Mahdist wars

[Deleted User]

We’re having a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings tomorrow & I’m setting up the table.

The scenario is called “The Village at El Hab”:

An Anglo-Egyptian army has smashed an invading Dervish force near the Egyptian Sudan border.

The Dervishes are retreating south & have left a rear guard at a pass to slow down the pursuing British. Unfortunately for the Dervishes, several units have been left behind & cut off at the village of El Hab. Worse, an important Emir (the Mahdi himself ?!??) is with these forces & must not be captured or killed by the infidel.

I’m still working on terrain etc but I really needed a game.

Some crummy photos from my phone:

 

donald

 

 

 

 

[NKL Aerotom]

Looks great! very interesting period 🙂

Nice to see a river steamer in there too!

Tom Jensen - http://ostfrontpublishing.com/

[Deleted User]

Thanks for the nice comments. The terrain still needs lots of work: eg the river is but a strip of blue cloth & I’ll need several ranges of low hills.

I’m also aiming for another steamer & maybe two dhows to give larger games some visual punch.

 

donald

[PatG]

It all looks great – loving the steamer.

[Deleted User]

The Men Who Would Be KINGS: Scenario

Pursuit at El Hab

Pretext:

An Anglo-Egyptian army has smashed an invading Dervish force near the Egyptian Sudan border.

The Dervishes are retreating south & have left a rear guard at a pass to slow down the pursuing British. Unfortunately for the Dervishes, several units have been left behind & cut off at the village of El Hab. Worse, an important Emir (the Mahdi himself ?!??) is with these forces & must not be captured or killed by the infidel.

Goals:

Dervish: 1. Get the Emir off the table via the pass at the southern end.

2. Get their forces at El Hab off the table via the pass at the southern end without being destroyed or severely mauled (at least 2 units exit with more than 50% of their strength intact).

3. Hold the pass against the Anglo-British to save their retreating army

4. Kill as many “Turks” (ie British and Egyptians) as possible

Anglo-Egyptian: 1. Take (priority) or kill the Emir (the chief goal  & worth losing some men over)

2. Destroy the Dervish force at El Hab

3. Suffer less than 50% losses.

4. Take the pass

Deployment:

At the north end of the table, 3 Dervish units are deployed (with the emir) in and around the village of El Hab. One Ansar (tribal infantry), one Camel (tribal cavalry), one Jehadia (rifles) units.

At the south end of the table, in and around the pass, are the rest of the Dervish forces (2 Beja tribal infantry, 2 Ansar tribal infantry, 1 camel & two Baggara cavalry units). An additional Beja unit will enter the game from the extreme NW corner on Turn 4.

The Anglo-British will be deployed in the centre of the table between both Dervish forces. They will field 6 infantry units, 2 camel units & a gun. There will be some cover (soft) for them to use if they so desire.

I won’t bore you with a blow by blow account. Suffice it to say the game went very smoothly & pretty quickly: about 3 hours. This is despite we’re still learning the rules & despite our “tweaks” which run to a page & half. We’ve certainly “customised” the rules!

The Mahdists won a minor victory, with the British withdrawing in good order after it became apparent they would not catch the Emir. I suspect the Anglo-Egyptians will need another unit or two to make them more competitive against the Dervish who have won all 4 games we’ve played so far.

 

donald

[Author]

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