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<\/a><\/p>\nIt was at this point that the serene quiet of this beautiful pass was split asunder with the screams of native warriors and\u00a0 immediately to our front dozens of them emerged from the thick brush and swarmed around the Prussian Mark VI land ship.\u00a0 I spurred my horse up onto a hill on the column’s right for safety and a better view since I was a noncombatant and only armed with a pistol for my personal protection.\u00a0 As I reach the top of a hill I could hear and see the British column about 100 yd. to my right crossing over this small hill and descending into the pass whose bottom contained a small river.\u00a0 My eyes returned to the head of the Prussian column where a dozen or so natives threw spears and fired arrows at the Mark VI.\u00a0 It carried no heavy offensive armament and I am told was mainly constructed to safely transport troops and provide a firing platform for those troops.\u00a0 I was assured that a heavier version is currently being built in Germany.\u00a0 The Prussian shutztruppen under the command of Captain von Luck and accompanied by Col. Stopengoof returned fire dropping several of the natives.\u00a0 The natives fire however was not without effect, one shutztruppen with a spear threw his neck fell to the ground.<\/p>\n
At this point I saw what appeared to be a European among the natives shouting commands!\u00a0 At his command several natives rushed to the back of the Mark IV and attempted to board the ship.\u00a0 This was hotly contested by several shutztruppen on the rear fighting deck.\u00a0 During this melee I saw one of the natives attempting to place at keg of explosives on the rear deck!\u00a0 Fortunately he was not very adept at using matches and was shot off while failing to light the explosive.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The colonials giant Steam Spider lurches forward, terrifying the natives! It then promptly grinds to a halt, losing power for several turns…..<\/p><\/div>\n
The rest of the Prussian column was now starting to deploy behind the MARK IV\u00a0 and attempting to bring their guns to bear. Now a commotion on my right again attracted my attention, another group of what appeared to be Arab slavers that laid hidden in ambush attacked a British steam spider that had been rash enough to advance through the brush alone ahead of its infantry.\u00a0 Again these natives appeared to be equipped with barrels of explosives.\u00a0 They rushed the spider and attempted to attach the explosives to one of its legs.\u00a0 It seems that one of the crew inside noticed this as the leg snapped up and the lighted explosive ripped off flying through the air and exploding directly in front of the spiders main gun port.\u00a0 This must of damaged the spider\u2019s gun, as it did not fire for the rest of the engagement.\u00a0 The British infantry with typical pluck now proceeded to close with the Arabs.\u00a0 The Arabs let loose a great cry and ran Pell Mel into the British line.\u00a0 The resulting struggle was a bloodbath for both sides; in the end which only took a few minutes I can see only a few figures left standing.\u00a0 One of these was a young corporal name TE Lawrence which I and later had the pleasure of discussing the battle over tea. He related the intense struggle between the Brit\u2019s and the Arabs led by Omar the second, son of the famous Baghdad tent maker Omar I.<\/p>\n
The fight between mad Jack in Col. Stopengoof has become a legend, but I was there and I tell you that the legend is not an exaggeration!\u00a0 The two men went at each other to tooth and nail, sword and pistol, for nearly eight minutes (eight melee rounds for you Gaslight guys) before a backhanded swing by mad Jack with his pistol caught Col. Stopengoof on the side of the head knocking\u00a0 him into the ground stunned.\u00a0 The battle was even more fantastic since the remaining shutztruppen had entered it at one point making it a two on one affair.\u00a0 Mad Jack merely doubled his efforts parrying blow from von Stopengoof while running the unfortunate shutztruppen clean through with his sword.\u00a0 This action left mad Jack alone on the deck of the Mark IV.\u00a0 The Mark IV still contained troops and its crew\u00a0 was now proceeding to run around crushing natives under its massive tracks.\u00a0 Mad Jack made several roles to see if he could break into the below deck compartments.\u00a0 Never being very mechanical he failed.<\/p>\n The rest of the Prussians forming a battle line with a large Prussian walker commanding the center proceeded to engage the Arabs on the right flank.\u00a0 More natives appeared to the left and started to engage the Prussian left.\u00a0 However their lack of modern weapons placeed them at a severe disadvantage, their morale was also starting to waver.\u00a0 The Prussian walker finding the range of the Arabs started firing telling blows causing many casualties.\u00a0 This helped relieve the British on the right who are suffering many infantry casualties along with their disabled steam spider.<\/p>\n It was now that a stray round from on Arab musket grazed my temple causing me to lose consciousness.\u00a0 The rest of the battle was told to me by others while recuperating in a British medical tent after the battle. Editors note: Henry was quite fatigued while he wrote this so please excuse any spelling or other errors you may find.\u00a0 Also the game was quite enjoyed by all six players including one eight years old and one I believe approaching 70!\u00a0 This shows you the wide appeal and playability of Gaslight.\u00a0 I also wish to thank the Gaslight writers Chris and Buck for their contributions to this game, and the dealers at the con for their contributions that allowed me to award all players in the game a reward. I will post this battle report as well as pictures on the Gaslight Yahoo group\u00a0\u00a0 I would also like to thank all players to make these Gaslight games enjoyable for me to run.<\/p>\n Regards,<\/p>\n Bill Witthans<\/p>\n Wargaming is a great way for old and young to share a bit of fun, Paul is 8, Walt is 70!<\/p><\/div>\n Here is what I like about convention the camaraderie of others. Boy look at the age spread here! Chick Lewis one of the Native player brought his Dad Walt as well as some beautifully painted figures to the game. Paul and Walt were the Highlight of the game running the opposing Heroes Col. von Stopengoof and Mad Jack! It was great to see. Looking on is Daryl MacHaselton a regular at my games who performs yeoman’s service helping me run the game by helping new players with the rules and bringing his wonderful collection of figures for use in the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" As a correspondent for the Zanzibar Times I was privileged to be attached to her Majesty’s forces in Africa during the recent joint British and German punitive expedition into the wild and un subjugated territories to the west.\u00a0 Speaking both … Continue reading <\/a>My attention now went back to the Prussian sight of the battle where Prussian firepower was taking its toll on the brave but poorly armed natives.\u00a0 As the battle and moved closer to my position I could now recognize the European figure with the natives he was none other than that scoundrel of back water ports \u201cmad Jack Porter\u201d who once served with his Majesty’s Navy until desertion led to a life of underhanded dealings around the globe. Mad Jack was firing his pistol and directing the natives in their attack when the exchange some several shots with Captain von luck resulted in von Luck’s luck running out!\u00a0 The Captain fell to the ground stunned with a bullet in his shoulder (he later recovered) No one ever being able to accuse mad Jack of being a coward he swung himself onto the rear deck of the Mark IV killing one shutztruppen in the process.\u00a0 He then began to climb up to the main fighting deck.\u00a0 He reached the deck that was occupied by three more shutztruppen and after several rounds of melee tossed one to the ground and ran through a second. At this point Col. Stopengoof who was up in the command section of the Mark IV jump down to the main deck to help the remaining shutztruppen in their battle with mad Jack.<\/p>\n
\n<\/a>It seems that the native forces had several more armored contraptions that they had thrown into the battle including a spar torpedo equipped Belgian steam crane and a massive Russian designed battle turtle.\u00a0 These vehicles however had suffered from their poor engineering and arrived at the battle quite late were their firing was ineffectual although it made for quite a sight I’m told.\u00a0 The disabled British steam spider in typical British fashion charged the steam crane in an attempt to prevent it from a ramming the Prussian walker.\u00a0 The Belgian steam crane fired its spar torpedo while underneath the steam spider.\u00a0 The only result was that the concussion of the blast caused the disabled gun of the steam spider to finally go off in the direction of the battle turtle!\u00a0 However the shot ran wild doing no damage.\u00a0 Several more Imperial regiments were now approaching the battle along with some towed British artillery.\u00a0 As night was starting to fall the natives realizing that they had lost the element of surprise to now faced a pitched battle with a technically superior foe faded back into the shadows.\u00a0 The Imperial troops worn and tired with a fair share of casualties made no attempt to follow.\u00a0 The battle was a draw.
\n<\/a>
\nAfter a discussion of the battle the following day in the command tent of the Imperial forces it was decided that this had been a spoiling attack in an attempt to slow the approach of Imperial forces to the fort of Dorodoom.\u00a0 It was thought that this was to give time to assemble more troops and prepare defenses at the fort.\u00a0 In that\u00a0 the natives were somewhat successful, as it has taken us several days to be ready to march again.\u00a0 Whether or not their sacrifice was worth it for them only time will tell.\u00a0 We march in the morning for what I will believe to be the final battle a Dorodoom.
\nYour Humble servant in Africa,
\nHenry S. Writerdon
\nLondon Times war correspondent attached to her Majesty’s forces.<\/p>\n<\/a>
\nPaul Witthans is a current paid member of HMGS \/ PSW and has 3 conventions under his belt, 8 years old and already a legend at rolling those dice. For those of you who have not figured it out yet Paul is my son and is becoming a great player and convention pal for his dad! My proudest moment was a comment from another player on how Paul had a good grasp on the rules, was a great sport and fun to play with. He does however demand to take his father latest creations out in the field for their first test in battle!<\/p>\n<\/a>