Gaming was at my place this Friday night with us playing Dan Mersey’s “The Men Who Would Be Kings” rules.

It ended up being a “two on two” fight, with the French Foreign Legion trying to keep the high-ground against a combined group of Tribesmen and Egyptians. The armies were all pre-set with leadership values and leader traits already determined to save set-up time.

The first French force consisted of two 12 man infantry squads and a Regular 8 man cavalry squadron, with the other consisting of a machine gun and two 12 man infantry squads.

The Egyptian army that would be just at home fighting for the French as against them consisted of three 12 man Irregular Infantry units that were all poor shots, 2 Irregular 8 man camel units and a 12 man Sudanese Regular Infantry unit.

The contingent of tribesman consisted of a single 16 man Elite Fierce infantry unit and six 16 man tribal infantry units.

The terrain was a flat plain commanded by some low hills where the French were camped. A hastily built emplacement was in the gap between the hill line and a small village. Some scattered “prickly pear” hedges blocked line of sight and prevented movement. The hills were not considered high enough to see over the hedges.

The game began with the French deploying their forces on the line of the hills, and the Arab coalition forces deploying second anywhere along their base edge but could not intermingle their contingents.

The Arabs moved first with the tribesmen rushing forward as quickly as they could to avoid the French Rifle fire. The Egyptians moved more cautiously with their camels trying t outflank the French.

The French cavalry led by a “hero of the empire” had other ideas and quickly dealt with the first unit with the second camel unit who was lead by an “idiot” decided to retire to the rear on not once but twice.

The tribesmen were easily able to outflank the French left and charged home and easily destroyed the first French unit.

meanwhile the Egyptians continued to fail to move so decided to “pick -off” some French at long range. Despite needing two sixes to cause a casualty the unit was gradually being worn done. The French cavalry decided to retire to avoid the same fate, an horrific act for “a hero of the French Empire”!!

Fortunately they were just re-deploying to protect the failing French left flank, where the charge up-hill into some tribesman where they received a very bloody nose.

With the Egyptian infantry still not moving the end was in sight as the Arab attack was beginning to peter out.

In the end the French continued to hold the objective with an 11 point to 4 point victory.