Scenario Played 4JAN03 at Games Masters in Houston, TX. I GM'd but did not play. We had 5 players: 3 Ottoman/Mameluke Players (Gar, Mike, Chris) and 2 French (Rob, Eric). The game could have taken up to 7 players, but 5 was comfortable, with everyone occupied even when thier 1st Command was wiped out. BACKGROUND: Napoleon is in Egypt. It is the Age of the French Revolution. ... Saturday morning to be exact. Having seized Alexandria, Napoleon will next engage and defeat the Ottoman / Mameluke Army under Murad and Ibraham Bey at the battle of the Pyramids. But first he must get there. Napoleon divided his French Armee D'Oriente into several columns to march south to a Rendezvous point along the Nile (vicinity of present day Cairo). The lead French column under General Desaix is strung-out and begins to straggle. The march is across very harsh terrain. Napoleon orders them to consolidate at the Djebel Stronghold (an old Mud Fort and well) between two escarpments along the Nile. The battlefield was 8x4' for 15mm, [but 10x5' or 6 is better] Three of the seven French elements arrive near the rendezvous point before dark and Dessaix places them in a defensive perimeter anchored on the Nile. Four arrive after dark, but cannot tell friend from foe in the dark and so, camp for the night near the Djebel Fort.Arab scouts shadow them and report the column's vulnerability, and can see about FT of the area from the North escarpment. [Scenario: Three Unit-Cards are drawn randomly and the French can place them at their own discretion. GM places four arriving Unit-Cards at a random direction and distance (3D6, from 3-18") from the Fort. Cards not visible from are laid face down unknown to the Ottomans] OB: Dessaix's column consists of: Desaix Commander [A 6 +1] Rob BDE Compans' (1 LN, 1 LT BN, 6 stands each) BDE Morant's (1 LN, 1 LT BN, 6 stands each) BDE Frimont's (1 LN, 1 LT BN, 6 stands each) BDE Ricard's (2 LN BN's, 6 stands each) Murat Cavalry [A 6 +1 ] Eric (1 Regiment , of 12 stands, and a 6 lb Horse Gun Section) Doumostier " Converged BN Artillery Battery (Six 31b.Guns -- 3 sections of 2) HQ: Converged Grenadier BN (6 stands) Trains, Pack Camels and Quartermasters Murad Bey, Mameluke warlord in Egypt decides to send his cousin Skihnee Pasha a contingent of Mameluke Heavy Cavalry, and Fellahin Infantry to attack stragglers in the isolated column. Not to be outdone, Ibraham Bey, the Ottoman Regent of Egypt, sends a large band of Arabs under his cousin Fa'hd-Pasha to scout and encircle the French. He also detaches El Turco with a force of Greek and Janissary Infantry supported by Arab Camelry and light Artillery to attack Dessaix's French. While the French consolidate during the night, the Ottoman/Mamelukes maneuver into attack positions for a dawn attack. Ottoman/Mameluke Forces consist of: OB: Fa'hd-Pasha [C 6 +2]Gar 2 Mounted Arab Tribes (Ultra-light Irregular Cav: 16 & 24 stands ea.) Nahd-Fa'hd Pasha [C 4 +1 ] 1 Mounted Arab Tribes (Ultra-light Irregular Cav: 20 stands) Al Turco [C 4 +1 ] Chris Janissary Cohort (Ottoman Professional Infantry 18 stands, two 31b Guns) El Greco [C 4 +1 ] Greek/Albanian Legion (Mercenary Infantry 18 stands, two 31b Guns) Arab Camels (Irregular Camelry 16 and 20 stands) Sikihnee Pasha [C 4 +1] Michael 2 Mameluke Wings (Irregular Heavy Cavalry 12 and 20 stands ea.) Fellahin Corps (Egyptian Levy Infantry 18 Stands) In Djebel Stronghold: Greek Mercenaries (12 Stands -- unknown allegiance) Scenario Set Up French: Will "Stand-To" at dawn in BN or BDE Square. Ottoman/Mameluke Forces set up in any formation Win 6" of any board edge, but not within 6" of any French Force, Our 4 JAN'03 Game: (I lost track of the French BDE Commander names, but they were near the same so I'll assign BDE names) Rob and Eric had the French. The 3 French lead elements were the HQ, Frimont and Murat. Dessaix chose to anchor all three centered along the Nile board edge, protected by rough terrain about 12" due east of the Fort (1), Grenadiers facing North, Frimont to the west, Cavalry and gun Facing South. Ricard's BDE was between the south escarpment and the main body, very close to Frimont (2). Morant's BDE ended up in at some Ancient Ruins 12" SW of the Fort (3). The Light Artillery and Compan's BDE were the most isolated, both 10" N/NW of the fort (4). North Fa'hd-Pasha (Gar) attacked Rob's Grenadiers of French main body from the north with 600 Arabs, but were repulsed by a disruptive volley >from 240 Grenadiers. [GM note: the Arab's initially overran the Grenadiers until I was reminded, recalled that play, and let them fire in self-defense. Silly me!] There was little activity initially >from Nahd-Fa'hd. (Which BTW, is a misnomer, because he was no less fahd as Fahd-Pasha. But I suppose not as Fahd as Skinnee Pasha). Fahd continued to engage, but could not regroup and charge home with his full force. While Fa'hd-Pasha attacked the French main body from the North, Sikihn'ee Pasha (Michael Casavant) attempted to attack along the Nile from the South. The Mameluke advance was screened by the Fellahin militia (for a few minutes at least). At the opening shot of the French 6lb Guns, the Fellahin gave up their screening mission and took up a "Security Position" to the rear of the Mamelukes. (Never to enter the battle again) The Mamelukes then began to take the full brunt of the 6lb guns anchored between Frimont's Square and Murat's Cavalry. Sikihn'ee Pasha faced a combined Arms threat (Cavalry-Artillery-and two Infantry BDE Squares) along a narrow front between the Nile and the South Escarpment. It took some time -- command control points -- to get the two groups of Mamelukes to deploy from a mass to one extended line while under artillery fire. They were several times disordered in the process. (In the Historical Pyramid's Battle, they became impetuous and charged out of control, but I didn't have the heart to bring that up to Michael, as it would have relegated him to spectator status over his entire command.) AI Turco and El Greco (Chris) charged the French Artillery, which began to evade them. Arab Camels approached but they had command/control problems and got few orders from Al Turco or El Greco. The Greek/Turk Cannon fired on the limbered French Guns and disordered them, enabling the Greeks to catch them. A few stragglers reached the main body. Compan's BDE was too far from them to offer assistance, but managed to keep the Arab Camels at bay while they attempted to extricate themselves from their exposed position. Their march-rate was too slow to get them into the battle. At this point the Greek Mercenaries in the Fort sent word that they were pro-French, but would not leave the Fort until the Ottomans were beaten. Other than the French "Lost Battery" being sacrificed from an exposed initial position, the French squares, and even lines seemed to be able to fire upon and repulse their enemy at will. Then things unraveled for the over-extended French, began to lose the overall initiative. First, Morand's BDE was hit by Arabs inside the Ancient Ruins led by Nahd-Fa'hd Pasha. Morand seemed to be holding on in the ruins at first, but facing two directions between Nahd-Fa'hd and the Janissary Corps, his troops became demoralized and fled from the charging Arabs. Morand and about 80 of his faster-running troops survived the dash to join the Main body along the Nile. Then, just as Morand's survivors reached the main body, the Mamelukes (tired of eating 6lb shot) charged en masse from the South, The left end of the line hit Ricard's and Frimont's squares, took casualties, and recoiled in disorder. Both squares stood firm. However, the French Cavalry didn't fair so well against the right end of the Mameluke line. The French Light Cavalry counter charged lead by both Murat and Dessaix but the leaders didn't help enough. The outnumbered Light Cavalry were completely overwhelmed and pummeled by the Mameluke heavy Armored cavalry. Both Murat and Desaix were badly wounded in the rout. This left a huge whole in the French main body perimeter, into which the Mamelukes poured. As they passed, the French 6lb. Gun turned and fired canister at their flank, but it was too late, the unstoppable mass of Mamelukes continued on disordered and scattered the staff and Pack Trains and reached the far side of the perimeter, to the rear of the Grenadiers - - who were busy facing a charge from all of Fahd Pasha's combined Arab Cavalry. The Grenadiers and staff who survived fled to the Fortress. The disordered Mamelukes still managed to trot back and deal with Morand's routed troops and capture the limbered 6lb Gun. Meanwhile, the Turco/Greco guns had came to bear on Ricard's Square, and cut it to pieces, enabling Nahd-Fahd's Arabs to charge home and rout them. Somewhere in the mad melees following the collapse of the main body, the wounded Dessaix was captured. The final adjudication was that at the heat of the day set in, the remaining French fled to the fortress, and held on until Napoleon arrived that afternoon. Napoleon then paid the Mamelukes a ransom for Dessaix release, and declared the whole affair "a minor skirmish." GM Notes 1. Remember when converting 25mm movement rates to 15mm: half of 12" is 6" and half of 6" is not.. 2. Don't wait until an hour before the battle to open the box to find you have 15mm Mamelukes and 25mm French. 3. When you remove entire stands for casualties, units dissolve 4 times faster. 4. Review all game scales at the outset: Ground scale, time scale, Figure scale, unit scale etc. 5. Don't assume your players have any Napoleonic gaming experience or knowledge. 6. Remember that explaining/establishing principles, of period tactics (Cavalry vs. squares vs. artillery etc.) might help players as much as explaining the game system. 7. Print out the charts, even if it's overly simple, and even if you hate charts. 8. Print out the victory conditions of the scenario for each side separately, so don't announce them to both sides. 9. Don't forget to remind players when a scenario is designed for fun, and not for win-lose competition. 10. Don't GM game the morning after celebrating Ohio State winning the National Championship (however often that might ever happen). Back to Dispatch January 2003 Table of Contents Back to Dispatch List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2003 by HMGS Mid-South This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com