Khartoum - turn 2 part 2

This report finishes off the action from Turn 2 by looking at the Nile Columns second battle. Fearing attacks on their supply lines the column sent troops a little way from the river to scout the country and supress Mahdist activities. As (bad) luck would have it they ran into a Mahdist force heading in the opposite direction looking to make it through to the Nile. 

In this scenario the forces start in opposite corners and are looking to exit the table through the opposite corner. Points are awarded for getting units off, killing the enemy and being the first to get a unit above half strength off the table. The game would last 15 turns. 

The Nile Column deployed with the British on the left and the Egyptians on the left. They set off in broadly those directions with the Egyptian cavalry looking to skirt around the Mahdists or delay them through skirmishing.  

British forces

The numerically larger Mahdist force deployed with riflemen in the centre and melee troops on the flanks. The hope was to pin the British with the rifles and sneak around the flanks with the fast-moving melee troops, picking off targets of opportunity.   

Mahdist forces

The British advanced cautiously through a building and surrounding scrub land. They quickly spotted some advancing Mahdists who they pinned and then pushed-back.  

British centre advances 

The terrain on the Egyptian's side was much closer, allowing the Mahdists to get closer and launch a series of attacks against them. There was a too-and-fro that left all the Egyptian units routed. The artillery was lost in counter battery fire with Mahdist artillery, who also succumbed.   

Egyptian cavalry attacked 

The last few turns saw the Mahdists able to sneak some infantry of the table in the area occupied by the now routed  Egyptians. The British also got off but being slower were unable to get the first unit off the table.  

British march off the table 

The game ended with a 10-7 win for the Mahdists. With 4 points for getting the first unit off that proved the difference. Notably the British Infantry only lost a single figure.   

 

Shoguns and Jarls

A busy time this week, with two midweek games in addition to the Sudan campaign on regular club nights.  

Never Mind The Billhooks - Samurai style

A trip over to Fishponds saw us playing NMTB using Samurai forces rather than the Wars of the Roses troops it was originally written for. A version of the oft converted NMTB for Japanese warfare is due out later year, so this was really a chance to try the basic mechanics and use the figures.   

I (literally) blew the dust off my 30 year old Dixon Miniatures to bulk out the forces and provide decent number of units per side. The armies are structured into commands (Wards) which activate in turn as decided by cards. Commanders can order units to act based on their quality but you never have enough  to do all you want, creating some friction.     

Fireforge plastic samurai

Classic Dixon samurai

Its a fairly simple game and our main takeaways from the first go were; big Pike (Yari) units are nasty doing lots of hits, the very limited ammo (6 shots / unit) means you need to not waste shots at long range, and the morale is pretty brutal with dice a big factor as a 4 or less (on 2D6) is always a rout.     

 

I've dug out the ECW version (Never Mind the Matchlocks) as that could work well for larger games.  So one to work on as a background project as I've not found a decent set of ECW rules.  

Pillage

I also managed a game of Pillage dark ages skirmish. In our third game we threw in several new elements; fire, javelins, war horns, banners, war hounds and Irish troops. The Irish are very cheap as they lack armour or the best weapons, so do get about a third more figures then the Anglo Saxons or Vikings.    

Viking leader and his body guards 

Anglo Saxon attackers

We played the St Brice's day massacre scenario with Anglo Saxons and Irish attacking Viking defenders, the aim being to set fire to the church. Sheer numbers gave the attackers an edge as the Vikings could nt plug every hole in the perimeter and so the Irish were able to get troops to the church in round 4. We played the fire starting slightly wrong but I suspect attackers would still have managed to set the fires in turn 5.  

War hounds are a mixed blessing as they can attack your own troops if things go wrong - so hit and miss but potentially quite funny. 

  

Irish war hounds run riot

 

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!