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The land is quiet. Sand devils stir the dust here and
there. High in the sky vultures circle lazily. Wheeling above
the not quite dead creatures hidden from Binky's view. Adrian wipes
the sweat from the eye pieces of his binoculars. "It's a trap," he
says quietly to Binky. "I tend to agree, old man. Still we're
here now, might as well have a look," smiles Binky. |
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Binky takes the right wing and Adrian the left. No
reserve this time! |
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Binky moves ahead on the right according to plan.
If you look carefully you can see the vultures in
the top left of the picture. They're from Irregular miniatures. |
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The first natives are spotted off to the left. They do
not appear hostile but Adrian forms all round defence as he moves cautiously
forward. The two herons (grey birds) are made from
Miliput and pins. |
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The vultures' view of Binky's party.
The brown vultures are home made from Miliput. I
did not have "green stuff" when I made them. |
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Are they hostile? The way back is looking quite dodgy!
The tribesman close in at the rear. While not actually hostile things
are beginning to trouble both Adrian and Binky. |
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Binky has trouble too. Is it an ambush? The
natives are on all sides now. A strong force of rifleman in front of
Binky, some archers off to the right and several musketeers and spearmen on
the left and rear. Adrian
unpacks the howitzer! |
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Ambush! Binky comes under fire. The askaris
return the fire and fell several enemy. Binky orders the Nordenfelt
into action. It fires a single round and jams! Things look bad! |
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Adrian does not hear the excepted chatter of Binky's
Nordenfelt and suspects the worst. Preparing to support Binky in the
area where the vultures can be seen, Adrian exchanges his hunting rifle for his trusty long
rifle. |
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Adrian's Sikhs bring their pack howitzer for action.
The model gun is based on the Hotchkiss 37mm gun.
It is made from scrap bits of plastic, is oversized, too modern for this
game but looks the part! |
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An "Italian" Bersaglieri officer calls on Binky to
cease fire! With his known fondness of all things Italian, Binky fails
to recognise the evil Ribi N’Aa
who has trailed them for many months to exact his revenge. Binky
orders cease fire. Hoping to gain time to clear the jammed machine gun.
And in return he is rewarded with a hail of fire as the tribesmen get into
superior positions. |
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At the rear, Adrian's
Askaris and Sikhs rout the tribesmen with a combination of rifle and
artillery fire. While on the left ... |
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The Snake Warriors close in to
hand-to-hand range and a fierce battle ensues. Bayonet against spear. |
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Eventually the warriors are driven off
and the casualties pulled back for treatment. |
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Binky is shot down together with his
trusty bugler who tried to protect him with his own body. A Hales
rocket explodes amongst the riflemen - routing the survivors.
The rocket trail is made from a
piece of plastic coated wire and the "burst" is a cotton ball that has some
sparkly stuff in it. It was bought in a pack of about 8 in a local art
store. |
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The tribesmen start to withdraw by
putting up such a hail of fire that shoots down Ramsden and Otto. Only
Adrian and Henry are on their feet and fighting. The Askaris are
dropping around them. Fortunately the tribal leaders are all dead or
crippled and the tribesmen are withdrawing although victory is within their
grasp. |
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At the end of the action Binky and
Ramsden were not dead as first thought though both were severely hurt.
Otto was injured. But 4 Askaris were dead and 2 more wounded.
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