Tantrapur: Gunga Din

It's on to the great classic, Gunga Din. I've chosen the attack on the sergeants MacChesny, Cutter and Ballentine and their attempt to restore the wire at Tantrapur. That is stopped by the Thuggi, which had been eliminated (or so the British thought!) some 50 years earlier. It commences with three prisoners being brought out into the square. There's Cutter on the right with sword and Thuggi axe ( or if you prefer, Cary Grant); Ballentine on the left holding a pistol upright (or Douglas Fairbanks Jr.). Finally in the center with his back to the camera, is McChesney with sword and pistol (Victor McLaglin). There are 20 Indian soldiers with the 3 Sergeants and 2 waterboys inc Gunga Din. Suddenly a shot rings out and one of the Indian soldiers drops to the ground. Let the recreate begin:

A group of Indian soldiers are working to repair the telegraph at the bottom of the page while the Thuggi begin running up the hills and out from some of the buildings in town.

Turn 1:
The prisoners attack their guards and two are struck down and 1 is shaken. The Thug on the roof is also shaken by return fire. MacChesney orders the cart (with three loads of dynamite!) to the courtyard entrance for a stand. The other Indian troops gather up the stacked rifles to form a firing line. As a group of Thuggi come at them from behind the buildings, they fire defensively and even with the movement penalty (-1) they kill two and another is shaken. Good shooting! The Thugs only succeed in downing one additional Indian. *Note: green caps denote reloading. End of Turn 1:

Turn 2:
The Thuggi get the initiative and the second group now charge from the hills and fire as well. They only get a Red. MacChesney and one of his men fire defensively and the Indian drops a Thug. The Indian then proceeds coolly in hand-hand to drop another! The Sergeants and their group fire at the Thuggi on the roof but they all miss. This will be a reoccurring theme! Ballentine goes to the aid of one of his men and kills the Thug. The first group of Thuggi reload and continue to move from around the buildings. The last group of Indians open fires and drops two more of the Thuggi.

Turn 3:
The Thuggi get the initiative again! Those on the roof shoot down into the street, and kill 3 including one of the waterboys (but not Din). Those on the ground charge into contact. The defensive fire misses entirely and in the melee, 1 Indian and 2 Thugs go down. 6 Indians shoot at the roof and again all miss! The +1 for the wall and good defensive rolls of the Thuggi keeps them in cover. The next group of Thuggi shoots and drops an Indian on the roof and the others charge MacChesney, Ballentine and 1 Indian. MacChesney and Ballentine each drop one and then Ballentine drops two in the resulting melee! *Because of their hero status, I gave the 3 Sergeants two actions each turn. They can shoot and melee, with automatic initiative. Remember, this is Hollywood! Unfortunately for one of the Indians who made a great leap from one roof to the next was caught by a Thug and killed in another melee. Maddeningly, all shots on the roof miss again. Cutter reaches the cart and grabs the dynamite. Casualties so far: 10 Indians (inc the waterboy) and 16 Thuggi. End of Turn 3:

Turn 4: 

3 Indians come on to the roof and the square house and drop one of the Thugs, but the others in their group all miss yet again! Din makes it to the courtyard. The Thuggi in one group all shoot at Ballentine, but miss. There's the hero for you. The last Indians fire at the roof and get 1 Red while Cutter tosses a stick of dynamite at the same and also misses! Those Thuggi must have pleased Kali! Ballentine shoots and misses, while MacChesney and 2 Indians run up to the roof of the long building and the sergeant calmly downs another Thug. A Thug on the square house melees with an Indian and kills him, but the remaining Indian shoots and kills the Thug. Bloody fighting there. End of Turn 4:

Turn 5: 

The Thugs shoot first and they get another Indian on the roof. Melee follows and a Thug goes down. A Thug charge MacChesney and he drops him with fire. 3 more charge at Ballentine who misses this time with his DF. He kills the first two, but receives two of his three wounds (again the hero status). He misses on his next attempt and...the last Thug kills Ballentine! There goes Fairbanks's career! A brave Indian leaps onto the roof of the large building, but along with 4 of his group, they all miss yet again. He is quickly killed by the the return Thuggi fire who get a Shaken as well on the men in the courtyard. Their wall must not have been as high. Melee with MacChesney sees another Thug go down while shots miss Cutter moving to the courtyard. 3 Indians and MacChesney fire at the rooftop Thugs and...miss again! Cutter throws his second stick and misses as well. This doesn't bode well. Casualties up to this point: 13 Indians and Ballentine, and 25 Thuggi. End of Turn 5:

Turn 6: 

Cutter sends Din to the roof to find a line of retreat; while he and the Indians in the courtyard fire unsuccessfully at the roof. MacChesney and the Indian with him on the roof of the long building each drop a Thug. They then try to charge the sergeant and he drops him in melee. Other Thuggi in the group charge down the street towards the courtyard. Indian fire on the street does better and they get 2 Thuggi. Finally! A last Thug climbs up onto the square house fires but misses. End of Turn 6:

Turn 7: 

MacChesney gets an important initiative but the first attempt fail, even for the sergeant. They get only 1 Shaken. But Cutter comes through with his last stick and blows 2 Thuggi apart in the street next to Ballentine's body. The Indian with the sergeant leaps down into the courtyard only to get dropped by Thuggi fire form the roof along with another of his friends. The Thug on the square house kills the last Indian outside the courtyard. total Casualties: 16 Indians and the Sergeant and 33 Thuggi. End of Turn 7:

Turn 8: First group of Thuggi make the mistake to Charge MacChesney who drops both of them, one by fire and the other in melee. He is quite the soldier! He then coolly drops into the courtyard. Din has informed everyone about a river behind the building and the retreat is ordered. One Thug who entered their building is shot down on the stairs, while they finally get revenge of the rooftop Thuggi and score 2 kills! The Thuggi fire back and drop 1 Indian. Another Thug is killed inside the building, this time in hand-hand. The Indians seem desperate now. Cutter drops another Thug as well. Fantastic round for our heroes as the score for this turn alone was 7 Thuggi and only 1 Indian. End of Turn 8:

Turn 9:

The sergeants and two Indians get first shot and all miss. Will their luck now change? Thuggi return fire drops one of the Indians. 2 Indians and Din get ready to jump into the river (just following the movie). Other Thugs reload.

Turn 10:

MacChesney gets the initiative and orders his men into the river. Thuggi pour into the lower floor of the building but all shots miss. Cutter and MacChesney both fire at the rooftop but miss again. Ready to go they are. End of Turn 10: 

Turn 11:

Amazingly MacChesney gets his third consecutive initiative roll and the men jump to escape into the river. What a fight. 40 Thuggi went to meet Kali, while 15 Indians failed to return. And of course there is Ballentine. I guess he won't get married. But you'll have to watch the film to see how it all turned out! Want to send out a special thanks to Bob Murch of Pulp Figures for the Sergeant Three. They are great castings, especially Cary Grant. Check them out. Lots of interesting choices there. Thanks again, hope you enjoyed. Remember leave your comments as they will be appreciated.

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.

Battle of El Obeid: Khartoum

Continuing my preparation for Genghis Con this Feb, the following game was playtested. This is be the the view from the south, just as Hicks Pasha (hired by the Egyptian Government to destroy the Mahdi in the Sudan in 1883), has just turned his column around to head back to the Nile. Dervish forces are at the bottom and along the eastern edge of the battlefied, screened by hills in both cases.

The 'Fuzzy-Wuzzies' of the Hadendoa tribe were not actually fighting for the Mahdi yet, but we needed lots of troops for the Dervish army. They are located at the southern edge of the field:

Located at the northern part of the Mahdi's army are the mounted troops:

The Dervishers themselves hidden behind the eastern hills:

Hicks Pasha has just turned the column as already mentioned, so this used top be the tail of the column; some mounted Egyptians, Sudanese, and you just make out the leading element of the baggage train (which historically numbered some 5000 camels! I used one!)

The original head of the column on the right, with Hicks Pasha and staff on the left. Dervishers lurking behind the hills in the background:

Closeup of Hicks Pasha turning to his Egyptian staff, unaware of the impending disaster:

The battle commences with the Mahdi's forces racing towards their enemy. This is again the view from the north:

Turn 1: The Egyptians at the tail of the army deploy and begin to fire upon the advancing 'fuzzies', scoring 7 kills. A few shots ring out from the 'fuzzies' and amazingly two Egyptians are early kills! The Krupp gun is prepared to fire, while additional Egyptians fire on the Dervishers to the east, scoring 3 additional kills and a Shaken.

At the column's center, men are deploying against the threat coming form the east. The baggage train is moving to the west and supposed cover:

Finally at the head of the column, the troops prepare to receive the Dervish cavalry charge:

The End of Turn 1 sees Hicks Pasha cautiously optomistic. His men have inflicted a total of 24 kills on the Dervishers while losing a mere two of his own. A good start he thinks.

Turn 2, Hicks gets the second consecutive initiative roll:

At the tail, the 'fuzzies' make their charge, taking 5 kills and watching the cannon miss long over their heads. Two melees break out as the 'fuzzies reach the Egyptian line quickly. 8 tribesmen go down, but they take with them 9 Egyptians and 1 Sudanese. Things just got very sticky for Hicks! 

Back in the center, under the watchful eye of their commander, Sudanese pour deadly fire into the advancing Devishers, killing 10 tribesmen although two other kills were doubled (see rules in earlier post) Dervish rifle fire only drops 1 Sudanese before they crash into melee. Again the fight is bloody resulting in 5 more Egyptians with a loss of only 2 Dervishers. Hicks is beginning to get a little anxious, so he brings his reserves in front:

Things go better at the head of the column as the charging enemy cavalry are met with a devastating volley from the Sudanese and a counter charge by more Egyptian horse. 2 Sudanese foot soldiers and 3 Egyptian horse go down, but they bag 11 of the Dervishers! The End of Turn 2 sees casualties total 33 of the Dervisher and 25 Egyptian/Sudanese. 

Turn 3: and the Dervishers win the initiative.

View at the start of the turn:

Back at the rear of the column, surviving Egyptians are falling back attempting to keep their firing line intact. The 'fuzzies' however keep coming despite their losses! Egyptian fire scores 20 kills. (I've removed casualties to ease the play) and 4 more are shaken. There is bloody hand-hand however, and the Egyptians lose 30 men! They take down only 22 Dervishers! Ouch! The 'fuzzies' are breaking through! The Krupp lets go with a blast of canister which takes out 6 more 'fuzzies' and 1 unfortunate Sudanese in the wrong place at the wrong time!

At the column's center things are also falling apart. The first line of Sudanese has been overrun and the second line has taken significant losses:

At the column's head, the Egyptians continue to do well, although their mounted troops are nearly spent:

End of Turn 3, and Hicks' army is teetering. Losses to his men this round totaled 31 men. The Devishers lost 56, but there are still more coming!

At the start of Turn 4, the tail, center and head of the column looks like:

The 'fuzzies' soon swarm over the remaining Egyptians at the army's tail, while one lone soldier fights off 4 Devisher, causing one to be shaken with his fire, and then killing 3 more in melee! A brave man he:

Fighting in front of their commander, Sudanese and gunners try to hold on desperately. Their fire scores  5 hits but too many of the 'fuzzies' and Devishers get through. In the resulting melees, 16 of Hicks' men go down along with 13 Dervishers: 

Back at the head of the column, the Sudanese have just about finished off the Dervishers on this part of the battlefield. The tribesmen lose 5 to fire and bayonet, while the Sudanese lose only one. The last Egyptian cavalryman takes down an enemy before he too loses his fight.

End of Turn 4 saw 20 more of Hicks' men go down, while the Mahdi has lost only 9 more.

Turn 5 and the Dervishers get the inititaive, not what Hicks needed. The end is rapidly closing in on the Egyptian army. First to go is the brave Egyptian holding his ground at the end of the column:

Then its Hicks' turn. He and his aide both cut down a 'fuzzie' but then pay the price. The center is destroyed:

The last stand occurs at the north end of the field. The surviving 13 Sudanese formed up and blazed away at the charging enemy, dropping 5! Then it was crashing swords, spears and bayonets. 7 Sudanese and 5 Devishers meet their end. The last Sudanese struggle backward, fire one last time but only one more Devisher is killed. They are overwhelmed!

Final tally for this big game was 20 mounted Dervishers, another 70 tribesmen on foot. An additional 61 'fuzzies' also were taken down. Of course Hicks' entire army was wiped out: 108 Egyptians and Sudanese. An enjoyable engagement even if the end was predictable. We recycled some 60 additional Dervishers to give the Mahdi a grand total of 207 men. Historically he had somewhere around 30-36,000 versus Hicks' approximate 10,000. Only some 500 Egyptians were believed to have escaped. The Mahdi had a great victory and recovered a great deal of modern equipment which he would turn on Khartoum. But that is another story. Stay tuned!