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A Typical (all to frequent) Dervish Victory....
Hard game to write a report on because I think I've got the hang of the Dervishes. What I mean by
that, is that you must not stand still too long...
Let me explain. Jez chose three Average sections again, and I my usual lot of a mixture of
Veteran, Average and Poor troops, with one unit being nine bases of Jehadiyya Riflemen plus a
leader, and another being seven Camels plus a leader. This time I tried out Artillery for the
Mahdists.
Once again it was a 'Find The Enemy' scenario. This time with our growing familiarity with the
rules, and the fact that Jez kicked my ass badly first time, he shot off as usual for the objective.
I placed rocks and brush centrally, and then once I had appeared and occupied both templates
as half units he attempted to scout me and failed. I placed on more terrain at the end of my turn
managed to disappear, then popped up in it.
This set a pattern for the game. I kept getting terrain, then units, and kept disappearing and re-
appearing elsewhere. He managed to limit me somewhat by scouting some templates, but
because I refused to stand and fight he couldn't seem to pin me down, which felt very right for
the Sudan, from what I'd read.
Jez gambled on many event cards but luckily for me this time he either lost, or they had no effect.
As a result I placed a piece of brush with my massed riflemen in a flanking position. As he
circumvented my position in his turn I decided to leave the terrain, snuck up behind his third,
rearguard section which was dawdling at the back 8" behind the rest of his force, and let him
'ave it at close range!
I killed Officer AND NCO, AND another base of infantry. Nasty. His subsequent morale test
resulted in three fails out of four thrown and he legged it!
His leading section then ran up against a fuzzy occuppied collection of huts, and he rolled low
scores for AP, and could do nothing.
I managed to enter the template again and disappeared. I brought on Artillery and placed in in the
template. He turned his second section to face and advanced towards it, but out of range of his
rifles. This led to him separating further than 6" from his lead section, which then rolled low
again on APs.
In my turn I fired upon him with my Artillery killing two bases much to his shock, one of which
was his Officer. His morale test left him rooted to the spot and leaderless. He then failed to
promote a base to replace the Officer, and so lost another base.
By now yet another fuzzy lot appeared to his front and blocked his route to the objective. He
tried scouting terrain but failed again.
My Jehadiyya popped up again, fired a couple of times killing two bases, and the Artillery killed
another base. His remaining base legged it after failing morale.
This left Jez with his lead section in a whole heap of trouble. Wisely Jez decided the game
should end as I brought on a Camel unit in brush thereby surrounding him. -18 pts loss for Jez.
A truly wicked game won by popping up and then disappearing again to frustrate the Brits. I was
quite lucky this game I admit but it did feel very easy.
We didn't allow terrain behind British positions, and it was so one sided, it made me wonder how
hard it would be to win as the Brits if we had stuck to the rules rather than our house
version...Hmmm?
Hard game to write a report on because I think I've got the hang of the Dervishes. What I mean by
that, is that you must not stand still too long...
Let me explain. Jez chose three Average sections again, and I my usual lot of a mixture of
Veteran, Average and Poor troops, with one unit being nine bases of Jehadiyya Riflemen plus a
leader, and another being seven Camels plus a leader. This time I tried out Artillery for the
Mahdists.
Once again it was a 'Find The Enemy' scenario. This time with our growing familiarity with the
rules, and the fact that Jez kicked my ass badly first time, he shot off as usual for the objective.
I placed rocks and brush centrally, and then once I had appeared and occupied both templates
as half units he attempted to scout me and failed. I placed on more terrain at the end of my turn
managed to disappear, then popped up in it.
This set a pattern for the game. I kept getting terrain, then units, and kept disappearing and re-
appearing elsewhere. He managed to limit me somewhat by scouting some templates, but
because I refused to stand and fight he couldn't seem to pin me down, which felt very right for
the Sudan, from what I'd read.
Jez gambled on many event cards but luckily for me this time he either lost, or they had no effect.
As a result I placed a piece of brush with my massed riflemen in a flanking position. As he
circumvented my position in his turn I decided to leave the terrain, snuck up behind his third,
rearguard section which was dawdling at the back 8" behind the rest of his force, and let him
'ave it at close range!
I killed Officer AND NCO, AND another base of infantry. Nasty. His subsequent morale test
resulted in three fails out of four thrown and he legged it!
His leading section then ran up against a fuzzy occuppied collection of huts, and he rolled low
scores for AP, and could do nothing.
I managed to enter the template again and disappeared. I brought on Artillery and placed in in the
template. He turned his second section to face and advanced towards it, but out of range of his
rifles. This led to him separating further than 6" from his lead section, which then rolled low
again on APs.
In my turn I fired upon him with my Artillery killing two bases much to his shock, one of which
was his Officer. His morale test left him rooted to the spot and leaderless. He then failed to
promote a base to replace the Officer, and so lost another base.
By now yet another fuzzy lot appeared to his front and blocked his route to the objective. He
tried scouting terrain but failed again.
My Jehadiyya popped up again, fired a couple of times killing two bases, and the Artillery killed
another base. His remaining base legged it after failing morale.
This left Jez with his lead section in a whole heap of trouble. Wisely Jez decided the game
should end as I brought on a Camel unit in brush thereby surrounding him. -18 pts loss for Jez.
A truly wicked game won by popping up and then disappearing again to frustrate the Brits. I was
quite lucky this game I admit but it did feel very easy.
We didn't allow terrain behind British positions, and it was so one sided, it made me wonder how
hard it would be to win as the Brits if we had stuck to the rules rather than our house
version...Hmmm?
An All To Rare British Victory...
We played a 'We Must Find Water' scenario and I (Big Osman from the Land of Potence) put an
oasis on table to be scouted by the Brits.
Jez (Whacker Binks of the Buffers) chose a 'campaign weakened' force with poor scouts and
featuring an artillery piece.
I deployed my scenery up table to allow me time to fill them with troops before he could reach
them. Only problem was I had to remove my scrub and then couldn't get terrain or forces on
table.
Once I finally did so his troops scouted the templates denying me cover. I was winning however
as the casualties I was causing with my Jehadiyya riflemen were mounting up.
As I revealed a unit in scrub, Jez hit it with two rounds of artillery fire. The piece had been
dismounted at 6" on table and caused four bases of casualties resulting in a rout of the entire
unit!
Two sections had suffered heavy casualties but hadn't lost Officers or NCOs and so functioned
quite well enough to rout my Jehadiyya from the oasis. They scouted, second time, and found
the well drinkable.
Jez had left a third section supporting the artillery and so these started to exit to report the water
to the main column. His poor scouts were occupying templates so I could not bring anything on.
Bummer. jez exited and scored the necessary 14 pts to enable 4d6 to be rolled, plus 3 d6 for
occupying the oasis, he had routed two of my units and killed/routed sixteen bases of my troops.
he had lost six bases of infantry. Result +20 pts and they say (well, okay I said) it couldn't be
done...
We played a 'We Must Find Water' scenario and I (Big Osman from the Land of Potence) put an
oasis on table to be scouted by the Brits.
Jez (Whacker Binks of the Buffers) chose a 'campaign weakened' force with poor scouts and
featuring an artillery piece.
I deployed my scenery up table to allow me time to fill them with troops before he could reach
them. Only problem was I had to remove my scrub and then couldn't get terrain or forces on
table.
Once I finally did so his troops scouted the templates denying me cover. I was winning however
as the casualties I was causing with my Jehadiyya riflemen were mounting up.
As I revealed a unit in scrub, Jez hit it with two rounds of artillery fire. The piece had been
dismounted at 6" on table and caused four bases of casualties resulting in a rout of the entire
unit!
Two sections had suffered heavy casualties but hadn't lost Officers or NCOs and so functioned
quite well enough to rout my Jehadiyya from the oasis. They scouted, second time, and found
the well drinkable.
Jez had left a third section supporting the artillery and so these started to exit to report the water
to the main column. His poor scouts were occupying templates so I could not bring anything on.
Bummer. jez exited and scored the necessary 14 pts to enable 4d6 to be rolled, plus 3 d6 for
occupying the oasis, he had routed two of my units and killed/routed sixteen bases of my troops.
he had lost six bases of infantry. Result +20 pts and they say (well, okay I said) it couldn't be
done...
Patrols In The Sudan - Wargames Rules For The Sudan
by 'Rules For The Common Man' Team Available Peter Pig
by 'Rules For The Common Man' Team Available Peter Pig
