Battle of Gondar 16th March 1896.

Last night,our old mate Chris came all the way from darkest Yorkshire,to put on this grand game involving Italians,Eritreans and Abyssinians-and what a good game it turned out to be,although a little one-sided!!!

Top photo (which is a masterpiece in its own rite!) shows the scenario-I could,of course produce this sort of thing,but prefer using my school crayons to colour in my pathetic drawings!!!!.
Bottom photo shows the table before any movement.
Chris chose sides ,and himself,Brian and I were the Abyssinians,whilst Paul and Graham were in charge of the Italians.

Top photo shows the main Italian/Eritrean column advancing towards their objective,which is the bottom photo, of Gondar( a magnificently painted structure from Monolith Designs,as is the also magnificent Fort).

My left flank forces begin the attack on the Fort-however the ubiquitous machine gun and volley fire from the brave defenders,quickly put a stop their initial advance!!-but we had a plan!.............................

Chris' cavalry would threaten the column,whilst Brian would attack the Zariba,and then Chris would unleash his main force against the Fort!!(hmm,attacking a fortified position with spear-armed natives is not a good idea in colonial wars,-Rorke's Drift springs to mind!)-however,a plan is a plan,and off we go-death or glory................................

This shows Brian beginning his attack on the Zariba,and he came closest to achieving his objective-well done matey!!!

Prior to unleashing his hordes,Chris gave the Fort a couple of rounds from his artillery,and then...........................

As I renewed my attack,Chris joined in with his troops,for an overwhelming(??) attack,this couldn't fail,could it??
But what of the Italians/Eritrean troops?

Well,having formed a defensive formation,they settled down to a game of Abyssinian "Duck Shoot"(if you don't know what that is,ask your parent/guardian!) and we were slaughtered by the thousands!!!

Brian,on his flank,is putting in a charge which made contact,and a grand old melee followed,however the super-human defenders fought ferociously and beat him back,undetered,another ,and another, attack went in,all with the same result!!-things are not looking good for the Abyssinians!

On my flank,I had been moving my cavalry around Paul's flank,and decided to charge him-unfortunately,he had moved his column to face them,and the resulting volley fire destroyed them!!

With Chris's and my troops "going home" and Brian's being eaten up by the Zariba boys, it was decided that the Italians had won,and that they could occupy the Holy City of Gondar!
This shows Chris in a pensive mood,reflecting on what might have been!!!
A big thank-you goes out to Chris for putting on this game,the effort he put into the game was great,the scenario,figures,terrain etc. certainly paid off.-When's the next time??

We won't be playing next week,as we are going to Carronade at Falkirk,putting on our Rorke's Drift game-we hope to see as many of you as possible.