Great Northern War

There must be something in the air at the moment.  As I was settling down to compile this post I noticed that Phil Olley had updated his blog, including a new page featuring his homecast 40mm Prince August  figures.  After a couple of weeks away from gaming, Steve and I got together on Tuesday to try out the Ga Pa rules for the Great Northern War and used the Prince August figures that were formerly in Alasdair Jamison's collection. (more photos on this earlier post)

We set up a small scale scenario, 8 units of Swedes, (4 each of horse and foot) and  11 Russians (6 and 5 respectively).  The Russians had two batteries of guns to the Swedes one and also had an advantage of heavier guns.  Although outnumbered almost 3:2 the Swedish force was approx 10% bigger in terms of points, would the quality advantage help them overcome superior numbers?

The Swedish left wing cavalry

Steve commanded the Swedes and not surprisingly moved forward at speed, hoping to get into melee before my artillery did any damage.  His right wing cavalry charged my dragoons, who held their ground and fired at their attackers.  To my surprise, the Russian volley stopped the Swedes in their tracks, inflicting a step loss as well.  A second charge was also beaten back by a volley from the dragoons.  At this point, we were beginning to question if we were interpreting the rules correctly, surely the Swedish cavalry should have made more impression than this?  We then realised that I had managed to roll 3 on 2xd6 twice, ensuring that the dragoons fire had been as effective as it could possibly have been.  Normal service was resumed on the third Swedish charge when, although the dragoons managed to stand again, this time their volley was ineffective.  In the ensuing melee, class told and my dragoons were soon heading for the baseline.

The Russian infantry hoping their artillery will win the day

 The cavalry on the Swedish left also attacked and had an easier ride due to the inability of my wing commander to issue an order to get them moving. (I needed to roll a 1 or 2 and of course could not stop rolling 6's).  My first line of dragoons was soon moving towards the baseline at speed and my wing commander managed to evade the advancing Swedes, but this left the second line without his support and they also fled.

The Russian right wing dragoons prepare to advance

 Whilst this carnage was taking place on my flanks the infantry were preparing themselves for the clash with the Swedish infantry.  My artillery was doing its best to help, inflicting step losses on both front line battalions (the guards and a battalion comprising elements of the Dal and Bjornberg regiments).  Undaunted, the Swedes continued to advance, fired a volley and then closed to contact. The Tobolsk regiment didn't even wait for the Guards to contact them, fleeing before the impact.  This left the Narva regiment with Swedish horse to their front and the Guards on their flank.  In the centre the Smolensk regiment stood their ground, fired a volley and meleed the Swedish infantry.  Even with their losses to the Russian artillery, the Swedes pushed the Russians back.  Disordered, the Russians broke when pushed again.     Behind them, the Volgodski regiment unnerved by the retreating first line, didn't wait for the Swedish charge, they also fled.

The unstoppable Swedish infantry break the Russian centre

 At this point we called a halt to the action and had a quick review of the rules.  We liked the way in which the quality of the troops determined their ability to carry out orders/actions.  In this action all the Russian infantry were rated as 'Green', for actions like Poltava they could be upgraded to reflect better training and also experience gained on campaign.  Similarly the Swedish infantry were 'veteran', later war scenarios could reduce this as raw recruits were incorporated into units to replace losses.

The Russian dragoons decide that it is just not their day

One thing we struggled with was the 'order' mechanism for the generals; this has been amended in version 2 of the rules (we were using the 1st edition). There is also a mechanism for visibility, reflecting the increasing difficulty of commanding troops as the amount of smoke and noise increased during a battle, but we didn't include this in our first trial.

The army lists included in the rulebook say that the Swedish army is powerful, 'but brittle'.  I was quite lucky in my rolls for inflicting step losses against the infantry; the cavalry have only one step, so one loss would have eliminated the unit.  Steve was unlucky not to inflict any step losses, even though he had at least as many opportunities.  The fortunes of war!

Gauntlet Show

A bit late, I know, but having returned the troops to their barracks and caught up with the chores, I have now chance to post a few photos of other games at the Gauntlet show.  The two games put on by the Society of Twentieth Century Wargamers were "Road to Tebessa" on Saturday and then two scenarios for "Longstop Hill" on the Sunday.  I got so involved with our game on Sunday I didn't have chance to take any photos, but there are plenty for both days on Wills blog .

A game which arrived for the Sunday was "The Relief of Hawarden", a very impressive ECW game in 28mm.

More photos of this game can be found on the Stone Bridge blog

I have added a few more photographs of the Leipzig game to the gallery page (you will find them after the document scans)

Leipzig; or, the Gentlemen Pensioners outing to Gauntlet

As trailed in my last post, the Gentlemen Pensioners put on a game at the Deeside Defenders Gauntlet show over the weekend.  The scenario was a Shako Large Battles version of Leipzig, or to be precise, the action between Napoleon and the Army of Bohemia to the south of Leipzig on the 16th October 1813.

This is a map of the table (12' by 6' overall) with north at the top.  To the west is a marshy triangle of land.  Most of the bridges over the Pleisse river had been destroyed by the French and Napoleon had deployed a thin screen of troops to cover likely crossing points.  Historically, the Austrians under Merveldt did fight long and hard (they suffered c4,000 casualties on the day), to try and cross the Pleisse and attack Napoleon in flank .  Including this fighting on the table would have provided one player with a very limited range of options, attacking the same places over and over again in the hope that eventually they would beat the odds and force a crossing.  Therefore this part of the fighting was abstracted to a die roll during the command phase.  The Allied commander rolled a d10, if a 0 was rolled then Napoleon would have to deploy an infantry division to counter the threatened flank attack .

Klenau's corps await the orders to advance

 The Allies deployed up to 12" onto the table from the southern edge; Barclay de Tolly, with three columns of troops plus some cavalry (see orbats on the Leipzig page), to the west of the wood, and Klenau to the east. The corps of Victor was deployed from Markkleeberg to Wachau and Lauriston from Wachau to Liebertwolkwitz.  All the Allied reserves would enter to the west of the woods; the Austrians having to enter via the bridge into Crobern.  For the French, Macdonald and Sebastiani would arrive opposite the Kolmberg, whilst the Guard and Reserve cavalry would enter behind the Galgenberg.  Augureau's small corps would enter near the western edge of the table.

At the beginning of the game the initiative lay with the Allies, so they moved first for the first two moves, after this initiative would be decided by die roll.  Historically the Allied advance was not very well co-ordinated and therefore Barclay and Klenau rolled a dice at the beginning of movement to see if they moved and if so whether is was a half or full move.  In the event historical precedent was followed and Alasdair (as Klenau) spent the first two moves stationary, betrayed by the dice!  This slowed the Austrian advance on the Kolmberg and almost allowed Macdonald to get there first. 

Kleist nears Markkleeberg

Barclay's troops were not hampered by the dice and Kleist's Corps moved swiftly towards Markkleeberg.  Victor's artillery did inflict some damage on Hellfreich's Russian division, but Kleist was on hand to rally the troops.  The Prussian brigade under Price August Ferdinand did not falter and charged home against the Dombrowski's Polish division who were defending the village.  The enthusiastic Prussian Landwehr forced their way into the buildings and soon had the defenders tumbling out of then village back towards Leipzig.  First blood to the Allies!

Augureau's Corps had by now reached the field and was originally intended to support Dombrowski. However, Napoleon had noticed that the Galgenberg was very weakly held and had therefore directed Augureau in that direction.  Their line of advance put them right in the path of a bold attack by Pahlen's cavalry division.  Barclay had decided to cover Eugene's advance on Wachau by sending forward Pahlen.  The Allied cavalry moved forward to the east of Wachau, with Von Roder's Prussian cuirassiers covering their right flank.

Von Roder on the Galgenberg

Maison's infantry division was caught as it tried to form square and was ridden down.  Napoleon was caught completely off guard by the Allies and had to leave his vantage point on the Galgenberg and seek safety with Augureau's infantry, which has formed square.  With all Victor's cavalry deployed near Markkleeberg to hamper any further Allied infantry advance, it was very fortunate that Pajol's cavalry corps began to arrive to counter the threat from Pahlen.    The first Allied attack on Wachau was launched as Pahlen advanced, but was driven off with heavy losses by the French infantry defending the town.

Von Roder led his men round to east to return to their own lines and found himself to the rear of Albert's division which was part of Lauriston's corps.  Giving the infantry no time to react, Von Roder ordered the charge and soon the division was in bloody ruin, totally destroyed in minutes.

The destruction of Albert's division

Levaschoff's cuirassiers and Von Wrangel's landwehr cavalry attempted to follow Von Roder, but they were caught by Pire's lancers and very few returned to the Allied lines.

Pire exacts some revenge

In Wachau, another Allied attack  had been driven off.

Further east, Lauriston's men were desperately trying to hold onto Libertwolkwitz. The divisions of Pirch and Mesensov were closing on the village, despite having to pass through heavy artillery fire.  Platov's cossacks were swirling round the flanks of Lauriston's infantry, forcing him into square and therefore unable to support the defenders of Liebertwolkwitz.

On the eastern flank the fight for the Kolmberg began.  Sebastiani had clashed with Klenau's cavalry and both sides fell back to reform.  Macdonald's infantry attacked the redoubt on the Kolmberg, but were forced back by close range artillery fire.

Macdonald prepares to attack the Kolmberg

Sebastiani moved forward in support of Macdonald's next attack.  While Marchand's division moved up the hill and defeated Zeithen who covered the left of the redoubt; Excelmanns cavalry charged Best's division who covered the other flank of the redoubt.  The cavalry prevailed against Best, but a breakthrough charge against Splenyi's Hungarian infantry failed in the face of steady volleys from the squares.

Pirch's men forced their way into Liebertwolkwitz, but their success was brief as Lauriston rallied Maison's division, counter attacked and regained the village.  As part of this attack Lauriston sent Demoncourt's light cavalry forward to clear away Platov's cossacks.  Outnumbered, the French cavalry were defeated and had to fall back to rally, but it did give some respite to the beleaguered infantry.

Maison recaptures Liebertwolkwitz

 Gortchakov had rallied his infantry and attacked Liebertwolkwitz again, this time preceded by heavy artillery fire.  The shaken defenders could not withstand this second attack and fell back towards the Galgenberg.  Here they found the Young Guard divisions commanded by Mortier which were forming up ready to attack.  Also on the Galgenberg were two more Young Guard divisions under Oudinot and the remains of Rochambeau's division from Lauriston's corps.  This raw division had been left exposed on the forward slope and had been targeted by 5 Allied batteries.  Oudinot pulled back the division to save it from destruction, but it would play no further part in the battle.  One of the Young Guard foot batteries on the Galgenberg was overrun by Von Roder's cuirassiers, but only after three tie-break rolls .
[ We don't use the Shako tie-break mechanism as we feel it favours the elite troops too much.  Instead we re-roll ties with no modifiers applied.  The highest roll wins, the loser takes one damage point and falls back]

Wachau's garrison stands firm again

Wachau's garrison had repulsed yet another attack by the Russian grenadiers and Victor's line infantry were doggedly holding the line between Wachau and Markkleeberg, though they were coming to the end of their tether.

The fight between Wachau and Markkleeberg

Over the next two turns Victor's units lost their melees and had to fall back.  Dombrowski's Poles were destroyed as a fighting force as were Dufour's Frenchmen.  However, Eugene's men were also in a bad way and were kept in check by the threat of the dragoons of L'Hertier and Milhaud.

This was where the first day's gaming came to an end.  The Allies had captured two of the main villages and established a strong artillery battery in the centre.  Their guard divisions had arrived and were advancing steadily towards the Galgenberg.  For the French they had contained Kleist's troops and halted Barclay, but at a heavy cost.  Lauriston had been weakened by the early cavalry attack and the fighting near Liebertwolkwitz.  However, they still held Wachau and the Guard was intact.

Sunday's action began with an attack by Victor's cavalry against the infantry supporting the garrison of Markkleeberg.  With no infantry available in the area, Victor had to resort to bombarding the town with his artillery.  The cavalry made no progress and had to fall back to reform.  Pajol's cavalry defeated Gudowitsch's cuirassiers and also Raevsky's grenadiers, but Pire's lancers were bested by Pahlens reformed cavalry.  Amid this sea of cavalry the garrison of Wachau held firm against yet another attack.
On the Galgenberg the Young Guard artillery began counter battery fire against the Allied grand battery, though the fire shifted to the approaching allied guard divisions as the range shortened.

Decouz's Young Guard division attempted to charge Liebertwolkwitz, but a timely counter charge by Von Roder's cuirassiers forced the guardsmen into square.  Lauriston's battered divisions came to their aid, as did Bourdesoulle's cuirassiers and at the second attempt the village changed hands again

Klenau's advance

On the French left,  Macdonald's successes became a distant memory as the Austrian divisions rallied and began to advance.  Defour's cuirassiers made a telling charge against St Germain and then followed this up with a devastating attack on Excelmanns. Suddenly Macdonald's infantry had no cavalry support and with this threat removed Klenau's advance gained pace. To make matters worse the Russian Guard heavy cavalry division moved onto Macdonald's right flank.  Lauriston intervened with Demoncourt's light cavalry and against the odds (the Frenchmen had been trounced by the cossacks earlier in the battle) the elite Russian cavalry were defeated.  But, before the French cavalry could reform, they were charged by the Light cavalry of the Russian Guard.  Brave as they were, the French troopers were overwhelmed, the French left was now in grave peril.

On the Galgenberg a flank attack by Latour-Maubourg's First Cavalry Corps was only partially successful, it slowed the allied advance, but the cost, particularly to Doumerc's Dragoon division was very high.  Chastel's light cavalry charged Pirch's landwehr, but with parade ground precision the Prussians formed square and beat off the attack.  Alvensleben's Prussian Guards now charged Barrois' Young Guard.  It was a close fought melee, but the Prussians prevailed on the second tie-break.  Alvensleben's progress was halted by the threat of French cavalry, giving time for Barrois to rally and move onto the Galgenberg again.

The Prussian Guard on the Galgenberg

 Napoleon had now called up his last reserves, the guard infantry divisions of Curial and Friant, the Old Guard artillery and the Guard cavalry.  It was at this point that the Austrians made a further impact on the battle.  Firstly, the reserve cavalry and infantry divisions arrived at Crobern and also the Allied commander threw two zeros in successive moves.  This meant that Napoleon had to send two divisions to protect his right flank and the only two available were Friant and Curial.

Austrian reinforcements arrive at Crobern

 The Old Guard artillery made an immediate impact destroying Klux's division in a storm of shot.  Walther's Horse Grenadiers and Dragoons charged and defeated Nostitz's cuirassiers and the Chasseurs a Cheval defeated Puschnitsky's Russian infantry.  Against this Lewin's grenadiers eventually fought their way into Wachau, ending a gallant defence by the men of Dubreton's division.  The capture must have been unexpected because Barclay twice ordered his artillery to fire on the village after it had fallen!

Victor launched Pajol's cavalrymen in a last ditch attack on Barclay's infantry.  Raevsky's grenadiers were overwhelmed, but Schahowski stood firm.  The losses sustained in this attack pushed the French army beyond their breakpoint and an allied victory was assured.

So ended a very enjoyable two days gaming.  The action flowed back and forth with everyone playing their part.  In retrospect, the key move would seem to be Ian's bold attack with the allied cavalry in the first few moves.  This stalled French preparations and gained the time and space for the allies to set up their grand battery in effective range of the Galgenberg, denying the French the opportunity to do the same with their own artillery.
Special mention must be made of Von Roder's Prussian cuirassiers who made several telling charges and also Dubreton's gallant garrison in Wachau.

 So, thanks to Roy, John, Ian, Alasdair and Steve for making the game a success.  Also to Steve for being transport manager and mine host for the weekend in addition to being umpire and Tsar Alexander!

The OOBs and reinforcements schedules are on the Leipzig page (see gallery above) and I hope to add some more photographs over the next few days.

 

Leipzig game

Very busy at the moment getting everything ready for the Leipzig game at the Gauntlet show this weekend.  The Large Battles rules from Shako have been updated on the large battles page (link also available at top of page) for the Leipzig scenario.  The layout is still not right, my IT skills need updating, but I hope you can get the gist of what the rules are.

Hopefully, there will be a full report next week.  Details of last year's Borodino game can be found on this post with photos on a gallery page (link above)

First Newbury, 1643

The second game of the AGM weekend was a large 25mm version of First Newbury from the ECW.  Two reviews of this battle have already been posted, by  Will who took the part of Rupert and Phil who took the part of Skippon.  As often happens with these large games, I had little real idea what was happening on the opposite flank (I took the part of Vavasour and was pre-occupied with trying to make progress through the enclosures around Darke Lane).   Therefore, I will concentrate on events in my area of the field.

 The view towards the Royalist left

Having a force consisting of infantry (apart from one unit of dragoons), I decided my best option was to move some infantry into the enclosures and from the relative safety of the hedges take pot shots at the opposing cavalry and supplement their fire with that of my light artillery. 
There were gaps in the hedges, which my opponent Dave, made full use of, moving his dragoons forward so that they could fire on my infantry as it advanced.  Confident in my superior numbers I continued to advance, but the dragoons were supported by some cavalry and these charged halting my progress.  The close terrain meant that the number of figures involved in the melee was fairly small and for a while neither side managed a decisive result.

 Melee in the fields

I had moved my two strongest units into the fields near Round Hill, but Skippon countered this by moving a unit forward himself.  As one of my units began a fire fight which seemed to promise MAD (mutually assured destruction as casualties were inflicted on each side at the same rate), the second drove off one of Dave's cavalry units which was trying to hack its way through the hedge.  This infantry was meant to have the support of a light gun, but it failed to fire for three consecutive moves (ie I rolled a 1 on a d6).

 Advance towards Round Hill

On the far right I had tried to advance along a narrow area of clear terrain, but a cavalry charge forced the infantry to 'form a body' and progress ceased.  An infantry unit moved into the adjacent field intending to move to the cavalry's flank and then drive them away with musketry.  This worked a treat, as Dave withdrew the cavalry as the threat became apparent.  However, just as I was celebrating this minor victory, a second unit of cavalry swept into the field on the flank of my infantry.  They had just enough time to turn to face their aggressors before they were charged.  Resolute defence forced the cavalry to fall back, but, pistol fire from their flank caused some casualties and reduced their level of command.  A second cavalry charge caused them to rout, but fortunately the neighbouring units ignored their flight.
Some revenge was gained by the light artillery as they were in hail shot range of the victorious Roundhead cavalry  and their fire drove the enemy back.

 Surprised by cavalry

This was how affairs ended.  I had made some progress, but not as much as I had anticipated.  Dave made good use of the terrain, which was not ideal for his cavalry.  Careful observation of the gaps in the enclosures aided his attacks and the hedges slowed my advance considerably.  The light guns were  useful, but as the Allies found in the bocage, the close terrain  does favour the defence. 

Phalanx

As usual a very busy weekend for the Gentlemen Pensioners' AGM, the Phalanx show at St Helens on the Saturday and then an ECW game, First Newbury, on the Sunday.  The  Lance and Longbow Society was putting on a demonstration game on the rather obscure Banastre Rebellion, which took place in Lancashire in 1315.  Some of the leading rebels came from southern Lancashire, so it had some local relevance.  The only battle of the campaign took place near Preston, the actual location is not known, but we decided on setting it at Deepdale, near Fulwood barracks and the football ground.  Contemporary accounts suggest that the rebels numbered between 6-800, with the Sheriff's men having 5-600.  There is no detail on the numbers of mounted and foot within those totals, nor on the quality of the troops involved.  We decided to give the Sheriff more knights and mounted sergeants and class approximately one third of the rebel infantry  as raw peasant foot.

The battle begins with the vanguard of the Sheriff's force force, led by Walter de Vavasour, advancing against some archers on the rebels left.  What Vavasour did not know was that a large body of infantry lay behind the crest of the position and although they easily overran the archers, (who failed to flee quickly enough), they were then faced with solid blocks of spearmen.  The supposedly elite rebel infantry had fled on seeing the destruction of the archers, however, Lee's spearmen and those of William Bradshaw, Lord of Haigh, stood their ground.  Lee, together with his bodyguard had counter-charged Vavasour's mounted sergeants, but vastly outnumbered had been driven back.

However, help was at hand, as Banastre, together with his mounted knights, moved around the flank of Vavasour's force.  They were poised to strike when Vavasour's men, seeing they were making no headway, decided to fall back, (ie they lost the melee).

It was at this point that Edmund de Nevill, the Sheriff, arrived with a further unit of knights plus archers, crossbowmen and spearmen.  Banastre, gathered his mounted men together and, although outnumbered, charged Nevill's men, seeking a decisive result.  The melee was short, but viscious, and in the end, it was the sheriff's men who gave way, fleeing from the field.  Banastre had no time to celebrate as his men now came under heavy fire from the crossbowmen and archers.  Sensing that this might be his day, Banastre now charged the enemy missile troops.  To his surprise, the sheriff's men stood their ground and fought.  Not only that, they pushed back the rebels.

Strickland had now arrived with the remainder of the Sheriff's men and moved forward with his mounted sergeants to threaten Banastre's flank.  Vavasour had by now recovered and his men threatened Banstre's other flank.



Charnock's peasant archers fired at Strickland's men as they attacked Banastre and did empty quite a few saddles, but the attack still went in.  Banastre and his standard were the focus for the most severe fighting.  Bradshaw was cut down at Banastre's side and then Banastre himself was killed.  Strickland lost his life, but the rebels were beginning to lose heart.  With very few archers and no mounted troops their spearmen were vulnerable and seeing the sheriff's men advancing the backward shuffle became a retreat and then a rout with little delay.

The day belonged to the sheriff, but the rebels had given a good account of themselves.

An earlier post on this battle  had commented on some of the drawbacks to the WAB rules for this type of action.  For this re-run we had reduced the saving throw for the knights by making the shield a 50/50 save rather than automatic.  Therefore knights would save on a 3 with 2s being re-rolled with 4 or more saving.  Creating sub-units within the three main 'battles' also reduced the chances of an entire wing of the army disappearing over the horizon. 
Many thanks to Steve, Ian, Roy and Will for making the game a success on Saturday.  Indeed, a report and more photos of the game and the Phalanx show can be found on Will's blog.

Here are coats of arms for the major characters

Adam de Banastre

 William Bradshaw

Henry de Lee

Robert de Charnock

Edmund de Nevill

Walter de Vavasour

Walter de Strickland

The Phalanx show had the usual good mix of games and traders, with the bring and buy seeming to do a brisk trade.  One game that caught my attention was put on by Liverpool Wargames Society showing the 1859 campaign in Italy in 6mm

   

Rescue Mission?

Another tale from the Sudan for this week's battle.  Imperial HQ had received news that an isolated Egyptian garrison was running short of supplies and encircled by Dervish and Arab troops.  The Brigadier had decided that this was an excellent opportunity for Lt C V Firth-Newsome, newly arrived from England, to get some experience of local conditions.  Four veteran companies of redcoats were available, plus a detachment of RN Bluejackets and some guns from the RA.   However, at the last minute two of the redcoat companies were replaced by two recently arrived companies, which sported the khaki uniform.  The Brigadier's orders were simple enough; take a couple of steamers up river, secure the landing stage and then clear the way for the Egyptians to retire to the river.  It all sounded fairly straightforward to Firth-Newsome, just like the exercises at Sandhurst, would he need the help of the veteran regimental sergeant major (RSM) Flynn, who the Brigadier insisted should accompany him?

The following morning the small expedition set sail and two days later arrived at Abu Dhal, the nearest landing point to the Egyptian garrison.  A couple of rockets were fired to signal their arrival to the Egyptians (and the also the Dervish) and Firth-Newsome, having spent the previous evening organising the orders for the disembarkation, supervised the troops as they left the steamer and lined up on the bank.

A small detachment of RN ratings remained on the steamer to man the Gatling gun and then the steamer cast off and made way for the second steamer to moor up at the landing stage, ready to receive the Egyptian garrison.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian commander had organised his forces, ready for the retreat to the Nile.  Over the last couple of days there had been constant sniping from the broken ground all round the village and he was careful to maintain a watch for sudden enemy attacks.  His cavalry and camelry moved cautiously out to scout the route of march.  The cavalry were on the left and as they neared some rocks a large force of Hadendoa rose from the ground and charged. 

To the Egyptians' left their second squadron found themselves attacked by enemy camel troops.  Fierce melees developed and although the Egyptians fought bravely they were heavily outnumbered and in the end they broke and routed, racing off into the desert.  The Egyptian camelry could not come to their assistance because they too had been charged by Hadendoa, this time from the rear.  As they galloped off, trying to evade the infantry, they were hit in flank by Dervish cavalry.  Caught at a disadvantage, they stood no chance and in no time at all the unit was destroyed.  One crumb of comfort was that the attack by the Dervish cavalry brought them within the range of the guns landed by Firth-Newsome.  A couple of well-directed rounds soon drove off the cavalry.

His initial foray having been defeated, the Egyptian commander decided to rely on the fire of his infantry and they forced the Hadendoa to retreat back into the broken ground. Among the dead which littered the sand lay the Hadedoa commander, which ensured a break in hostilities whilst order was restored.  This gave the Egyptians time to organise their defence, which was just as well.  With fearsome cries, the Hadendoa left the dead ground and charged the village.  With commendable courage the Egyptians stood their ground firing steadily until the Hadendoa attack slowed, stopped and then fell back.

The second Hadendoa commander was  also picked off by fire from the garrison and the second Dervish unit also sought cover.  With the fighting dying down, the Egyptian infantry began to leave the security of the village and move slowly towards the river.  The Sudanese troops were left till last as they were watching the desert for further attacks.

Back at the river Firth-Newsome had deployed his men.  The new men were placed on the left, holding some village buildings facing a wadi.  Some bluejackets held buildings by the guns and to their right the redcoats formed up ready to oppose any attack.  Finally on the right flank was another small detachment of bluejackets, who held the small enclosures close to the river bank.  Their flank was covered by the machine gun on the steamer.  As he stood in the centre of the village, Firth-Newsome saw one of the privates from the left flank running towards him.  Ordered to attention by the RSM the infantryman reported that a force of Arab riflemen were approaching the village and were there any new orders?.  "Hold your position and rely on rifle fire", replied Firth-Newsome.  A suggestion from the RSM to redeploy the guns was declined and then machine gun fire was heard from the right flank.  A runner reported yet more Arab riflemen advancing towards the village.  Again, the order was to hold the position.  The RSM suggested that a company of redcoats should  help the bluejackets.  The manner in which the 'suggestion' was made and also the expression of the RSM overrode the hesitancy of the young Lieutenant. "Yes, see to it Flynn" he said, whilst moving towards the left flank, where the sound of firing was growing louder.  When he arrived he saw a veritable sea of enemy riflemen flowing towards the thin British line.  These less-experienced men did not have the steadiness of fire which was necessary to stop an enemy attack and soon it was hand to hand fighting. 

Their formation broken by the houses, small groups of British infantry fought with desperation, but one by one the houses were captured by the Arabs and the pitifully few survivors tried to rally in the centre of the village.  The way to the steamer landing was open, if that fell, the British would be trapped.  As he tried to think what his instructors would have suggested, Firth-Newsome heard the RSM cough and say "the guns have arrived sir".  "Excellent Flynn, just in time!  See if they like a taste of canister" .  As the first group of Arabs came out of the alleyway they were shredded by artillery fire.  A second group suffered the same fate and the remaining Arabs resorted to sniping at the gunners from the cover of the houses.

On the opposite flank the bluejacket line had been overwhelmed.  Defending too long a line, even with the fire from the steamer, they could not stop the enemy attack.

The bluejackets died where they stood, but, just in time the redcoats, sent by RSM Flynn, arrived on the flank of the Arabs.  One volley attracted the attention of one unit of the enemy and then a bayonet charge ensured a melee.  This meant only one unit of Arabs could advance into the village, making their way along the riverbank.  Seeing their advance, the captain of the steamer cut the mooring lines and took the steamer out into the river.  As the arabs entered the square they were met by a volley from a ragged body of men organised by RSM Flynn.  Firth-Newsome then arrived with the RA field gun to add further fire.  Again, the Arabs were forced back into the houses.

The Egyptian commander had recommenced his advance towards the river.  The Egyptian infantry, keeping close order, advanced slowly, but steadily.  Behind them, the Sudanese fell back, constantly scanning the desert for more Dervish attacks, but the fight seemed to have gone out of the Hadendoa.  A final attack by the Dervish cavalry was repulsed by steady volleys.  As the Egyptians neared the village, they added their fire to that of the remaining British infantry.  With this additional threat the Arabs realised they could not hold the village and therefore began to melt away into the desert.

Firth-Newsome greeted the Egyptian commander by the river and invited him to lead is men onto the steamer to begin the voyage back down the Nile.  As the steamer sailed off, the British began to gather up their wounded and bury the dead before they also returned to camp.

Who rescued who?  We again used the hidden units cards, and once again they fell quite well for me (as the Dervish commander).  The Hadendoa and cavalry were  in just the right place to oppose the Egyptian mounted troops and also the Arab infantry were nicely placed to attack the village.  At least Firth-Newsome survived and hopefully will use the experience well.