March or Die: Erfoud

The final installment in my pre-Convention playtesting has arrived. The scene is taken from the 1977 film "March or Die" with Gene Hackman (Major Foster) and Ian Holm (El Krim). The French government has authorized a dig at Erfoud which El Krim opposes. The scenerio commences with the mounted tribesmen making their appearance over a ridge:

The French position:

And the supposed cause for the ruckus; The Lady, already exhumed and being examined by the French archaeologist (von Sedow):

Turn 1:

Foster orders fire brought to bear from the eastern side of their encampment. The 8 hits result in 4 Kills, a Shaken and a Pinned. Good start for the Foreign Legion! Only bad result was the machine gun failed to register a hit. With a -2 taken from shooting while riding horse/camel, there are no hits on the French behind their sandbags:

Turn 2:

French gain initiative again and bring more deadly fire onto the charging tribesmen, getting 5 more kills and 2 Shaken! The tribesmen do score their first blood with 2 Kills and a Pinned. The battle is truly joined. Notice the additional tribesmen lurking behind the ridge to the left. The French are as of yet unaware there are more enemies to deal with! Score so far: 10 Tribesmen and 2 FFL

Turn 3:

The tribesmen finally gain their first initiative and gain a Kill, 2 Shaken and 2 Red. FFL fire however scores another 5 Kills, 1 Shaken and 2 Pinned. The initial bluff is costing El Krim many of his men. But he cooly maintains his reserves hidden from view.

Turn 4:

As the FFL regain the initiative, they have a tremendous round. 5 more tribesmen bite the dust along with 2 Reds but the return fire is an absolute shambles...7 remaining tribesmen and not ONE hit! Bring up the new dice!

Turn 5:

Not what the remaining tribesmen needed: they lose the initiative again (they even had a +1 for losing the previous round!) The FFL makes them pay by scoring 4 Kills and 3 Shaken on the remaining 7 tribesmen! They must use their turn simply to recover! Score: 24 Tribesmen, 3 FFL

Turn 6:

The FFL is certainly wondering by now, 'is this the whole threat?' when from the north and west, additional screaming tribesmen crest the ridges. The French can do nothing but hunker down and continue their deadly fire. The Tribesmen get 8 hits but another good defensive roll by the FFL and they only score 2 Shaken and a Pin. One of the French machine gunners is hacked down by one of the remaining mounted tribesmen but French fire again scores well with 4 Kills inc the last of the mounted Tribesmen, and a Pinned. Score: 31 Tribesmen; 4 FFL

The man himself directing his reserves forward (unfortunately my El Krim figure arrived after I finished the game, so this Pathan chief was filling in):

Turn 7:

The tribesmen keep coming despite their heavy losses. Even though one of the machine guns needs to swing around to firing at a new target, and as a result misses, the French none the less score 10 more Kills and a Shaken. The first group of tribesmen to fire is disappointing yet again with 8 shots resulting in only a single Pin! The second group do a little better and drop one of the machine gunners and get 2 more Shaken. One of the Tribesmen has reached the sandbags!

Turn 8:

French score the initiative once again and west side of the perimeter get 4 Kills and a Shaken. But, what's this! More tribesmen to the east! When will this end?! Some of the tribesmen make it through French defensive fire (which get 2 more Kills) and in the ensuing melees 3 French and Tribesmen each become casualties.  Score: 52 Tribesmen and 8 FFL

A closeup of the deadly action:

Turn 9:

Tribesmen get initiative but it starts out disappointing again with only 2 Kills. Melee sees one from both sides drop to the sands.  One Tribesmen's shot just misses Foster, killing his sergeant/bugler standing next to him! It is on the east side that the Tribesmen finally score big! The newly arriving tribesmen gain 7 hits and those result in 5 Kills, 1 Shaken and 1 Pin. 100% target coverage. Happens very rarely. Maybe the tide has turned? The 2 surviving legionaires must have been badly shaken as they both miss!

Turn 10:

The Tribesmen need the initiative to overwhelm the remaining legionaires on the eastern position...but they don't get it. (In fact they never get back to back initiative rolls while the FFL gets 2 such results)

French fire makes them pay and scores 9 kills and 3 more Shaken! All the Tribesmen fire misses (new dice...again!!) and the melee gives the Tribesmen 2 more legionaires while they lose 1. Score: 71 Tribesmen and 19 FFL

Turn 11:

Coming down to the wire now and this time the Tribesmen get the initiative. They hold off rather then melee, but score only 2 Shaken. They have to get Foster now if they hope to win. French return fire gets 4 more Kills. Guess the shooting range has really paid off!

 Turn 12:

Naturally the French get the initiative and with their first shots get 2 Kills and a Pin while the first Tribesmen charge into melee. French defensive however Kills 1 and gets another Shaken. The last French fire Kills the opposing Tribesmen. That unfortunately, leaves Krim's forces with one lone Shaken Tribesmen who is then mercilessly bayonetted! The FFL has held! Not quite how the film ended, but another good scrape! Final score: 79 Tribesmen and 19 FFL.

Hope you have enjoyed this series. Remember, if you are in the Denver area this Feb 13-15, I will be putting these games on at the Red Lion Hotel at I225 and Parker Road. Would be glad to exchange thoughts with any who can drop by. Best of luck in all of your gaming adventures! Till next time.