I mentioned in a recent MatrixGamer Onelist posting my intention to run a play be email Matrix Game of a made up British war in a made up Arab state in the 1880s. The response to this posting was very good so I've made a few steps towards getting the game together. This article describes a play test run Justin Buratti and I did last week. WHAT AND WHERE IS DAR AS SALAAM? Dar as Salaam, is a North African province of the Ottoman Empire loosely based on Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and India. It sits on one of the alternate routes to India. It consists of a long river heading inland - the Shat el Arab - that goes to the land of gold and slaves. Dar as Salaam's history roughly parallels that of Egypt. So it fell to the Ottomans in 1517, was invaded by France in 1799 and now has a significant French presence. Salaam has been effectively independent since the 1820's-30's but is not as well developed as Egypt. It is still technically part of the Ottoman Empire, being ruled by a Bey (a provincial governor) who is appointed by the Sultan. But the Beylik of Dar as Salaam has passed from father to son now for three generations. The Ottomans only rubber stamp the truth on the ground. Now the French have gotten the Bey to take out a sizable bank loan. One he can not hope to repay. This will soon put the French in control of the Salaamite government (or at least tax collection). Britain can not allow a foreign power to control a route to India so an invasion is planned. Dar as Salaam is a typical Arab state of the 1880's. The ruling class tend to be Turks, Albanians and Caucasians. Arabs make up the craftsmen, peasant and nomad classes. The ruling/military class are well educated and aware of European ways. The lower classes still live a traditional Islamic life. Rural areas are still largely tribal. So this Beylik is hardly a unified state. Conquest should thus be easy. WHY DO A GAME THAT IS SO LOP-SIDED? Most colonial wargaming involves lop-sided scenarios. Usually the Natives have tons of men but few guns, while the British have few men and machine guns. The outcomes are what you would expect. So why do them? My interest is to explore the underlying strengths of the Islamic people's of Dar as Salaam. It is true that they will likely lose to the initial invasion but what then. What will the Islamic response to Imperialism be? Consider this; It is now one hundred years on from Kitchner's victory at Orduman. The Sudan is one of the four countries in the world still using traditional Islamic law. Britain, France and Russia all took over provinces of Dar as Islam - none of which are still held by them. For some reason, the West views Islam as its next great enemy. Iranians are evil, Iraqis are crazy, Pakistan has the Islamic bomb. So I have to wonder if the poor Arab peasants/fellahin of Dar as Salaam is really as big a push over as we think. It is worth exploring. Britain my win the invasion but I doubt it can win the peace. HOW WE RAN THE PLAY TEST Justin and I used the standard Matrix Game rules found in all my present products. In short, each player gets to make one matrix argument a turn to make things happen. Combat is handled by the simplistic miniatures rules included in each book. We acted as one another's referee for arguments - so we had to play nice and not be too partisan. The game lasted five hours and included two miniatures battles. We used 25mm figures and 2x2 foot terrain boards to play on. Each unit consisted of eight figures, leader stands not included. THE MAP Dar as Salaam is basically a single strip of land surrounded by desert on either side. The invading forces literally just walk straight inland to do their job. The map looks like this. Coast with a landing beach. The capital city of Dar as Salaam. A village A village A village A village A village Desert A gold mine Potentially there are river and desert pieces between villages but we cut them out to keep the game quick. THE FORCES The forces involved were first limited by the number of figures in my collection. The Muslims were guaranteed that they would have a large (12 figure) unit of Mamlukes, a unit of Turkish regulars and 4 ancient cannons. The British were guaranteed 6 modern cannon. All other forces were to be raised as the game progressed. The Muslims potentially could raise 10 units of Arab infantry irregulars (Bashi Bazooks). These guys mainly use swords and spears. They could also raise up to 3 more units of Turkish regulars (but this would be very difficult). The British could include up to five units of infantry in the invasion, a unit of cavalry and a naval unit. Prior to the game starting we did a series of "Speeding up the game" arguments about how big our forces would be. We did this by both of us making arguments about a series of questions. "How many infantry units do the British send?" "How many Bashi Bazooks does the Bey raise?" etc. This "Sped up" part of the game covered all the political wrangling that goes on before any war. I handled it quickly and with a minimum of fuss, allowing us to get to the real action. It turned out that the British got 3 infantry units, 1 cavalry unit and the guns. The Muslims their mamlukess, 1 unit of regulars, their ancient cannon and only half a unit of Bashi Bazooks. THE COMMANDERS The Muslim player started with 3 leaders, the Bey, the Aga (army commander) and the Mufti (chief religious leader and head of the legal system). The British started with General Justin, Major Jenkins and the Bey's Brother (who has a sizable loan from the British government - and is in their pocket). THE PLANS The British plan was obvious. Land men and march to the capital. The Muslims had to decide where to fight. On the beach? In the country before the capital? In the capital? Or just move inland? We did another series of "Sped up" arguments to decide what the plans were to be. It turned out that the plan to fight in the city won out (which, by the way was not what the Muslim player wanted to do!) MOVEMENT Troops move one area a turn if an argument gets them marching. So the game starts with the British arguing to land and then moving to the city. Once a strategic area is reached action shifts to the miniatures game in which players roll to see how far their men move. THE ADVANCE TO DAR AS SALAAM The British landed without opposition. The player argued to advance to the city and encountered no opposition along the way. The British then took up positions in the hills overlooking the capital city and argued to attack. THE BATTLE 0F THE CAPITAL The miniatures rules used to play this battle are on the extreme simple side. Players roll 1d6 to see how many inches they move. There are no terrain rules so people can move through anything. Players roll 1d6 per stand firing/meleeing - a 6 hits - the defender then makes an argument why that hit did not kill. Players trade off moving and shooting all their troops. Once a turn (all players moving an shooting once) the players can make an argument to cause something unexpected to happen. Players can make terrain or morale effects happen or even change the rules (making one's men hit better or do more damage when a hit is scored). The British set up with artillery on the hill overlooking the city. Infantry in line, ready to assault the city and cavalry on the flank. The plan was simple. Shell the city and march right through the enemy. The Muslims placed the Bashi Bazooks and half of the regular infantry in ambush position near the edge of town. Half of the artillery was permanently fixed to the fort, manned by the other half of the regulars. The remaining artillery and the mamlukes waiting in the market place. The judicious use of arguments are what win battles. Which is certainly what happened here! As the British launched their infantry forward, they succeeded in arguing that the roof top ambush points of the Muslims were visible. AHHHHHH!!!! The shells soon started landing on the defenders along with a smattering of fire from the infantry. As regulars died, Bashis took up their weapons and positions. The Muslim artillery in the fort proved to not work due to extreme age and misrepair (another successful British argument). When the field artillery and mamlukes looked like they were preparing to flee south a British argument stopped the mamlukes, who decided that they could not leave without a fight. So they road out of the city to flank the enemy. Meanwhile, the British pushed through the Bashi Bazooks and few remaining regulars. Some melee occurred - nearly killing the General. But it was clear that the cause was lost. The mamlukes made one valiant charge at the British right flank and found out why frontal charges on infantry in line don't work. Half the cavalry fell in two turns. The rest fled south. The Bey succeeded in emptying his arsenal (one of the few successful Muslim arguments) but unfortunately the regulars who did this deserted and sold the guns on the black market! The Bey, Aga and Mufti (as well as the surviving Bashis) tried to flee but bad dice rolls allowed the British to reach the fort before the get away. A lucky shot by a British sniper killed the Bey. Thus ending the battle. The Aga, Mufti and Bashis used their last argument of the battle to go into hiding. In Matrix Games this means they created a barrier of anonymity around themselves and could thus not be captured without a conflict. All in all an easy victory for the British. THE CAMPAIGN FOR CONTROL OF THE PEOPLE My wife called from the office to ask me to bring a book to her. She was there working on some Y2K stuff. Justin rode with me so we could continue the game. After the battle ended the game shifting back to the regular Matrix Game - i.e. one argument a turn. I drove and Justin rolled the dice. I think it worked remarkably well. No figures or terrain were needed for this phase of the game since the moves were all political and about recruiting and training. The Muslims lead off by having the concealed Aga, Mufti and Bashis slip out of the capital. They went south and joined with the mamlukes at the first village. The British made no effort to try and find the fleeing leaders. Instead they installed their man as the new Bey. The two players conflicted over where the rifles from the arsenal ended up. The British thought the deserters would flee to Egypt before selling their goods. The Muslim thought they would sell them to the local Arabs. Which is what happened. Unfortunately, the British then argued that the locals would only be able to fire half of the time (roll before each turn - they can shoot on a 4,5,6). The British then brought in another unit to reinforce them and improved their shooting ability due to new weapons and training (now hitting on a 5,6). They raised a small force for the new Bey only to realize that maybe he was more loyal to himself than to them. Meanwhile the Aga and Mufti moved up river securing the loyalty of the people as they went - in the name of the Jihad. The young men would join the army up river when the British advance started but not till the British had shown they were serious about the advance. The villagers were to submit to the British when they came and only then come up country. Eventually all the villagers joined up in this way - half of whom were armed with arsenal rifles. The recruitment of fellahin was not without trouble. The men of the third village, secretly planned to stand and fight on their own. The men of the first village planned to rise up and cut the supply line of the enemy once they had passed up country. And attempts to recruit a bandit spy - Ali Baba - ended in wasted time. The Aga did succeed in making a crude fort near the fifth village which was to act as the rally point for his army. Then the British started south. Justin and I were still not home after all this campaign turns and I was afraid we would hit a battle before we got home. This would have shut us down if the battle had been very big. Small actions we could do using the Matrix Game conflict system. As it turned out this is what happened. The first village submitted and was passed over. The British attempted to round up arms - which caused a conflict. The Arabs had the advantage and established that their weapons were well hidden. The British then went on up stream. When the first village cut the British supply line, the British had to make an argument how they dealt with this trouble. If they failed to cope then they would go hungry. The solved the problem by extorting food out of village 2 and resolved to live off the land for the rest of the campaign. The Muslims realized that this meant the British go all the way so the army was gathered at the fort. Since men were below the British army and the argument called for all the men to gather in two turns (even though some would be coming four areas) it was resolved by a conflict. The British player started with the advantage and thus argued first. He said that only the men of village 4 and 5 showed up. This strong argument failed. The Muslim said all the men arrived. This weak argument succeeded. The Arab army gathered just before the British arrived at the fort. The Muslim player could not fit them all in the fort so he sent the spear and sword armed men home. "Live to fight another day." When the British arrived they immediately argued to assault the fort. No siege, not preparation, no attempt at negotiations, just and attack. Fortunately this argument succeeded just as we got back to my house. THE BATTLE OF THE FORT The British force consisted of 3 infantry units, 6 cannon, 1 unit of cavalry and the new Bey's personal guard (spear and sword armed Bashis). The Muslim player put 20 rifle armed Arab peasants in the fort along with the 2 cannon. The mamlukes and Mufti headed south off the board. The fort consisted on one barrier of defense. This meant that figures could not cross it using a normal move. To cross would take a argument - which would trigger a conflict to see if they actually made it across. So the fort was worth more than just a wall to hide behind. British artillery fire cleared out the Muslim gunners on the first turn. Normally when commanding a regular force all one has to do is argue that more gunners are assigned. But when dealing with an irregular force who don't even know how to fire their weapons, not such reserve of talent exists! The Arabs proved their incompetence by never firing a shot during the entire battle. (The Muslim player never rolled over a 3). The British lead off with their own Bashi Bazooks to soak up the expected fire. When none came, the Bashis soon reached the fort wall. They argued to cross the wall. This caused a conflict. The defenders had the advantage but failed to succeed in an argument that the attackers were kept out. The British then succeeded in getting them in. With one section of the wall under contest, the British soon got more men over the wall. The melee was fierce with Arab killing Arab, but soon the fort fell. They Bey's men taking most of the glory. The Aga fled the fort heading south and made it off the board before the British cavalry was on him. This triggered a conflict over his get away. In a get away the fleeing person has to win two conflicts. The first is over "How did you get away?" the second is over "How did you avoid getting spotted again?" The Aga had the advantage in the first argument since he had clearly gotten off the board. He simply pointed out "I already did it." This worked. He had the advantage in the next argument as well. He argued that he hid in the sand as the cavalry passed him. Then he hooked back up with the mamlukes. This also succeeded. The last action of the game was the Muslim player arguing to lead his mamlukes south - out of Dar as Salaam proper - into Africa (to the gold mine). Which marked the end of organized resistance against British rule. AFTERWARD This game worked very well and was a lot of fun to play. The fact that we could continue play in the car was amazing. The pre-invasion arguments and the interlude of arguments between battles allowed us to deal with the political issues of the game in a quick and reasonable manner. The attempts to rally the villagers and have them offer sham submission was really interesting. Few games allow players to do anything so unorthodox. But such a move made sense. It challenged the British to cope with real security issues. The British attempt to take weapons and move to live off the land would certainly be turned against them if the game shifted to a peace time political one. "You burned my farm and stole my gun. Then the Bedouin came and took the rest - and you did nothing to stop them. Why should I be loyal to you?!?" More than the invasion - it is the peace that follows that I am interested in gaming. The British could face a long hard guerilla war if they are not careful. I will write this scenario up as a game and hopefully start it up early next year. Back to Table of Contents -- Matrix Gamer #8 To Matrix Gamer List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1999 by Chris Engle. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com