The Mahdi's Assault on Khartoum

Continuing the warm up to Genghis Con, we return to the film "Khartoum" and the climatic act.
The Egyptian/Sudanese of General Gordon must keep the Dervish Army out of the city to prevent a wholesale massacre! But they are outnumbered at least 5-1 if the numbers are to be believed. Let's commence the action:

The battlefield, first from the Mahdi's view, then from Khartoum:

Turn 1:

The two cannons on the city walls lash out with one round short but the other striking down 2 Dervishers. First blood to the Egyptians!

Turn 2: The Egyptian cannons both score hits this time downing 1 each, while rifle fire at medium range scores kills on 12 more!

Turns 3/4: The Mahdi's Army is taking some serious hits. Altogether 36 are lost even though the Egyptian cannons can no longer be brought to bare as the Dervishers get too close to the wall. Notice in the second photo how few of the initial wave of Dervishers actually made it to the wall! Gordon's men take their first losses to the tune of 6. The stout walls of Khartoum however soak up a lot of hits, sparing the defenders from much heavier losses.

Turn 5:The ladders go up and some Dervishers reach the gate itself but another 17 bite the dust! Such losses have completely soaked up all 67 of the Dervish reserves already (Due to the fact that I had only 133 for the attack and wanted a minimum of 200, I 'resurrected' that many casualties at the rear of the Dervish line). But the attackers get a measure of revenge when one of their two cannons strikes a Gate towers and kills both Egyptians! Their rifle fire however is totally inefficient with the defenders rolling 7s (+1 to roll for wall)!

Turns 6/7: At the left wall, the Dervishers make it to the top and in vicious hand-hand, 3 Egyptians go down to no losses for the Dervishers! Defensive fire at both walls however does drop another 21 including one poor Dervisher who reached the top of the wall just as the cannon fired it's last round!

At the right-hand wall the defenders have a better time of it. An additional Dervish artillery hit on another tower does take out a defender. Notice one lone 'fuzzy' who has made it alive to the parapet. He will lose his fight to those two Sudanese next to him. The four Egyptian gunners are falling back with their gun's breach mechanism with them, hoping against hope that the defense will hold.

Turns 8/9: Things are getting dicey for the defenders on the left wall. Seemed just as the defenders cut down the men climbing up onto the parapet, more would take their place. Each time there were fewer defenders left to shoot!

Over on the right, the Mahdi's men were cut down as fast as they appeared on the top of the wall. Some of the Sudanese from the extreme right were being redeployed to help out. Losses for both sides from rifle fire: 5 Dervishers and 3 Egyptians. Melee cost each side much more: 11 from the Mahdi's men and only 5 Egyptians (although most from the left).

Turns 10/11/12: Fighting desperately for their lives, the defenders are overwhelmed as more and more of the enemy pour over the walls. The last Egyptian (a drummer no less) goes down under the swords of 2 'fuzzies'. 

The Gate wall goes next as a lone Egyptian officer attempts to stem the tide (unsuccessfully).

Back at the right wall, the defenders are holding...just!

Turn 13: Khartoum is doomed. The Mahdi's men begin to pour down the ramp leading form the left wall, leaving the Sudanese on the right wall to perish in their hopeless stand.

So just as in the film, the Mahdi gains a victory. In our game, 76 defenders perished before the end while 154 Dervishers paid the final cost. The decision wasn't tipped until Turn 11 which was a bit of surprise so all in all, another good fight. Next we go to India and the tale of Gunga Din! Stay tuned, and remember, leave comments as I will appreciate your thoughts.