Our Sudan game table last saturday

[Patrice]

 A short video showing our Sudan table (at the Scale model convention in Lorient, Brittany, saturday) is online on the website of this newspaper:
http://www.ouest-france.fr/lorient-ils-rejouent-des-batailles-historiques-en-miniature-1717094

I'll post an AAR when I have pictures.

There were 6 players: 2 "Mahdists", 1 "Egyptian" in town, 1 "British" arriving on a boat on the Nile, 1 "British" Camel Corps arriving through the desert. The 6th player was an archeologist exploring the table clothed as an Arab, in search of a lost tomb  The 5-metres table was divided in 3 independant parts (town, desert, hills).

[smirnoff]

Well that looks really splendid
Good game?

[Patrice]

Yes smirnoff, very good ! 

…And so… the AAR of this Sudanese adventure we played at the "Salon de la Maquette de Lorient" (Scale models convention in Lorient, Brittany, France). The rules are an adaptation of "Argad!"

5 m x 2 m table divided in three parts: « Kordouf » a small town on the Nile protected by decaying old walls and a tiny Egyptian garrison;  the desert, with some hills; faraway lands and hills.

Players :
- Anglo-Egyptians:
"le commandant égyptien, pacha Mohammed Kadir": Bruno
"le chef du Camel Corps britannique, major Wellcot" : Eric
"le chef des troupes sur le vapeur, colonel Bardford": Jean-Yves
- The explorer in local garb and his hired bunch of European adventurers:
"l'aventurier orientaliste Nathan Craft": Ehouarn
- Mahdists:
"le chef du clan bedja, Abou Bali": Patrice
"le calife, Sherif Ben Ali": Malo

Scenario and pictures: Bruno

View from the Nile:



The hills and the desert are under control of Beja warriors:



A faraway village where Baggara warriors live:



Kordofans and Baggaras attack on the right:



After some delay, the Bejas attack on the left:



The British are coming! A boat on the Nile…



…and the Camel Corps arrives on the table, in the desert:

[Patrice]

Baggaras and Kordofans have entered a part of the town:



Bejas have passed the first obstacles on the other side of the town…



….but do not dare enter the town centre, as machine guns from the boat are shooting at them!



More Bejas are coming…



Some shooting and galloping near the city gate.



A part of the Camel Corps threatens the Mahdist gunners:



British soldiers and sailors disembark and join with the few remaining Egyptians.
And some armed European civilians run behind the cotton bales! who are they?

[Patrice]

The arriving British soldiers and sailors receive some shots from Mahdists in the nearby buildings!

A British soldier "cleansing" the harbour office:



The character in djellaba is not a local civilian, but an European orientalist in search of a lost tomb, who disguises as a local and speaks perfect Arab. After gathering useful infos in town, he wants to go to the desert but it is very difficult because of the fightings.



The adventurer goes out of town on a camel, he is delayed by some Baggara cavalry, then shot at, and wounded, by an Egyptian sentry! He manages to ride to the Camel Corps unit, explains who he is to the British officer, and is given some morphine (the character, not the player!) for his wound (player characters have "2 life pts").
He manages to persuade the Camel Corps officer to escort him to a hill where (he had been told in town that) a shepherd knows more informations about the lost tomb…



But Baggara cavalry coming from the faraway village arrives behind them! and the Camel Corps has not enough time to deploy on the hill.



The Camel Corps suffers heavy losses …The explorer has managed to ride away by the other side of the hill!
If the Camel Corps officer and the explorer meet again, some day in London, they certainly will have a hot discussion…



In town, the Bejas try a last attack but British fire is superior. A close thing.



In the faraway desert, at last, the explorer sees the tomb entrance!
(yes, I know, it looks more greco-roman than sudanese, but hey, that's probably why it is so archeologically interesting.)
Inside the tomb, some artefacts… and animated skeletons!
The explorer is unable to fight them, and he must run away!
(What? yes, it was an historical game. What again? er, I told you the explorer had been wounded and had taken some medicine, yes? so, when he saw the skeletons, he was dreaming, probably. Or, perhaps not…)



From the original AAR in French language: http://argad.forumculture.net/t831-la-bataille-de-kordouf-escarmouche-sur-le-nil

[von Lucky]

Beautiful! Thanks for sharing.

[HerbyF]

Nice looking & imaginative game. 

[Patrice]

Thanks guys.

...and I am still discovering things I did not know about this battle. 
(as I was in charge of the Beja warriors I did not see well all that happened elsewhere).

When we prepared this game, we knew that the 6th player was not interested in colonial battles (he likes medieval but not 19th century) but that he would play (and play well) if there was some roleplay adventure in the game. So we invented this scenario for the orientalist in Arab clothing (inspired by real events). I believed that it would not have any influence on the big battle, that he would just do his own business.

I did not know that the British Camel Corps officer player had been given a special mission by the game organizer, he needed to capture Mahdist officers.

So what happened is: when the orientalist (in Arab clothing) rode out of town on his camel, he was stopped by two Baggara cavalrymen. The Baggara player understood that there was something wrong (a player moving a lone Arab on the table!) but could not understand what it was. So (as they were simple warriors) he said they would escort this man to a chief. Then an Egyptian sentry on the city wall shot at the group (5-6 on a D6 to hit, then ⅓ chance between these three men, he hit the explorer!) Then the Baggara player sent one of his cavalrymen elsewhere. A bit later they came in sight of a part of the British Camel Corps: the (wounded) explorer galloped to them, escaping a shot from the remaining Baggara. This Baggara rode away to escape the British, he went on the hill.

And (I just discovered this on our French language forum) the explorer - player -, who wanted to talk to a NPC shepherd on this same hill, told the Camel Corps officer - player - that the Baggara cavalryman was an important Mahdist officer (it was a lie). So the Camel Corps player accepted to escort him on the hill - to the doom of the Camel Corps. They have just realized that (and me too) talking on our French language forum. 

Well I'm not trying to waste your time with such a game story, but - in fact the archeologist scenario, that we imagined as something different from the serious battle, DID have an effect on the strategy. 

[von Lucky]

Hah. That is funny. Things like that can't be planned, but when they happen they add an extra layer of fun.