Mahdist
Gerry from Castaway Arts deploys his Dervishes in Game 2.
I previously posted accounts of the 3 TSATF Colonial Games with images that we played at Auckland’s BattleCry 2011 Convention – As mentioned Gerry & Carolyn Webb of Castaway Arts were there and they also took photos of the games – so here’s an additional gallery of a selection of their photos of the games…
Talahawiyeh steams down the Nile
Having successfully returned to their base (game 2) Valentine Baker Pasha’s forces weren’t able to rest – a delayed communiqué arrived advising a steamer was coming down the Nile to rendezvous with them at the village of al-Ġardaqaḧ as-Sūdān and it included more civilians! Baker Pasha would have to assemble another, reasonably strong column, and rapidly march the 2 days across the desert to the Nile, through the territory teeming with Dervishes, to reach the village in anticipation of the steamer’s arrival.
Game 3 – The Scenario
An Anglo-Egyptian column is marching to a Nile Fishing Village to rendezvous with an expected Paddle-Steamer Gunboat. The Gunboat has vital supplies (in this case civilians needing escort to a safe location as well as critical supplies of ammunition and such that have escaped the Mahdists in the South) so it’s essential the column reaches the village on the agreed day.
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The Naval Brigade Gardner Gun redeploys to face the Camelry attack at the rear!
Following the disastrous battle of the expedition to locate the missing European Civilians (TSATF at BattleCry 2011 [1]), Baker Pasha and a handful of survivors had managed to evade the victorious Dervishes and rejoin the balance of the local Anglo-Egyptian forces. With the entire countryside now up in arms and no hope of a second attempt to locate the civilians Baker pulled his remaining force from its isolated position and immediately began a rapid withdrawal to their regional capital and barracks town, hotly pursued by the Dervish forces.
Game 2 – The Scenario
An Anglo-Egyptian column is withdrawing from hostile Dervish territory, closely pursued by enemy forces.
Fuzzy-Wuzzys bound along a Wadi!
February regularly sees the BattleCry Convention in Auckland, one of the larger NZ Wargaming events that is usually well run and encompasses more than just miniatures gaming (i.e. board gaming, card gaming, LARPing, etc). This year Gerry & Carolyn Webb of Castaway Arts (from Cairns, Queensland, Australia) decided to attend with a trade stand and some TSATF (The Sword And The Flame) demo games – as I’m a big TSATF fan I organised with Gerry to help him with the games, and provide all the troops and terrain – thereby saving Gerry & Carolyn having to cart their own from across the Tasman! The games were run as Public Participation & Demonstration games; although the former is a fairly rare concept in New Zealand so not overly familiar to many local gamers. However general interest was high, Gerry & Carolyn got some reasonable interest in their Figures & TSATF Rulebooks, and the games attracted reasonable attention and we even had some brief participation by 1 or 2 people. The following is a summary and photos of the games played over the 2 days…
Dervish Ansari emerge from an Oasis...
The Sword And The Flame 20th Anniversary Edition
Gerry Webb of Castaway Arts (in Australia) will be at the BattleCry 2011 Convention, here in Auckland on the 19-20 February, with his ranges of Figures and running some The Sword And The Flame participation demonstration games. And I’ll there with Gerry giving him a hand with the games. If you are in Auckland that weekend and interested in Colonials, or just Wargaming in general, pop along for a look at Auckland’s largest regular annual convention (expected to have over 300 gamers participating) at the ASB Stadium in Kohimarama – full details are at the BattleCry website.
Bazingers emerge from the town - Photo by Frank & Björn from LAF
If anyone ever needed inspiration to game the Sudan, most especially with the Perry’s range of figures then this is it – Frank & Björn have absolutely set an amazing benchmark for figure painting & terrain – the image here is but a low resolution version of just one of the many images. Make sure you check out their stunning (and ongoing) thread at the Lead Adventure Forum – there are images on every page of the thread and new images periodically added…
If you haven’t seen this thread previously it’s well worth a look, it may leave you breathless…
Dervish Infantry at the Watering Hole
It is early 1884 and the Mahdist Rebellion is reaching it’s peak – Gordon is isolated in Khartoum, and the rebellion has steadily spreads north towards the Egyptian frontier. As the debate about any relief expedition to go to Gordon’s aid is being discussed, news comes that a large number of European, Greek, and Egyptian Civilians, along with a small British Hospital Corps detachment, have been cut off in the town of Old Dongola; and the local Egyptian Commander has only a small force of Bashi-Bazouk Irregulars, supplemented by whatever Civilians that can fight, to try and defend the town (who’s defences are in a poor state due to official Khedival policy of not maintaining any permanent fortifications in the Sudan, the town having the partial remnants of a wall, supplemented by zeribas and improvised barricades)…
Amir Raslan
As Sir Henry’s Column advanced South towards Akasha, he received word of a large Dervish Force from ostensibly friendly locals (but more likely disgruntled Mahdists with a score to settle against the Mahdist force’s commander). As this force was reported a few miles inland from the Nile, at a minor watering hole, Sir Henry felt obliged to turn and approach the Mahdist forces – he could ignore them, being but a day and half’s march from the town of Akasha, but that would allow them to remain behind him on his Lines of Communication, and potentially block reinforcements from reaching him. As a result he turned inland, and his plucky column headed into the desert…
After the previous battle at Alam Halfa and the subsequent march South Sir Henry’s Anglo Egyptian Force struggled due to the small Hospital Corps attachment assigned to it – the medical staff were hard pressed to take care of the wounded, and there had been some fatalities from wounds as a result.
Sudanese Infantry...
The Anglo-Egyptians luck runs out – the revolt has spread into Western Sudan; Darfur & Kordofan are aflame with Mahdist support and Dara immediately falls to the rapidly growing Dervish Army in Darfur. Even worse El Fasher falls immediately after with the loss of it’s garrison. In Kordofan the expedition heading for El Obeid (2nd Company, XIIth Sudanese Battalion; and 1st Section, B Egyptian Artillery Battery) somehow survive the sudden onslaught, and are not perhaps fully aware of their precarious position.
However the good news is El Obeid does not get taken by surprise, which would have been a major coup for the Dervishes – thanks to the weak numbers of Dervish followers in Kordofan no doubt – and as El Obeid has 4 turns of Supplies on hand things are not critical immediately. Furthermore, El Obeid’s resistance (luckily) gives the XIIth Sudanese expedition above a safe haven to make for.
Dervishes manning a captured Krupp 6pdr.
Having camped but a days march from the approaches to Wadi Halfa in late September 1883, Sir Henry Frotheringham’s relief column is suddenly assaulted in the early dawn by a large Dervish Force…!
Facing Sir Henry is a significant force (a full ‘Flag’) under the Khalifa Abdullahi that hopes to give the infidel invaders a good thrashing; it includes 3 of its 4 Amirs, and the troops from 3½ of it’s 4 Rubs supported by artillery (although unfortunately only half it’s riflemen are present) – still a sizable force. Sir Henry’s intrepid column consists of:
British Forces await the Dervishes in their camp at Wadi Halfa
The Anglo-Egyptians get a lucky break, the Khedive is relieved to hear the revolt hasn’t spread to Darfur & Kordofan, the breadbasket of the Sudan. Meanwhile in Khartoum the available supplies have actually increased thanks to Bordein’s unexpected, albeit hasty, arrival. However Abu Hamed is not looking so lucky – it has only 2 turns of supplies and the only possible help that might reach them is plucky Talahawiyeh, who, if very very lucky, may reach the garrison by the end of this turn, if she doesn’t they may have to gamble on sallying out to try and drive off the Dervishes long-enough to forage for supplies.
In Northern Sudan the garrison of Abu Hammed can do nothing but sit still – hoping supplies and news will reach them before the end of next turn. At Aswan, Sir Henry gathers up what troops he has (2 Infantry Companies & 2 Guns), and resolves to make for Wadi Halfa. The march south along the Nile and through Korosko passes quickly and peaceably – soon they are approaching the Egyptian-Sudan border, and Wadi Halfa…
Egyptian Infantry & Artillery face the Dervishes
Our Colonial Campaign gets ready to kick off! Turn one has already begun and the Sudan has erupted into revolt. See how the campaign is going here… Our First Fire & Sword Campaign.
Naval Brigade Sailors
Maizoub ‘John’ Pasha despatches Talahawiyeh (with her 9pdr Gun, Nordenfelt MG, & detachment of 6 armed Sailors) towing a Nuggar and transporting the 4/5th Egyptian Company (20 men), down river towards Abu Hamed – to discover the full situation and re-establish contact with the latter, and if possible, Cairo. The expedition is under the command of Captain Wahab El Zahra Agha, officer commanding the 4/5th Egyptian Rifle Company.
Talahawiyeh & her Nuggar reach Wad Hamed without incident. She successfully negotiates the 6th Cataract, before encountering a Dervish force while approaching Metemma. The Dervishes appear to be a small force of Beja Fuzzy-Wuzzies occupying the Metemma area on the banks of the Nile, and who appear to have no artillery. El Zahra Agha on Talahawiyeh decides to put ashore and use her guns and accompanying troops to clear the village and obtain intelligence and supplies…
Egyptian Artillery (Krupp 6pdr Light Field Gun)
The campaign begins with a violent revolt in the North and South, spreading fast like a bush fire. The North had been a powder keg for some time but it had been hoped any insurrection might be contained there. The insurrection actually began at Dongola, and spread North to Wadi Halfa which immediately succumbed and the Xth Sudanese Battalion garrisons in both locations were engulfed by the suddenness of the uprising. Even worse the revolt spread South through Berber and then Atbara fell to the rapidly growing Mahdist cause – it being suggested that most of the troops at Berber (from the 2nd Egyptian Cavalry Squadron) may have changed sides and joined the Ansar rather than fight them! All along the Lower Nile the lesser towns also fell to the Mahdists, and just the strongly held garrison town of Abu Hamed held out, surrounded by a countryside of seething revolt.
One thing I have done is slightly tweak the organisations of units to try and more closely replicate the real life historical organisations – while still keeping to the general intent Larry Brom put in the rules and approximately the same number of figures per larger formation (Battalion or Regiment). As we are using the same organisations for our Fire & Sword Campaign I ended up putting together Visio Organisation Charts of them as visual organisation reference for Roundie & Kieran (who weren’t familiar with, my perhaps pedantic, idiosyncrasies over organisation tables) and as a result of an unrelated discussion on the Sword & Flame Yahoo! Group it occurred to me they might be of some little interest to one or two people out there (although I’m sure I’m not the first to do so and many will have their own views different to mine)…
28 Apr 2013, 6:43 am UTC A Wadi near Chunuk Bair Looks like great fun. I note "battalions to assault the mastiff itself." where no doubt it was going to be a dogged defence : )
7 Apr 2013, 1:10 pm UTC Work Begins On Rorke's Drift Awesome! Great post Alan!
7 Apr 2013, 7:25 am UTC Work Begins On Rorke's Drift ZULU (The battle of Rorke's Drift) by Alan Gray "Zulu's attacking, hundreds Sir" the sentry did report "Hundreds?" said Bromhead glass to his eye...
5 Mar 2013, 6:10 pm UTC Getting My 28mm ACW Underway http://refight2013.blogspot.co.nz/ Email chrispacker66@gmail.com The Borodino refight last year was not only epic, but great fun, so this year the...
5 Mar 2013, 6:22 am UTC Getting My 28mm ACW Underway Hi Paul - I didn't even know about it mate - what's happening - is there a webpage for it?
1 Mar 2013, 3:44 pm UTC Getting My 28mm ACW Underway G'day, Are you coming down to Christchurch for the monster F&F Gettysburg bash in July? Cheers Paul