Congo Wargame

This was the first game of Congo where I used the correct table size. This was kindly pointed out to me by someone who viewed one of my blog battle reports. I repeated the Nziari scenario that I have recently written a report on but with a reduced table and river size. I only have two rivers - one 2" wide and the other about 7" wide. Neither of these seemed to fit so I decided to use the smaller of the two. No, I'm not making or buying ANOTHER river. 

Above is the Banks expedition. One change I made was to make both commanders 'Retired Officers' as this seems to be much more useful than the other suggested in the scenario. I chose 90 point armies for this game with lots of native troops such as the Young Warriors and Askari shown above. Both sides also make use of porters and scouts. 

The entire length of the Nziari from the other angle. The three flag markers are shown down the river. In this scenario these flags must be secured and then taken off the opposite side of the table - through or around enemy lines. 

The adventurer unit complete with Dr Smuts - the expedition leader - and a porter. Quite a tough unit. 

These scouts are led by Tarzan himself - for some reason they have a porter - god only knows what he is carrying for Tarzan - a man who only owns a knife and two loincloths. 

Here askari and trained askari advance but one is effected by a movement stress token. A sudden downpour in Turn 2 reduced the range of missile for a turn. 

At the end of this turn the Smut's expedition had drawn the better cards through Confusion and were able to race toward the river. They also had more units on the right flank that were unopposed by the Banks expedition. This would lead to a swift capturing of the flag in this area. 

The Banks expedition were slow to start but tried to use psychological warfare on their enemy. 

What impressive cards! With this bonus card 6 units could move - these cards enabled the Banks party to surge forward. A shame however - an unhappy chance indeed - that Smuts had chosen and drawn the exact same card combo. 

Things were getting close and personal. Volleys of fire were exchanged across the river while crocs waited for the unwary. The men from Smuts plunged into the river seizing the central flag too. 

As described above. 

Some of the final bloodshed. The Banks expedition relied on fire to try and decimate their foes. This was less than successful mainly due to some amazing cover rolls from their opponent. Smuts however relied on movement to grab the flags and run. Although things were pretty hairy and tight at times - his men were able to thread the needle and run through tiny gaps using bonus cards to extend their movement and they were able to secure two flags from the table. At this point we decided to conclude the game not only due to victory points but also because it had been rather hot that day - over 40 degrees C all day and still by about 10pm that night. Congo like temps for a game of Congo. Thank god that the mosquitoes - although present - were not in similar numbers.