Schlacht bei Ritterbruch - Part I

Initial set up of forces at Ritterbruch, with the French on the left and the Prussians on the right. The Preecewald woods is seen off in the distance and beyond that is the Monument Hill where we place our victory columns from battle past.

On Saturday March 8, 2008 Der Alte Fritz and his Prussian army travelled north to Brown Deer, Wisconsin and the Chateau de Chevert to fight our first large battle of 1758/2008. The game was played using Bill Protz's Batailles de l'Ancien Regime, or "BAR" for short. The French had a slight numerical advantage of +5% due to their recent victory at the Muhlenberg in January. In our campaign, the victor of a battle gets a +5% advantage in his next battle, and if he wins that one, a +10% advantage in the subsequent battle. We had 8 players with approximately 900 infantry points and 450 to 500 cavalry points per side. The game lasted 5 hours and ended with a definite victory for the Prussians.

The Layout of the Land: Please refer to the picture above for a general overview of the battlefield. All directions (left/center/right) in this battle report will be from the Prussian perspective. The French deployed on the left side of the table and the Prussians defended the right. The wooded Preecewald dominated the right flank of the table and beyond the woods there was a passageway or roadway that would allow either side to advance to the opponent's back table area. Moving any units onto the opponent's back table was worth 5 victory points. So this passageway had some strategic importance.

The center of the battlefield was completely open and quite conducive to maneuvering large amounts of infantry and cavalry. The center area contained two roads and the exit points of the roads were worth 5 victory points each. So a strong push into the center could result in a victory.

The left center was also open without any significant terrain features. In the foreground of the above picture one can see a windmill. This feature anchored the left wing of the Prussian battle line. Behind the windmill, on the back table, was the town of Ritterstadt. Here the Prussians deployed a dragoon regiment, the Garde du Corps cuirassiers, and a battalion of the Guard infantry to hold down the flank.


The town of Ritterstadt on the back table. The two battalions of Guard infantry are on the left, and the Garde du Corps are on the right of the picture. In the background, elements of CR2 Prinz von Preussen cuirassiers are seen shifting over to the Prussian left to counter the growing French cavalry threat.

On the extreme left on an adjacent table, there was a causeway that led to the bridge across the Ritterbrucke river. The bridge was worth 5 victory points. As with the passageway on the far right, so too did the causeway lead to each sides back table area, where 5 victory points could be earned simply by placing a unit in that area.

Prussian Strategy: King Frederick knew that he was outnumbered and that he didn't have enough troops to cover the whole battle front. He reasoned that it would be difficult for the French to effect a break-through in the center, so the two roads (+5 points each) were probably safe. Just to be sure, the King set up a reserve of two 60-figure cuirassier regiments and two battalions of the Guard to use where needed. He placed his most experienced light infantry general (Jim Harms) on the right to contest the Preecewald and to hold the passageway. Harms (5 btns) and George Rust (4 btns plus access to the Guard infantry) were tasked with holding the middle and allowing the honors of attacking to go to the French. On the far left, Rob Oldenburg was given a strong task force of 4 battalions of infantry (including one elite and one grenadier battalion), 3 six-pounders and a regiment of dragoons. The King took personal command of the cavalry. He reasoned that the victory would be gained by holding the Prussian side of the table and capturing the 5 points at the Ritterbruch bridge. So Oldenburg's task force was the key to victory.

French Strategy: General Chevert (Bill Protz) seemed to have in mind a strong attack on the Prussian left flank, a holding action in the center, and the hope of a quick strike down the passageway beyond the Preecewald on the far Prussian right. The majority of the French and Austrian cavalry was deployed in the left sector of the table and Der Alte Fritz could see immediately that this was going to cause him some serious trouble.

The Great Cavalry Melee On the Left Flank


This is the unpleasant sight that Der Alte Fritz saw threatening his left flank. He only had two regiments of cavalry available to stop this looming hoard of French heavy cavalry.

Once the forces were set up on the table, Der Alte Fritz had a sinking feeling that it was going to be a long day. The Prussians were at a distinct disadvantage on their left. A mass of French cavalry were advancing towards the flank (112 French against 72 Prussian horse). If the French numbers prevailed, then the left most Prussian infantry brigade of von Rust would be caught in a vise with cavalry on its flank and 7 battalions (versus his 4 btns) to his front. Accordingly, Frederick began to send elements of CR2 cuirassiers (a 60 man regiment) to the left flank beyond the town of Ritterstadt. He could only hope that he would have enough time to even out the odds.


The melee begins and CR2 arrives in the nick of time. DR2 Jung Krakow dragoons can be seen at the top already engaged with the French Commissaire-Generale regiment of cuirassiers. The first 3 squadrons of the Gelbe Kurassiers (CR2) at the table edge, are actually in melee with the Saxon Rutowsky Cheveau-legers across the table gap. The remaining two squadrons of CRs can be seen arriving in support, while the Garde du Corp form a second cavalry line in the center. Note the checkerboard pattern of deployment providing lanes for cavalry to retire or rout without running down friendly forces.

The Saxon Rutowsky cheveau-legers (40 strong) pitched into the first three squadrons of CR2 (36 strong) and the first round of melee was a tie. Frederick fed the other two squadrons into the fight on the next round of melee and the weight of numbers caused the Saxons to fall back. The Gelbe Kurassiers followed up their attack and put the Saxons to flight, capturing their standard in the process.

To the left of CR2, the Prussian dragoon regiment Jung Krakow (DR2 - 36 figures) crossed swords with the French Commissaire-Generale regiment. The first round was a tie - both sides losing the same number of figures. Thus, the melee continued into the next turn. Both sides threw in their second line of cavalry. The French Regiment Royale (36 figures) joined the fray as did the Prussian Garde du Corps (CR13 - 36 figures). This melee lasted a couple of turns before the Prussians prevailed, causing the both French regiments to rout back 24 inches. All of the Prussian cavalry pursued and drove the French off the field, capturing the standards of both the Commissaire-Generale and the Regiment Royale.


The French cavalry have been driven off the field, but wait! Now the Austrians are joining the melee, with similar sad results for them.

All of the Prussian cavalry were now disordered from the series of melees. In BAR, you can remain stationary for one turn to get back into good order. In the picture above, you can see a squadron of the Jung Krakow dragoons resting while their comrades fight off the Austrian curassiers (on the right) and the hussars (on the left in the background). The Austrian cavalry commander wheeled his 30 figure Modena cuirassier regiment and charged into the disordered Gelbe Kurassiers. This seemed like a good move, attacking disordered cavalry, but the Prussians were on a roll, literally, as their dice were hot and given them an advantage to go along with their superior numbers. The Modena cuirassiers were pushed back. This enabled Frederick to throw in a fresh squadron of dragoons and another squadron of the newly arrived Black Hussars (HR5). Again, weight of numbers favored the Prussians and the Austrians were cut down and their flag was captured.


The fateful end of the Austrian Modena cuirassiers at the hands of the mass of Prussian cavalry. Weight of numbers and fresh squadrons in reserve proved to be the difference.

The last remaining Austrian cavalry unit on the field (in this sector at least), was a regiment of hussars that stood little chance of stopping the Prussian Garde du Corps (seen in the picture above fighting the hussars). Had the game continued past this point, the Austrian hussars would have shared the fate of the rest of the allied cavalry.


The Garde du Corps close in for the kill against the Austrian hussars. Light cavalry can only fight two ranks deep compared to three ranks for dragoons and cuirassiers. So the Austrians were at a disadvantage in this melee. Note that the Garde du Corps have now crossed all the way across the center table and will have some juicy infantry targets to deal with after the hussars have been driven off.

I don't play the cavalry commander very often, being more comfortable with the infantry, so the outcome of this grand cavalry melee surprised me. My opponent, Bill Protz, is probably the best cavalry commander in our regular wargame group. He has beaten me like a drum in all previous cavalry battles, so when I saw the initial deployment on our left, I thought that perhaps our Prussian goose was cooked. Fortunately, I was able to redeploy the 60 figure CR2 regiment on the cavalry field and equalize the numbers. Watching Bill's tactics in many a game past, I learned the importance of having a second line of cavalry reserves that one can feed into the existing melees to their front. Weight of numbers and fresh troopers make a world of difference.

As for the Garde du Corps, they were "veritable Caesars" as Frederick the Great might have said. They captured two standards, drove off three enemy cavalry regiments and were well positioned to threaten the French infantry flank by the end of the game. As a consequence, I awarded a battle honor to the Garde du Corps as well as one for CR2 to honor their exploits in the battle.

I will continue the story of the infantry battle in the center and in the Preecewald on the far right tomorrow.

Frederick's Garde du Corps

Der Alte Fritz greets his Garde du Corps cuirassier regiment (CR13) after the victory over the French at Ritterbruck. Elite Miniatures cuirassiers, Foundry general in red galarock and Foundry standard bearer. Frederick figure is from the Suren range and his escort are Staddens. Building by Herb Gundt and all figure painting by Der Alte Fritz.

This afternoon we fought the Battle of Ritterbruck, March 8, 1758 between the army of Lt. General Chevert and the King of Prussia, Frederick II. It was a spectacular victory for the Prussians who seemed to have come of age with respect to their cavalry arm. The Garde du Corps covered itself in glory, having captured two standards from the French Commissaire-General and Royale regiments of heavy cavalry. The Garde du Corps also won three melees and was driving the French cavalry off the field by the end of the game.

The Prinz von Pruessen (CR2) or Gelbe Reiter regiment also captured the standards of the Rutowsky cheveauleger regiment and the that of the Austrian Modena cuirassier regiment. The Jung-Krakow dragoons (DR2) and the Black Hussars (HR5) also made key contributions to victory over the vaunted French cavalry. The infantry arm covered itself in glory as well, particularly the Alt-Braunschweig (IR5) regiment, which drove off two battalions of the enemy infantry, captured a 6-pound cannon, and drove off a squadron each of hussars and light lancers.

King Frederick congratulates the commander of the Garde du Corps after the battle.

Today's battle brings to mind the scene in the movie "Patton" where, after defeating Rommel in a battle in North Africa, George C. Scott (as Patton) exclaims, "Damn it Rommel, I read your book!" In much the same manner, I feel that after watching Monsieur Chevert run circles around the Prussian cavalry in so many of our battles, that enough lessons were learned that we were finally able to beat the vaunted French cavalry at their own game. I apologize if this comes across as bragging, for that is not my intent, and I have the utmost respect for Bill Protz and his cavalry acumen. It is just that turning the tables on Bill, using his own tactics, proved successful beyond all imagination.

The Garde du Corps

My own version of the Prussian Garde du Corps, organized into 3 squadrons, consist largely of figures from Elite Miniatures SYW Prussian range. These are big 30mm figures, even though they are advertised as 28mm figures. As such, they are a perfect fit for the 30mm Surens and Staddens that we use in our SYW armies. The regiment has a unique Roman-style vexilum banner as shown in the picture below. As far as I know, the only company that makes this figure is Wargames Foundry. They no longer list it in their range, but if you give Bernard at the Foundry a call, he will probably be able to find a command pack for you. The Foundry command group includes an officer wearing the spectacular formal galarock that was worn for special occaisons. It was too nice not to include it my regiment, so I painted the figure and added it to the command stand as shown below. I placed the Foundry figures on Elite Miniatures horses so as to give the appearance of being equal in size. Elite horses are a bit larger than Foundry horses, which appear to small to my eye, relative to the size of the figures. I think that they look much better atop the Elite horse. I had to place some epoxy putty underneath the saddle of the Foundry rider so that he would sit more firmly on the Elite horse.

Garde du Corps command group. The officer in red coat and the standard bearer are Foundry figures. The other figures are from Elite Miniatures.

The Garde du Corps was created by Frederick II when he became king in 1740. It was originally one squadron strong with 160 riders. Its function was literally to provide an escort for the king and guard his life. The King added two more squadrons in 1756 just prior to the start of the Seven Years War. It was distinguished at Rossbach, Zorndorf and Hochirch and was usually brigaded with the Gensdarmes (CR10) cuirassier regiment. Its station was at Charlottenburg so that the unit could provide escort and protection to the king at his palace in Potsdam. The regiment also held a high level of social prestige.

The Garde du Corps received its baptism of fire in the War of Austrian Succession, at Hohenfriedberg in 1745, where it fought on the right flank against the Saxon cavalry at Pilgramshain. They helped put the Saxon cavalry to flight and smashed two Saxon grenadier battalions, capturing seven standards and two flags in the process.


All three squadrons of the Garde du Corps. Click on this and the other pictures to enlarge.

One final story about the regiment relates to its performance at Zorndorf in 1758. It was part of Seydlitz's attack from the Prussian left flank that day and augmented by the DR4 dragoon regiment. They attacked across the Zabern Grund and into the Russian cavalry, smashing them and breaking five battalions of infantry and capturing fifteen guns and five flags. Captain von Wacknitz shouted out, "a battle must not be considered lost until the Garde du Corps attacks!" The regiment reformed and attacked once again on the right wing, stopping Demiku's Russian cavalry on that wing as well.

After the battle, Seydlitz reported to Frederick that, "the Garde du Corps under Captain Wacknitz has done wonders!" and so Frederick promoted Wacknitz to Lieutenant Colonel on the spot. I daresay that its tabletop version performed similar wonders at Ritterbruck today. I will probably write up an after action report and post the pictures tomorrow evening.

30,000 Visits To Hesse Seewaldt

Minden Miniatures are so gorgeous that this picture is worth a second look. Unfortunately, they won't be engaged in the epic battle against Gallia tomorrow because I haven't painted the standard bearers yet. This is just half of a 60 figure battalion of IR34.

The Alte Fritz Journal reached a milestone of sorts when it topped 30,000 cumulative visitors to the site on March 4th, 2008. I am honored that so many of you take the time to pay regular visits to this site and want to thank everyone for helping to make this endeavor so much fun.

I spent a good part of the evening breaking Der Alte Fritz's Number One Rule of Wargaming: never, ever base or paint figures for a game the night before said game. I am traveling north to Brown Deer, Wisconsin to play in a BAR wargame on Saturday and it occurred to me that I had not terrained the bases of the third squadron of the Prussian Garde du Corps. Arrgghhh!!! Well, I just had to spackle the bases and add a bit of flock and sisal grass to make them presentable for the game. Besides, the prospect of an upcoming game concentrates one's mind wonderfully and I finished the basing in less than an hour. So the Garde du Corps, two Prussian command stands, and the Stadden AWI artillery crew are now based and ready to make life difficult for the Gallians.

I couldn't seem to stop myself at that point. I had a Foundry cuirassier officer in his galarock (coat) and I just had to have one of these fellows in the Garde du Corps. So I painted him and based him as well. Pictures tomorrow, I hope. I plugged in the digital camera so that the battery is recharged and I'm looking forward to a fun game and the taking of lots of pictures.

Austrian Bits & Pieces

Austrian Field Marshal's Camp Tent - constructed by Herb Gundt

With a little bit of reluctance, I have started to work down that pile of lead that will eventually become my Seven Years War Austrian Army. I use the word "reluctance" only because my painting passions lie on the dark blue spectrum of the color wheel. I can paint Prussians all day with the greatest of ease and never get bored, but Austrians take a bit of gumption and a great heaping helping of "need". When one has 240 Prussian cavalry and only 72 Austrian horse, then there is trouble brewing in Brandenburg. The solution is to find some inspiration and break out the pots of white paint.

Tenting Tonight On The Old Campground: Fortunately for Der Alte Fritz, Mr. Herb Gundt came to the rescue with an inspiring assortment of camp tents and command tents for my Austrian (and Prussian - come on now, you didn't think that I would ignore the Prussians when it comes to the terrain goodies, now did you?) army. The inspiration for all of this goes back many years ago to an article in "Wargames Illustrated" by a fellow named Peter Duckworth. He described how he made his own encampment of tents and I thought that it would look pretty cool on my table top one day. Then fast forward to last year and a viewing of one of Phil Olley's spectacular tabletop layouts, complete with command tents for both sides and, simply put, I knew that it was time to go a tenting. I talked to Herb, outlined my ideas for command tents and tents for the rank and file, and the end results are posted here today. I think that Herb has outdone himself once again.

Prussian Commander's Tent by Herb Gundt


Generic camp group tents for the rank and file, by Herb Gundt

I am already conjuring up a number of uses and scenarios for these tents. The camp group could used as a back drop for a Soor scenario in 1745, where the Austrians nearly caught Frederick napping, so to speak, in his encampment. Fritz attacked in the usual manner and won in the usual manner, but methinks that he should have kept this little episode fresh in his memory. It would have come in handy at Hochirk in 1758. The tents could also come in handy as a target for a Croat raiding party or some similar action. Now, all I need is a field bakery.

Austrian Reinforcements: Thus inspired, I searched through the dark and deep cavern know as The Closet O' Lead and fished out a squadron of Crusader SYW Austrian cuirassiers that I had primed about a year or so ago. I started slapping paint on the unit thursday evening and finished off the 12 figure squardron on Sunday afternoon. I'm sorry that I don't have the pictures at this time, maybe tomorrow. I really don't enjoy painting cavalry as much as infantry because each piece is really two miniatures - the rider and the horse. Experience has tought me that painting cavalry in batches of 10 or 12 figures makes the project more palatable. The prospect of having to paint 36, much less a whole regiment of 60 riders, is too much for me, but breaking it down into bite sized morsels gives me a psychological boost.

The new squadron will bring my Birkenfeld (CR23) regiment up to 36 figures. I would gladly paint some more, but I have run out of cuirassier lead and I'm trying to stick to my pledge to paint more of the lead that I already have, rather than buying more new figures. This means that the next couple of squadrons will be Austrian dragoons. I have 48 of these fellows, also from Crusader, and I'm thinking that 12 will beef up my Saint Ignon dragoon regiment to 36 figures, while the next 36 might become the Saxe-Gotha Dragoon regiment in bright red coats and light blue facings - a truly colorful combination that ought to look splendid on the table top. Following that, I have 36 Austrian Hussars, also from Crusader. As you might guess, I like the Crusader cavalry a whole lot. Mark Simms' castings are easy to paint and they have terrific faces, so they are a breeze to paint. They are moderately chunky so they look like they fit in with my larger 30mm Suren and Elite cavalry figures. Yet they are not too chunky or cartoonish.

February Painting Update: Let's review the painting production for the month of February. I accumulated 81 Olley Painting Points in February, which is right on target with my 60 to 70 points goal for each month.

1806 Project (46 points)
30 Prussian Grenadiers (IR13) - 30 points
10 Prussian Foot Artillery Crew - 10 points
2 Prussian 6 pounders - 2 points
2 Prussian mounted officers (2 points each) - 4 points

SYW Project (35 points)
12 Prussian Garde du Corps (Elite Miniatures) - 24 points total
2 Prussian brigadier generals, mounted - 4 points total
6 Prussian Artillery crew (Stadden AWI artillery crew) - 6 points
1 Prussian 7 pound howitzer (Berlin Zinfiguren) - 1 point

By the way, when I painted the 1806 Prussian 6 pounders from Elite Miniatures, I noticed that these castings were quite a bit larger than the original Napoleonic 6 pounders that he made. The newer versions are really, really nice. For those of you looking for larger cannons to use with your large 28mm and 30mm cannon models, these are worth a close look. Highly recommended, as Hal Thinglum would say!

The 1806 Project will be on hold for a couple of months as I get back to work on some things that I need for SYW convention games at the Seven Years War Association convention at the end of March in South Bend, Indiana; at Little Wars in April; and at Historicon in July. I also have my first SYW game of 2008 next weekend in Brown Deer, Wisconsin at the home of Monsieur Protz, le come de Brown Deer. Der Alte Fritz has a busy campaigning season ahead of him, it would seem.

Der Alte Fritz is back

French Commissaire-General heavy cavalry from the collection of Bill Protz (Elite Miniatures). They concentrate one's mind wonderfully.

I have felt a bit blogged out after the sudden flurry of Sudan activity a couple of weeks ago and so I've been taking a bit of a respite from the hobby to recharge my batteries, spend more time with the family, and generally try to get things back into balance. Another factor to my malaise may have been the extensive amount of 1806 Napoleonics that I have been painting during the first two months of 2008. They look nice, but Napoleonics seem to drain one's spirit away. Getting back to painting SYW figures ought to do wonders to improving my outlook.

We received another six inches of snow here in Hesse Seewald. I think that the latest delivery brings our total up to 60 inches for the year. I cannot wait until Spring! The usual remedy for cabin fever is to retreat to the basement and paint myself into a stupor until the snows begin to melt and the weather becomes tolerable.

To that end, I recently completed another 12 figure squadron of the Garde du Corps (CR13) in the Prussian army. The figures are Elite Miniatures Prussian cuirassiers and include one Foundry standard bearer carrying the Garde du Corps' distinctive vexilum style banner. I will post some pictures within a few days, after I get the bases terrained. They do look nice though and they are strong enough to handle that hoard of French cavalry pictured at the top of this page.

It now looks like I will be able to attend the Seven Years War Association Convention on both the friday and the saturday game days. Therefore, I have decided to run my own BAR game on friday, featuring my Austrians against my Prussians in a stylized version of the battle of Reichenberg in 1757. The prospect of a game may be the tonic for finally getting some more Austrian cavalry added to the army. I primed and black coated 12 Crusader Austrain cuirassiers this evening and should have these figures done in about a week (it helps to have the weekend coming up with respect to painting time).

I have another game coming up on March 8, 2008 at Brown Deer, WI - Chez Protz, if you will, and I suspect that the Garde du Corps will see some serious action in that game. I also ordered 36 Stadden AWI artillery crew - or enough for 5 or 6 crews. I intend to gradually replace my Foundry Prussian artillery crew with the taller and sleeker Stadden figures. Please refer to my earlier posting about the Stadden figures, back in January, for pictures of the same.

Sudan Battle Report

The initial table set-up, before the arrival of the Dervish.

February 9, 1884 (Eastern Sudan, near Tofrek). Mr. Henry Newton, correspondant for The London Times, reports of a bloody action in the eastern Sudan between Her Majesty's forces under the command of Lt. General Sir Albert Ponsonby, of the Third Column, and the Dervish army of Osman Digna. Our correspondant reports that the second (Colonel Pettygree) and third (Colonel Atherton) brigades of the Third Column were on the march to relieve the battered first brigade (Colonel Wilmington-Smythe), encamped at the oasis of Dur Es El Bubba.


Wilmington-Smythe's (Randy Frye) brigade in their zariba near the oasis.

Colonel Wilmington-Smyth's brigade had been under attack for three days, and its brigade strength was down to the equivalent of two regiments (1 Egyptian and the Royal Lancashires). Wilmington-Smythe had constructed a stout zariba near the oasis, and had successfully fought off numerous Dervish attacks, but ammunition was running low and the brigade could not hold out much longer. Accordingly, Lt. General Ponsonby despatched the second and third brigades to relieve the Wilmington-Smythe expedition. The relief column traveled light, without artillery or Gardner guns and included four regiments of Her Majesty's infantry and two Egyptian regiments. Each brigade had two squadrons of cavarly attached for scouting purposes.

Report of Colonel Pettygree's Advance Brigade


Second Brigade commanded by Colonel Pettygree (Bill Protz) deploys in the center third of the table to start the game.

Colonel Pettygree's orders read "You will take your command and proceed to the Oasis of Dur Es El Bubba and support the 1st Brigade in control of the oasis. Heavy enemy forces are known to be in the area. Colonel Atherton's third brigade will march behind you in support." He had a regiment of the Black Watch, the Royal Berkshires , an Egyptian battalion, and 2 squadrons of the 10th Hussars.


Dervish cavalry attack the Third Brigade of Colonel Atherton (Alte Fritz himself), which is providing the rear guard for the relief column. Note how some of the Bengal Lancers have taken cover inside the square.

The third column under the command of Colonel Atherton (me) was bringing up the rear, several miles behind the second brigade of Colonel Pettygree. Atherton's force consisted of the Gordon Highlanders, the Royal Marines, and the 2nd Sudanese Regiment, plus two squadrons of Bengal Lancers. Almost immediately, a rub of 400 Dervish riflemen popped out from behind a ridge in an attempt to ambush Atherton's column. Another 200 Dervish cavalry also attack Atherton, who quickly formed a brigade square. Fortunately, an intervening wadi held up the Dervish cavalry in time for the brigade to form square. A couple of volleys at medium range drove off the Dervish horsemen, while their companions on foot declined to advance on the strong square.


Pettygree's brigade advance towards the zariba. The wadi to his front would cause considerable difficulties for the British as they tried to cross it. Note the 10th Hussars out on the flank trying to spring any ambushes. Dervish could pop up anywhere there was a terrain feature, such as a collection of scrub, a wadi, or a small ridge. The referee diced for a reaction on each turn to see if any Dervish appeared.


Pettygree' s brigade attempted to negotiate a particularly wide and deep wadi to their front. As the Egyptian regiment cleared the wadi, it was attacked by two units of Dervish: one a rifle armed mob, and the other a ferocious band of Hadendowa Fuzzies. These units were successfully driven off by rifle fire. Just when things began to look promising, anothe band of Camelry charged the Egptians, and this gave encouragement to the Fuzzies, who turned around and decided to join in on the attack.

Pettygree's second melee in two turns -- a combined group of Dervish foot and Camelry charge across the wadi, where they are repulsed by the Egyptians and the supporting Black Watch regiment.

The Black Watch moved up to the rim of the wadi and lent their support to the Egyptians' defense, and this provided sufficient firepower to fend off the second attack. On Pettygree's left flank, the 10th Hussars flushed another band of Hadendowa from the scrub and drove them off. This band would later join up with another Dervish unit and attack Wilmington-Smythe's zariba.

Two Dervish mobs link up together and head for the nearest enemy (Wilmington-Smythe's brigade at the oasis). Often the Dervish will not attack, but instead roll a reaction of "join the nearest friend" (which they are doing above) or "shadow the enemy outside of rifle range".

So far so good, thought Colonel Pettygree. He had successfully driven off two major attacks to his front, had negotiated across the difficult wadi, and now Wilmington-Smythe's brigade was clearly visible to his front. It began to look like the mission would be accomplished. It seemed like everytime Colonel Pettygree opened his mouth and declared that everything was going all tickety-boo, something dire would happen to his brigade. The other British commanders strongly advised Pettygree not to opine on the state of affairs for awhile. Things were not all right, for now another band of Fuzzies appeared at the rear of Pettygree's brigade. Fortunately, the Royal Berkshires were deployed in the rear of the brigade to handle such an attack from the rear.

Colonel Pettygree's third major melee. The Royal Berkshires are trapped on the wrong side of the big wadi, with no support available from the rest of the brigade, which has already crossed the terrain hazzard.

The Berkshires had a rough go of it, having to fend off a mob of 800 Fuzzies on their own. A squadron of the 10th Hussars rode over to help, but even so, the Berkshires lost almost half of their regiment fighting off the Fuzzies. In the Gilder Sudan rules, the Imperialist troops have a relatively easy time fending off any attacks. But if they don't win the first round of melee (i.e. score more casualties on the enemy than they receive) then the odds begin to favor the Dervish. During the first round of melee, only those figures in the front rank can fight. In the second round, the Imperial troops can fight with both ranks, but the Dervish get to fight with all of their troops. So the weight of numbers favors the Dervish after the first round. As the Berkshires found out, you must defeat Fuzzy right away or else he can really ruin your day.

After this attack from the rear was repulsed, Colonel Pettygree advanced the Black Watch towards the zariba, while the Egyptian regiment hastened the flight of the Dervish with a steady advance. This would prove to be as far as Pettygree could advance before Wilmington-Smythe met his fate.

Atherton's 3rd Brigade - Rear Guard

Colonel Atherton's rear guard had a few anxious moments at the beginning of the battle, what with the sudden appearance of Dervish to his front whilst the brigade was still in column. Thereafter, the rear guard advanced at a tortoise-like pace in brigade square (the square can move at line formation speed of 6-inches, whereas changing into column (9-0nches) costs you half a movement rate, so it was almost better to continue the advance in square rather than waste a turn changing formation. That and the fact that the square was impervious to attack were considerations that crossed Atherton's mind.

The Bengal Lancers were sent out to the left flank on a scouting mission and they soon ran into a hoard of Hadendowa on the charge. It looked like it was curtains for the Lancers, but miraculously, they won the first round of the melee and the reaction result for the Fuzzies was to withdraw for three turns. Thank you very much.


It looks worse than it actually was. The Bengal Lancers drove off the Hadendowa with considerable ease.

The remainder of Atherton's day was smooth sailiing. Once the Fuzzie attack on the left was stopped, he broke from square and sent the 2nd Sudanese regiment off to the left to support the Bengal Lancers and cover the rest of the brigades crossing of a small wadi to his front. A considerable hoard of Dervish spearmen and riflemen were lurking across the wadi, out of small arms range. The Royal Marines were the first to cross, covered by the Gordans on their right and the Sudanese on their left. Once the Marines were on the other side of the wadi, the Gordons crossed and deployed atop a small ridge on the right flank. The Gordons realized that the Dervish to their front were armed with rifles, so they fell back a few paces behind the crest of the ridge until they could advance in unison with the Royal Marines. Then, two British regiments could concentrate their fire on the one rifle armed Dervish hoard. This proved to be an effective tactic as the combined fire of the two regiments drove off the threat. Atherton faced no more difficulties for the remainder of the day. One never knows what to expect in the sands of the Sudan. Sometimes it's a tough day, and other days it's a piece of cake.

The Attack on Wilmington-Smythe's Zariba

Colonel Wilmington-Smythe seemed to be leading a rather charmed life on this day. He could hear the sound of rifle fire to the south and the west, indicating that the relief column was on its way as promised. He continued to peer at the growing masses of hostiles around three sides of his zariba.


A band of 600 Hadendowa in "shadow mode" watched the zariba for most of the game.

Each turn the referee would roll dice to see if any Dervish would enter the table. If the results of the die roll were positive, then another roll (odd or even on a D6 die) would determine which side of the table received the reinforcements. Then a final die roll determined which of the three sectors of the table the Dervish would appear. After that, all Dervish units on the table took a reaction roll to see what they would do on that turn. Results can vary from "go to high ground", "seek nearest friendly unit", "shadow the enemy" or "charge". A different table is used, depending on the relative strenght of the Dervish unit to any enemy in sight. The fact that Wilmington-Smythe's brigade tended to outnumber the individual Dervish units, and the fact that he was in a "prepared cover" defense, also reduced the odds of a Dervish attack on the zariba. Eventually, the Dervish forces would build up to the point where the forces were in their favor, thereby improving their odds of charging.

Towards the end of the alloted game time, the referee (Keith Leidy) began to put larger and larger units on the table near the zariba, so that we could see what would happen. Colonel W-S (Randy Frey) didn't seem to mind considering that he didn't have much to do throughout the game. So he was a good sport about all of this.


The Dervish forces build up around the oasis. You can see the forward elements of Colonel Pettygree's relief column in the upper left clump of trees. Atherton's rear guard is not even in sight.

Wilmington-Smythe peered through his binoculars one more time and exclaimed, "oh my goodness, they are on the move!" The bugles were sounded and all along the line the sargeants barked out orders to their platoons.


"We are doomed!" cried out one of the subalterns as 1200 Dervish close in on the Egyptian half of the zariba. Another hoard to the right also advance. When one unit charges, all units in Shadowing mode also charge. The Black Watch can only look on helplessly.

1,000 Hadendowa charge the zariba. When one goes, they all go.

All of the Dervish close in on the zariba. You thought I was kidding when I said that they ALL go in. A very stirring sight to behold.

At this point, there were more Dervish on the table than I had ever seen in my life, and they were all heading for Randy (Wilmington-Smythe). I could hear a distinguishable "gulp" eminating from Colonel W-S's throat. "Chin up old bean, stand fast and all that," was the best advice that I could think to offer him. Just win the first round of the melee and the rest is a piece of cake. That's easy for me to say.


The Lancashires hold up their end of the deal by repulsing all of the Dervish attacks on the west side of the square. The Egyptians, on the other hand, faced overwhelming odds and couldn't drive off the attack on their side. They were doomed.

The Egyptian side of the square did their best to repel the massive Dervish attack. Each section of the regiment won their part of the melee by inflicting higher casualties on the enemy. Unfortunately, the two sections of Dervish rolled a "4" and a "9" on the reaction chart. These were the only possible outcomes out of 12 that would result in a "continue to melee" result.

The next round of the melee whittled the Egyptians down considerably as now the Dervish could add in more numbers to the fight. We stopped the game at this point, because the end result was inevitable. In the Gilder Sudan rules, the melee continues until there is no more melee. That means that once the Egyptians were chopped up, the likely reaction result would be continue to charge into the Lancashires inside the zariba. They would have no opportunity to turn and face the charging Dervish, and so they too would be chopped to pieces. Pettygree's Black Watch could only standby and watch and wait for the melee to end, as the firing phase comes after the melees are completed.

Dispatch to the London Times

Her Majesty's Government regrets to inform the public that a brigade of Her Imperial forces was wiped out at the Oasis Dur Es El Bubba on February 9, 1884 in eastern Sudan. A relief column, under the command of Lt. General Ponsonby attempted to fight its way through to secour the brigade of British and Egyptian forces, commanded by Colonel Wilmington-Smythe, late of Her Majesty's Royal Lancashire Regiment. Ponsonby's column retreated to the British fort at Tofrek once it became apparent that Wilmington-Smythe's brigade had been anilhilated by some 10,000 Dervish


9th Bengal Lancers from Peter Gilder's collection. Note how he painted the lances to resemble bamboo.

Dervish Camelry- Connoisseru figures painted by Peter Gilder


A close-up shot of a Dervish stand. Each stand represents 10 figures (or 100 men), but Peter Gilder often put 7 or 8 figures on the stand and added some rocks and brush to make a little diorama out of the stand. Regardless of the actual number of figures on the stand, it still represents 10 figures. This is a rather creative idea, I think.

Return to the Sudan

A British and Egyptian square stand fast behind their zariba as they attempt to hold off hoards of Dervish and Hadendawa aherants of The Mahdi. All figures are Connoisseur Miniatures from the collection of Keith Leidy.

On Saturday February 8, 2008 I had the pleasure of taking part in a Sudan game hosted by Keith Leidy. Messers Protz and Frye accompanied me in our trek through the desert as we sought to occupy and protect the oasis at Dur Es El Bubba. We had not played a Sudan game in over a year, so we all felt that it was high time to bring the figures out onto the table and give the Peter Gilder Sudan rules another workout. The rules worked smoothly and our memories of how to work through the "shadowing of the Imperial forces" and the melee procedures were sufficient to make the game run like clockwork.

One of the things that we discovered was that placing the Imperial troops behind prepared defenses (the zariba) made it difficult for the Mahdist forces to build up enough gumption for an attack. They spent a good part of the game "shadowing", i.e. staying within eyesight of the Imperial forces, but outside of small arms range. We also came to the realization that the Queen's forces had to win the first round of melee and repulse the Mahdists, a high probability, or face certain destruction in the subsequent rounds of melee against overwhelming numbers. The native forces fight until they are beaten in a given round of melee. There are no morale checks otherwise.

It was a fun game and quite a treat to be able to push Keith's excellent Connoisseur figures across the desert sands. I will present a detailed battle report tomorrow, but for now, here are a few taster pictures of the action.

Hadendowa warriors (Fuzzies) attack and surprise a squadron of Bengal Lancers. The Lancers prevailed, amazingly enough!


Der Alte Fritz's brigade square forms up to fend off a Dervish cavalry attack early in the game.


A close up picture of the Dervish Emir, depicting the modelling skills of the late Peter Gilder, who sculpted, painted and based the figures. An interesting use of terrain materials.

As always, please click on the pictures for the enlarged view of these fabulous figures. And drop on in tomorrow to read the after action report.