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| Battle at Kasongo
Luakilla 30 December 1892 by Mike Brooks |
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| This battle continues the
1892/93 Belgian-Arab War in the Eastern Congo a wargames
campaign inspired by the book 'The Fall of the Congo
Arabs' by SL Hinde a Force Publique officer. (reprint
available from Elibron
Classics ). Although the two text descriptions which I possess indicate that this was the third action in the campaign, the map included with the Hinde book shows a number of crossed swords between Tshile and Luakilla, suggesting other, unrecorded, actions. The situation for this battle is that the arab forces under the leadership on Muni Penbe are holding a ridge with swampy/boggy ground to both sides of a central track. An earlier attempt by Belgian auxilliaries under Ngongo Lutete has been driven back and our game starts with the advance of the, mainly, Force Publique Belgian forces. Actions and battles in this campaign are fought using 'The Sword and the Flame' rules, with a few variants on Skip Nicholson's 'The game with no turns' which gamers in the North of England may have seen my presenting at various wargames shows. |
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| Opening Position The arab forces having seen off one attack by Ngongo Lutete confidently hold the ridge near the village of Kasongo Luakilla. Arab forces Mahomadi - Ato +16 Katema +7 |
 Initial arab deployment. Both sides of the track are boggy ground with the loss of the highest of three movement D6 to the Belgians. Having seen off Ngongo, the arabs are content to hold their position. Hinde's advancing column can be seen top left. |
| Turn 1 The game sequence works by turning cards to determine who takes one 'action' - any action - ie. move, fire, morale etc. Here we have all the (red) Belgian cards used to advance and fire by Hinde and Dhanis. The historical battle recorded Dhanis's men wading through a chest-deep swamp, firing as the went. |
 Three wounded askaris can be seen to the rear of Dhanis. Less obvious are eight arabs out of action. The better weapons tell! |
| Turn 2 Supporting the successes of Move 1, the Belgian cards are mainly used by Hinde and Dhanis again. Each unit may take three actions maximum, moving, firing etc or any mix of these. Any unit using an extra action means another unit does nothing! The only other Belgian moves this turn were to open fire with De Woulters's gun and Lukungi's Irregulars starting a right flank sweep of the arab position. Arab firing is mostly ineffective. |
 Melee over. Hinde trounces Idi. The curtain rings show 8 arabs down to seven survivors all of whom had been pushed back and this unit now takes off in retreat. Note two Force Publique also pushed back. |
| Turn 3 A volley from Dhanis's men drops Nadif. The next Belgian card sees the charge and combat ending with Nadif's remnants in full flight. Note now the gap on the arab right. With only the less reliable Yusefu to plug it, Muni Pembi has reached decision time. |
 And Dhanis unit, although badly hurt, see
Nadif into hasty retreat. |
| Against the background of a campaign
setting, Muni Pembe knows that this one is lost. The
Belgians have breached what seemed a good position.
Outgunned and outfought, the arabs will retire beyond the
Congo River. To return another day. Final tally, 14
arabs down from a force of 130, and with two units off
the field. |
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| Some thoughts on this
campaign as a wargame. These games along with those not reported, using TSATF Rules with TGWNT modifications perfectly replicate the better armed and better trained Belgian-led forces gaining the upper hand over the arabs. Not satisfactory gaming for the arab player though! Our 'show' game for 2006 might just pit Belgians against Brits somewhere on the Congo/Uganda or Nyassaland border making a more even contest. |
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