The Sun Never Sets - colonial campaign week 2

Just the two games with week with me umpiring a couple of players new to the rules as they missed last weeks game. Both played To the last bullet - where the defender loses 25% of their troops but gains some harder cover and slightly easier victory conditions. 

Table 1 - 28mm NWF, Russians vs British

The British attacked with a good quality force of mostly Indian troops  and so numbers were fairly even die to the lower quality of the Russian infantry. 

Great game Russians 

The Russians initially deployed quite far back but then decided to push forward into the terrain in front of the hard cover.  The British moved forward with the Bengal Lancers but their attempted charge  fell short, opening them to Russian fire and counter attack by the Cossacks. 

Bengal Lancers vs Cossacks

With the Lancers destroyed the Russians pressed forward and began a protected shooting battle with the British, which they initially did well in as the 23rd Foot and Mouth were pushed from the table, The doughty Indians rallied though and began routing the Russians.    

In the end the Russians fell back into the cover and the British were too badly damaged to really threaten them. Russian Win

Table 2 - 20mm, British vs Mahdists

This was a larger game than the first with the British on the defensive They deployed in a shallow arc centred on the fortifications, with Lancers on their left. The Mahdists simply filled the board edge.

 

The British sat back behind the cover as the Mahdist advanced, until they decided to launch a spoiling attack with their Lancers. This routed a couple of units but unsupported was soon cut-off and overwhelmed.    

British Lancers atttack

That treat dealt with the Mahdists continued to carefully encircle the British before launching their own attack.  Too spread-out the British were pushed-back and badly damaged, but did manage to prevent the Mahdists capturing the  fortification. Mahdist Win 

The Beja turn the flank

So the leader Board has been updated using a weighted average and giving credit for more battle fought.  

More 28mm ACW

I've managed to complete a couple more units for my ACW skirmish force. This time another Green line unit and some sharpshooters.

All are 28mm plastics from Perry

This is about half the units done now - just a couple of veteran line units and a gun then the force is done with some options available to vary the force. 

The Sun never sets - colonial campaign week

Our latest venture is a colonial campaign using The Men Who Would Be Kings. The plan is to fight a specific scenario each and carry forward officer traits for the CinCs from week-to-week. 

This week  we had three tables running Just Passing By, where the two sides must try to break through each others lines and get as many units off as possible. All three games were Sudan, two 28mm and one 20mm.

The results after week 1 are

Table 1 - 28mm / 24 points

The Mahdists moved quickly to grab the central building and flank the British unit, looking to attack the naval brigade who lead the advance. 

Once in position they charged over the hill and were able to score heavy damage before exiting the table. Mahdist win. 

Table 2 - 28mm / 18 points

I was in command of the Mahdists on this table. My plan was to block the Imperial advance with some rifles and cavalry, whilst pushing most of my infantry towards the exit - essentially the British would have to block me or I'd win as I had more scoring units.    

I was able to get into position fairly quickly and so even had the option to envelop the British columns rear as well as block their front. 

In the end in opted to sacrifice the blocking forces in a suicidal charge to slow the British and simply snuck most of my units off the table. Mahdist wins.  

Table 3 - 20mm / 38 points

Our largest game featured some wargaming antiques with Roys 1960s Jacklex figures. In this game the players misread the scenario rules and though that they had to exit the table from their opponents starting point rather than one the short edge opposite their deployment zone. So the tactics were affected by this on both sides.

The British advanced a little way into the table before setting up a defensive position based around some  low hills. The Mahdists made a large flanking manoeuvre as they looked to get most of their forces opposite the exit point. 

The Mahdists then launched a series of fierce attacks against the British as they sought to hold the line. 

Losses were fairly light on both sides and no-one was able to get any units off the table. British wins

28mm Sudan

We're about to start our next campaign - some 28mm colonials using the Osprey The Men Who Would Be Kings rules. These are another from Daniel Masey's Dragon Rampant range and share similar mechanisms to them and games like Pikeman's Lament. 

We managed two games of 38 points a side but the pictures are all from the first. The scenario saw the imperial forces attacking a Mahdist defensive position.

We went with a mixed force of British and Egyptians lining up against a large enemy force. 

Sudan British - 28mm Perry

Sudan Egyptians - also 28mm Perry

The Mahdists were well dug-in along a ridge and had lots of terrain to hide in. 

28mm Ansar

The game proceed quickly with the Mahdists attacking the Egyptians while the British advanced for the hill. 

The Egyptians suffered some badly-timed pins which hampered them and eventually they broke.