Wednesday 27 July 2011

The Battle of Shendi 1885, 15mm Sudan Game Report Part 2.

The second part and conclusion. (Picture Heavy)

Just a few descriptions of the rules to give you a brief idea, British were classed as first rate and morale was a 3, 4, 5 or a 6, Egyptian was second rate and morale was a 4, 5, or 6 and the Dervishes were classed as third rate and morale was a 5 or a 6 (except for the fuzzy wuzzies who were second rate), all hits were on a 5 or a 6, dervish leaders had to be within 12 inches of a unit for it to move easily or they had to roll their morale to move (15 inches for the British).
All Dervish infantry moved 10 inches in any direction, British was 6 inches and recommended to stay in line for firing and receiving charges.A unit had a certain amount of hits before it was destroyed, 8 for the British and 6 for the Dervish and Egyptian infantry, 4 for skirmishers and cavalry units.

Myself and John decided that the patrol would stay in place as it was too far for it to reach the supply depot and too far for rescue because of the chance of being caught in the open and ambushed (this turned out to be very true), I awaited reinforcements (no idea what as Postie is a crafty shite), John hammered the Dervishes for 10 turns and held on with 3 battalions nearly at one quarter strength, they hit front on but this was suicide so they hit him in the flank and rear but slowly whittled him down, I kept 12 units of Dervishes busy but the main battle was the patrol who survived and we won when we destroyed 17 units of Dervish forces (they had to wipe out the patrol to win, they were one maybe two turns away from that), damn good game.

Initiative was rolled every turn to see who went first or second with a plus 1 to the Dervishes (home soil), the dervishes won most of them.

The Dervish forces numbered 22,000 warriors, 2,500 riflemen, 3,000 cavalry, 3,000 camelry and one artillery piece.
The British forces numbered 4,800 foot, 500 cavalry, 500 camelry, 2 artillery pieces and a Gatling gun.

The sound of artillery wakes the garrison, I have more troops!

I send the lancers to assist the patrol.

The patrol prepares for the onslaught.


Reinforcements!

The paddle steamer was hand made by a friend of Postie's.

Towing another British battalion.

Sailors and Gatling gun on board, Postie wouldn't let me beach the steamer nearer the shore to disembark, had to roll 3 average dice every turn for movement.

The Egyptians wait.

Turn 3!

Dervish camelry charge the artillery.

The heavy camel regiment behind the defences (camels).

Fuzzy Wuzzy (Hadendoa) camelry and cavalry after being spotted in a dry river bed (we were lucky with these rolls as some of them were a 9 on a D10!)

Things are getting desperate for the patrol.

Camera work getting a bit Spielberg.

The heavy camel regiment about to be hit in the rear.

Finally the paddle steamer docks and troops disembark.

Fuzzy Wuzzy massed fanatic infantry spotted and having to be deployed.

The garrison and reinforcements race to the walls.



Colonel Lurker by this stage had attached himself to the egyptian lancers but the iniative allowed fuzzy wuzzy cavalry to hit him in the flank.

More Dervish infantry comes into play, the patrol is doomed.

The Fuzzy Wuzzy infantry are being decimated by fire from the fort, the orange markers show stalled units, need to roll your morale to get them off or head back towards your lines or table edge.

The end can't be far off.

Colonel Lurker in a spot of more bother.

Real bother, took out one unit and damaged two others.

The fuzzy wuzzies don't like it UP EM.

Can we actually win?

The fort dealing with fuzzy wuzzies and Dervish riflemen.

The last turn for the patrol.

John, man of the desert, held out and won but another turn?

Damn good game.
 

37 comments:

  1. Ooops! Still a close run thing in the end old chap, as you say, "one more turn!" Great report and pictures.

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  2. A great little report - thanks very much for posting all those photos!

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  3. Excellent BatRep. Really gutted I missed the game.

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  4. Great looking board and really like the boat and of course the commentary was very entertaining!

    Christopher

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  5. Very good batrep. I'm not into colonials, but i like what I see ^^

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  6. Looked like great fun, excellent stuff

    ....and i didnt know troops on camels were called camelry before now...

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  7. Very nice completion to the batrep . Love the commentry.

    Top notch as usual

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  8. Three cheers for the colonel, lads! Huzza! Huzza! Huzza!

    Looks like that game was jolly good fun!

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  9. Thrilling report mate and as always I'm astounded by the level of detail you guys go to with your miniatures & board, great stuff.

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  10. Elaborate set-up. The steamer is a particularly nice touch.

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  11. love seeing horses and camels here, Lurk!

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  12. You're the second Shpielberg, no doubt :)

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  13. Great looking game thanks for the report!

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  14. So very awesome! Missed reading all of your glory =)

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  15. More desert warfare!! Awesome!! :)

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  16. Just amazing. There's so much detail that goes into this.

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  17. I like the little horses. I couldn't get the word arseache into my blog but I did work the word arse in. But darn it, if I can find a way to get arseache in, I will.

    Have a groovy day, Lurker.

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  18. Love the Fuzzy Wuzzy infantry and the boat scene.

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  19. I do Sudan in 25mm and have considered doing it in 15mm. What an amazing looking game! The paddle steamer is great.

    Feel free to stop by and check out my Ral Partha Sudan collection Wargaming Geek

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  20. Why all the fighting? Instead, they could do a little drinking in a sandy oasis and a little gambling on the riverboat.

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  21. You have quite a war going on there. The ships were awesome.

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  22. Great batrep, Fran. Like many others I particularly liked the ships, especially the paddle steamer.

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  23. That paddle boat looks great for homemade. What a battle! Makes me want to start my own miniature battle! Or maybe a full scale battle, who knows?

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  24. Victory!!! love the Spielberg shots. paddle boat was fun, if I was miniture, I would've like to go for a ride on that.

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  25. dude, those steamer ships were the icing on the cake! Those are seriously awesome.

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  26. You say 'picture heavy' like it's a bad thing. Amazing detail on the pieces, and a great battle! Well done.

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  27. Definitely came down to the wire there. Great battle report, and the loads of pictures helped with visualizing how it went.

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  28. Sounds like a good time.

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  29. Lovely stuff and inspiring game. Funnily enough I've got some OG 15mil Dervishes in the loft somewhere . . .

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  30. I like how you guys simplify the game mechanics by only using a six sided die. With all the units that you are working with, and the scale of your battles I would think anything more sophisticated than that would make for games that would last way too long for interest to keep up.

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  31. very nice. sounds like a good time

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  32. That looks like one fun battle, and that paddle wheeler is awesome.

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