The Mungo Mah Lobeh Congo Campaign Adventure 1

Adventure 1 - First Contact!

Background

“Here I am back in Africa. I remember clearly my first steps on this mysterious continent. I will no doubt need all of the experience gained during my first outing, as nothing comes easy in Africa. I am also somewhat short of funds, for exploration is an expensive business...” – Mary Kingsley

The campaign opens with Mary landing back in Luanda (in modern Angola), where she spends two months kitting out her expedition. She then travels to the village of Maskouii, intending to trade glass beads and cheap trinkets for valuable antique tribal masks. She intends to sell these on to a wealthy dealer in order to fund her expedition to Mt Cameroon – aka Mungo Mah Lobeh, the Throne of Thunder.

Mary also seeks to improve her knowledge of African languages and tribal customs, and perhaps make some new scientific discoveries along the way.

The Forces

Mary is accompanied on her first adventure by her Kirangozi (i.e. caravan leader) Kiva, and a new acquaintance she met at Luanda, a reporter called Jennifer Josephson, who goes under her nom-de-plume of JJ. Mary is sceptical of JJ’s abilities as she seems to have few skills useful to the expedition, but she recognises that publicising her adventure might be useful in the long run.

Her party includes groups of Adventurers, Soldiers, Askaris, Ruga-Ruga, and Young Warriors. Currently she has only a single Bearer, but she expects to be able to hire more men on the journey.

Her opposition comes in the form of Ujuwa, a witch doctor exiled from the cannibal Fang tribe. Ujuwa seeks to stop what he perceives as the menace posed by the influx of the hated whites, and to achieve this he has set himself the task of completing a magical ritual which will awaken the slumbering spirits under the holy mountain of Mungo Mah Lobeh, and drive them out.

He is accompanied by his ally, a local chieftain called M’Otowanfa, and Oh‘Mi’Lordi, King of the Pygmy Werda-Fakawi tribe, who has agreed to join his cause. His war party consists of Warriors, Archers, Bunduki, Pygmy Warriors, Pygmy Archers, and some Scouts. He also has a couple of Sacred Warriors to assist him.

The Adventure

Ujuwa wins the Initiative roll, so his side moves first, sending most of his force moving towards the northern edge of Maskouii. He knows that Mary is intent on trading for the village’s tribal masks, and while he cannot benefit from them directly, if he can get hold of them that might derail Mary’s plans for her expedition.

Ujuwa has some early luck when his Pygmy Archers explore the nearest piece of high, dense terrain. They avoid an Encounter, but they do find one of the Discovery markers. One half of the group take the marker and seek cover in the undergrowth, while the other half line the edge of the cover, hoping to entice the hated white men within range of their poison arrows.

Guessing Ujuwa’s intentions, Mary pushes her force forward, and seeing his good fortune she tries her luck too, but with much less auspicious results.  Moving up the eastern edge of the table, her Young Warriors enter their nearest piece of high, dense terrain, only to encounter a deadly snake which kills two of them. To add insult to injury, the Discovery marker they find is a dummy. Badly demoralised, this group has little bearing on the remainder of the adventure.

Meanwhile though, her Adventurers, with the Kirangozi and a Bearer in tow, pick up the pace and also take advantage of the Kirangozi’s attribute to arrive at the southern edge of the village, at the cost of drawing a Stress token. Her Soldiers, Askaris, and Ruga-Ruga also pick up the pace, but of necessity follow rather more slowly.

Mary’s Adventurers arrive in Maskouii village

On turn 2, the antique dealer puts in an appearance. Dressed in a loud shirt and brandishing a musket, he bears a remarkable resemblance to an African version of Del Boy – only the Reliant Robin is missing!  Unfortunately for Mary, he appears on the northern edge of the table, squarely behind Ujuwa’s forces. She will have to wait for him to move before she can do any trading.

Africa’s answer to Del Boy

This doesn’t stop Mary from wanting to get her hands on the masks however.  Her Adventurers locate the owner of one mask in the nearest hut to them, and barter it from him for a handful of glass beads. Meanwhile her Soldiers move into the open at the southern end of the village, intent on using their firepower to deter Ujuwa’s men from entering at the northern end.

Mary’s Adventurers & Soldiers defend the village

It works – Ujuwa’s Archers, accompanied by a Sacred Warrior, do find a mask in the nearest hut and relieve the owner of it, but then they shelter behind the hut, reluctant to face Mary’s groups’ heavy firepower.

Ujuwa’s Bundukis prove less hesitant and advance into the village, and Ujuwa himself, accompanied by his Warriors, moves up behind them so he can get in range in order to work his magic. He casts his Bull’s Breath ritual at Mary’s Adventurers.

Ujuwa casts a Bull’s Breath ritual

Ujuwa’s stupendous farts and their ghastly smell are successful; the Adventurers are forced to retreat and must take another Stress token.

Mary’s Adventurers shelter behind a hut

Incensed at the treatment of their comrades, the Soldiers open fire on the Bundukis and get a number of hits, but the Bundukis must bear charmed lives, as they save all but one figure. They plan to return fire with their muskets next turn before acknowledging that discretion is the better part of valour, and retreating out of range.

Bundukis facing Soldiers in the village

The plan backfires badly however, when Mary’s forces seize the Initiative in the next Action Phase, and the Soldiers fire kills all but one of the Bundukis. The survivor is completely demoralised and promptly flees the field.

At the beginning of this turn, the antique dealer Del Boy has moved to the western edge of the table, and Mary’s Adventurers promptly head in that direction to make a trade. Seeing this, Ujuwa tries to intercept them, by sending his Archers and one half of his Pygmy Archers in that direction. His plans go awry however, because the Archers are hampered by carrying a mask and cannot pick up the pace, and then fail completely when Mary succeeds in placing a Movement Stress token against them, halting them in their tracks. That leaves the fire of just three Pygmy Archers between Mary’s Adventurers and Del Boy, and when they miss completely, Mary makes her first successful trade.

This bad luck seems to dog Ujuwa’s forces for the remainder of the adventure. Falling back to the third hut, Mary’s Adventurers stop just long enough to “persuade” the occupant to part with the last remaining mask, and then head at top speed courtesy of the Kirangozi Kiva, towards the dealer’s new location on the southern edge of the table. This is right behind Mary’s forces, and she is able to safely make her second trade. The Adventurers are by now on the limit of four Stress tokens, but Mary isn’t worried; they are safe where they are, and have achieved what was needed of them.

Her Soldiers move out of the village to cover the retreat of the Adventurers, taking up station in one of the pieces of high, dense terrain, where they avoid an Encounter but also make a Discovery.

Ujuwa’s forces meanwhile receive no less than three Terror Stress tokens in a single Action Phase, and Ujuwa, moving forward with his Warriors to use his magic, completely flunks his next ritual against the Askaris.

About the only success he has is that the Pygmy group on the western edge of the table are able to move forward and occupy the opposite side of the high, dense terrain held by Mary’s Soldiers. Their Tiny attribute means they cannot be shot at through the cover beyond Medium range, and the Pygmy King Oh‘Mi’Lordi is still alive, so their Bravery roll is D10. Meanwhile the Soldiers have taken one casualty and picked up two Combat Stress tokens, so they may just be vulnerable if the Pygmies can survive long enough to make contact.

In the next turn, Mary’s Askaris and Ruga-Ruga, the only troops she has left in the village, are now within range of Ujuwa’s Archers, and they let fly with their muskets. They only cause a single casualty, but there is a Sacred Warrior with the Archers, and true to Ujuwa’s run of bad luck, the Terrifying Death Roll produces a “1” – he collapses in the dust, shot through the heart!

Their luck just goes from bad to worse. Mary keeps piling Stress onto the Archers, and they are forced to Flee the village. Yet another Stress in the next Action Phase means they then lose a casualty as well.

Mary and her Ruga-Ruga firing on Ujuwa’s Archers

In the next twist of fate in this adventure, Mary’s Soldiers are able to shed one of their Combat Stress tokens, before trading shots with the Pygmies through the dense Cover. Neither side can make any impression however before the Pygmies, in what looks like a last desperate gamble, close and fight hand-to-hand with the Soldiers. Bucking Ujuwa’s run of luck, they actually win the melee, forcing the Soldiers to retreat, but not before they drop the Discovery they made earlier.

Ujuwa’s Pygmies and their King

Not quite believing they are still alive, the Pygmies promptly grab the Discovery token.

That is the end of turn 5. On turn 6 the adventure rules require the holder of the Initiative marker, which at this point happens to be Ujuwa, to roll before each Action Phase to determine if the game is over. He rolls a success, so it ends before even the first Action Phase.

Tallying the Adventure

Under the campaign rules, Victory Points are determined by using both the generic rules in the main Congo rule-book, and also by any specific rules which are outlined in the adventure summary.

Mary won this adventure by a very clear margin.

Her forces not only captured the two high-valued tribal masks, but she was able to trade them both, securing her a total of 16VP, and earning her one domain of Knowledge. She did not use any of her Barter pts. Her Soldiers did make one Discovery, but then lost it, so that is worth nothing to her.

We omitted to roll for her reporter JJ’s write-up of Mary’s adventure (she gets 3D6 to try for successful rolls, so could add up to 3VP to Mary’s total), so we need to remember to do that before the next adventure.

 Ujuwa ended this adventure with his forces in possession of the lowest-valued mask, but he has no direct use for it. He was only able to get close enough to cast two rituals, and of those one failed completely.

He also finished holding two Discovery markers earning him 8VP, but offset against that he lost a Sacred Warrior which costs him -2VP, for a final total of 6VP.

Travelling to the next adventure will be resolved as part of that adventure.