Isandlwana in the Sudan using BBB

Thousands of  'em? Not even one Zulu was on the table for our refight of Isandlwana. Instead we used Steve's excellent 15mm Sudan collection along with the Bloody Big Battles ruleset.

The scenario comes from the Battles For empire rule book. The objectives are the 5 sets of tents at the base of the hill. The British have 12 units facing 30 units of Dervish the game lasts for 8 turns.

The more observant amongst you will notice that some of the Dervish have not had their bases finished. Steve is currently rebasing his army for BBB and there are rather a lot of them to do but he was desperate for a Colonial wargame.

 The left flank of the British camp

  The centre of the British camp

The right flank of the British camp

 The Dervish right flank

 The Dervish centre

 The Dervish left flank

 The Dervish left flank approach the gully

Looking north

The same looking south 

 The Dervish centre advances against the outlying cavalry who saddle up and retire

 The Dervish right flank engages the British line but is thrown back 

 The Naval Brigade stand fast 

The Dervish centre advances

The Dervish left flank crosses the gully

 The British line extends itself to face the Dervish left flank

 The Dervish right flank is repuplsed by the Highlanders

  Attacks go in on the British right

 The Dervish capture the camp on the British right

 The Dervish left closes with the British line

 The Dervish keep the pressure up on their right flank but British firepower keeps halting them 

 The end of the game - the British still, barely, hold the centre of the camp

The Dervish captured 4 of the 5 tents which gave them a major victory but still below the historical outcome.

The British  lost both their generals but not a great deal more as units tended to get pushed back up the hill rather than lose bases. The Dervish suffered more casualties as a result of some excellent British shooting.

I found it frustrating that my Dervish units would get into close combat and then be pushed back through defensive fire but I imagine that this is historically accurate. When the Dervish did get into  close combat they inevitably won.

We played standard BBB except for Low on Ammo which required the British to send their Ammo mule to a unit in order to get resupplied.

Steve & Shaun played the British whilst Mike, Rodge and I played the Dervish

Thanks to Steve for the toys, the terrain and the scenario

Omdurman using Bloody Big Battles

We have been going through a bit of a Bloody Big Battles (BBB) Colonial phase playing El Teb, Adowa twice and now Omdurman. The Omdurman scenario can be downloaded from the BBB Yahoo Group

The scenario is an interesting take on Omdurman as it deals with the aftermath of the Mahdist assault. To quote the scenario

While the initial phase of the assault on the Anglo-Egyptian encampment was a disaster for the Mahdists, in order to gain a complete victory Kitchener needed to clear the way to Omdurman and Khartoum. To ensure a secure supply line, this meant defeating the Khalifa’s field army and securing the road from Omdurman to the north.

Looking  north - the objectives are circled in white

There are 5 objectives spread along the entire 6 foot length of the table which the Anglo-Egyptian force must capture in order to win. To draw the Mahdists must hold 1 objective. A Mahdist victory is achieved if they hold 2 objectives of which one must be within 14" of the Nile.

Start of the battle. The Anglo-Egyptians mainly start in El Egeiga. The Mahdists aim to capture the 2 southern objectives

Therefore the Anglo-Egyptian forces must go on the offensive immediately. That's a bit different from the usual standing behind the Zariba and mealie bags and shooting anything that comes within range.

The main Mahdist force heads south to take the two objectives

A single Ansar unit under Ali wad Helu loiters near one of the northern objectives

The Anglo-Egyptian force waits for a plan 

One of the 2 gunboats patrolling the Nile - this one is by Peter Pig - lovely

While the Mahdists seize their two objectives the Anglo-Egyptians finally decide to advance

The Anglo-Egyptians continue their advance

The Anglo-Egyptian centre

The Egyptian Camel Corps and cavalry stand idly by on the northern flank

To the south the British engage the Mahdists and go low on ammo

In the centre the Egyptian line cracks as a Mahdist force storms through the line

A general view of the battlefield from the south - not looking good for the Anglo-Egyptians

The Mahdists being to overwhelm the British on the southern flank

The final positions with the Anglo-Egyptians falling back on their original positions with no hope of even getting a draw!

Therefore an overwhelming, "questions in the House", major victory to the Mahdists. 

The Anglo-Egyptians were sadly lacking in aggression - not even bothering to take unprotected objectives with their cavalry.  However they were under the impression that there was an Ansar unit waiting in ambush, their firing was relatively ineffective and usually being down in melee factors did not help.

The melee factors usually favour the native troops quite drastically. Typically there are 6 Native bases vs 4 European bases so that's 3:2 Numerical  advantage (+1), the Natives are Aggressive (+1) and usually in Depth (+1) so that's a +3 advantage in combat. There is no point in the Europeans being in depth as they need the firepower to either stop or disrupt the natives.

We were using the colonial variant which allows native infantry to move at 15" and only halts units when they lose a base from firing. Both have a major impact on the game as the native troops can zoom around the board and are hard to stop when charging.

We did however enjoy the game and feel that BBB works very well for Colonials. The scenario is excellent as forces the Anglo-Egyptians to come out and fight. In my opinion it has the feel of a mini-campaign rather than a single battle as the Anglo-Egyptians have to send forces off in all directions to capture the objectives. 

I'm looking forward to playing this one again.

Thanks to Rob Smith & Dave Bennett for putting the scenario together

Thanks to Steve for putting on the game with his collection of 15mm troops. He is in the process of re-basing some of the Mahdist troops as they are all on double size bases.

Steve and Shaun played the Anglo-Egyptians and Rodge, Stewart & myself gloried in being the Ansar.