Just a minaret, that's no hookah! That's my wife!

Scenario Outline

In the days between Sir Rand's freewheeling times in China and his stately, married life in Canada, he had opportunity to pass through French Rococo. In that period, he and his wife, Lady Ally McNally, happened upon some adventure....

The Sheik Yabouti had happened to take a shine to the lovely Ally, and was determined to keep her for his harem. He had her kidnapped and brought to his oasis town of Tel Ah Tubi, the last stop before he would disappear into the trackless desert.

Sir Rand, meanwhile, was sparing no effort, both diplomatic and military to find his good lady wife. Intelligence contacts had discovered that she'd been taken, her whereabouts, and the Sheik's intentions. With the assistance of La Legion, and a contingent of Her Majesty's Royal Marines, he set off to save Ally.

Rubbish Bin Liner's bandits too, had heard tell of the beautiful European woman. Bin Liner, has also set off, across the sands to Tel Ah Tubi to take Lady Ally for his own.

Objectives

Forces

French/British
1 unit FFL (20 men with Capitaine Framboise)
1 half unit British Royal Marines (10 men with Officer)
Sir Rand McNally

Sheik Yabouti
1 half unit Arab foot with rifles (treat as Pathan)
1 half unit Arab swords (treat as Pathan)
1 half unit Arab Camel (treat as Pathan)

Rubbish Bin Liner
2 units Slavers foot (treat as Fuzzy)

A Report of the Action

The unthinkable had happened! Lady Ally McNally had been snatched of the streets of Biro! She had been out shopping for a souvenir fez for Sir Rand, when men in the employ of Sheik Yabuti seized her, and made off with Sir Rand's "Flower of East Anglia", to some unknown desert destination. It seems the Sheik had fallen madly for the Lady Ally after they had met at a reception thrown by the French Chargez d'affair. After many inquiries by Sir Rand, her whereabouts had been discovered -- Sheik Yabouti's desert hidout at Tel Ah Tubi, the final stop before his harem in the unreachable desert!

The Captain of Sir Rand's transport, HMS Sloshed, immediately volunteered his meager allotment of Royal marines. The French were a different story, initially. Sheik Yabouti was a nominally loyal Sheik, and so they were reluctant to lend support. Sir Rand applied diplomatic arm twisting, but the final clincher for the French was the discovery of another interested party on the scene. They learned that white beauty had drawn the attention of another nefarious desert roughian -- Rubbish Bin Liner! Here was a man for whom slavery and indecency were the staff of life, and he wanted Ally for his own.

The combined force of Royal Marines with Sir Rand, and French Foreign Legion under Capitaine Framboise set out none too soon. There in the desert the column met up with bands of evil men, under Bin Liner himself, bent on reaching Tel Ah Tubi first. Dedicated in their quest, the Legion struck straight up the side of the valley, toward Tel Ah Tubi, intending to save Mrs. McNally first, and then wipe the valley floor with Bin Liner and his men. Taking a straighter path, the Royal marines set off up the center of the valley, quickly running into a group of Bin Liner's men, who had chosen the same path.

Shots were traded between the two groups, and casualties exchanged, with Bin Liner's second in command finding his way to the afterlife along with a single marine, with another taking wounds. It was also in this exchange that a young Lieutenant Handly Mann (later Major General Lord Handly Mann, Viscount Basingstoke) took a jezzail ball through his thigh which gave him the limp that became so famous later in his life.

Bin Liner's bandits fell back, circling around the rear of the marines and falling in behind the Legion. Here too they sniped at the marching figures, but true to their resolve, the legionnaires refused to be tempted. They continued marching, the last man picking up the fallen man's rifle and canteen before carrying on. Soon it struck the bandits that perhaps this was an advantage, after all as the old adage goes "the enemy of my enemy is my ally". The sniping stopped, and the bandits made haste for the town.

The town itself, was well guarded by Yabouti's riflemen, who stood the wall and awaited the enemy's approach. As it turned out, Bin Liner and his men all but marched up to the wall. The Sheik's camelry set out attempting to charge Bin Liner, but the leader's eyes proved too big for his belly, and the charge came up short. Stranded alone in the desert, half way between the safety of the town and the camels quickly became fodder for Bin Liner's guns, eliminating over half the group in a single volley. The camels were eliminated completely a moment or two later, when the Marines charged, and the camels (or their driver) decided they'd had enough. Those who had survived the first onslaught gave up and ran at the second. (Click to see the ill-fated charge series)

Sheik Yabouti's men, who until this point had been denied any good targets, now found Bin Liner in their sights. Their greater range gave them a decided advantage and they made their volleys count. Crashing again and again into the advancing slavers from the relative safety of the town's walls. One man, who surely would be rewarded by the Sheik if he survived, was able to take down Bin Liner himself! But true to his reputation, the scurvy desert dog struggled up again, and will surely be back from his wounds. But the wound was bad enough to encourage him to depart the field. Bin Liner's men carried him off, leaving behind their other group to attempt to complete their mission.

The Legion was now about to enter the town. They'd stayed in column the entire march, with only two rifles in the lead, but what a pair of rifles they were. From out of the town swarmed men with swords, who charged in and attempted to take the column in hand to hand. The pair of lead rifles fired, finding first the leader of the swordsmen, and then more of the group, decimating their ranks enough to cause them first to waver, then to break entirely. Fleeing back to the safety of the town's walls they paused only long enough to take stock of themselves and then retreated to the desert.

Bin Liner's remaining men began looting tents outside of the town which had been snubbed by the French. No beautiful white woman was found, however several choice bits of booty were added to the Bin Liner treasury.

In Tel Ah Tubi, the rifles fell back from the wall to better defend the town from the advancing Europeans. The Marines charged, rounding the wall, but then discovered themselves faced with far more guns than they had anticipated. Even Sir Rand's ardor to save his wife could not make him bulletproof, and so they fell back to an area outside of town to regroup.

As the Legion marched into town and began searching buildings, the bandits swarmed to the wall. For a moment it looked as if the Legion would be cut to ribbons in a crossfire between Bin Liner's bandits and Sheik Yabouti's rifles, but Capitaine Framboise proved cunning, and marched his men (still in column) around the corner and out of harm's way. The bandits then went at it with the Sheik's men, with the Sheik coming out the loser. His rifles, the few who survived, quickly departed for the desert, joining their sword wielding brethren.

The Legion had been methodically searching Tel Ah Tubi, and speculation ran high that the tomb of the faithful was where poor Sir Rand's wife was fearfully trapped.  But when that building was finally reached by the dauntless Legion, it proved empty of all but old bones.

Finally it came down to only one building remaining. Everyone knew it too. The bandits and the Europeans both moved in to take the building and claim the Lady's safety as their own. Only two poor, sword wielding guards remained at the door to block their advance. The Marines charged the door. Bin Liner's men, now in the town opened fire on the lot of them. The bullets magically missed all the Marines and Sir Rand too, but struck down both guards! Then, equally magically, the Legion appeared again, putting bayonet to good use against the rear of the bandits. There were few casualties to the Legion, many to Bin Liner, and the banditry melted away.

Bursting through the door, Sir Rand discovered his lady love, seated at a table taking tea. "Oh there you are my dear," she said. "This fellow's cook makes the most excellent tea cakes. Do you think we might steal him away for ourselves?"

Both Rubbish Bin Liner and Sheik Yabouti had both gotten away, disappearing into the desert sands, but neither had gone for good. Trouble still awaited Sir Rand and his wife before they could get home, though that portion of the story is left for another time...

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Just a minaret, that's no hookah! That's my wife!