I confess it was done a bit on the fly so some things worked better than others... The original battle saw the General Earle split his force, pinning the Mahdists on the Kirkbean heights whilst sending troops to outflank and attack the enemy from the rear. Trying to replicate this was not that easy with a gamer like George who identified the battle from the set up! :-)
Opening attempts to distract the Mahdists with my Indian units and artillery did not start well with the Bengal Lancers getting shot up and Pinned...
...and the 15th Sikhs getting depleted by unerring Mahdist artillery fire!
The bulk of the Imperial force made a forced march off table and turned up on turn 3 on a D6 roll. In retrospect it would probably have been better to refight the battle lengthways down the table to allow the outflanking force to enter far enough away from the Mahdists to deploy together...
This battle saw George employ his Mahdist artillery for the first time, a lovely Perry's model with enslaved Egyptian army crew in chains!
With the appearance of the British behind their positions, the Beja turned to face the threat!
The 1/66th and 2/66th engage the Mahdists behind the heights, whilst the Sikhs seize the opportunity to advance on the remaining enemy in the hills under cover of their own artillery...
The 3/66th and 92nd (Gordon) Highlanders opened fire on their flank Pinning a unit of Beja and Mahdist rifles!
On the other flank though matters took a turn for the worse as the stabby stick guys crashed into the 1/66th and 2/66th...
A couple of turns of melee combat later it was all over...
Meanwhile on the heights the Sikhs, despite suffering 75% casualties, defeat a unit of Mahdist riflemen...
...and take out the enemy cannon! Bole So Nihal, Sat Sri Akal!
Having wiped out two units of the 66th, the Beja turn their attention to the Imperial forces in front of the heights, the British artillery protected by a solitary unit of Bazingers...
The Bazingers though surprise the Beja with an unerringly accurate blast of rifle fire! (6's needed to hit).
The nearest Beja unit was almost wiped out!
However there were two more units of fanatical stabby spear armed natives behind them...
By this stage the battlefield had a distinctly lop-sided look, with the Imperial force having secured control of the heights, but with their artillery dangerously exposed and unsupported...
Despite delaying the native hordes for a turn or two, the Bazingers were unable to hold the Beja off...
...and eventually they were defeated. The artillery desperately tried to stop the native advance...
But could not resist the spears of the Beja and were eventually Pinned and then overrun...
Given the lack of scenario preparation the game was quite enjoyable although I would do things differently if we played it again - I think having the table set up length ways would have made for a better game, allowing for the outflanking force to arrive as one and outside of Mahdist charge range. I would also want to replace the cavalry with another unit of infantry, as Bengal Lancers are not really the best troop type to take on native rifles in the hills! :-)
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