Congo-The Little Village of Boumaqui

Last Sunday, myself and Graham got together for a game of Congo. We decided to play one of the main scenarios with 80 point tribes. The Boumaqui (Forest Tribes) were holding Father Marcelin captive and the Akebou (African Kingdoms) were sent to save him. 

Boumaqui

Chieftain 

Champion 

Witch Doctor 

2 x Warriors 

2 x Hunters 

Archers 

Bundukis

Akebou

King

Bodyguards

Witch Doctor

Fanatics

Married Warriors

Ruga Ruga

Nicely done as usual, I was attacking from the right and left of the table, while Graham had some of his troops in the kraal guarding Father Marcelin. What made it tricky has more of his troops spanned each turn from one of the 4 corners.

The attack starts

Forest tribes bowmen guarding the east

Guarding the western approach

My Ruga and Ruga followed by the Fanatics coming from the west

My Married Warriors and Bodyguards attacked from the east but unfortunately they were shot down by bow armed troops from the north and south. They were able to take out a unit of Archers within the kraal, but it came too late....I am hoping that the good father was not eaten!

Well it seems like an age since I have won any games, I never even came close in this on. Graham felt I probably should not of spent all my points on high value units. Certainly he had 50% more units on the table than I, which made it quite a challenge. And amazingly enough for the 2nd game in a row, my Witch Doctor drew a red death head on his first cast spell.

But as usual it was a lot of fun, there is certainly nothing to dislike about Congo.

Historical Gaming at the Abyss-July 2, 2023

 

Last Sunday we had a gathering of 6 of our Club members at the Abyss for demo games of Congo and Muskets & Tomahawks. Graham was testing out his Congo scenario with Korrigan and Iannick which is being played at Historicon next week and I was demo-ing M&T for Gabriel and Camille to introduce them to a French Indian War ruleset. Both games went well, here are a few photos.

Muskets & Tomahawks

British vs Canadiens

500 points

Wilderness Setting

Battle Set up both sides 

Canadien Victory 

Lesson learned: maybe not a good idea to use a river on the long axis of the table as it prevented a good demo of the spotting rules.

Congo

3 columns

3 player game

Hopefully we will have another get together at the Abyss in the latter part of July. 

Congo-The Rescue of Dick Longspike

 

Four of us got together at the Abyss this past Sunday for a couple of skirmish games. First up was a game of Congo put on by Graham. This was a 3 player game that Graham put together himself. I played the African Kingdoms column which was the first time they had seen the table. Luis played the Forest Tribes, while Christian played the Zanzibaris. 

It was quite a good scenario, an European Explorer has been lost and then found by the African Kingdoms. Dick Longspike apparently found some maps to a lost treasure, so the rescuers were being pursued by both the Zanzibaris and the forest tribes. 

Initial setup, half my column was placed about 18" from the far edge of the table with the lost explorer. The other half was in the village. The Forest tribes were started in the upper left of the table while the Zanzibaris started in the upper right. I attached the explorer to the Fanatical Warriors.

Fanatical Warriors

I was quite excited about my column which contained a Witch Doctor. I did not realise that the Forest Tribes had one as well, although interestingly enough they had access to different spells. The scenario design gave me the first move and the initiative. I started to move the Fanatics toward the village. I had my Askaris and Bowmen covering their retreat. I advanced my Young Warriors towards the Zanzibaris in order to slow their advance, knowing that they would probably end up as cannon fodder. The other two columns advanced and before we went to the next turn, I decided to cast a spell on the Forest Tribe's leader with the hope to taking him out early. I went with a two dice throw, drawing one token from the stress bag.......and can you believe it I drew a red hand and a blast of lightening came from the heavens and blasted him to smithereens.

Well so much for the Witch Doctor. Anyway the game went on as demonstrated by the following photos.

The Zanzibaris in the foreground going after my Fanatical Warriors

The red markers reveal the number of the dead

The Zanzibari advance

Luis sneaking his Forest Tribes across the stream to attack the village

I left the King and a couple of units in the village, the Married Warriors and the Warriors. They did eventually leave to take on the advancing Forest Tribes. 

The Zanzibaris wiped out my Bowmen, Scouts as well as the Fanatical Warriors.

Forest Tribes

Dick Longspike safely in the Village.

It was really a fun game, I think we got in 6 turns before it was called. I was given a marginal victory as I got the explorer to the village but it was quite expensive as I had 3 units wiped out, while my adversaries were pretty intact. So a Pyrrhic victory to be sure. This was a great scenario and I am hoping that Graham will publish it as it gave a very good three player game. You will also note that the terrain as usual was quite impressive.

Congo in Mesoamerica

Finally back to catching up with my blog posts from last week. Two more to go after this one.

My friend Luis has been working on a modification of the Congo ruleset for Mesoamerica. He has done a terrific job on putting together the stats and cards for modification. Graham has painted all the figures required for the game, so last Sunday last we gathered at Graham's for a game.

This was a two on two game with Jean-Jacques and Graham playing the Conquistadors while myself and Luis played the Aztecs. The details of the war bands are a little foggy now but I will post some photos. We each had two leaders and there was an Aztec priest in the middle of the table protected by Luis's warband. If I have it right each leader was worth a VP and if the Conquistadors killed the priest it was 10 points.

Here are my troops, the figures are absolutely beautiful. I had 3 groups with 2 leaders.

Jean-Jacques and Graham putting together their cunning plan to kill the Native Americans

Much of the battle of course centred around the centre of the table, here we have the hapless sacrifice about to be killed by the Teopixqui with the Spanish and their allies trying to stop him.

Of course if there are 14th Century Spanish, there is going to be a Priest. I was able to kill him. I suppose I will go to the underworld now. Those mounted Conquistadors will surely send me there.

The final battle, if I remember correctly Jean-Jacques snuck is troops around surprising the Teopixqui and killing him. The Aztecs were in pretty bad shape at the time.

Well this was a fun and beautiful game, we did lose but it was fun. Luis has really put together an excellent modification for Congo, which I suspect will become quite popular.

Congo in Africa

As part of Graham's recent weekend extravaganza we had two Congo games on Sunday. In attendance was myself, Jean-Jacques and Luis. Graham acted as the gamester for the game he put on. This was the first 3 player game of Congo I played, and when I think about it, I do not believe I have ever played any 3 player war-games.

As usual Graham set up an excellent terrain. Jean-Jaques played the Zanzibari's, Luis the African Kingdoms and I played the White Man's Expeditions. We each had 80 points. Luis was tasked with protecting a Sacred Area in the middle of the table while myself and Jean-Jacques started from opposite corners. I am not sure how many turns were planned, I believe we played 6 or 7. We had to capture the Sacred Place that was worth a set number of points. we also got points for destroying enemy units. I should also note that half of Luis's force also started off table. It was quite a good scenario.

Here is the 3x3' terrain. I started in the bottom left, while Luis had half his force in the  centre  with the other half coming in from the right of the photo. Jean-Jacques started from the top right corner.

I rapidly advanced my archers and my Askaris to cut off Luis force rushing to aid his units in the Sacred Ground. I had some success and was able to take out one of his units but my Askaris took some damage. The Archers were following up to finish the job.

Quite a battle ensued around the Sacred Ground with the Zanzibari's attacking from the right. Significant casualties were taken on both sides. This was my cunning plan, as I was slowing advancing my other units from the right to take the Sacred Ground once Luis's troops were weakened.

Unfortunately, I had to send my Trained Askaris with the Leader to assist  in the fight with Luis's troops who were rushing to aid their allies in the Sacred Ground. They also took quite a pounding. You can see though that the my 3 Explorers have advanced in cover towards the Sacred Ground.

As each turn progressed Graham added dangerous animals moving about the terrain, here we can see a crocodile and above an elephant. they kept me on my toes.

My Askaris, Explorers as well as my Leader with his Trained Askaris moved into position but the game ended, without them able to make an attack! A Victory to Luis for holding onto the Sacred Ground.

This game was a lot of fun, but I was a little slow in getting off the mark and the game ended before I could mount an attack on the Sacred Ground. Thanks Graham for putting on a great game.

Congo- The Treasure of Makoko Mbe

Last Saturday after our CoC game Graham set up a Studio Tomahawk Congo game. This is number 6 scenario from the ruleset.

Premise

Deep in the Congo in the small village of Mbe, near which is supposedly buried the treasure of Makoko Mbe, the last chief of the Teke. Legend says that the treasure is buried beneath an idol guarded by 4 Fanatical Warriors. Professor Gustaaf van den Gheyn has discovered this legend and is leading a column of explorers to discover if the legend is true. Unfortunately the infamous Arabic trader Fayçal al Mutawi has heard word of this expedition and is leading his Zanzibari's there.

The Game

P-Y played the Zanzibari's for the first half of the game, but had to leave so Graham took over. I played the White Man Expeditions. There were 4 totems to pick up on as well as the treasure in the centre of the table guarded by the 4 fanatical warriors. I only took a couple of photos unfortunately.

I send forward my Warriors, to take on the Fanatical Warriors. They had some success.

The Zanzibari's advanced bit I was able to dig up the treasure, and run with it. My Warriors ended up dropping it but my Ruga Ruga were able to pick it up and make it to the table edge.

It was a good game again, the command decisions are certainly challenging and that makes it a good game. I believe I will always enjoy playing this game.

I am on a work week starting tomorrow (I still work one week out of the month), and am in the US for the week following sorting various personal issues (like figuring out my taxes for the year) so no gaming until the beginning of March. The good news is that I already have some games set up.

Congo-The King of the Apes

Last Tuesday, I finally got in a game of Congo. This is the only Studio Tomahawk game, I have yet to play. I believe it is probably the least popular but I found out that it is quite a lot of fun and a challenging game.

We played one of the basic scenarios that come with the rulebook. I had a 90 point group made up of characters and groups from the White Man's Expeditions. Graham brought over and a 70 point Forest Tribes group, he also had Kong on his side. Essentially, there were 4 totems on the table which I had to capture as well as kill Kong, King of the Apes.

I started from the left lower and right upper corners while Graham  started on the two opposite corners. According to the scenario my troops were to start handicapped (exhausted) but we forgot to do this.

Some of Graham's beautifully painted Forest Tribes.

The cards which allow you to move, fire or rally add an interesting dimension to the game, it is a well thought out mechanic.

This is what happens when it rains.

I had a lot of fun, it is a challenging game in which the play can be quite nuanced. The cards, which you get to chose, have to be played in the correct order and in a couple of turns I realised the importance of this. The game was 7 turns, and I had a marginal win. I did note my dicing was quite a bit better than Graham's. It was interesting that he took no troops with black powder. I actually paid for this in one turn when it rained and I was unable to fire any of my rifles or muskets. 

Thanks to Graham for introducing me to this game, I will look forward to the next.