The Sun Never Sets - More Gunboats

 Over the past couple of weeks, I have been designing a few gunboats that I will use in "The Sun Never Sets" campaign. These could also be used along with "The Kris and the Flame" models and vice-versa.

This small gunboat is based on British colonial harbor defense vessels for its general layout. I have opted for Gatling guns only, mounted on the hurricane deck. If desired, one could probably put a small cannon on the main deck at the bow. This model is 6" x 2".

This small gunboat is akin to a steam launch, suitable for coastal regions and river actions. This model also mounts two Gatling guns. Half of a platoon may just fit on board if the machine guns are left ashore. This model is 6 1/2" x 1 1/2".

This transport vessel is also classed as a small boat, in game terms, however, it is capable of carrying a full platoon. It can also carry a fair amount of cargo. The size of this vessel is 9" x 1 1/4".

Here is a large gunboat. It has a 4" gun on the bow, a 53mm Hotchkiss rotating cannon on each beam, and a 5-barrel Nordenfelt on the stern. The pilot's station is raised above the ventilators, just forward of the funnel. This model is 10 1/2" x 2 1/2", not counting the sponsons.

Finally, I have a somewhat more modern cruiser type gunboat. It has two 3" guns mounted on the centerline, midships. There are Gatling guns on the bow and stern. It has one deckhouse with the pilot's position on top. This model is 10 1/2" x 2 1/4".

In order to give the boats optimal convertibility, I embedded 2x3mm rare earth magnets into the deck at the gun position as well as one in the pedestal of the gun. This makes it easy to aim the guns and change the armament, as needed.

The Sun Never Sets - The Action at Umbopa Drift

 As was noted in the previous post, Captain Gerard Moon was leading a supply column through hostile territory. The column contains 5 wagons, 2 platoons of the 23rd Infantry, 1troop of the 10th Royal Hussars, and a troop of Natal Mounted Police.

We pick up the action as the column begins to cross the Umbopa Drift.

Lt. Josiah Collins is scouting to the right of the column but has found nothing.

Meanwhile, Sgt. Udy Chesley is scouting a brushy area to the left.

Lt. Boniface (Bonny) Orpen brings up the rear with the Hussars.

Sgt. Chesley spots something, 2 Zulu Ivyo resting in the brush! (Note: the Watti-Hooti roll did not activate any other hidden unit markers.)

The Mounted Police fire an ineffectual volley, but it warns the column of the impending action.

 Sgt. Chesley falls back and delivers another volley, again with little effect.

The Induna Nomfazwe urges him men forward.

Captain Moon orders the infantry to form a square around the wagons.

The hussars close ranks and face the threat, joined by the half-platoon led by Lt. Collins.

The combined firepower of the two cavalry units began to tell on the Zulus.

This gave Captain Moon time to complete the square.

The troops continued to fall back, peppering the Zulus with volleys. One fusillade dropped the Zulu leader of the lefthand unit.

 At this point, the Zulus focused their attack on the Hussars.

A final volley from the Hussars then they fall back to the crest of the ridge.

The Induna Nomfazwe orders a charge, but the first ivyo passes its Critical Morale test but fails its leaderless roll to move. the second ivyo closes on the hussar's flank.

But they lose their nerve at the last second and fail the Close into Combat roll. They fall back into the drift.

Seeing the Zulus falter, Lt. Orpen orders the charge.

Almost half the hussars miss the order, but the charge strikes home. The decimated Zulu ivyo also stands.

Lt. Collins orders the Police forward as well.

In the ensuing melee, the first ivyo is routed at the cost of Pvt. Pentecost Altham's life.

 The Natal Mounted Police's charge was also successful, but the loss of Pvt. Cossie Mostert will be sorely felt.

Thus ended phase one of the action at Umbopa Drift.

The Sun Never Sets - Random Hidden Unit Generator - a solo game aid

 Today I thought I'd present a solo game aid that was a little more of a solo game aid. My first solo "The Sword and the Flame" game, "Disaster at Gakdul Wells", featured an Egyptian force in a makeshift fort being attacked by a bunch of Dervish. As such, there were no hidden unit needed, the Dervish just came blazing down the hills at the fort.

For my next game, I am doing a British supply column crossing through hostile territory in Zululand. For this action, I would like to have the Zulus represented by hidden unit markers so that I do not know if the position occupied by the marker is a real unit or a dummy marker.

To accomplish this, I have created another spreadsheet. It will allow me to use up to 60 hidden unit markers. I can enter the number of markers I want to use and a percent value for the number of dummy markers.

For my game, I am using two platoons of infantry, a troop of Natal Mounted Police, and a unit of hussars. For this force of four units there should be about twelve Zulu units. With that, I set the number of unit markers to 30 and the percent of dummy markers to 60. This should give me somewhere around the twelve actual units called for.

Next, I click the Create Units button. This starts the routine that writes the status of each marker to a hidden worksheet. Here is an example of the data generated.

Notice that data for 30 hidden unit markers has been generated. Also, 11 of the markers are actual units. The other 19 are dummy markers. Column "P" is the list of percentage values that can be selected from the main page. Column Q is used for the pick list on the main page that identifies if a unit marker has been spotted.

Here is what the game table looks like at the start of the game.

The British side enters the table.

The Natal Mounted Police have split up to scout both sides of the road.

Captain Gerard Moon is at the front of the column.

A nervous looking lieutenant Gilbert Cleaton leads the left platoon of 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welsh Fusiliers).

lieutenant Josiah Collins, of the Natal Mounted Police, notices a rough patch of ground to his left. He goes over to investigate

Could this Hidden card be a real unit?

The unit marker is number 1, so I click in cell A2 (for this group of cells, the B column indicates the hidden unit card number) and set it to "Yes". In this case, the card is a dummy unit marker.

When unit marker 4 was spotted, it turned out to be a real Zulu unit. I place Zulu unit 4 on the table, in the spot where its marker is. Then I click the Wattie-Hootie Roll button.

What is a "Wattie-Hootie Roll"? Well, when playing a game with unit markers, it would be all to easy to just isolate 1 marker at a time and blast it away. What the "Wattie-Hootie Roll" does is to give a radius from the discovered unit and any unit cards within that radius are activated as well.

In this example, the "Wattie-Hootie Roll" says any cards within 12" are activated as well.

If unit 4 is the rightmost unit circled above, then the two markers next to it would be revealed. Should one or both of those markers be actual units, another "Wattie-Hootie Roll" would be made, and the radius is measured from the newly revealed unit. In this way, hidden units may get support from nearby friends. It might also spring an ambush prematurely.

I have placed the Hidden Unit Generator on my Google drive for those who want it. If you have any difficulty downloading the file, please let me know.

Thank you and happy gaming!