I will be giving a Nama War talk at the HMGS War College on Saturday at Cold Wars 2025, and I will be running Nama War games on Friday and Saturday.
HMGS WAR COLLEGE LECTURE:
Camels in the Kalahari: Duel in the Desert
Speaker: Roy Jones
Type of Talk: Historical
Period: Colonial
Location: Executive Conference Room
Time: Saturday, 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM
Description: “The battle had lasted scarcely a minute, when the heroic leader of the [camel] Expeditionary Corps, Hauptmann von Erckert...was mortally struck down by a [Nama] bullet”: German official history. On March 16, 1908, at Seatsub - the last battle of the Nama War - Simon Kopper and his Nama troops clashed with Hauptmann Friedrich von Erckert and his camel-mounted Schutztruppen. This lecture focuses on the organization, armament and tactics of the 700-camel-strong German Expeditionskorps.
Bio: Dr. Roy Jones has been researching and writing books and essays on German colonialism in Africa for more than fifteen years, focusing on early twentieth-century conflicts: the Herero War of 1904 and the Nama Wars of 1904-08. In 2014, Dr. Jones and his co-author Eric Alvarado released "The Herero War", a historical scenario and rules book derived from original German sources: official histories, first-person accounts, and original maps. In 2015, Dr. Jones released the first essay to present and analyze German casualty rates – i.e., the percentage of the total force that was killed or wounded – for the individual Herero War battles. He is currently working on a follow-on rules and scenario book on the Nama Wars. Dr. Jones has won multiple 'Pour Encourager Les Autres' (PELA) Awards for his German colonial games. Roy Jones received his bachelor's degree in physics from Columbia University and his PhD in physics rom Rutgers University. Dr. Jones has more than twenty-five years of experience in the development and validation of high-fidelity physics-based models and advanced sensors and signal analysis for defense. He lives in Arlington, Virginia
NAMA GAMES
F19:097 Seize or Die: Storm at Aob! (German South West Africa, 1905)
Historical Period: Colonial
Time: Friday, 7 PM; Length: 4 hrs
No. of Players: 6
GM: Roy Jones
Sponsor: Recreational Conflict
Scale: 25mm
Rules: The Sword and the Flame (Modified)
Nama rifle fire sweeps the battlefield of Aob, and German officers and men are cut down like grass. The Germans have only two choices: fix bayonets and seize the Nama-occupied trench on the ridge to their front, or die out in the open! And for the Nama riflemen facing the German bayonets, the choices: stand and fight defending their trench, or charge out to meet the enemy! From the upcoming scenario book "The Nama Wars". More at: https://www.hererowars.com/new-the-nama-wars-hendrik.html.
S19:099 Camels in the Kalahari (German South West Africa, 1908)
Historical Period: Colonial
Time: Saturday, 7 PM; Length: 4 hrs
No. of Players: 6
GM: Roy Jones
Sponsor: Recreational Conflict
Scale: 25mm
Rules: The Sword and the Flame (Modified)
100 camels on the game table! The dry desert sands of the Kalahari protect Simon Kopper and his Nama forces from an assault by standard horse-mounted Schutztruppen. In order to get at Kopper in his desert fastness, the Germans form a special camel-mounted Expeditionary Corps. On March 16, 1908 at the Battle of Seatsub, Simon Kopper and his Nama troops clash with Hauptmann von Erckert and his camel-mounted Schutztruppen. More at: https://www.hererowars.com/new-the-nama-wars-hendrik.html.
This game is paired with the HMGS War College lecture: Camels in the Kalahari: Duel in the Desert, 1908.