Easter game - the battle of El-Teb (sort of)

This Easter we dusted off the Colonials and did a game based on the Sudanese battle of El-Teb from 1884. 

In our version the Imperial forces first attacked dug-in Mahdists who were protecting a ridge-line, attempting to capture a decent defensive position. In part 2 they would roll for casualty recovery and then attempt to withstand a Mahdist counter attack in the position they held after part 1.

Part 1 - The British Attack

The Imperials attacked left-to-right with the Egyptians moving towards the wadi, the Camel Corps and Indians advancing very slowly on the ridge and the British forming a firing line where they stood. The Mahdists mirrored this with the Beja attacking quickest while the Nile Arabs waited in their defences and the Ansar advanced up the centre. 

Ansar holding the ridge

Beja in the eastern village

Camel Corps

Eygptians

Beja attack

In the centre, the initial attack fell heavily on the Indian troops. Their compatriots to either side tried to support them but two units of infatry quickly fell and the gun was forced to retreat. The Beja launched several spirited attacks against the British which caused losses but were unable to overrun them.   

Indians under pressure

The Egyptian advance reached the wadi and were surprised by a Mahdist attack that pushed back two infantry with significant damage. The Gendarmes and some infantry did manage the flank the wadi but was unable to attack the village.     

Egyptian Gendarmes

The Camel Corps had a fairly quiet time until the Lancers attacked to relive pressure on the line and gloriously suffered 75% losses before retiring back to the lines.   

British firing line

So at lunch the British / Indians had made no real gains and the Egyptians were forced to give-up their captured territory to avoid being isolated.  

Part 2 - The Mahdist Attack  

The Imperial forces formed two squares roughly on their original start line - the British / Indians on the right and the Camel Corps / Egyptians on the left. 

Egyptian / Camel Corps square

British square with the Indians just off shot

The attack on the British / Indians suffered mixed results. The Indians were again badly mauled as they were depleted from the first battle. The British took losses but were able to hold their ground. 

On the other flank the Egyptians were pushed back and lost troops to fierce attacks. The Camel Corps initially faired better but they too came under pressure as the Egyptians over their flanks retired.       

Egyptians forced back

Camel Corps under attack

Remarkably one unit of the Camel Corps managed to survive both games without a single loss.   

The luckiest unit on the field 

We did nt have a formal score but it felt like a Mahdist victory. Their losses were appalling but they had stopped the Imperial attack and caused heavy casualties on the Indians and Egyptians.