War in the Sudan

 Sunday saw us transported to the Sudan in the 1880s where four small Anglo-Egyptian brigades were attempting to capture a Mahdist town. The Anglo-Egyptians, of which I was one, had to enter the table from either end but we had no idea where the Mahadists were and they could appear from the hollows and wadis anywhere. At the beginning of each turn the commabder of each of the wings would move and then attempt, by rolling 1D6 and scoring 5+, to spot any concealed Mahdists. Any Mahdists within 300mm of our units were automatically sighted.

The Table

This report focuses almost entirely at my end of the table and I think I only looked at the other end once during the game.

Our lads beginning their advance.

From the word go we had problems. The Egyptian cavalry, brave men they were attempted to drive off a group of  Mahdist riflemen, but were cut down by fire and then driven off and stood quivering behind the lines for the rest of the battle.

Now with Egyptians gone than our cavalry was charged by a Mahdist unit. We countercharged but were beaten...well I rolled eight dice and they rolled six, both of us required a 5+...I rolled only one 5+ and they rolled five...my lads decided that was enough for a game of soldiers and ran away never to be seen again. 

With Mahdists popping up, the high command was worried.

"Form square!" was the order and forms square they did.

But little good it did, because within minutes the Mahdists flags were waving and thousands of white clad fanatics rose up from the sand.

They smashed into the corner of one of the squares and caved in one face. The British troops couldn't stop the disorganised rabble and the square collapsed and ran.

Then a second square was attacked. The Gattling gun failed to inflict any serious damage and that square too broke.

Then the camels and thousands more Mahdists appeared. The Egyptian square suffered the same fate as the British. 

And suddenly at our end of the table it was all over bar the shouting...although there was probably a lot of shouting going on.

At the other end of the table the Anglo-Egyptians also struggled but managed to get their squares formed early and held a position, although they too saw no hope of getting to the village. 

It was a bad day for the Empire and this shot sort of sums it up...

And now for a series of random shots to close out the post. Thanks to John L who provided most of the images)