Lawrence of the Sahara

Emboldened by their new faith, the Arabs sweep through the whole of North Africa. The Berber Zirid Dynasty governs the region as subjects of the Fatimids. In this scenario, they decide to push south, into the Sahara, to control the profitable trade routes. But Prince Fayçal moves from Timbuktu with his Tuaregs to protect his domain. His guest is a young Englishman, studying ancient civilizations : Captain T.E. Lawrence.

Tuareg Royal Army :
2 x 4 sup camels, 1 x 4 avg camels, 4 x 8 Imrad tribesmen protected avg IF/SW, 1 x 6 Iklan poor javelinmen skirmirshers
2 TC : Prince Fayçal (Sir Alec Guinness) and Captain T.E. Lawrence (Peter O’Toole)

Hachemite ally : Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif) as TC
1 x 6 sup camels, 1 x 4 sup camels, 1 x 4 avg camels, 1 x 6 tribesmen MF poor protected LS.

Howeitat ally : Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn) as TC
2 x 4 sup camels, 1 x 6 tribesmen MF poor protected LS

15 BG  -  breaking at 14.5.

North African Zirid Dynasty :
4 x 4 sup armoured cavalry, 4 x 4 light horse JV/LS, 2 x 6 HF protected drilled def. spearmen with supporting archers, 2 x 6 HF protected undrilled def. spearmen with supporting archers, 1 x 8 LF bowmen, 1 x 6 LF javelinmen, 1 x 6 LF slingers. 4 TC.

16 BG  -  breaking at 11.5.

Special scenario rule :
The desert can play some tricks on intruders ! As desert dwellers, the Tuaregs are immune.

ARMY DEPLOYMENT :

The Tuaregs : from right to left
Sherif Ali’s Hashemite ally is deployed on the right, with all the camels in line across the sand dune. The (poor) tribesmen remain at the back. A BG of Tuareg tribesmen defends the camp.

In the center, Fayçal positioned his remaining tribesmen, with camels ready to fill the gaps or provide rear support.

On the left we find Auda’s Howeitat ally, with the (poor) tribesmen seeking protection in the sand dune.

The Zirids : from left to right
Two BG of light horse and all the light infantry cover the Zirid’s left flank.

The Zirid’s heavy infantry is concentrated in the center, with 2 BG of cavalry in reserve.

A closer view of the Highland Black Guard.

More light horse on the extreme right, but additional troops may well hide in the gully.

The Arab camp :

Obviously, the deployment of both armies was dictated by the 2 sand dunes on the center left and center right, and ended up to be very classical. The Tuareg tribesmen (IF/SW) will try to get to grips with the Arab spearmen, whereas the camels must protect them from attack from the Arab cavalry.

TURNS 1 – 3 :

On the left, 2 more BG of sup cavalry emerged from the gully and go straight for the Tuareg tribesmen. The Arab infantry forms columns and manoeuvers out of the way.

Auda’s Howeitat chase the light horse and pivot in line towards the center.

In the center, both armies are jockeying to achieve the most favourable match-ups. The Arab reserve cavalry first moved through the infantry gap, but seeing the camels move up as well, they turn away to their left.

On the right, the Arab skirmishers make a fast advance, while Sherif Ali’s camels are still entangled in the sand dune. The light horse were ready to throw their javelins when suddenly the BG of camels disappeared ! Fata Morgana ! I told you the desert could play some tricks with your vision J

Bird eye view at the end of Turn 3 :

TURN 4 :
In the center, tribesmen and avg camels move forward and try to pin the maneuvering cavalry against their own spearmen.

But the Arab generals know the drill, turn again and face their opponents. There is even space for the Black Guard spearmen to join the battle. Lawrence stacked his tribesmen 3 deep to lift their capacity to superior in the impact phase.

On the left, the Tuareg advance is momentarily halted, in order to bring back more camels from the center.

Too late, the Arab cavalry charges and hits both the camels and the tribesmen. With reduced capacity because the pure-bred Arab horses still can’t stand the stench of the camels. One BG loses the impact and the melee and falls to Frag, despite the encouragements of its general.

On the extreme left, Auda Abu Tayi (Anthony Quinn to you) sends half his force to push back the light horse, while the other half tries to join the battle in the center.

On the extreme right, Sherif Ali (Omar Sharif to you) expands his line of camels to effectively close the door to the light horse.

TURNS 5 – 6 :
On the center right, the Arab cavalry charged the tribesmen and the avg camels. The tribesmen remarkably hold their own, even killing a cavalry base. The defensive spearmen had also joined battle, much to their regret. However, on the left, the cavalry overwhelm the camels despite rear support and the presence of the English captain.

Here, the 2 C-in-C’s made a pause in the battle to discuss a point of rule :
the camels are broken and lose a base ; their routing route is obstructed by the tribesmen that gave them rear support. The base that is turned over was actually behind the one in overlap. In this configuration, the camels cannot avoid the tribesmen and rout right through them (and the tribesmen fall to Disrupt). However, the base to remove should actually be the one fighting to its front, and then the 2 bases in overlap could (possibly) shift 1 base to avoid the tribesmen.  

The call to avoid the tribesmen was too close, so we let the camels ride straight through the infantry.

Over on the left, Prince Faiçal is locked into indecisive combat with Arab cavalry. He will lose a base, making it 3 dices each, with the armoured Arabs 1 up in POA. His bodyguards will drop on the morale ladder, recover and drop again, but will never abandon the fight.
The (poor) light spearmen, however, don’t dare leaving the protection of the sand dune.

Bird eye view end of Turn 6 :
Next to Faiçal, on the center left, camels have moved up to protect the tribesmen from the enemy cavalry. On the extreme left, a BG of the Howeitat is turning to take the Arabs in the back. Over to the right, Sherif Ali is still pushing the skirmish screen in front of him, but one of his BGs is disrupted by the incessant shooting.

TURN 7 :

The battle is slowly turning to the advantage of the Arabs. Captain T.E. Lawrence feels the time has come to lead his troops in a morale boosting charge. Camels and tribesmen storm ahead and crash into Arab cavalry, that same cavalry that the tribesmen had already beaten once, so why not twice ? And it worked ! A wave of Hurrah’s ran along the whole Tuareg battle line.

The fragmented cavalry breaks off and withdraws, leaving the stage to their fellow spearmen. The tribesmen are also threatened on their flank by other spearmen, and count on Lawrence’s command to execute a perfect 90° turn. Their comrades to their rear are still hanging on and even killed a cavalry base in the wake of Lawrence’s success. Of course, the camels don’t fancy fighting the spearmen, but there’s hope Auda’s Howeitat will appear on time in the spearmen’s back.

TURN 8 :

Nobody paid attention to the poor Iklan javelinmen, and here they suddenly are shooting at the fragmented sup cavalry, and routing them ! Their moment of glory ! That javelin, so to say, broke the camel’s back J

Captain Lawrence now joined the center group of tribesmen, but couldn’t manage to bolster their morale. Worse : the Arab general threw a double 6 and shouted : “Lawrence is dead ! Lawrence is dead !” The tribesmen panicked, but nobody actually saw him die.
[After Alexander, I’m again losing the hero of my story L]

Over to the right, the tribesmen have had enough.

Bird eye view end of Turn 8. The sun is setting and the shadows on the sand are lengthening. The Tuareg right is in complete disarray. Sherif Ali’s sup camels achieve nothing and get shot to pieces by the Arab skirmishers. The tribesmen are on the run. Auda Abu Tayi’s Howeitat on the left flank ran hopelessly after the Arab light horse, and now try to rejoin the battle in the center, where the remaining of the Tuareg army is hanging on to dear life.

Scoreline :          the Tuaregs lost 9/13.5 (not counting the unreal BG of camels)
                              the Arabs lost 2/11.5

TURN 9 :
Over to the left, the camel warriors charged impetuously and disrupted the Arab spearmen. Next to them, the fight is now swinging in Faiçal’s favour. And Auda’s camel warriors are appearing on the rear of the Arab troops. Can the tide still be turned ?

Political calculations : Auda’s camels could take the cavalry in the back or the spearmen, but not both. His first duty is towards his C-in-C, but he also reasons that he might become the new Tuareg leader in case Faiçal dies a heroic death.

Draw your own conclusions, but Auda charged the spearmen and left Faiçal to his fate. Taken in a vice, the Arabs promptly routed and fled through their own comrades-in-arms. The bloodthirsty camel warriors, together with the tribesmen, then crashed into these other spearmen.

Bang ! The spearmen lose a base and fall to Frag. In the ensuing combat, they rout. The tribesmen to the rear are encouraged by this success and kill another base of sup cavalry, and later on a third one, thereby eliminating this BG. Faiçal’s bodyguards fragment the Arabs, but at the cost of another base.

TURN 10 :

And there it is : the last of the bodyguards flee and bring Prince Faiçal to safety.

The Tuareg lost another 3 attrition points (Faiçal’s bodyguards and Sherif Ali’s fragmented camels that routed), bringing the total to 12/13.5. And a battered Arab cavalry BG is on the verge of taking the Tuareg encampment.
Unaware that the battle is lost, 2 groups of tribesmen charge the remaining spearmen, but to no avail. Last consolation, the cavalry that defeated Faiçal’s bodyguards is charged in the back by a group of camel warriors and breaks immediately. The Arabs lost altogether 2 spearmen and 3 cavalry BG, bringing their total losses to 10/11.5.
 

End game position :

The Tuaregs retreat into the vast emptiness of the desert to regroup and fight another day. The Arabs have lost more than half of their battle troops ; the Emir of Achir has had enough and decides it was not worth it.

CONCLUSIONS :
Without troops to deal with enemy skirmishers, half of the Tuareg troops were neutralized, as well as, and maybe even more importantly, half of their generals ! The superior camel lancers can only target the enemy cavalry, but against armoured opponents they fight an uphill battle if they don’t inflict damage at impact. Fighting the cavalry in conjunction with the tribesmen may force a break off, and thereafter maybe a second impact phase. Lots of maybe’s …

In the sunset, a lone camel rider was seen escaping in north-east direction, towards Arabia. From his clothing it could not be determined which tribe he belonged to, but a remarkable feature were his piercing blue eyes ! Of his companion, we know nothing. Told you the desert can be deceptive …