Khartoum - turn 2, part 1

Sickness in the Nile Column camp meant we just did the Desert Column's second battle this week, a gamer inspired by the battle of Abu Klea.

A British force has marched-out of their camp towards the wells at Abu Keal when they are surrounded and attacked by a Mahdist force. The game lasts 10 turns with the British looking to survive and maximise Mahdist casualties.  

Beja cavalry ready to attack

More Mahdists advance

In the early part of the game the British had good success with pinning the Mahdists and chipping away. The Lancers charged and destroyed a unit but inevitably got attacked and succumbed themselves.   

   

The British form a hollow square

Mid-game the pressure grew on the British as there were too many targets and some of the charges started going home, causing damage to the Camel Corps. Eventually it became too much, and after losing most of the infantry, the survivors tried to run but were cut down by chasing Mahdists.       

Mahdists attack

So a Mahdist win on turn 8. The Column advances but is now on 6 supplies. 

     

Abensberg 1809 - a Blucher battle

I recently hosted our latest game of Blucher - its Sam Mustapha's grand battle rules played with 2-3 Corps a side. Like his Lasalle rules it uses momentum (MO) as a currency you spend each turn to motivate your units. The twist that your opponent roles for your MO and keeps that secret so you dont quite know how much you can do each turn. 

Abensberg was fought in Germany with a French / Bavarian attacking  the Austrians in attempt to rout them and capture some villages. Both side start with some units on the table and reinforcements arriving from opposite flanks.

Initial French attacks

Austrian garrison

The French opened their attack in the south and it was fairly slow going as the Austrians launched several spoiling attacks.   The various garrison units of the Austrians proved to be an annoyance - they were hard to shift and had to be watched in case they became activated.  

French attack up hill

As the game progressed the Austrians became fragmented and so had several rounds where only limited activity was possible, giving the French a chance to launch several attacks - some where rebuffed but all wore down the Austrians and forced them to withdraw before they routed.  

Both sides reinforcements arrived at roughly the same time and raced towards one of the villages in the centre of the field. The French had further to go and so timed-out before they could launch an attack. Both sides had lost roughly the  same and the French had no broken through so the Austrians did better than historically, where they endured a major defeat.  

View from the French left, with the flank marchers left foreground   

        

Khartoum - week 1

The campaign got under this week with both columns fighting their first actions.

Nile Column - the Cataract

The column's first act was to navigate a rocky weir (cataract) near the start point. This is a place of danger as the Gunboat would not be usable and troops were busy handling boats. So it was that the Mahdists ambushed them bent on destruction of the column and its vital supplies.

Nile Column stands too

The first few turns went well for the British as they pinned a few units and routed another. Buoyed by their success they sent the Egyptian cavalry on the attack but they soon became surrounded and wiped out.  

 

Egyptian Gendarmes sally out 

The Mahdists counter attacked strongly and at a crucial point the British were unable to pin the enemy, allowing them to launch a series of charges into the square. The defenders soon became weakened and suffered heavy losses as well their supplies being destroyed. British Loss and 4 additional supplies destroyed.     

The square collapses

Desert Column

The column's commander decided to send a mounted sweep through the local areas to check for supplies and Mahdist spies. Six areas were designated to be searched, but the the Mahdists had got their first and were in ambush. 

The British opted for a cautious approach given the risk of ambush. They were able to reconnoitre 3 of the 6 areas and when they came under attack they fell back to the start line where a well-placed Gatling could fire. The British Hussars roved behind the Mahdist position but suffered heavy loses.   

 

Camel Corps take an objective

Things were pretty close but the British came out winners due to their Gatling inflicting late game damage on the Mahdists.  British Win. 

Camel Corps resist an attack

Campaign Situation

Both sides now advance to their next battle, but with the Nile Column already short on supplies. They must win the next two games and capture the Mahdist supply dump not to be forced to resupply and allow the Desert Column to gain a lead.

   

A busy week - Sudan, Great North Wars and Napoleonic's

As the title says three games squeezed in this of various types.

Firstly the warm-up games continued for the upcoming Khartoum game, this time with the proposed forces we'll be using.

Lancers try to rescue a jammed gattling

The British struggled a little to hold back the Mahdist tide but checking the rules later we'd misremembered how scrub worked and been too generous on hiding behind it, which would have given the Brits more distance shooting.   

Camel Corps are surrounded

Later in the week I made the trip over to The Forest for a game of Beneath the Lilly Banners with our favoured Great North War setting. The scenario involved an Ottoman force trying to capture a fort and prevent some supplies getting through.    

Ottoman Azabs

It was the first time we'd used Tribal Horse, Tribal Foot and massed Russian Dragoons. The Tribal Horse proved annoying and highly manoeuvrable, the Tribal Foot shoot OK but can nt stand up to close order troops in combat and the Dragoons were a little disappointing against the Ottoman lancers but may need more practice.     

Ottomans close in on the fort, which would later fall

The final game as A Napoleonic one using Lasalle with the French attacking a similarly sized British force who were not all active at the start of the game. It was an 1814 French vs Russian game reset for the Peninsula campaigns. 

The French were able to capture about half the table and destroy one British infatry brigade, however they lost a brigade of their own and most of the heavy cavalry. We called it a winning draw for the British. 

Swiss vs Scots - the final unit in the brigade lost

It was out first use of the British - the infatry is excellent with about 33% more firepower than standard units but crucially the ability to recover casualties at the same rate as the Russians. So they are hard to outshoot and attacking them, whilst risky, is the best bet.      

French attack into heavy fire

So a busy week of gaming - the trouble is holding 3 - 4 sets of rules in your head means sometimes you get muddled! I'm putting my mistake on the Sudan game terrain rules down to that, not old age!

  

5 Parsecs - journey into the wilderness

I played the latest two episodes of my ongoing 5 Parsecs From Home as a linked scenario as the two seemed to fit quite nicely together. 

Game 1 (Turn 15) - into the wilderness

New Patron MeetSpace VR had hired the crew to recover some tech from a crashed shuttle. The aim of the first mission was to secure the site, recover the tech and call for extraction. The area was in a deserted zone of the penal moon of Travoris but it was known to be home to a group of Precursor (space elves) Exiles. 

The crash site

The game started with the crew at the crash site and needing to beat-off the Precursors. They are a shooty faction with a good combat skill and lots of ranged weapons, so the crew soon came under heavy fire.  

Precursors (space elves) mover forward

After an extended fire-fight the Precursors had been pushed back but three of the crew were downed - two stunned and one wounded. The stuns are removed after the battle and wound turned-out only to be minor, so quickly fixed in the med bay.         

The crew holds the perimeter

Three down but the site is secured

Game 2 (Turn 16) - Dust Off 

Although the Precursors has been pushed back, the crash-site was too hot for a safe extraction as they would surely be back. So the crew decided to hike a couple of clicks to a safer spot. Little did they know that a group of Void Rippers was in the area - aggressive and territorial, they quickly moved to attack the party. 

Void Rippers on the scent

Fast moving and tough they swarmed towards the crew making good use of the cover. Their tough hides deflected lots of shots so most of the swarm made it into close combat.   

Void Rippers attack 

Luckily the crew are well equipped with good armour and close combat weapons. After a brief struggle the attackers had be temporarily withdraw allowing the extraction to go ahead before they renewed their assault. No wounds but lots of dented armour.    

A desperate struggle

Dust Off

  

Sudan warmup

Our next campaign is going to be some colonial action - the Khartoum relief expedition in 1885. Players will split into two teams each controlling one of the relief columns and the Mahdists opposing the other. We'll be using our preferred set - The Men Who Would Be Kings (TMWWBK) from Osprey. As we've not played for a while we're beginning with a couple of practice games. 

This weeks game was single fairly large with about 50 points a side. The scenario involves the British searching 6 areas on the table while most of the Mahdists start off-table in Ambush.

British Camel Corps advance 

It was a game of two flanks. On the British left they were ambushed on the start line, facing overwhelming attacks and some accurate Mahdist artillery fire. They lost two units of Camel Corps and made limited progress, but did kill lots of the enemy.

Beja in ambush

Camel Corps supported by foot

On the right the British cavalry routed their Beja opponents and managed to seize two of the 6 objectives.  

Beja cavalry

By the close of play it was 10 victory points each with the British doing well on their right but under threat on the left. 

Ansar try to surround the British left