A clever plot in the middle of the Sudan 1884

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 ...