DitDC armies
The Legend of Tarzan
Approved by Chris Peers the author of
Death in the Dark Continent
81. The Legend of Tarzan, 1888-19…
Tarzan was a sensation when introduced and remains one of the most successful fictional characters to this day and
is a real cultural icon. This list represents the forces summoned by Tarzan at the end of the film The Legend of
Tarzan, and therefore based on the seminal work by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, published in 1912.
From my reading of the book I think Tarzan was raised by Chimpanzees not Gorillas as in the film. Burroughs never
published a book called The Legend of Tarzan but the movie of this name attempts to place Tarzan in a slightly
more historical context about the exploitation of the Belgian Congo. The allied villagers are those who join with
Tarzan and the animals to defeat The Force Publique at the end of the movie. The British Naval Landing Party are
there for a “what if scenario” if HM Governments implicit support for Tarzan was turned into actions (and I have
some).
•
Ag 0, Tribal
•
Tarzan, Gorillas or other great apes, Elite Warriors (9 points)
1–3
•
Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes, Water Buffalo etc, Elite Protected Heavy Cavalry
with close combat weapons only (15 points)
0–2
•
Wildebeests, Oryx, Zebra, Kudu etc, Heavy Cavalry
with close combat weapons only (9 points)
3–10
•
Crocodiles or Hippopotamuses, Elite Warriors (8 points)
0–3
•
Lions and other big cats or Hyenas or even Ostriches, Elite Heavy Cavalry
with close combat weapons only (13 points)
0–3
•
Monkeys including Baboons, Mandrills etc and Warthogs, Pygmies with spears (7 points)
0–3
•
Muzungu with breech-loader (28 points)
0–1
•
Freed Slaves: Untrained Skirmishers with breech-loaders (8 points)
0–2
Notes
1.
A Chief representing Tarzan must be Outstanding (+25 points).
2.
The Muzungu represents George Washington Williams an American envoy, who reveals his suspicions that the
Belgians are enslaving the Congolese population. Williams persuades Tarzan to go back to the Congo in order
to prove his suspicions.
3.
Home terrain can be of any type the player wishes
4.
Defences: Pitfall traps.
5.
Stratagems: Drums, Surprise, Scouting, Witchcraft.
6.
Muzungu may only be used if Tarzan in used as an Outstanding Chief.
Allies: Generic villagers (List 1, page 66), British Naval Landing Party (List 65, page 120).
is a real cultural icon. This list represents the forces summoned by Tarzan at the end of the film The Legend of
Tarzan, and therefore based on the seminal work by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan of the Apes, published in 1912.
From my reading of the book I think Tarzan was raised by Chimpanzees not Gorillas as in the film. Burroughs never
published a book called The Legend of Tarzan but the movie of this name attempts to place Tarzan in a slightly
more historical context about the exploitation of the Belgian Congo. The allied villagers are those who join with
Tarzan and the animals to defeat The Force Publique at the end of the movie. The British Naval Landing Party are
there for a “what if scenario” if HM Governments implicit support for Tarzan was turned into actions (and I have
some).
•
Ag 0, Tribal
•
Tarzan, Gorillas or other great apes, Elite Warriors (9 points)
1–3
•
Elephants, Rhinos, Giraffes, Water Buffalo etc, Elite Protected Heavy Cavalry
with close combat weapons only (15 points)
0–2
•
Wildebeests, Oryx, Zebra, Kudu etc, Heavy Cavalry
with close combat weapons only (9 points)
3–10
•
Crocodiles or Hippopotamuses, Elite Warriors (8 points)
0–3
•
Lions and other big cats or Hyenas or even Ostriches, Elite Heavy Cavalry
with close combat weapons only (13 points)
0–3
•
Monkeys including Baboons, Mandrills etc and Warthogs, Pygmies with spears (7 points)
0–3
•
Muzungu with breech-loader (28 points)
0–1
•
Freed Slaves: Untrained Skirmishers with breech-loaders (8 points)
0–2
Notes
1.
A Chief representing Tarzan must be Outstanding (+25 points).
2.
The Muzungu represents George Washington Williams an American envoy, who reveals his suspicions that the
Belgians are enslaving the Congolese population. Williams persuades Tarzan to go back to the Congo in order
to prove his suspicions.
3.
Home terrain can be of any type the player wishes
4.
Defences: Pitfall traps.
5.
Stratagems: Drums, Surprise, Scouting, Witchcraft.
6.
Muzungu may only be used if Tarzan in used as an Outstanding Chief.
Allies: Generic villagers (List 1, page 66), British Naval Landing Party (List 65, page 120).
Special Rule: Animals & Tarzan. They are treated the
same as ordinary troops, except always move the score
of 3 dice in inches regardless of terrain except
Crocodiles who move the score of 2 dice unless in
swamp or river. Animals have a minimum size of two
bases per unit. Tarzan is always a single Elite Warriors
base and never has to take morale tests. The weapons
for animals don’t actually represent real weapons of
course just the effects. They never need field Baggage.
Sample 300 point Tarzan Army
Extracts fromthe Death in the
Dark Continent rules
You will still need to see the full text in the book to
get the complete idea of these rules.
Muzungu
We use this Swahili word to represent individuals or
small groups of very heavily armed and well-
motivated explorers or big game hunters.
Outstanding Chief
An Outstanding Chief costs +25 points. In most
cases he will be well worth it, but you never have to
use one if you do not want to; you can always argue
that the great man has delegated this particular
operation to a subordinate! Note that an Outstanding
Chief for a Disciplined army costs an additional +55
points to the base unit, that is +25 for being
Outstanding and +30 for being Disciplined.
Stratagems
Drums
An army which is allowed this option may beat its
drums at the start of the morale phase of any one
turn in a game. The result is to force all affected
enemy units to take an immediate morale test. It
affects all non-Elite opponents, except Muzungu,
who are at least partly within 24” of the Chief of the
army using the stratagem.
Witchcraft
A witchdoctor can curse any one enemy unit which
is at least partly within 8” of his figure in the morale
phase of each turn. The effect of this is to force it to
take a morale test, though this can be cancelled by
the presence of a Chief or for other causes in the
usual way.
Surprise
If a player is using the Surprise option, he may
always deploy at least three of his units in ambush
unless he is the attacker in an ambush scenario. At
least one of these units may be placed anywhere in
suitable cover in the player’s own half of the table.
Scouting
If a player chooses Scouting, his opponent must
declare at the start of the game the identity of any
units which he has kept off table as late arrivals, and
the table edge which they are to arrive on. At this
point the Scouting player may also nominate up to
two of the terrain pieces on the table, and require his
opponent to immediately deploy any troops which
have been deployed in ambush in or behind them.
They cannot now count as in ambush for the purpose
of inflicting morale tests.
A Chief representing
Tarzan
Oryx, ostriches
and giraffe.
Great apes
Crocs
Baboons
Warthogs
Kudu