In Darkest Aithiops - the Corsairs of the Coast

The Oportonovo garrison stand in readiness as
the Corsairs approach through the brush

It seemed to Capitao Ferdinand da Gama, the Commandant of Oportonovo,  that no sooner had his town seen off one emergency, than another followed hard on its heels.   The m'Butu raid had been driven off without too much difficulty, but had led to the loss of half his specialist artillerymen.  It would take time to train up more.  The Corsairs of the Coast were not going to give him that time.

The campaign system Paul and I are using is derived directly from Bob Cordery's simple 'generator' laid out in the Portable Colonial Wargame.  This is card driven, with one colour (RED) being assigned to the Azeitonian colonists, and the other (BLACK) to the three 'native' peoples: the indigene m'Butu, the Touaouin denizens of the desert, and the Corsairs of Zanzingabar.  In effect this is supposed to be colonists' story, with the three 'native' peoples the three OPFOR.  However, I find I'm telling the story from the 'natives' point of view.  What that green rectangle at the confluence of the Limpopo River and Kofi Creek portends (see map), I don't actually know.  Is a force of troops marching on the trail, or Azeitona river boats, or...?

Situation after 10 days of campaigning.

The run of successes that brought the Azeitonians to the Kachinga market town was due to a lengthy string of red cards, interrupted by a single black. But since then, the 'natives' had several useful, if shorter, strings of black cards. Barra Kuta had put some distance between himself and the Azeitonians at Kachinga; the sub-Chief, Yavuyavu had not only sped back to Rutintutin Kraal, but chased away a patrol and conducted a raid upon the small outpost town, Oportonovo, and now, here are the Corsairs.

Meanwhile, Coronel Relaxado's expedition was busy arranging matters to his satisfaction in Kachinga, and preparing a further advance up the north branch of the Limpopo River. At the same time he had cause to worry about the presence of a band of m'Butu some 15 miles to the south of his conquest, talk of the Touaouin at a similar distance from Bonbasa, and unsettling rumours coming up from the coastal settlements. Altogether his position was not as comfortable as he would have liked.

During this while, the other 'native' peoples had also had a chance to move. Though still some distance off, the Touaouin were from the north leisurely descending the Bootbustin Trail towards Bombasa. But the rumour of Corsair activity suddenly came reality.  The draw of the cards permitted a sudden descent from the north by sea. The original plan was to strike the colonial capital, Vertiginus, but a change of mind of the Wazir Yezdi, commanding in person, brought the fleet past that place to the coast just north of Oportonovo. Fact was, I was a bit concerned that what might be found at the larger settlement would be too large a morsel to chew, and figured that the smaller place would be a more promising target. This, by the way, before I discovered (in my role as Yavuyavu) that the garrison there was a deal larger than I had anticipated.  

Dawn broke, and the garrison drew up in a defence based upon the stockade and the stout administration building with its stone walls. After the losses of the day before, da Gama could count on some 170 regulars and civilian militia, 40 cavalry and a rifled artillery piece with a reduced crew.

Oportonovo Garrison:

Command: Commandant, Capitao Ferdinand da Gama = 6SP
1 regular infantry, rifles, average = 5SP
1 regular infantry, rifles, average = 4SP
2 civilian militia, rifles, poor @4SP = 8SP
1 regular cavalry, rifles, average = 3SP
1 regular cavalry, rifles, average = 1SP
1 artillery rifled field gun, average = 1SP

Totals:
8 units, median = 4
28 SP, exhaustion point, -10SP

Having landed his fighting men on the beach north of the town, Wazir led them down the coast - some 360 men armed with swords and smoothbore muskets, and 40 more dragging a couple of 8-pounder ship's cannon to serve as medium smoothbore field artillery.  As the landing force set out, he ordered the fleet, led by two gunboats to keep pace along the sea coast.  

Corsairs of the Coast:

Command: Wazir Yezdi = 6SP
9 corsair pirate bands, smoothbore musket, average @4SP = 36SP
2 smoothbore medium artillery @2SP = 4SP
1 Sail gunboat Sakuu (Skua) 5SP/FP; CC=5SP (carrying capacity)
1 Sail gunboat Ghaq (Cormorant) 4SP/FP; CC=4SP
4 Sail transports Baje, Alcatris, Alnuewris, Alkhurnasat (Pelican, Albatross, Seagull and Tern)
    @3SP = 12SP; CC@8SP = 32SP

Totals:
18 units, median = 9
67 SP (21FP), exhaustion point, -23SP 

By mid-morning the whole force was lining up in the brush and scrub north of the town, the guns being hauled up by the good road.  The garrison watched with trepidation as a pair of sailboats ghosted into the bay.  Although by then a considerable sea breeze had arisen, and the tide was still on the make, there was no real danger of their becoming embayed on a lee shore. It was a fine day, with not a whisper of  foul weather in the offing.

Corsair gunboats, Ghaq and the xebec 
rigged Sakuu.

As his men arrived, the Wazir wasted no time in ordering the attack - not even waiting for the trailing 'field' gun to come up. The main target was the stockade, where Capitao da Gama led the defence, but the Wazir also ordered the attack upon the strong looking building on the other side of the road. As his fighters closed in, the gunboats opened up with their cannon. Their practice could not have been better - their first broadsides at once scoring telling hits (both rolled 'sixes' to hit in their first salvos!).  The gunboats, by the way, counted the same as the single guns on land, it being supposed that the quantitative difference would be offset by the qualitative - a none-too-large seagoing vessel not being the steadiest of gun platforms. All the same, the Corsair gunnery was superb, and remained so all day.

Corsair ships' cannon serving as medium artillery

The lead artillery were also effective, but suddenly found themselves under a telling rifle fire from the stone building.  Hastily they drew the piece back out of range, redeploying at the edge of the scrub, and making way for the second gun to drop into action on the road.  That, too, had its hazards, as a lucky shell burst from the undermanned Azeitonian cannon felled a good half its crew (minus 1 from 2SP).

The first attacks go in...

A band of 40 men approaching the town along a low ridge to the north west of the stone building were driven back a short distance by rifle fire from the building itself and from the cavalry guarding that flank.  The main effort, however was against the stockade, supported effectively by the gunboats.  The leading wave of fewer than 50 men was soon brought up to near on 200. Some scrambled to secure a foothold within the fieldworks, whilst many contented themselves with pouring in a steady volume of musketry.  Outnumbered five to one, the stockade garrison were barely hanging on as losses mounted on both sides.

Corsair fighters hurrying into the fray

It could not be said that the Corsair attack was a model of coordination.  Throughout the morning more corsair fighters drifted in from the scrubby bush land, to join the fun.  

Gunboats make good practice against the stockade

As the pressure mounted upon the stockade, soon just ten men (1SP)  remained with the commandant, still grimly fighting off the assailants. A  depleted platoon of regulars - maybe 20 men joined them just before an overlapping group of corsairs could leap over an unmanned section of earthworks. The commandant himself bore a charmed life, not a scratch or bruise upon his person. The Wazir himself was equally lucky on more than one occasion. Having installed his person with one of the guns, the occasional counter-battery from the town placed that person in some danger of his life and limb.

Desperate fighting at the stockade;
the corsairs storm the stone building

The corsairs' confidence grew with the unexpected capture of the stone building. The galling fore from the corsair artillery and the musketry from the nearby ridge, were too much for its garrison to endure. Twenty survivors evacuated the place. A band of thirty corsairs entered, and promptly began to fire upon the buildings and troops visible in the cemetery beyond.  

The stockade garrison's handful of survivors flee
as Capitao da Gama falls into the hands of the corsairs

This really was the beginning of the end. Although the corsairs in the open were taking considerable losses, it was becoming plain that, against this foe, the Colonist garrison was simply not strong enough.  A band of corsairs burst into the southern end of the stockade, chasing out the scant remnants of the regular platoon. Surrounded, the civilian militia defending the north end finally succumbed. Still the gallant commandant wielded a stout sword, but as more corsairs swarmed over the earthworks, he had perforce to surrender.

Azeitona defence of Oportonovo about to 
collapse

The stockade in corsair hands...

This 'surrender' seemed to me the only solution, but we brought it about this way.  The rest of the stockade defenders having fled or been put to the sword, the Capitao had been left, unwounded, on his own, enemies to his front and rear.  Paul and I agreed that he could have one round of fighting.  If he was hit, he was wounded or killed, but if he forced a retreat on one of the enemy, he would be held to have cut his way out of the press and escaped.  From memory, though he might have 'taken an enemy with him', he neither escaped nor was killed.  So, a prisoner he remained in the hands of the corsairs.

By this time, the town's garrison had long since passed its exhaustion point in losses. Although they had given as good as they had received, even discounting the sea-going transports (only one of which arrived during the battle), but including the gunboats, the corsairs' losses fell  short of their exhaustion point.  

End of the battle.

Overall losses were: 

Azeitona:
Capitao da Gama MIA/POW 6SP
Infantry: 14SP
Artillery: 1SP (gun silenced)
Note that in determining returns and replacements, the Commandant's 6SP is not included, as really an ad hoc command figure (unlike Colonel Relaxado, Great Chief  Barra Kuta, or Wazir Yezdi).  So the Azeitona garrison find 5SP permanently lost; 5 replaced after a certain interval (one of these may be artillery); and 5 return immediately after the battle as stragglers, lightly wounded, knocked out  etc.

So the battle casualties are 'estimated' to be some 100 men plus the commandant himself.

Corsairs: 
Musketeers: 15SP
Artillery: 2 SP
Returns: 6 permanently lost (1 of them artillery); 5 replaced after a certain interval; 6 return immediately: 5 musketeers and 1 gunner.

So the Corsair battle casualties came to about 110 men. 

Having driven the garrison to the southern end of the town, the Corsairs turned their attention to taking as much booty and other prizes a relatively small and new settlement might yield.  During the discussion about this, I suggested that the non-combatant townsfolk might have been taken to the jungle fringes in the hex south of the town, and even suggested a 'man of his hands' to command this little troupe. Then I looked at the map. The hex south of the town is ocean, where the coastline trends westward. But in hex-1912, there would have been the recently encountered band of m'Butu. So the non-combatants might have come in for some attention after all.

Nevertheless, the pickings were bound to be fairly slender, apart from a few trinkets recovered from the church, an interesting safe from the admin building, some invaluable military equipment - especially rifles and ammunition - and a few persons that one way or another might liven up the slave markets of Zanzingabar. The commandant himself might well be worth something in ransom... 

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Kachinga, Coronel Relaxado decided to resolve at least one of the worries that had been exercising him.  Gathering together as much force as he could risk, he set out southward.  That m'Butu band at Getmai had to be eliminated, and that right soon...

* * * 

To be continued... The Battle of Getmai Drift.