Khartoum

Today I made up a foursome to play a game based on the storming Khartoum.

The scenario was taken from the Black Powder Blood on the Nile supplement (although the rukes being played were not Black Powder).

Khartoum was defended by three units of Egyptian infantry, one of Bashi Bazooks, several small units of citizen levy, three field guns and a Gardener gun.  A secondary force of one unit of Egyptian infantry and a gun occupied a smaller fort across the Nile. The attacking force consisted of four warbands: one (the Mahdi's) of four units, another three each of two units.

The game was always going to see the Dervishes storm the city, it was just a matter of how longbit would take. 

A view across Khartoum before the attack began

My command (above and below) were assigned to attack the separate fort

The remainder of the force sweeps forward against the main walls

  

My first attack against the fort - this attack was repulsed, but a subsequent one succeeded

The main force strikes the main wall like a tidal wave

Gordon is getting worried

Above and below, the main wall is stormed.

The Dervishes pour through the streets

My having taken the fort follow up on the routed Egyptians

Above and below, Gordon's anxiety grows as the defence collapses

Moments before the Dervishes came knocking on Gordon's door

In the end Gordon was captured. His fate is unknown at this point.

It was a good way to spend a few hours on a wet and windy Sunday.

Tripping Again...

With winter sliding slowly away towards spring we have decided to get away for a few days to Nelson at the top of the South Island. The last time we visited Nelson was March 2021, but the deciding factor for visiting was not only the length of time between visits, but also that my last long service recognition trip (from my airline service) expires in December so it needed to be used and Nelson being a single sector destination so it is easy to get to.

An 8:00AM arrival combined with a 3:00PM motel check-in meant that we needed to fill some time. So we drove to Blenhiem, some 65 km to the east. A visit to a store for her indoors was followed by a pub lunch then a visit to the Omaka Aviation Heritage Centre. This place has superb displays of WWI and WWII aircraft. The WWI section is hugely influenced by Peter Jackson who has a passion for the era and contributed heavily.

Clearing the Red Baron's crash

A difficult landing...

 

The WWII section has a smaller number of aircraft, but is just as impressive.

We had been here before, some five years ago, but it was well worth a return visit.

Villages for the Franco-Prussian War - Part 6: The Lorraine Houses Completed!

These two end pieces complete the Lorraine village-rue. They are both rather plain residences.

The first is a narrow hipped roof building. 

Front and side

Side and back

The second is a rather odd shaped building. I could have made it a regular shape, but I had to change the roofing material I was using because I couldn't find any stock of the original. This new material is in smaller sheets which left some odd shaped off-cuts that I figured needed to be used - also I had bought the last two packs of the material. So I adjusted the shape of the building around the left-overs.

Front and side

Side and back

Also completed are the first three of the garden wall pieces. There are a variety of widths to these pieces but the depth is a standard 60mm so that a 60x40mm stand can be placed inside. These are made from a variety of offcuts and there will be will be another six or so pieces, in various stages of repair and with differing amounts of foliage, thst will be made as I work on other projects. Of course, in a real village the yards would be much deeper than I have made them (contemporary maps, photographs and sketches show them 50-100 metres deep) and cluttered with outhouses, storage sheds, gardens and small orchards, but these are wargames buildings - that depth would make them too big on the table and the clutter would make them impractical for gaming.

So lined up as a village here are all thirteen of the houses.

 Now, along with the church, in a couple of variations, with a bit of AI assistance from Google Gemini.

Villages for the Franco-Prussian War - Part 5: The Village Houses - Nearly Done.

One hundred and fifty-six years ago today 190,000 German soldiers, supported by 730 guns, fought a French army of 112,000 and 520 guns across an eleven kilometre front in the Battle of Gravelotte - St Privat. By the end of the day 6,400 were dead, 21,000 were wounded and a further 5,000 were missing. 

The 9th Jäger Battalion at Gravelotte by Ernst Zimmer

So it is fitting that  this post should be a Franco-Prussian War one, representing buildings of the style found on or near that battlefield. Of course the way Blogger is acting at the moment this post probably won't appear on blog rolls until after the anniversary

The first model is the last of the street byre houses, i.e. with only two textured faces.

Front

Back

The last two are designed as end pieces so are textured in three sides rather than two. One is the final byre house in the series, this one with a hipped roof.

Front and side

Back and side

The other is a residence, with a small yard...just big enough to accomodate one of my infantry stands.

Front and side

Back and side

Finally, a couple of shots showing the buildings in street row.

 Only two buildings to go in this series now and they are half completed as I type this.