My Metal Meneken

This Thursday I joined The Men who would be Kings, in 28mm, deep in the deserts of the Sudan, the miniatures were Campbells and the scenario as arid and merciless as the mat we played on. All 3, me, Mike and Campbell had two units of Brits and we just needed to reach the other side (of the long 6x4 table) which would be just hindered by the scenario rules and some fanatics popping up here and there as soon we rolled for a movement - Viel Feind, viel Ehr, don't know were I heard that before, but it did not induce me with too much optimism.
So surprise, I was the only one who choose 2 infantry regiments and no cavalry. If I had to get down then please in style with as much fire power I could muster. Then I rolled one for my officers: one of them a "greeny" (the one with the red uniform) and the other regiment was "destined for great things" which saved some arses as they gained one free action per turn.

Mike choose the camel riders and some British light Cavalry, while Campbell was going for the Egyptians, lancers in chainmail and then some red hat wearing infantry (their most distinguished mark). But both came under pressure in the midway as the horse units weren't particularly resistant against fanatic counter attacks so they started to fall apart. Meanwhile I shot nearly every unit to pieces before they could even come near me.

In the end they all run away or died, APART from half a light cavalry of Brits who pissed off earlier, while securing a shitload of more insurgent units to fight for the rest of the unhappy strugglers and probably hoped no one would survived to tell the tale AND half of my unit that were "destined for great things" were the only survivors of this ploy. Sometimes the great things are the little things.

Good start into the game, my units were on stealth and rolled often 1 or 2 which meant no insurgent appeared!!!

But the other two did not travel so light ...

The Lancers were quite brutal though

Pop! a sudanese insurgent unit! Aaaaand Fire!

The green boy who wanted to be captain (in red)

while the camels were attacked left right and center

Egyptian allies were worried ...

while reloading and firing is a good thing to do ...

Egyptians like rabbits caught off guard

aaannd FIRE! with a little help of their friends

while ignoring the danger in the back

More units (and trees) appearing in our rear

and gone are the Egyptians (like Kermit - phsssiuh!)

while here you can see the 4 Brits on horse running away from the enemy

meanwhile the Camel circus melted away

and even my boys were getting hits

last of the Camels end up in the pan

That was it, the ones that made it with honour in tact

while greeny boy decided to make a stand

Almost ... but he was hit by a flag pole

... basking in the sun

the Imperial Horse flank

the big "Fugger" pike block

and some Kaiserliche Kanonen

vs the infamous Schwyz pikes and the Bande Neri

vs another two Landsknecht blocks and Doppelsöldner

Vs the Berner Pike Haufen

and of course the French King

 

vs the Kaiser!

Last Thursday we played a Sudan 28mm Black Powder game, a scenario that Bart had hatched out of his mysterious mind. A hapless British Telegraph building engineer unit escorted by a regiment of foot was to reach a tiny fortress garrisoned by Sudanese and Egypt colonial forces (and a British gun) - all played by me.

In case of danger it the builder team had to morse S.O.S. over the telegraph line to the British rescue brigade played by Angus. The Mad Mullahs lurking in the dark and elsewhere were played by Campbell and Bill. All the beautiful figures by everybody present, except me. As my understanding of the Sudan period is as cloudy as the Scottish weather can be, I restrain myself to technicolour pictures and let your imagination run wild. I guess I won the battle as I just hold out to the tiny fortress and the mahdis weren‘t able to take due to lack of rifles and guns ...

Needless to say it was wonderful battle and thrilling event (watch out for the high suspense oasis effortlessly calmly sitting in the middle of the desert) made possible by the beautiful painting work of the mentioned above and the MGM - Colonial Adventure director - Bart starring as umpire.

Enjoy! I know I did.

Lads - keep an eye out for the insurgents ,will ya?

The Mad Mullahs advancing out of the desert dawn

At the oasis -  idyllic one might write a poem ...

meanwhile at Fort El Crisp the alarm is raised and everyone is fighting for their lives

The bigger picture and some real spoiler alert

Suddenly out of the green the Madhi Cavalry attacks

More unsatisfied British Empire subjects arrive

the ambush from the oasis view

Fort El Crisp in the distant  ... as the sun rises ...

... it will become clear there are more unsatisfied supressed subjects arriving ...

a heated battle ensues the engineers have called the cavalry!!!

And the rescue team arrives ...

meanwhile Fort el Crisp is surrounded by black masses

and what do the British?

Yep first they form a square - standard default to all sorts of campaign situations

and square marching slowly towards the fortress

And then again another flurry of cavalry attacks the oasis again ...

The Mullah seems to have victory in his grasp

another cavalry out of the oasis

Shredding the only British Horse unit apart ...