Trouble in Nova Hungaria - Sharp Practice AAR

The Vladislaus V Penal Battalion's forces had arrived at Nova Hungaria's north-eastern port. The Governor had sent out a small squad to cut a channel between the two main rivers, through the swamp east of the great volcano in the centre of the island.

Soon the local natives started moving up against the group of convicts - they did not know that the gunboat Maria Theresa was on her way to the camp, carrying more men and supplies.

This was a rules test only and the natives never had any chance against the ship's firepower - now let's see how it went.

KuK forces

Penal squad (10)- Rk II Midshipman

Kriegsmarine guards (2) + unmanned Gardner gun

SMS Maria Theresa (1 heavy gun, 2 Gardner guns plus sailors)

Rk IV 1st Lieutenant (Navy) von Sitzendorf, commander aboard Maria Theresa

Rk III Lt Cmdr Vajdafy of the Penal Platoon

Rk II Midshipman

Agytpian natives

(about 40 warriors)

Rk IV War Leader

Rk III Subcommander

Rk III Subcommander

The fewer commanders at the Agytpian side were balanced by adding higher status.

The natives deployed on six Blinds, three of which were fake.

Because the men had heard noises from the jungle the previous night, now they've all begun to dig up some earthworks. They sensed some movement but were not sure of its origins; however, the sentry soon spotted a native war party.

The enemy approached in a quick pace and were at the undefended entrance of the camp in a blink of an eye. Two sailors tried to put the Gardner to work but a hail of musketry wounded one of them. Another volley from the attackers sent the infantry fleeing from the redoubts.

The Maria Theresa arrived soon and basically wiped out the third war party - the main Agytpian attack force, however, threw back the penal legion's soldiers and they were already treading in the shallow river bank.

A relief force led by a Midshipman arrived and with the combined strength of arms wiped out the attackers.

The reinforcements that arrived for the Agytpians changed their minds after some shooting to prove they were there and vanished into the jungle.

Conclusions: the Gardner has to be given the jamming rules from Through the Mud and the Blood. Actually it has been under-powered compared to a M&B machine gun as it shoots with 6d6 only. The heavy naval gun is another deal - it shoots with 12d6 and I ignored most of the reloading rules from SP - something like a 'task' from the original rules or the activation sequence from Song of Drums and Shakos should be implemented and the cannon will not be able to fire on the Tiffin card.
Another thing is to purchase a more elegant boat instead of the scratchbuilt one on Maria Theresa for actions such as this - Zvezda has a good one IIRC and I'll be doing a purchase trip at the beginning of December so I'll get one then.

The forces present were relatively small and if the gunboat were not there, the firepower of the sailors would not have been enough to keep the Agytpians at bay. The game - as experienced with M&B earlier - has a great flow and everything was quite clear on the first try. Soon larger forces and more historically accurate(?) enemies will be arriving.