A Franco German invasion of Morocco
Enfilade 1999. The Northwest Miniature Gaming Convention, held in Fife Washington.

The Red Shadow games were voted "Most Popular Game" by the convention organizers.
Although this game was not as well recorded as the other Red Shadow games on this site, it was photographed by one of he convention players who sent me the following photographs for display.

Many thanks to Jon Freitag for the photographs, and congratulations for a stunning victory in the game (Jon, played the Bashaw of Tangiers household troops)
This game is derived, with very little change, directly form Patrick Wilson's scenario, The Hun, the Frog and the Lion, which can be found on his excellent
"By Jingo" website.
The only major departure from that scenario is to the name.
Some elements from that scenario are reproduced here, but for a full explanation please visit "By Jingo"
Map of Mogador harbor, 
select it to go to the original scenario on the 
By Jingo site
"The Bashaw expresses his deepest regrets over this incident and solemnly promises to rescue the Kaiser’s   envoy. However, the Bashaw, The Great And Powerful, The Defender Of The Faithful, also pointedly  reminds His Majesty’s Government that any foreign intervention in Morocco's internal affairs or violation of her sovereignty will be met with the wrath of Allah."
--Telegram to the German Foreign Ministry, March 18, 1903 

"Bei der Herr Gott, vee’ll civilize zese savages if vee haf to machine gun und bayonet every vun of zem!"
--Kaiser Wilhelm II to a London Times reporter, March 19, 1903 

"It is the sacred duty of France to bring these misguided children of the desert the blessings of French Culture, Shrapnel, & Quick Firing Cannon."
--Editorial, Le Petit Parisien, March 20, 1903. 

"Any you guys seen my infidel skinning knife?"
--Emir Ali, overheard by an American tourist, March 21,1903.
The Situation

It is dawn, March 22, 1903. 
Out of indigo shadows on the Mediterranean, a small force of elite Marines in long boats silently rows into the port of Mogador, pirate capitol of the Moroccan coast. A sun baked hell hole by day, Mogador is the lair of the infamous brigand Emir Ali who fancies himself the next Bashaw of Morocco.
Besides banditry inland and all along the coast, he has lately begun stopping foreign shipping and helping himself to such cargoes as serve his schemes for power. Not incidentally, this has put the legitimate government in danger of being deposed by any of several European powers looking for an excuse to intervene and "civilize" the last independent Muslim state west of Constantinople. 
The pot boiled over five days ago when the newly appointed German envoy, Graf Manfred von
Kriegslieber, Kaiser Wilhelm’s favorite ultimatum delivery boy, was kidnapped off the packet boat from Marseilles en route to Tangier. Seizing the opportunity to be a player in 
North Africa, Berlin made the impossible demand that the Moroccan Government find and free the envoy in just three days or stand aside while the Kriegsmarine resolved the problem. The Bashaw in Tangier promised to send a rapid desert strike force towards Mogador but with a strong statement that Morocco would defend its sovereignty if need be. Berlin was not impressed--and neither was Paris. 
Madame La Republique, already deeply invested in North Africa, was not willing to share their Empire of sand and scorpions with anyone, least of all the Germans, and France has long had eyes on Morocco itself. However, as they have no legal right to forbid unilateral action, Paris has insisted on a joint operation, sweetening the deal
 by offering a  force of marines, sailors and transport better suited to Mogador’s shallow waters. Berlin’s blustering aside, only a small force of the 1st Seebattaillon is in the Med on a cruiser whose deep draft makes it discreet to cooperate. Thus an uneasy alliance has been cobbled together by telephone (French telephone at that!) and the operation has already begun.
Here to the left is the Pirates main Xebec. One of the minor departures from the original scenario is that we split the second pirate ship into two, but with the same number of guns between them as the larger one. The French sternwheeler became a small coastal turret ship, essentially an Ironclad. 
To offset this advantage, the pirates also had the assistance of British mercenarys whose small craft was fitted with a 57 mm hotchkiss revolving cannon. It is this vessel that can be seen above almost being overrun by German Marines. The game played out very interestingly except that the Pirates were virtually annihilated. Muzzle loading cannons and sailing ships being no match for Iron clad turret ships. The pirates did manage to sink one of the steamboat landing ships. The Germans actually liberated the fleeing prisoner, but got themselves into such a pickle that they negotiated with the advancing Bashaws troops and handed him over to them to secure his safe return to Tangiers. This resulted in an astounding victory for the Bashaws troops. The French mange to extricate themselves from the beaches but only after the abandonment of the Germans. They came second in points and the Germans third. 
Here can be seen the Bashaws troops advancing through the town with the Red Shadow incognito, undercover to ensure that the Bashaws position did not compromise French interests (well, we had to write him in somehow).
The new Old Glory Boxer rebellion figures proved very useful for this scenario, as both the French and German marines were from this range, as were the gun crews for the French ship.

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