Sitting On A Dock On the Bey

 

Dockside on the Nile River at Khartoum 
Note shiny water effects.

Shower curtains are the order of the day. No, not for the bathtub, but rather, for providing water effects on tabletop waterways. Place a strip of clear plastic from a shower curtain liner as an overlay on a piece of blue felt. This provides a shiny shimmering effect to your water.

This is a temporary color for the water. I’m looking for something darker available in felt. I’d appreciate any suggestions in the comment box on this post.

Here are some pictures of the wharf in my Khartoum display. I think that the addition of the river and the wharf adds so much to the overall look of the tabletop display. A gunboat manned by RN sailors and a nuggar are docked at the wharf. A nuggar is a small boat that carries cargo on the Nile River.

Royal Navy Blue Jackets man the gunboat.

A small nuggar boat ties up at the dock to unload supplies.

British soldiers off load the supplies and load the wagon.

Nile River gunboat and crew from Trophy of Wales.

Another view of the quayside. I think that the addition of this
feature really adds life to the Khartoum tabletop display.

I had thought that I was finished with building construction, but with the addition of the waterfront, I think that I need a riverside warehouse and/or a customs office.

Boys of All Ages and Their Toys

H. G Wells and friends, circa 1910

Little boys will one day become grown men, but the love of toy soldiers will never leave them. I have enjoyed playing with toy soldiers for as long as I can remember.

I recall the excitement when the annual Sears Christmas Catalog arrived in the mail box. I would be the first to grab it and then I would quickly turn to the toy section of the catalog. There were usually lots and lots of Marx plastic toy soldier play sets such as the Alamo, Gettysburg, Western Stockade Fort with US Cavalry and Apache Warriors, etc. I wanted all of them, but hoped that one of them would find its way under our Christmas tree. More often than not, I was disappointed. They were too expensive for my parents to buy as presents. They would buy some of the smaller packs of Marx figures which were more economical.

One year my Grandmother gave me the most wonderful present that I could imagine, the Elastolin castle with little Saxons and Vikings figures. Prince Valiant was one of the Saxons. I played with this fort forever and a day and used it with all sizes of figures, from 20mm HO plastic figures, to the 25mm Elastolins, and on up to the 60mm Marx and Britain's figures. I wish that I had kept the castle and its figures. Who knows where they ended up?  A couple of years ago I was able to buy the exact same castle on eBay and I found some of the Elastolin 25mm figures. I wish that I could find the Elastolin seige tower and catapult.

Remember going to the toy store and marveling over all of the toy soldiers on display?

And of course once the teenage years and high school rolled around, the toy soldiers were put away on the top shelf of my bedroom closet and never seen again. My Mother, bless her, was probably the one who threw then all away or donated them to the annual church rummage sale. Of course, I wasn't that interested in my toy soldiers anymore, so I did not miss them.

Fast forward to about 1982, give or take a couple of years, and I was visiting London on a business trip. During some free time, I was walking up Oxford Street and found a curious little passageway that was actually a named street. I like a good adventure so I walked through the little passage and came upon Wigmore Street. Walking a block up the street, I happened across a store called Under Two Flags. It was a toy soldier shop that was filled to the brim with, what else, toy soldiers.

The window display had a square of Seaforth Highlanders fending off a Dervish charge. Toy soldiers and Highlanders will grab my attention any day, so I asked the proprietor, a gentleman named Jock Coutts, if the whole display was for sale. Why of course it was, so I bought the whole thing.

One of the advantages of being a grown up toy soldier fan is that you now have the disposible income to go on a lark and buy almost anything that you want (at least until you get married, but that's a story for another day). So now I was able to buy the toy soldiers that I couldn't dream of owning when I was a 8 to 10 year old boy.

Name that celebrity - why it's Peter Cushing!

One of the things that I still enjoy is to set up my toy soldier collection on a table and arrange a little diorama with the figures. The pictures below depict one that is currently set up on my game table.

Charge of the 21st Lancers at the Battle of Omdurman.

My toy soldier diorama - Egyptian troops await the Dervish charge.

A ferocious Dervish charge faces a counter-charge from the 21st Lancers.

A very nifty looking Nile River gunboat provides firepower support for the Egyptian army.

As you might imagine, I can be mezmerized for hours by my toy soldier diorama. I might be passing by the table, on the way to doing something else, and before I know what is happening, the little men call out to me to look at them. Now I am doomed, for once I start inspecting my troops, I can end up spending an hour just looking at them from every angle: left, right, aerial view, and best of all, getting down to my knees, at eye level to the table, where I can admire them. I am hopelessly captured in time now.

As the following pictures suggest, I am not the only one that has this problem. LOL!

Have you ever set up all of your toy soldiers on a table and then spent hours admiring them?
Me too.

The Don - Gettysburg with toy soldiers.

I can't identify this chap, but he is clearly enjoying his toy soldiers.

I am a grown-up now and a parent, but there is that little boy in me, who loves his toy soldiers, that will always be inside of me. He is never going to go away.

Sudan Campaign - The Battle of Kharti

An overview of the deployment of the Mahdist army.

Last evening I traveled north to Chez Protz to stage a Sudan battle using 54mm toy soldiers from my collection as well as from Bill's collection. We used a mix of William Britains' hollowcast figures, Alymer figures from Spain, Armies in Plastic, Trophy Miniatures, John Jenkins Designs, and the new Britains "War Along the Nile" figures.

It is fun to get all of the toy soldiers out of storage and onto the tabletop every once in awhile because they are fun to play with and they are simply so darn good looking. With 54mm and 60mm toy soldiers it is easy to take good looking game pictures because the large figures show off so nicely.

The scenario was a mash up of two different Sudan battles, the first one being the Battle of Toski in 1889 and the second one inspired by the Battle of Ferkit in 1896. Both battles featured the newly reorganized and retrained Egyptian army that was officered by British soldiers. Other than that, all of the troops were Egyptian and Sudanese regiments in the Egyptian army - thus there were no British forces present at the battles.

I thought that it would be a nice change of pace to have the Egyptian army fighting the Mahdist forces rather than another native bashing doled out by the British army in the Sudan.

Mafrica-Sudan Campaign Background

Our toy soldier campaign is being fought in a series of three battles, leading up to a grand battle at Omdurman. The Imperial army landed in Mafrica, at the mouth of the Begara River. The first battle saw the landing of British troops and their advance inland where they defeated, just barely, an army of Mahdists. Click on the link below to read Major General Pettygree's account of the first battle of the campaign.

First Campaign Battle Report

Following the Imperial victory at the Begara River landing,  Lt. Colonel Herbert Kitchener was ordered to take his Flying Column up the Begara River to Kharti and engage any hostiles that he might find.

We staged our game on a 6ft wide by 24ft long table, playing on the narrower verticle axis. One of the parallel side tables featured the blue waters of the Begara River. The Dervish occupied the town of Kharti, located along side the Begara River. This provided me with the opportunity to use one of my Trophy Miniatures river gunboats in the game, a first in our series of toy soldier Sudan games.

Nile River gunboat from Trophy Miniatures

Egyptian Army Deployment

Lt. Colonel Herbert Kitchener commanded a force that included three Egyptian and two Sudanese infantry regiments, a battery of Krupp guns, and three squadrons of Egyptian lancers. An Egyptian navy gunboat patroled the Begara River and secured the right flank of Kitchener's army.

Two regiments of Egyptian infantry in white coats formed the Imperial left wing.

A two-gun battery of Krupp cannon, manned by Egyptian artillerists, were deployed in the center.

The Sudanese X and XI Regiments held down the right flank of the Imperial Army, the Begara River on their right flank
these figures are Trophy Miniatures and the skirmishing figures are from Little Legion.

Three squadrons (12 figures per squadron) of Egyptian lancers formed a reserve behind the Egyptian infantry.
These are old Britains hollowcast figures that I repainted in acrylics. Others, purchased on eBay, were painted in gloss enamels. I then attached a wood base to all of the figures so that they would stand up on the tabletop.

The Mahdist Army Deployment at Ferkit

The Mahdist army was commanded by Emir Osman Azrak and seconded by Emir Hammuda. They occupied the town of Kharti on the Begara. They were taken by surprise by the Egyptian army and so in the early hours of the morning, the Mahdists streamed out of the town to attack the Egyptians.

Emir Osman Azrak (wearing a red kaftan and holding a leather shield) observes the approaching infidels from his vantage point atop a mosque. His war drums beat out the signal to assemble the army and attack.

There was a large horde of Beja and Haddendowa warriors assembling on the Dervish right flank, while the cavalry and camelry of Emir Hammuda trotted forward, on the left flank, adjacent to the Begara River.

Emir Hammuda (mounted figure in the upper left corner) assembled his mounted horsemen
and camelry  outside of the town.

The advance guard of Beja warriors begin to move forward on the right wing of the army.

A tide of Haddendowa warriors emerge from the village, behind the advance guard.

The Mahdist army is on the move!

The Egyptians shake their regiments out into a battle line and halt to receive the  Dervish advance.

British Major Simon B. Buckner gets his Egyptian regiments into line.
Lancers form a reserve.

The Beja are the first to emerge from the pond reeds and charge.

They must be very brave to rush into a steady line of Egyptians.

Here is the view from the Egyptian ranks.

The Hadendowa quickly close up with the Beja to form a large mass of charging natives.

Lt. Colonel Kitchener's presence steadies the troops as they prepare for the attack.
Egyptian artillery crew prolong their Krupp guns forward to get around a tangle of rocks that were blocking their line of sight.

The Egyptian Lancers dress their lines and wait in reserve.

Dale Pasha (left), the Egyptian commander, and Osman Wil-Yum, the Dervish commander, prepare for the epic clash of the battle.

The Beja and Haddendowa combine into one mass and strike the center of the Egyptian battle line.
The Egyptian soldiers prove to be a bit jittery (wouldn't you?) and so their opening volley was not very effective.

Close up view of hand to hand combat. The Dervish figures are Armies In Plastic figures, nicely painted I might add.
The Egyptians are Trophy Miniatures.

Dale Pasha watches his Egyptians get pushed back as the lose the melee, but fortunately they do not run away. He now sees the wisdom of having the cavalry on hand to ride to his rescue. Osman Wil-Yum adjusts his spectacles so that he can read the battle charts.

Kitchener orders the artillery to prolong to their left so that they can fire into the flank of the Dervish attack.

Meanwhile, on the Begara River, the gunboat has just turned around after making a pass at the Dervish troops along the river. The boat will now make the slower push upstream against the current and take more pot shots at the Dervish ashore. The boat is armed with a 7-pound screw gun (aft) and a Maxim machine gun (fore).

Major Charles Dundee's Sudanese brigade clears the broken ground in the center. The Beja riflemen were using this ground to  snipe at the artillery. They are soon rooted out of the ground.

It is 9:30 PM and so Emir Hammuda decides to turn around and ride back to Kharti.

Emire Osman Azrak decides that the Imperials have too much firepower to be stopped. So he recalls his infantry back to the town. Actually, it is 9:30PM on a week night, so we traditionally call an end to the battle at that time. The battle is over.

Here is a view of a section of the Mafrica Campaign Map, indicating the point of the Imperial army landing and the subsequent trek of the Flying Column downriver to Kharti.

Whilst the Dervish pushed back a portion of the Egyptian army from a melee, they did not have enough warriors on hand to exploit their local success. With the Sudanese Brigade largely unengaged and three squadrons of lancers waiting in the wings, Emir Wil-Yum decided that the Mahdists would have eventually fallen back into the town. (It was 9:30PM and we always call an end to our week night games at this time so that everyone can go home at a decent hour).

Lt. Colonel Kitchener, following the advice of the late Peter Young to honor your victories with monuments and medals, will be awarding plenty of medals to his troops after the battle of Kharti.

Medals will be handed out to the victorious Egyptian army.

The Third and Final Campaign Battle

Sometime in early 2020 we will convene at the same location to stage the final battle of the campaign. The Imperial Army has won two battles so now the road to Omdurman is wide open. The Khalifa will gather in all of his troops from various outposts to confront the Imperialists' threat to his capital. This will be a grand battle featuring hundreds of 54mm toy soldiers on the tables.

Bill and I discussed the outcome of this evening's battle and agreed that there were not enough Dervish on hand to give them an opportunity to win the battle. They had nearly a 2:1 advantage in numbers, but we decided that a 3:1 advantage is really what the native forces need to make a battle of it with the Imperials. So for Omdurman, we will see how many Mahdist troops we have and then divide that number by three to calculate the total number of Imperial troops to use in the game. Plus a couple of river gunboats, of course.

If you enjoyed this report then please feel free to leave any comments at the bottom of the page. We would like to hear what you think.

mmm

Charge of the 21st Lancers Redux

Painting by Stanley Berkeley (Source: ASKB)

The Charge recreated with Trophy Miniatures toy soldiers.

I thought that it would be interesting to compare a famous painting of the charge of the 21st Lancers at Omdurman to the portrayal that I recently presented with toy soldiers.

Some New Toys Arrive

I was fortunate to acquire this Nile River gunboat, suitable for 54mm toy soldiers, just in time for our upcoming Sudan toy soldier game in September 2019. Kitchener employed a fleet of shallow draft gunboats to support his advance up the Nile towards Omdurman. The fleet included older paddle wheel boats as well as some new twin-screw driven boats. There were ten such boats in the fleet, one of which, the flagship boat Sultana, blew up before the campaign even got started.

The gunboats were equipped with artillery pieces and Maxim and Nodenfelt machine guns. My model is armed with a Maxim MG and is manned by Camel Corps gunners. Some brown-uniformed Soudanese infantry also provide protection to the boat.

Nile River Gunboat recently added to the 54mm toy soldier fleet.

The Egyptian-Soudanese regiments form a battle line and await the outcome of the cavalry charge by the 21st Lancers.

September's Game: The Battle of Firket (June 7, 1896)

For our first toy soldier game of the season, I chose to run a battle loosely based on the Battle of Firket. The unique aspect of this battle is that the Imperial army was made up of mostly Egyptian infantry and cavalry. The Egyptians were officered and trained by British officers and NCOs. I thought that it would be more interesting to have a battle comprised of only non-British troops. The army was commanded by Major General Sir Herbert Kitchener

We will have a brigade of Egyptian infantry and one of Soudanese infantry, supported by a regiment of Egyptian lancers and two light Krupp cannon The gunboat will provide additional support with its Maxim MGs. Each infantry brigade has approximately 60 figures and the three squadrons of cavalry will number 36 horse in total. With the artillery crew and other support troops, the Egyptian army will have approximately 170 figures.

While the Egytian army outnumbered the Dervish by 9,000 men to about 3,000 men , our game will have more even numbers of Mahdists so as to make more of a game of it. So I am thinking of having 250 to 350 Mahdists in the game.

Comments Make the Blog World Go Around

Long time bloggers (like me) enjoy posting articles and content, otherwise why would we do it? I've been blogging since about 2007 and there are no signs of letting up. The one thing that puzzles me though, is the lack of comments that this blog draws. I read other blogs and see another blogger saying something like "I walked my dog today" and he garners 20 comments, and yet I am lucky to get 3 to 5 comments in most cases.

Comments and feedback are very much appreciated by bloggers and they, at least for me, make us feel like there are actually people out there who read and are interested in the content that I post several times each week. If a person can get so excited about dog walks and gardening on wargaming blogs, wouldn't you think that wargame articles and some military history would also merit comment?

It puzzles me, is all that I can say.