First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.

On the 4th day of Christmas War Gaming my true love gave to me…

4 Moudjahidate Defending

The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857 is a 1-4 player historical cooperative game that deals with the resistance of Fadhma N’Soumer and the Kabyle people in their fight against the invading French armies in the Kabylie region of Algeria in 1857. The name refers to the garb worn by the villagers here and specifically refers to the color of garb worn by Fadhma. The game uses very interesting mechanics such as deck-building to tell the story of villagers working together to defeat the invading French Berbers. The players will join forces and play cooperatively to survive as the French advance on their villages, either winning together or losing together.

One of the unit types that players can rally by playing cards is the Moudjahidate, which are represented by a red wooden cube. These female colonial resistance fighters were key to the Berber efforts to push back the invading French as they worked to protect the mountain villages from attack. When the player plays a Woman card from their hand to a village, they will be able to mobilize a red cube to place in that village. Unlike Sharpshooter and Moudjahidine units though, the Moudjahidate cannot move and participate in Ambush attacks. Their role is to stay in the villages and protect them from attack and they are fierce fighters. Their red dice that are used in combat, have only 2 sides of 6 that will score a hit but one of those is a double hit and will remove two enemy units when attacking.

In the picture above, French Army 3 is approaching the village of Soumeur but they have a nasty surprise waiting for them as there are 4 Moudjahidate units along with a lone Moudjahidine awaiting their attack. To make matters worse for the French, they have erected protective Defenses, represented by the purple cylinders, which will absorb one hit in combat. Dice are rolled for each unit in the combat and their is a priority of hits taken by specific units. The Moudjahidate will take casualties last and if they are hit, their cubes are removed from the game and will not be available to mobilize later in the game. One note, there are only 3 red dice in the game and the picture shows just those 3 rolled but the 4 hits generated by the Moudjahidate and the lone hit from the Moudjahidine are enough to eliminate all 5 of the attacking Berbers. They would normally have one more die to roll but in this case it was not necessary. The Berbers have succeeded in driving off the invaders but they will have to take 1 loss and the Moudjahidine will be removed. The women of the villages are not only wise but they can fight when attacked.

If you are interested in The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857, you can order a copy for $65.00 from the Hit ‘Em with a Shoe Games website at the following link: https://hitemwithashoe.com/product/the-red-burnoose-algeria-1857/

You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:

A Spotter in a Smokestack – Saipan – The Bloody Rock

2 Bridges Blowing – Holland ’44: Operation Market Garden

3 Blockade Runners Running – Kaiserkrieg! The Great War 1914-1918

-Grant