingcamels, and shouting helpful advice to their friends. In any case, in thedarkness it must have been pretty well impossible for the leaders to seewhat everybody was doing. Just use all the spearmen you have got,

2). MTAGAMOYO VERSUS THE PYGMIES: c. 1870?

BURTONconverted by Steve Dean

and bring on the casualties at the backas reinforcements if necessary.

Sources.This scenario, including the quotationsfrom Burton and Speke respectively, isderived from the following books:

R. F. Burton: First Footsteps in East Africa; or,An Exploration of Harar, London, 1856.

J. H. Speke: What Led to the Discovery of theSource of the Nile, Edinburgh, 1864.

(This fight is also featured in the 1989 film, The Mountains of theMoon, starring Patrick Bergin as Burton and Iain Glen as Speke. Thefilm is good for atmosphere, but here as elsewhere it takes libertieswith the historical events. In this episode Speke is portrayed as moreirresolute than he actually was. His escape from Somali captivity isactually made to seem less remarkable in the film; he manages to gethold of a spear instead of laying out his captor with his bare hands, andhis friends are waiting outside the enemy camp to rescue him - anotherinstance of fiction being unable to handle the actual strangeness oftruth. )

We do not know exactly when or where this next battle took place, andwhat we know of it is derived from a single eyewitness account,acquired at second hand from one of the few survivors on the losingside. It was fought in the middle of the vast Congo rainforest, betweena party of Arab ivory-traders and a previously unknown tribe ofPygmies. Darkest Africa does not come much darker than this. But thefascination of this action is that it is one of the few which we knowanything at all about in which Europeans were not involved. It also

shows the Pygmies - who are invariably described inmodern accounts as shy, secretive and peaceful people

- in a rather different light. As a wargame, itcombines the appeal of the exotic with some

interesting tactical problems for both sides.

The Unknown River.Our source is the account of an Arab named BwanaAbed ibn Jumah, who was interviewed in 1876 by

H. M. Stanley, at Tippu Tib's headquarters at Nyangwe on the RiverLualaba. Stanley was enquiring about the course of the riverdownstream, and was treated to a hair-raising description of the perilsof the jungle to the north, in which three large Arab expeditions hadrecently been swallowed up, with a total loss of nearly 500 men. Therewere cannibal tribes; gigantic snakes; swarms of ants; gorillas, whichhad the appealing habit of grabbing people and biting off their fingers;and - most terrifying of all - the semi-mythical warriors of themysterious dwarf country.

In middle of the nineteenth century, Arabs from Zanzibar hadtravelled east from Lake Tanganyika and discovered the upper

reaches of the Lualaba, which flows northwards through the savannahcountry of what is now the south-eastern quarter of the DemocraticRepublic of Congo. (You know the one I mean. Used to be calledZaire. What it will be called by the time you read this is anybody'sguess.) Men like the slave-trader Tippu Tib, in alliance with the

Pygmies attack. Painting by Steve Dean and Kevin Dallimore


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warlike Manyema tribe, had laid the foundations of anArab state in the region. But not far north of Nyangwe,the Lualaba disappears into the immense jungles of theCongo Basin, which in the 1870s were still unknownterritory even to the Arabs. At the time of Stanley'sarrival, no one knew where the river went after that.Livingstone had thought that it eventually became theUpper Nile, though Stanley was soon to prove that itwas actually the source of the Congo. Abed ibn Jumahsimply stated in response to Stanley's questions that itflows north, and north, and north, and there is no end toit.

But Abed did pass on a few more details. He went on totell how, a few years earlier, an Arab adventurernamed Mtagamoyo had decided to explore the river inthe hope of discovering a new source of ivory. ThisMtagamoyo was a famous freebooter and slaver,acknowledged as the best fighter and expeditionleader among the Arabs of Central Africa. He wasadmired by many for his fearlessness, and hated by asmany others for his brutality. Even Tippu Tib - himselfno softy - was appalled by his disregard for Africanlives. But the younger Arabs especially would havefollowed him anywhere. If any man could guide us tonew ivory fields explained Abed, it wasMtagamoyo.

So several hundred men had set out with him fromNyangwe into the unknown. There were ZanzibariArabs, their African auxiliaries from the east coastknown as the wangwana, or freemen, and anumber of slaves, who served as porters. Theymarched through the forest east of the Lualaba,fighting battles with the cannibals of Usongora Menofearful fellows and desperate - and losing many menalong the way. It must have been a journey as heroicand eventful as any of Stanley's, but Abed glosses overit, for much worse was to come. After several monthstravelling, the adventurers crossed over to the westbank of the Lualaba and struck across country to theLumami River, where they found a welcome at thevillage of a chief called Kima-Kima.

Even today the Lumami (or Lomami) flows through avast empty space on the map, still untouched by roadsand covered with virgin forest. To Mtagamoyo's men,it must have seemed like the far side of the moon. Buthere they heard tales about the land of the little men,even deeper in the jungle, where ivory was soabundant that we might get a tusk for a single cowrie.When we Arabs hear of ivory being abundant, Abedconfessed, there is no holding us back. So theycrossed the Lumami and came to the land of another

tribe, among whom were some Pygmies (or dwarfs,in nineteenth century terminology) - the first the Arabshad ever seen. They struck them as the queerest-looking creatures alive, Abed recalled, just a yardhigh, with long beards and large heads... They seemedto be plucky little devils, though we laughed to seethem.

The Arabs were just as much of a surprise to thePygmies, but when the latter learned that the strangerswould give beads, copper wire and cowrie shells inexchange for the ivory which they had stockpiled, theyagreed to guide them to the outskirts of their country,six days' journey away. From Abed's account itappears that the Pygmies were much better organised

than we might expect from the scattered bands whichstill roam the forest today. At that time, before theencroachments of their bigger neighbours, theypossessed a large territory, inhabited by thousands ofwarriors. They were ruled by a king, who resided in avillage consisting of a single long street with houses

on either side.

The Arabs, whose strength was now reduced to 290guns, were lodged in the village, well fed, andprovided with as much ivory as they could carry.After ten days, Mtagamoyo prepared to return toNyangwe. But the Pygmy king refused to let themleave. He insisted that they buy all the ivory whichcould be found in his kingdom, even though they hadno way of carrying it home. Mtagamoyo laughed atthe king.

It seems that the Arabs just could not takethe little men seriously, but they were soon to realisetheir mistake. While Mtagamoyo was conferring withhis officers about what to do next, a group ofWangwana burst in with a woman who had beenwounded by an arrow. They are coming in immensenumbers, they warned their leaders. It's a war,prepare yourselves!

The Battle.The Arabs rushed for their guns, but arrows werealready falling among them in clouds. Mtagamoyocut several of the attackers to pieces with a two-handed sword, fighting on in a frenzy despite the

arrows sticking through his shirt. But many Arabsalso fell in the first desperate minutes. Hordes ofPygmies were shooting at them from the tall grassaround the village and down from the tops of trees, sothat they were in danger of being overwhelmed.Mtagamoyo ordered his men to build a barricade ateach end of the village street, using felled bananatrees and doors ripped from the native huts. Fightingfrom behind this improvised cover, and firingdeliberately to conserve their ammunition, theyeventually drove the enemy off.

But the Pygmies were undeterred, and settled downfor a siege. Fresh parties arrived to keep up the hail ofarrows, while the Arabs divided themselves into two

groups, one of which slept while the other manned thebarricades. Over the next 36 hours, flurries ofmissiles alternated with occasional attempts by thePygmies to rush the defences. On the third day theArabs began to suffer from lack of water, for the onlysource was outside the village. Mtagamoyo organiseda party of 50 men with water pots, protected byanother 50 armed with muskets. He placed himself attheir head, carrying a shield to keep off the arrows.They broke out and dashed for the water, but many ofthe Pygmies in front of them were unsure about whatthey were doing, and refused to run until it was toolate. The Arabs filled their water pots, then ran back tothe village with several prisoners. These, it seems,they had simply picked up and carried off, with

Mtagamoyo himself grabbing one in each arm - notthe most dignified way to be taken prisoner, but one ofthe unavoidable perils of being a Pygmy.

Then the Arabs had what at first appeared to be astroke of luck, for they discovered that one of theircaptives was the king himself. Mtagamoyo orderedthe others to be decapitated and their heads thrownoutside the village, but he kept the king alive as abargaining counter. Sure enough, a delegation arrivedoffering peace in return for the release of their ruler.But as soon as he was returned to them, the attacksresumed. For the rest of the third day and thefollowing night the fight continued, until the Arabsrealised that their supply of powder was running out.

They were left with no option but to try and escape asbest they could.

Drawing their broad long swords, bright as glass, asAbed tells it, they charged out of the village once


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again, and this time they put the enemy to flight. Abed and hiscomrades followed them like wolves for a couple of hours. Ah, wekilled many, very many, for they could not run as fast as we could.The Arabs then rushed back to the village, picked up as much of thestockpiled ivory as they could manage, and began the long trek backthrough the forest. That night the Pygmies closed in again, shootingout of the darkness. The Arabs returned fire for as long as they could,but by then, said Abed, Our powder was fast going. At last we ranaway, throwing down everything except our guns and swords. Manydied of hunger, thirst and sheer exhaustion during the terriblehomeward journey, while others were overtaken and killed by thePygmies. No doubt the cannibals upstream also tucked in when theygot the chance. Abed concluded: out of that great number of peoplethat left Nyangwe, Arabs, Wangwana and our slaves, only 30 returnedalive, and I am one of them. Another survivor, inevitably, was theformidable Mtagamoyo.

The Game.This battle is obviously ideal for the big skirmish approach, with ahundred or so figures on either side. The tabletop rules for my InDarkest Africa campaign system were designed for a quick andsimple game of this type, sacrificing detail for speed and ease of play.They do, however, cater specifically for Pygmies - which is a claimthat I dont think many other rule sets can make. For both sides, use

one officer or leader for about every ten men. You might considercounting the Arabs as Baluchis for hand-to-hand combat, and givingthe charismatic Mtagamoyo the score of two dice for encouraging hismen instead of one.

Alternatively, the adventures of a small group of Arabs trying toescape through the jungle would be ideal for a smaller scale, moredetailed game using conventional skirmish rules. Richard Brooksback-of-a-postcard set Drums Along the Watusi (in MiniatureWargames No. 9 - anybody remember that far back?) is also a nicesimple system for small actions in the jungle. Whatever rules youdecide to use, the following remarks on the combatants may helpwhen adapting them to this scenario.

The Forces.As we have seen, there were a total of 290 armed Arabs and wangwanawhen they reached Kima Kimas village. As there was no fightingthere, we can assume that the same number survived to reach the"dwarf country". For a big skirmish game, a sensible figure ratio to usewould be about three or four to one, so that around 70 figures will beneeded. It seems that most if not all of the Arabs were armed with long,straight swords as well as flintlock muskets. We have Stanleysdescription of Mtagamoyo, if anyone wants to paint up a personalityfigure. He must have been around forty at the time of the battle, ofmiddle stature and swarthy complexion, with a broad face, black beardjust greying, and thin-lipped. He spoke but little, and that littlecourteously. He did not appear very formidable, but he might bedeadly nevertheless. The Arabs of Nyangwe regard him as their bestfighter.

The wangwana would also have had flintlocks, but probably machetesor knives rather than the swords. Unfortunately we are not told whatthe numbers of the different contingents were, but the Arabs wouldprobably be in a minority. They tended to have a low opinion of thecourage of the wangwana compared to themselves, but there is nomention in this account of any difference between them. The slaveswere probably not armed, as at one point Abed appears to contrastthem with the armed men. For Arab figures in 25mm, I suggest usingthe Zanzibaris and Baluchis from Foundry's range. Their askaris withmuskets are also ideal for the wangwana.

Stanleys map of the region in Through the Dark Continent includesthe following note: Dwarfs are variously called Watwa, Wakwanga,Wakuma and Wakumu. They are said to be vicious and mostmurderous. Their range is believed to be extensive. Pygmies seem tohave varied in size, with some tribes being smaller than others, butthey are not quite as small as Abed claimed. Between four and four anda half feet is about the average height. Their skin is more reddish thanthat of their larger neighbours, and they are more likely to have beards.This group apparently went completely naked, and had no use for the

cloth which the Arabs brought to trade, although pictures from othersources show Pygmies wearing nappy-style Congo loincloths andcaps made from the skins of spotted cats, with a tail hanging downDavy Crockett-style.

Pygmies are generally described as archers, although spears were alsoused for hunting. Their bows were short, and the arrows light andmade of reed. This meant that they only had a short range, but in thethick vegetation amongst which the Pygmies lived this did not matter.

Arrows could be tipped with a very effective poison; Abed says thatmany of our people fell dead instantly from the poison, although inother cases it took somewhat longer to take effect. Because of theirsmall stature the Pygmies would obviously not be much use in a hand-to-hand fight, although it is surprising that Abed describes the Arabsas being faster runners, because the agility of the Pygmies is oftencommented on. Perhaps they would be at more of an advantage indense forest than in the open. Certainly they could make extremelyeffective use of cover, especially tall grass. According to Abed, Theywere such small things, we could not see them very well; had theybeen tall men like us, we might have picked off hundreds of them.How many Pygmies there were at this battle is difficult to say: Abedtalks only of thousands, and immense numbers. As they foughtmainly from cover and would not all have appeared in the open at thesame time it must have been impossible to judge their strength

accurately, and thousands is probably an exaggeration. (Pygmybands today are never anything like as big as that.) Perhaps this isanother occasion for using as many figures as you can get hold of, andbringing the casualties on again as reinforcements. Pygmy figures -real little characters, if a bit overdressed for this scenario - should beavailable by now in Foundrys range.

Sources.The only source for this battle, from which all the above quotationsare taken, is in Stanley's account of his Congo expedition:

H. M. Stanley, Through The Dark Continent, London, 1890.

Pygmy Archers. Painting by Kevin Dallimore

Pygmy Chief. Painting by Kevin Dallimore

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