Gordon Relief Expedition - week 2

 

This week we played the other part of turn 1 - the Desert Columns first battle at Korti. The Mahdists selected the "Objectives" battle meaning the British had to assault the enemy emplaced on a hill. The British formed-up to attack the centre and left of the defences.

Initially the assault made only slow progress as the Mahdists attacked and looked like they might be overrun. However a brave young ensign intervened and killed the Dervish commander of the central command, at a stroke causing half the army to run. Form there it was a victory for the British.     

Rules Updates

Terrain

1. Wadi: these count  as prepared positions when shot at. You may fire over them as they are below ground level.  

Armies

2. Cavalry may dismount as infantry one class lower. This may only occur once per game and they may not remount.

Movement

3. Formation changes are ignored, elements must move as singles

4. A square may move a single square if an officer is part of it. It cost all his PIPs

5. Cavalry may move through any. Any may move through guns, MGs and rifles. Loose 100 paces.

 

Combat

6. You may not fire through cover at units behind. All units in cover are visible.

7. You may fire over head to/from hills but there must be a 1 square gap for intervening units.

8. Elements on the corner of a square do not count as flanked in combat and do not recoil if beaten. They are not destroyed by this.

9. Additional combat factors

o   Rifles in Rough = -1 to attacker

o   Defending a hilltop in melee = +1 (not cumulative with trenches

10. If you have a viable target straight ahead you must fire at it

11. Warbands in trenches must double the enemy to beat them (not charging) 

Command

12. Roll as many dice as you have commanders and distribute as you like

13. If a commander dies then through a specific dice for their final turn, if applicable

Gordon Relief Expedition - week 1

** Revised - I got my columns mixed up **

Our newest online campaign is an adaption of DBA/HOTT for the Sudan. In this campaign the players are divided between the Nile Column or the Nile Column in a race to reach Khartoum and rescue Gordon. The other team players the Mahdists trying to thwart your progress. 

To get a large enough game for all 6 of us to play we're using a double width gridded board and two cameras so the players can scroll between different bits of the game.

In week 1 the Nile Column attacked Abu Hamed under John's command. This battle was an Ambush!, so the British were in 2 squares and attacked from 3 sides by the Mahdists.  This was a very close game but eventually the Mahdists broke both the squares and were able to claim a narrow victory as their cavalry command remained on the table after 2.5 hours play. 

  

Vermin

One of the games I've been playing during the latest lockdown is Star Saga - a scifi dungeon crawler. Its very suitable for online play as its grid-based and only uses a few figures. 

I've been busy painting some troops for the next campaign we plan to play. These chaps are Veer-men, space rats who are an oppressed underclass in the Star Saga universe.

I've gone for a an orange / green colour scheme that I hope will show up well on the cameras

There are also two new heroes - an Orc mercenary and a crystal creature. 

  

28mm Sudan

Another batch of Mahdist tribal infantry is now complete. I'm trying to mix things up so these chaps are depicting Korofani tribesmen of the type who fought at the Battle of Abu Klea. On the orders of the Mahdi most eschewed the use of shields and carried whacking sticks instead.

Once again these fine fellows are Perry plastics.  I'm now up to 2 rifles and 2 spear units so they are coming along pretty well. 

The Blue Max - week 8 results

 

Following the retirement of the two British triple aces things were on a more even footing this week. The first mission was a fighter sweep where the Germans mostly hid in a large thunder cloud until finally withdrawing. In the second both sides were trying to bomb targets near the front lines whilst trying to intercept the enemy planes - this ended in a draw with the British closest to downing an enemy bomber.

Mike was promoted to Ace this week with 5 kills.    

The Blue Max - week 7 results

 

This week  we reverted to a couple of missions involving escorting observation aircraft. The Germans had to bomb three targets whilst the British had to locate some hidden artillery. This was a brutal week for the Germans with them losing both encounters and getting quite a few aircraft shot-down.

The week ended with both Stuart (11 kills) and John as triple aces, which usually means medal an promotion to an instructor role in Blighty. 

28mm Sudan

Unit number three is done and I'm gradually speeding as I get more confident with the new washes I'm using on this project. This time its some Beja riflemen.

I'm currently working on a ratio of one Rifle unit per two spear units but we'll see how it develops.