Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Colonial Adventures => Topic started by: thejammedgatling on July 18, 2008, 05:30:02 PM
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I put on this game a few weeks back at the club here in Perth, Western Australia. It was a bit of an eye candy game for shots for the new club revamped website and gave me and Rabbitz an excuse to dig out our home made terrain, buildings, try a few rules variations and most importantly use my train!!
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final6.jpg?t=1216397097)
The scenario is set in the Sudan at the time the British were pushing a military railway from the town of Suakin inland with the intention of relieving Khartoum .In this hypothetical scenario a depot and watering point along the railway has been cut off due to heavy flash floods. Seizing the opportunity a local emir has decided to try to destroy the British forces cut off there as well as seize their arms and whatever stores exist.
The scene starts three days after the start of the battle. The company of Black Watch holding the depot have been reduced to only a platoon and have around twenty wounded. They have a captain and a sergeant left amongst the able bodied. Most of the laborers have either run away or have been cut to pieces by the Mahdists. One notable exception is a small unit of Sudanese irregulars under the command of their leader Mohammad who have held steady and even earned the respect of the dour highlanders. A force of 20 Scots and 20 Sudanese in all. They have limited ammunition of three rounds per figure, though it was up to the British player how he apportioned this (he gave most of it all to the Scots who in theory could shoot better!)
The Mahdists have suffered great casualties but seeing the weakened forces are risking one last desperate attack. Word has reached the Emir that repair crews are patching up the track and relief is not far away. The Mahdists have a force of 20 cavalry, 10 camels and 100 sword and spear armed Ansar and Beja. To even out the playing field I had agreed that the Mahdists would have no rifles or we assumed they had used all ammunition up.
The train bringing the relief convoy (naval brigade) was to arrive on the gaming table on a roll of 6 from the second turn, 5/6 on the third and so on and so forth. The British were allowed to place defences anywhere on the table. I was then able to plot an attack based on the defences and allocate my forces to what I hoped would be weak points.
And so, as the sun rises on the desert a thin railway snakes through the wreckage of three days of fighting and many anxious eyes peer out from the depot buildings as the drums start one last time…
Sgt. McFarlane (who was later that day to become famous for head-butting a camel) looked out from the rooftops and sees the first sign of trouble as the Beja charge from cover to the south and south west.
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final1.jpg?t=1216397948)
Simultaneously a large band of Baggara Horsemen charge up the railway line from the west.
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final10.jpg?t=1216397982)
Captain Hughes surveys the scene from horseback and orders men to the sandbag defences while casualties are sheltered within the redoubt sited in the centre of the buildings.
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final2.jpg?t=1216398015)
More Ansar break from cover and charge across the oasis from the east this time, darting between the rocks and tufts of spinifex grass. Following on their heels come the Beja spearmen on camels. Clouds of dust are being kicked up all around the British as the Captain hopes the wadi to his north is still full of water and preventing attack from this direction..
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final3.jpg?t=1216398052)
The Mahdists roll well for movement and cross ground incredibly quickly in most cases. It looks like the British will only get one or maybe two shots in. The first firing rings out. Not volleys as ammunition is so short each man is selecting a target and firing at will. Six casualties get taken off the table…mostly from the irregulars who seem to be shooting more steadily.
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final13.jpg?t=1216398089)
The Emir at the head of his cavalry charges in to the town without a single casualty and a sea of white is closing on a defence that at this stage looks too spread out. The Beja are the first to reach the outer defences. Playing hopefully in character I chose a direct attack line which meant they were delayed a turn in hurdling the sandbags and not choosing the easier but more circuitous route. But this time the volleys proved more effective. Another ten casualties taken off the table, with many of those coming from the first Beja unit. The cavalry were also starting to take casualties.
Captain Hughes ordered a retreat into the redoubt and the rooftops and gallantly charges his mount over the top of the redoubt. Not sure how many casualties he squashed in doing this! The irregulars however were refused entry and had to stick behind their outflanked sandbag defences as hordes of Beja pounced on them. Some very bitter hand to hand fighting ensued where both Beja and irregulars passed every stand fast test and literally cut each other to pieces. But it was the Beja who were wiped out. The British cheered support from behind their ten foot redoubt while the four remaining Sudanese saw the next fresh Beja unit come swooping in.
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final4.jpg?t=1216398135)
Meanwhile the Ansar units had closed with the town. One was busy climbing the steps of the two storey house while the other had made it almost to the edge of the large redoubt. The crack of Martini Henry rifles from the rooftops was deafening as the cavalry finally entered the centre of town and were caught in a crossfire from the redoubt and every rooftop. Charging the redoubt almost half the unit were brought down immediately by accurate fire while the others that successfully jumped the barrier were brought down with bayonets as they landed. Only my Emir had survived!
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final8.jpg?t=1216398177)
Then things took a worse turn for the Mahdists. My fresh Beja unit failed a charge test and became pinned and confused. They never did recover and were last seen scarpering off the table edge completely unharmed! My final beja unit were now bottlenecked in the only entranceway to one of the houses where two Black Watch stubbornly bayoneted anything that moved.
Meanwhile the Ansar had broken through onto the rooftop of the other building. Finally some hand to hand. Very quick and very bloody. At the end only the sergeant and one other highlander stood on the rooftop, surrounded by dead Mahdists and irregulars. Those irregulars that had survived had jumped over the side and were running full pelt off the table…
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final12.jpg?t=1216398254)
At the redoubt it was hard bayonet and rifle butt work. Ammunition had run out and it was all or nothing with Beja swordsmen and Ansar swarming over the top. But it just took too long to get over and this gave the Brits the vital advantage. Even the Emir, screaming from atop the station platform could not get them over. Only six defenders killed dozens…Even the camels who all managed the jump into the redoubt only managed to kill a couple of orderlies before being cut down by the cutlass of the captain. Must have been a lot of dead horses/ camels in that redoubt by the end…
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final11.jpg?t=1216398291)
And then from the distance the sound of a locomotive… The naval brigade arrived on the scene to …not do much at all really. They peppered the last remaining beja unit with the Gatling gun mounted on the flat car and were just in time to see the dust from the Emirs horse as it whisked him away…
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final9.jpg?t=1216398337)
Casualties? Lost count of mine but I probably only had a third of my existing force fleeing the table at the end. The British only had four able bodied Sudanese irregulars left by the end (what heroes!) and had lost six of their own Black Watch dead, so were reduced to less than half their starting force.
Lessons learned? When faced with overwhelming numbers creating bottlenecks is the way to go. Then you even the score by fighting though doorways and windows and make every step hard won. This tactic certainly worked as if the British had stayed in their outer defences they’d have been cut to pieces (rather like the Sudanese…bad show chaps). The rule set (the Sword and the Flame) worked well even with so many figures on the table and the simplified rules we’d made for wounds and melee helped keep the pace going.
The game was a good excuse to get my highlanders on the table. I’d been putting off painting them as in a way they were a reward for getting though so many units of fuzzies!
(http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm278/thejammedgatling/final7.jpg?t=1216398388)
My opponent, Rabbitz played in character with the Brits and hardly did I see the stiff upper lip tremble…Looks like I’ll need more Mahdists next time…
Anyone else hear those drums?
Cheers
TJG
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SS!!!
(Simply Superb!!!).
Rudi
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Superb stuff, a great read, wonderful figures and terrain. Truly inspiring :)
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Well reported, that man! Should be mentioned in Dispatches! I like the way you blended in the bases on some of the photos. Nicely done! God Save the Queen!
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Brilliant photographs ! , good old TSATF delivers again ! :)
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you say it a realy eye candy
thanks for shareing :)
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Awesome write up Tjg,
The game was brilliant and I look forward to our next bash.
I am really not looking forward to writing the next battle report though. You have set the bar awful high mate.
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Nice one. Marvellous images, manipulated to great effect.
As you are Aussies, you should perhaps get some Aussies painted up if you are going to do more Suakin stuff. For 19th Century colonial gamers there aren't many opportunities to get Australians on the table, but Suakin is one of them.
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Great battle report and great photos!!! And great... NOW I want to do colonials, TOO.
Thanks a lot! ;D
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Hard soldiering that!
Splendid terrain. Fantastic write up.
Nothing like a bit of the old bayonet in tight quarters.
Good drill!
Heh, righty, Meanderthal, time for a go at Victorian Colonials.
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Outstanding report.Really well written and the pics are tremendous.Thanks so much for sharing,,,really made my day.
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As you are Aussies, you should perhaps get some Aussies painted up if you are going to do more Suakin stuff. For 19th Century colonial gamers there aren't many opportunities to get Australians on the table, but Suakin is one of them.
Actually I grew up in Surrey, so not exactly the outback... I'd love to do some Australian detatchment in the Sudan. It was as far as I can tell their first overseas active duty. However information on them (even here) is scant and I have seen no pictures. I remember reading somewhere that they arrived in scarlet dress uniforms bur were issued with khaki 'in the field' to a similar pattern as the troops coming from India but with jodpurs? Any thoughts (or better images) out there?
And by the way thankyou to all for the encouragement and the kind words. And to you Rabbitz I send this poem to let you ruminate on how things may go for you NEXT time...
"The sand of the desert is sodden red,-
Red with the blood of the square that broke;-
The Gatling's jammed and the Colonel dead,
And the regiment blinded with dust and smoke"
Kipling
Cheers!
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Not Kipling, old thing. That's from Henry Newbolt's Vitai Lampada.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_John_Newbolt
There really should be more poems that combine both cricket and bloody carnage among their themes.
The Aussies at Suakin cropped up in an earlier discussion on this board. Somebody who seemed quite knowledgeable on the subject of their uniforms posted as I recall. I'll have to see if I can find the link for you.
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Excellent. 8)
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As you are Aussies, you should perhaps get some Aussies painted up if you are going to do more Suakin stuff. For 19th Century colonial gamers there aren't many opportunities to get Australians on the table, but Suakin is one of them.
erm yeah im not Aussie either, Born and Breed English to the core. :)
TJG - Next time we play just make sure to let me know who the Emir is before we start. You know its tradition for your CinC to take the first shot of the game ;D
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Great report, I really enjoyed reading it. The limited ammo was a nice touch to the scenario. I look forward to reading more of yours and Rabbitz table-top adventures. :)
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erm yeah im not Aussie either, Born and Breed English to the core. :)
Heavens...I thought you'd been raised by headhunters after they'd stolen you from the mission where you were schooled in the Belgian Congo, before falling into the hands of Malay pirates who you only escaped by taming a shoal of giant shrimp to carry you to safety. It would explain certain behaviour such as the shrunken heads you carry to wargaming.
On second thoughts, growing up near Staines probably accounts for it.
TJG - Next time we play just make sure to let me know who the Emir is before we start. You know its tradition for your CinC to take the first shot of the game ;D
I shall be painting my emir in dazzle camouflage and possibly converting my Star Wars AT AT walker as his personal transport. Imagine the call the prayer drifting out of one of those as it pounds the British square to dust...(trails off in maniacal laughter).
Ooops , sorry I'm on the wrong forum page for that.
I might just spike your Krupp gun.
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Superb report. Great pictures and narrative.
Here are some interesting links on the Australians at Suakin.
http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/sudan.asp
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/other/sudan.htm
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outstanding.
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There really should be more poems that combine both cricket and bloody carnage among their themes.
I'm sure there will be once the South Africans have given us "a good dusting" this summer :( lol
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I'm pretty certain the Aussies were issued khaki from British stocks so therefore would be indistinguishable from the rest :( Not sure whether it was grey or "proper" khaki, but I assume that since grey was worn by troops that didn't get sent over from India, it would be that colour. I'd like to see some evidence either way, if anyone has any.
I don't think they started wearing the famous hat on campaign until the 2nd Boer War, when inevitably everyone else decided it was a jolly good idea and copied them, so there individual appearance was again short-lived ;)
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Superb report. Great pictures and narrative.
Here are some interesting links on the Australians at Suakin.
http://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/sudan.asp
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-conflicts-periods/other/sudan.htm
Nice links. Thanks very much. A few interesting pics I found:
(http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/diggers/diggers-suakin.jpg)
the arrival of the Australians in the Sudan
(http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/ump.retrieve_uma?surl=1332068598ZZWSAZZJXPFO&parm1=UMO_ID&parm2=753507&parm1=DISPLAY_TYPE&parm2=RAW&parm1=DISPLAY_WHAT&parm2=MASTER&parm1=LOGIN_TYPE&parm2=PROFILEG&parm1=AID&parm2=2000)
Australians out in the desert. Note the 9 pounder and the wide shade hats.
(http://cas.awm.gov.au/TST2/ump.retrieve_uma?surl=1332068598ZZWSAZZJXPFO&parm1=UMO_ID&parm2=754073&parm1=DISPLAY_TYPE&parm2=RAW&parm1=DISPLAY_WHAT&parm2=MASTER&parm1=LOGIN_TYPE&parm2=PROFILEG&parm1=AID&parm2=2000)
standard dress for the Australians
Gluteus Maximus..it says Khaki here in the war records but who'se to know by these shots?
I think I'll have to do up a platoon!
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Top picture looks like first Sudan - the photos look like the second (judging by the majesty of those sunhats and the dress pattern).
Interesting stuff.
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Well, why not do 'em in scarlet, then! After all your other redcoats look splendid and you have got a contemporary visual reference for them.
Those white trousers would make them stand out from the British, I think :)
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Top picture looks like first Sudan - the photos look like the second (judging by the majesty of those sunhats and the dress pattern).
Interesting stuff.
Agreed, the middle photo is 1898-ish, but the bottom one appears to be 1885 to me, with those gaiters and what appears to my tired old eyes to be a Martini-Henry.
I didn't think there were Aussies out there in the second war, so I've checked my "Mahdist Wars Source Book".
It appears the NSW Regiment and NSW Artillery were only present in the 1885 campaign - which raises the question of when and where the middle photo was actually taken ??? AFAIK, they didn't use the neck shield in the 2nd Boer War, so maybe these chaps were on exercise somewhere?
TJG - this means you can also have a battery of Aussie artillery :D Sorry, no idea of the calibre of the guns, but I'd assume whatever the Brits used - and it appears from the middle pic they had 9 pounders later in the century.
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The New South Wales Artillery Battery at Suakin did indeed have 9pdrs, according to "Fuzzy Wuzzy" by Brian Robson, a book about the two Suakin campaigns.
He also says the Aussies wore 'khaki', but does not go into which of the million colours covered by this loose term it actually was. If they had worn scarlet in action it would almost certainly have been commented upon somewhere, and to my knowledge it isn't.
Edit: The caption for that photo states that it is of the NSW contingent in 1885, and confirms the gun to be a 9pdr RML. I see no reason to disbelieve this information. Neck flaps for helmets were an existing technology in the 1880s, they weren't suddenly invented by Kitchener in 1898! :) In fact the book "Fuzzy Wuzzy" shows that very hill with the tents on it in the background in another photo, which I think clears up any doubt once and for all.
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From my information both the photographs are from the Gordon Sudan campaign.
The NSW contingent issued puggarees for their necks and most obviously the special canvass gaiters. It is recorded that many soldiers 'lost' these as soon as possible.
As much as I would love to imagine that these guys Khaki colour was the brown or sandy colour I suspect that it was like all UK issue stuff a shade of grey.
The interesting thing - to me - is that in the group photo some of the guys appear to have grown beards.
The reference to colouring their hats and belts with tobacco juice is interesting. Bet that attracted flies.
I wonder what they are pointing at?
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To clarify, when I say Gordon Sudan Campaign I mean the period not the relief force. ;)
The NSW contingent was of course based at Suakin for its period in the Sudan.
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Edit: The caption for that photo states that it is of the NSW contingent in 1885, and confirms the gun to be a 9pdr RML. I see no reason to disbelieve this information. Neck flaps for helmets were an existing technology in the 1880s, they weren't suddenly invented by Kitchener in 1898! :) In fact the book "Fuzzy Wuzzy" shows that very hill with the tents on it in the background in another photo, which I think clears up any doubt once and for all.
Good point! Strange we never see 1885 period figures with them , though ???
I haven't read "Fuzzy Wuzzy" and it's pretty obvious I need to do so ASAP ;)
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Another one on this topic to consider is Fighting the Fuzzy-Wuzzy: Days and nights of service with Sir Gerald Graham's Field Force at Suakin by Captain E.A. de Cosson. This one is the personal account of an officer who was actually present, I think during the second campaign (it's a hell of a time since I read it, I must admit).
As for the neck cloths, it could be as simple as the Australians, when embarking upon this colonial warfare lark for the first time, had their own ideas about ways of doing things, and so tried it out. They've never been afraid of doing things differently to the Brits. It wasn't a new idea, as caps with neck-cloths were common during the Indian Mutiny.
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Another one on this topic to consider is Fighting the Fuzzy-Wuzzy: Days and nights of service with Sir Gerald Graham's Field Force at Suakin by Captain E.A. de Cosson. This one is the personal account of an officer who was actually present, I think during the second campaign (it's a hell of a time since I read it, I must admit).
As for the neck cloths, it could be as simple as the Australians, when embarking upon this colonial warfare lark for the first time, had their own ideas about ways of doing things, and so tried it out. They've never been afraid of doing things differently to the Brits. It wasn't a new idea, as caps with neck-cloths were common during the Indian Mutiny.
That's a good book. It's a useful eyewitness account of the campaign and he gives quite a lot of background info on the logistical side of things. The number of camels they required is frightening.
Of course, the famous "Havelocke". Your probably right about the improvisation, so if it was a purely Aussie ploy, it would be easy enough to model some with some green stuff to make them stand out from the crowd.
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(http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y232/Eaglstone/parody.jpg)
I thought that this cartoon was interesting in that it depicts the Australians wearing correct uniform including the unusual ankle gaiters. As this is all correct perhaps we can also assume the colour is correct which is a light sandy khaki :?
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Fair enough :)
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When you lift the lid off the range of different uniforms available to Australian colonial forces it is quite amazing. I must admit I had no idea of the variety. Pre-federation when Australia existed as a series of States under British rule there was a lot of competition between them to 'outdo' each other, and this was reflected in uniform. The Australian detatment that made it to the Sudan in 1885 was actually a New South Wales unit of infantry and artillery.
Although we can probably (and from everyones replies) fairly shrewdly deduce what what worn in the field, it would be interesting to look also at what could have been worn in the field. The slouch hat apparently had been in military use since 1885 when it was introduced for the Victorian mounted rifles:
(http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/uniforms/slouch-williams.jpg)
When it was first introduced it was worn with the turn up on the right:
(http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/diggers/diggervj-ofarrel_small.jpg)
Although I have found no pictures of slouch hats in the Sudan, I have read reports that soldiers hated the pith helmets they were issued with in the Boer war (which is where they are commonly assumed to have begun use) and used their pith helmets as footballs until they were re-issued with the slouchies. Their use was certainly widespread into the 1890's according to the digger history website.
So I could see a unit of Aussies bored on outpost duty in the Sudan, having a game of football or cricket in their casuals..some of them in slouchies...(I know I'll be shot down in flames for this..) when the Mahdists make a sneak attack.
This is a good site to have a look at:
http://www.diggerhistory.info/pages-uniforms/slouch_hat.htm
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Somehow I missed this beautiful topic.
Great pictures, nice miniatures and I am glad I got the chance to see them.
Björn
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Great stuff
8)
Brilliant pics in the first posting, for some reason the pics in the later postings (other than one) aren't opening for me. I'll try back later though :)
www.gallopingmajorwargames.com
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It's an old thread from 2008. Those pics were hotlinked from the Digger History site, which seems to have vanished. Can't get it to load. Might be a temporary glitch, might be gone for good. Shame if it is, as it was a good site.
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Superb game report, sir! Lovely eye-candy, to be sure. :-*
It's great to see the Suakin campaign featured. I'll also recommend de Cosson's book for excellent background color and the detailed look at the logistics of it all.
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Cracking good read.
This is exactly the sort of thing that keeps me coming back to the Colonial Board. Since Chamla Valley, I've had a taste for colonial wargames battle reports. I plan to spend my old age in a fez and bath slippers rereading particularly good ones.
This will be one of them, I think.
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Thanks for the second helping of positive comments..I really must get back to finishing my Sudan project (once my WW1 stuff is complete). Looking at the Ethiopia game from Salute has almost got me reaching for my unpainted Camel Corps again..
By the way, Plynkes has done a superb job of collating the reports in one section and I've seen loads I missed or was unaware of...many thanks for doing that! I'd like to see something similar on some of the other interest areas.