Race for Africa Chapter 1

It is 1875 and the Powers are poised to conquer Africa. Driven by personal greed and ambition adventurers explore the darkest reaches of the darkest continent.
At home the civilian population is horrified by tales slavery, witchcraft and savagery, but fascinated by tales of adventure, heroism and the noble savage.

The British are expanding South from Egypt and North from South Africa. The French are aiming to control the gold and salt trade in the Sahara and the Ivory trade in West Africa. Meanwhile in SW Africa the fledgling German Nation is looking to gain a foothold.

Can the nations gamble on expanding their possessions whilst managing to hold onto what the have already won?

The British need better maps and send their master cartographer Capt Sidney Liddon RN down the Nile to scout out a planned invasion route of Sudan.

Whilst resting at the Qabir oasis they are cut off from the river by 2 groups of natives. They must get back to to the river and the safety of their boats. Defeat would embolden the local tribes and make invasion harder but their loss would force Britain's hand.

Opening Positions

Beja advancing down the valley from the Nile

Arabs armed with jezails  under their leader Hussain

Captain Liddon and the Naval section

All the forces advance into the wadis at the base of the valley

The Beja launch an attack before the British are ready as the Arabs fire and take down 2 Ratings

The first clash  leaves 4 dead Beja and 2 dead sailors

The the Navy slowly overpowers the Beja but the musket fire from the Arabs is taking it's toll

The next round of jezail fire will leave Liddon alone against 6 arabs. However all the Arabs have fired and whilst they are reloading Liddon steps up to the top of the wadi and points his sword at Hussain and challenges him to a duel.

Liddon wins the duel but bandages Hussain's wound. Hussain pledges his loyalty to Liddon, as do his men. Together they check the wounded and find 6 sailors with minor wounds, 2 severely wounded ones and 2 dead. The Arabs save 2 of their brothers but only 2 of the Beja have survived and return home.

Liddon returns to Cairo with Hussain and the Arabs in tow but he is greeted with suspicion by the Colonial Command who think he has gone native. The do not trust him with regular command but they know a good thing when they see it and give Liddon free reign to explore the region with his native scouts.

In London the newspapers are awash with news of the new Victorian hero - Sudanese Liddon.

The rules were IHMN, which I'm starting to like a lot. The duel was  3 rounds of combat using the normal combat rules with each unsaved hit counted a wound. Most wounds caused wins.