Arriving in German East Africa Oberleutnant Kofler is immediately summoned, along with his superior, by the Colonial Governor – some Zanzibari slave traders have been stirring up the local tribes in the area of the German Colony, and have stirred them up with stories of the Germans taking all their women! The Governor wants an immediate show of force in the area to settle things down and ensure these verabscheuungswürdigen Sklavenhändler are found and dealt with. No-one casts aspersions on the Kaiser’s newly acquired empire!
Setting out, the column consists of a company from the Seebatallion detachment with a Maxim MG team, and a Deutsche Ost-Afrika Gesellschaft Askari company, which Kofler is told off to, his first command in Darkest Africa! Supporting them is a small river boat steamer which will ferry supplies forward as needed should their expedition take more than the week or two expected.
Heading out beyond the frontier of the ‘settled’ region of the colony, they soon encounter groups of tribesmen observing them from the vegetation but avoiding any contact – the column’s commander Oberst Stuehmer (who has been in Africa some time) comments that normally the Tribesmen around the colony are quite friendly… Kofler isn’t quite so sure.
After the second day of marching through the Jungle there is an altercation with a local chieftain, the first major village the column has encountered, and the column is forced to halt. The village is at a key location where a small pass opens out into the hinterland beyond, and is a key location that Stuehmer intended to be his bass of operations, since it is very close to the small river that will serve as their line of communication via the river boat. As a result he instructs Kofler to set up camp in the pass, and prepare some basic defensive positions (using the column’s supplies, etc) as a precaution – they will need to convince the local chieftain to co-operate before they can proceed further… And this is where we find Kofler; at dawn the next morning, insisting the troops all ‘stand to’ until the Commander decrees the plan for the day…
As fate would have it, as Kofler and Stuehmer are about to return to the village shots ring out from the nearby forest, someone is shooting at them! This all takes Kofler rather by surprise; he’s not use to being shot at! Soon large numbers of tribesmen are seen appearing, approaching from the village and nearby jungle and forest – by their distinctive regalia and shields; they aren’t just from the local tribe either! Hauptmann Muenst (commanding the Seebatallion Company) returns fire at the mysterious marksmen to the German right and also prepares to send a scouting patrol out to investigate. Kofler puts his DOAG Askari on notice to hold their fire until he gives the word, and also details off a quarter of them under Feldwebel Buergerhoff to form a reserve, a Brandbekämpfung Brigade, so they don’t get caught out if something unexpected happens!
Soon there are masses of tribesmen closing in on the German position, and Hauptmann Muenst has identified that the mysterious snipers on the right appear to be Zanzibari Slavers, hiding in the nearby Jungle near the river… At this point a pair of Rhinos sidles up in the middle of the battlefield, and start locking horns, a most unnerving sight for Kofler! That’s soon forgotten once more tribesmen appear, including some armed with rifles, who start shooting at Kofler’s askari! Kofler gives the order and they begin returning fire…
Meanwhile the Seebatallion scouts have moved out and combined with the unit’s firing, scared off the small group of Zanzibari, however as they approach the forest to ensure it is clear they get surprised by a large body of particularly blood thirsty looking tribesmen; Heilige Scheiße! As they flee back to the main seebatallion body, Kofler is faced with an increasing and rapidly approaching mass of tribesmen on the left, his askari firing repeated volleys into them but failing to stop the charge. Soon they are almost on top of the improvised barricade. A brutal melee ensues while at the same time more tribesmen come close to assaulting the seebatallion, however these are decimated by the latter’s disciplined fire, and that group breaks and runs after having suffered horrendous casualties…
For Kofler it’s not so good, the fight is brutal and casualties heavy, and a second body of tribesmen crosses the barricade and overruns the Machine Gun position adjacent, the crew fighting for their lives before retiring after suffering 50% casualties! Kofler is in little better state, having suffered 60% casualties (he’s down to 6 of his 15 men) and things are very shaky – despite holding the barricade and fighting off the first group of tribesmen they are still under fire and not confident. Feldwebel Buergerhoff then moves up with the Brandbekämpfung Brigade and plugs the gap where the MG has been overrun, blocking the progress of that group of tribesmen. However he is heavily out-numbered and looks like too he will be overrun…
It all proves too much for poor Kofler and his 5 surviving askari, they break and flee back into the pass, convinced jeder wird sterben! But the seebatallion are standing staunch and assist Buergerhoff in dispersing the tribesmen in the centre; then as suddenly as it has begun the attack peters out, and the tribesmen disappear off into the jungle. Meanwhile Kofler, pausing to catch his breath before rounding up his routing men, realises Er hat seine Hose nass! What a day, its all been just a bit too much!
Preliminary scouting by the seebatallion detachment confirms the tribesmen have dispersed, and there is no sign of the Zanzibari who were sniping at them and were likely the instigators of the attack! But it’s been an inauspicious baptism of fire for Kofler! Can he survive the ignominy of his ‘accident? Has anyone noticed? What will be the fate of the column? Find out in the next instalment of Oberleutnant Kofler’s Adventuring for the Kaiser in Darkest Africa!
About The Game
All the figures (including animals) in this game are from the collection of Kieran Manony, and the terrain is from both Kieran’s & my collections…
This was also my very first game of TSATF ever! Having previously played all my Colonial games using TTG’s “Soldiers of the Queen” 20+ years ago.
Read the next instalment Kofler “im Hinterhalt auf Kwuzlundi”.
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