More Dervish Than I've Ever Seen - 28mm Sudan Game

Gadzooks! Look at all of those Dervish!
28mm Connoisseur figures

This past weekend we convened at the manse of General Pettygree to play our annual Fall Sudan Game.

The long view of the 24-foot game table. There were also two 3-foot back tables on each side.

The British Museum Expedition's "Site A".

Our task was to protect the archeologists.

More of the Site A area

The British Museum Expedition's "Site B".

At the far end of the table, the large port of El Wil-Yum situated on the Dongola River.

The wharf area.

The 78th Seaforth Highlanders, in square, commanded by Colonel Archibald Sinclair.
Connoisseur figures; they still hold up favorably by today's standards.

The Egyptian regiment guarding a stretch of the Dongola River. They were in for a big surprise...

...because this hoard was header their way.

Here come the Dervish

The Seaforth Highlanders (middle right ground) back up the Egyptian troops that manned the river levee against the Dervish. In the far background you can see the Site A British Museum Expedition.

Now things were getting serious.

However, the Egyptians held off the Dervish in the first several melees.

To the right of the Egyptians, the crack XI Sudanese regiment repulsed another contingent of  Dervish.

The 1st Sikh Regiment arrives on the scene near Site A, and just in time...

...because even more Dervish sail up the Dongola River and disembark near the right flank of the XI Sudanese.

A group of Beja riflemen suddenly appear on the cliffs above Site A and start shooting at the Expedition members.

The camp site is caught unaware of the threat from above.

The Expedition members flee towards the Sikh regiment for protection.

A hoard of Beja suddenly appear behind the Site A encampment, but the Sikhs are ready to receive them. The Sikhs deploy into a left wing and a right wing due to the large size (72-figures) of the regiment.

The left wing is routed by the Beja (by just one pip on a D6 die. The Right Wing  stops the Beja, who rout away into the wilds. A lone company of Sikh riflemen (upper middle) are all that is left of the Left Wing.

But Wait, there's More!

While the Seaforth Highlanders and the Sikhs were dealing with the Beja and Dervish near Site A, there came a rumbling in the distance off the left flank. The Egyptian brigade that was defending El Wil-Yum were suddenly seen pouring over a bridge and creek and running pell mell towards the Seaforths. They were all that was left of the El Wil-Yum garrison and they were being pursued by a number of mad Beja, who were screaming for blood.

Just what we need, the left horn of the bull appears to the left of the Seaforth Highlanders. A few clumps of Egyptian troops attempt to rally and stop the Dervish.

An overview of the action on the left. In the upper left corner the large Dervish hoard have expelled and slaughtered the Egyptian garrison. The Seaforth Highlanders, in the upper middle part of the picture, are the last reserve, the last line of defense.

The remaining Egyptians from El Wil-Yum seek refuge behind the stead Seaforths. The Beja's numbers are dwindled by a crashing volley of rifles from the Seaforths.

A few Beja remnants continue their charge, but they will be easily dispersed. I guess that takes care of the trouble on the left.

Well not quite. The large Dervish hoard in the middle of the table now pour out of the Dongola town and  spy the Seaforth Highlanders in the distance.

The Harrington sisters: Alexandra with the shotgun and Minerva with the pepperbox, fall in with the Highlanders. The sisters are made of stern stuff.

Fortunately, the Sahara sun began its descent into the horizon and the Seaforth Highlanders staged a classic rearguard defense at the mass of European civilians, Egyptian and Sikh soldiers retire to the west and to safety.

Colonel Archie Sinclair (me, on the left) takes a tea break with his compatriots.

I have no idea of what happened around the river port area, off to my far left. I gleaned that the Egyptian garrison were overwhelmed by the swarm of Beja warriors who invaded via the river in their dhows. Afterall, the remains of that garrison were trickling back towards my Seaforth Highlanders so I knew that something had gone terribly wrong "over there".


I would direct you, dear readers, to the blog and journal of Major General Augustus Pettygree for the rest of the story "over there".

here:
Pettygree Blog

A preview of the dire things that happened elsewhere on the table.
Check out the Pettygree blog for the rest of the story.

Testing the Dervish Again

The Camel Corps in close quarters melee with the Dervish army.

CLICK ON ALL PICTURES TO ENLARGE

Wednesday evening we played the first of three games in our Mafrica Campaign. Each game leads to a follow on game until we reach our objective, which is Omdurman in the Mafrica version of the Sudan. Our games are designed to be short 2 hour games that we can play on weekday evenings. 

We are using 54mm toy soldiers as our figures. The majority of the figures are from the Britains "War Along the Nile" range of figures, as well as some John Jenkins Designs figures and some Armies In Plastic figures. I also use a few of my Trophy Miniatures Navy Gatling Gun crews.

Royal Navy sailors disembark from the transport ship.

The Camel Corps deploys on the left...

...while the Royal Marines deploy on the right...

...and two companies of e Gordon Highlanders have moved inland and established a fortified camp.

The commander of the isolated outpost sends a message back to the landing area:

"Dervish warbands are massing to our front. Expect attack momentarily. Require help. Urgent!"

The Camel Corps move forward under the watchful eye of Major Edwards.

Royal Navy sailors prolong their Gatling Gun forward to help the Gordons.

The Dervish and their Hadandowah allies mass in front of the outpost.

Here they come!

The Gordons are in a bit of a pickle as the Dervish manage to breach the walls of the kraal. Off in the distance the Marines are marching to the sound of the guns, but have to stop and deal with some rifle-armed Hadendawah

The Gordons defend the stone kraal against the Dervish charge.

The first wave of the Hadendowah close quickly and reach the stone wall.

It becomes a desperate hand to hand fight as the Dervish get inside the kraal.

More of the foes reach the other side of the kraal and get ready to leap over the wall!

As so often happens in a game, one player is so absorbed in his own problems that he can't pay much attention to what is going on at the other end of the table. I commanded the Camel Corps regiment - four companies in all. Another warband of natives were headed my way.

Some skirmishers are sent ahead of the brigade to see what is happening in the brush. Dangerous work!

The presence of the Royal Navy Gatling Gun helps to calm the nerves of the men.

Camel Corps firing line calmly awaits the charge.

"Present!"

Major Edwards shouts the order: "fire!"

The natives rush towards the Camel Corps' zariba.

They close in front of the zariba where the thin blue line awaits.

The Hadendowah win the first round of melee and push the Camel Corps back aways, but then two more companies  charge in and hit the natives in the flank

The Hadandowah lose the melee as they are vastly outnumbered by the Camel Corps now. However, they refuse to rout and melt back into the brush.

 How did the battle turn out?

Well, we won't know for awhile as time ran out on our two hour wargame. The Gordons somehow managed to hold their ground at the kraal, albeit with fewer men than they had at the start of the game. It looked like the Royal Marines were within a turn's move of relieving the Gordons. On the other side of the field, the Camel Corps fended off the natives with only 6 casualties (and some very good saving throws by Major Edwards).

More Dervish warriors were reassembling near the kraal and looking for any excuse to charge again, but we all deemed that they would likely retire in some semblence of good order and live to fight another day.

So I guess that it was a slight British victory in that they would have been able to rescue the beleagured Gordon Highlanders. Accordingly, this will generate Game #2 of the Mafrica Campaign at some date in the near future.

We used the 19th Century variation of the Batailles dans 'Ancien Regime (or BAR) which worked very well for the British Colonial era. Some of the variations include a rapid fire factor of +6 for the Imperials (but they could only have a maximum of 4 volley fires like this - determined by the roll of a D4), and a "Fanatical Native" bonus of +2 in melee and +1 for Saving throws. As a consequence, the Hadandowah  saved on a die roll of anything but a 1 or a 2. This made them extremely had to put down. This was kind of offset by "The 10% Rule" which requires the natives to roll a D6 to see if they will fall back or stay in the fight. This saved the British' bacon a number of times over the course of the game.

Finally, it was a lot of fun to use the large 54mm toy soldiers for our game. The figures are exquisitely detailed and they photograph quite nicely, as you can see from the pictures in this blog posting.