Battle of Atbarra-Sudan 1898

Last night,Brian Paul and I had a fantastic,fast and fun Colonial game.
Brian was in charge of the Anglo-Egyptian troops ordered to take the outer defences of the Fort/Town of Atbarra,whilst Paul was in charge of the mainly British reserve.

This shows the general layout of the table,and the scenario,both Paul and Brian were also given other bits of information on movement,commands etc.
You know I put a lot of effort into planning these games,to make them exciting,I set up the terrain,balance the forces,put the figures on the board,get the order sheets prepared,pens and measuring sticks etc etc, and then something like this happens....................

I pop out of the garage for a cup of coffee,the wife decided she will play a joke,and this is the result!!!!-not funny (or is it??)

This is the table(with Duck removed!) before any movement-Brian could decide if he wanted a Gatling Gun or a 6pdr Gun on the "Venus",which is to the right,but out of shot-he chose a 6pdr Gun!!-although Paul didn't know it,the Haddendowah were coming onto the table at point "B"exactly where Brian is standing in this photo.

Brian's attack on the defences was little short of magnificent!-after a slight setback(he lost 3 melees out of 4 in the first contact) he pushed the defenders back-however by that time,as you can see in the background,the Haddendowah had made an appearance-hurrah!!-Game on!!

What a magnificent sight(unless you're facing it!!)-Paul had started to move his troops into the Zariba on move number one,but still had a firing line and some cavalry awaiting my attack-I drove the Lancers away with just one melee,but that firing line is going to cause me some grief!!

Casualties are mounting as I advance,but weight of numbers should tell,if I can get close enough-in the background Brian is mopping up the defenders in Atbarra,and is preparing to turn his artillery and gatling against my flank-by this time the "Venus" had lost it's Captain to rifle fire from the walls,and half the crew were dead,so he reversed the boat,and decided to cut his losses-hurrah!!

Despite Brian's flank fire,and Paul's devastating close range shooting,I have managed to make contact with his infantry,both inside and outside the Zariba-I could win this with a bit of luck and some good dice throws!!

Paul has deftly moved most of his remaining troops onto my exposed flank,and although I am doing ok at the Zariba,my position is untenable,and I had to admit defeat!!
This was a great game,well played to both Brian and Paul.
Whilst I was "surfing" the net the other day,I came across a wargames club that have their own Scenario Designer-I told the boys about this and they said they would give me a Grander title than that-from now on ,they said,I could be the Architect Responsible for Scenario Evolvement,and I could have the letters A.R.S.E. after my name-I think this is brillia..............
HOLD ON,I've just realised,the rotten sods,the lousy bunch of lowlifes!!-just wait 'till Thursday!!!