Battle of "Waddi Rorki" Sudan 1898

Last night Brian,Paul and I had a strange colonial game,based around Rorke's Drift,but set in the Sudan-the game provided a lot of laughs,and was as fast flowing as this morning's game.

This is the general scenario and troop dispositions-the outlying picket were meant to be the sacrificial lambs of the game-they had other ideas!!

The British position with,quite accidentally,a fitting backdrop!!

Timetable of events-
0600 hours   Reveille.
0630 hours   Breakfast
0700 hours   Strange humming noise from desert
0730 hours   Shit hits fan!!!

The Haddendowah appear,from all directions,at this point,Paul who was in charge of the British,was visibly shaken!!

The attack begins-Brian was in charge of the Haddendowah,and I took charge of the Dervish "Ansar" troops in the foreground.My task was to occupy both hills and then attack the position,Brian's task was just to take the the supply dump position-this was an easy task for a man,who,this morning,destroyed a whole Roman Legion with a few Elephants!!

This shows Brian's first attack going in,but the "dead" figures are not a good sign,and he "bounced" off the walls-it's a good job he has loads of other troops-surely they would get in(??)

Although Paul's Gatling gun jammed a couple of times,he put up a stout defence, and the casualties were mounting up on Brian's side,and not much headway was being made.
On my side of the board,the "flying pickets" were making mincemeat of my Ansars,through cannister fire and well controlled volley fire!!

As if things weren't bad enough for the Dervish forces,Paul's reinforcements have arrived,in the form of Cavalry,Artillery and some Camel-mounted troops-however,you can just see my Ansars that have come down off their left hand hill,and have made contact with the wall,being defended by the Berks company.Inside the position,Brian has managed to get over the walls,has destroyed a company of Seaforths and a company of Northumberlands,and is pressing on to complete our victory-or is he??

I am about to be driven away in this photo,and Brian's troops are beaten in all sectors-what went wrong?Well I blame Brian!!
Seriously,this was a good game,played for laughs,lots of excitement,certainly very colouful,and Paul was a gallant winner.
We will be playing this Sunday,and should have a full house of 6-probably horse and musket,but which period,as yet,i don't know-roll on Sunday