Saturday, April 30, 2022

Don't Mention The War - Part 6 from Facebook

 AUSGAME 2022

1940 S/O - Rain, Rain and More Bloody Rain
Rebase, production and reinforcements – the US declare that they are lending the CW 2 Oil and 1 Oil to France. Following on from last week’s 2nd early EOT roll of 1, the German was keen to win the initiative and roll some S/O clear impulses. With a +1 he rolls a 6 (7) for rain – not the start the German wanted – the conquest of France in 1940 is now under a cloud.
Axis 1st Impulse – weather 7 rain everywhere but fine in the Med. Italy declines a DOW after a short conference with the German High Comd – it was expected that they would have made a DOW against at least France, but perhaps they were hoping for clear before joining the Axis cause. Germany takes a Land. GS in the rain are marginally ineffective with one Arty inverting a single French Corps on the outskirts of Paris. The brand new JU88 attempting a GS against Paris is shot down by the French air force but they also lose their brand new D520 FTR to escorting ME109’s – both pilots bail out safely and trudge to their nearest airfield. The French AA roll a minimum of 4’s and drive away a Stuka. With few inversions the German conducts a single attack to clean up the defending 4 INF in the forests Southeast of Paris before it has the opportunity to step across the river Seine – TOTT blitz roll and it becomes a Cadre. Italy takes a no cost combined and sails a sub. Japan takes a no cost land moving a few units and hoping that the weather clears. Impulse marker advances by 2.
Allied 1st Impulse, the French take a Land and attempt to more their reinforcements forward, but even the ARM and MECH that arrived in Vichy struggle to get to the front line in the mud. The line in front of Paris is reinforced and the Allies dig in hoping that the bad weather and another early EOT roll will further delay the Axis schedule. The French HQ reinverts the forward INF and the AA in Paris. The CW takes a Naval and sends out its Convoy escorts across the oceans just in case the Germans strike out with their U-boats. The Queens sail to the far east loaded with the Sydney Militia, and a transport embarks a SA TER for destinations unknown. The Home fleets sails into the North Sea just in case shore bombardment is required or the German surface fleet sorties out of Kiel. Russia emboldened by its adventure into Iran makes a DOW against Iraq and eliminates their 2 factor Camel Corps on a 10:1 assault. Again, the US Senate objects to this aggression by the Communist State and the US losses another chit – gain one/lose one – not much progress in the chit pools for the US. Reinforcements and Zhukov are sent to the German/Polish border. China takes a no cost Land, and with the arrival of Stilwell and 2 more Communist land units they feel a little more secure with the onset of the early winter rains. Impulse marker advances by 2.
Axis 2nd Impulse, again the weather Gods ignore the pleas of fine weather from Germany and give them rain again in the Temp with a 9 Rolled, rain also arrives in the Med. No DOW from Italy and Germany takes their mandatory Land Impulse. They again attempt multiple GS with little success despite the French AA and air-force being ineffective – the AA rolled a 1 and the French air-force cleared the bombers through with several 11’s. Germany attacks another ‘stack’ of French units defending the approaches to Paris, only forcing a retreat, and advance adjacent to Paris. Japan takes a Combined and sails reinforcements into the S China Sea. Again multiple GS in the rain fail – needing 1’s and 2’s – mostly 1’s in rain, so no attacks. The impulse marker advances by 2.
Allied 2nd Impulse, the French and CW take Land actions, as the French finally get their reinforcements to the front line. The British recognising the declining French position, step back 1 hex, the French send a 3 MIL to act as rear guard. Singapore is reinforced with the arrival of the WP Sydney Militia which immediately makes its presence known at many of the clubs in the city – the Aussies have arrived! Russia takes a no cost Combined and starts to send units to the Finnish border, perhaps telegraphing future interest in the borderlands. China and the US no action. The impulse marker advances by 2
Axis 3rd Impulse and still the weather Gods find no favour with the Axis and gives them another does of rain again, that is three impulses in a row, with a 6 +1 (7) Rolled, the rain in the Med clears, but it is rain everywhere else. Germany takes another Land and blitzes the 2nd hex adjacent to Paris on a +8 but rolls below average (😎 for a 16 forcing a retreat of the French defenders to the far banks of the River Seine, losing an INF Corps and all inverted. The second Blitz attack smashes the rear-guard 3 factor as the Germans roll a 15 on a +16 attack and advance to maintain contact with the BEF. German now has 2 hexes against Paris, with Paris fully inverted, no French HQs or acft upright. Japan takes a Combined and again attempts to GS the defending Chinese who are just loving the rain, GS and supply are halved, movement is doubled and there is a -2 on any attack by the Japanese. No inversions – no attacks and the front line remains unchanged. Italy remains inactive as the rain is no incentive for them to make a DOW – Hitler is not so sure. An Axis EOT roll is not the dreaded 1 and the Allies get a 3rd Impulse in the mud.
Allied 3rd Impulse, the French take a Combined and sail a small fleet of CA’s and their transport to their colonies in W Africa. A couple of units move to the front in the mud, but at least Paris is safe as half the German Army is now inverted. The CW takes a Combined as a 2.6 Mech arrives in Gibraltar and a MIL in Morocco. They unsuccessfully search for the German Cons in the Baltic but manage the first Strat bombing of a German City for the game as Dortmund's factory is shut down. The Allies wait it out, hoping that the bad weather continues as they roll another early EOT roll on a 1 – the third in a row! The Axis conquest of France is now behind schedule which has implications on Operation Barbarossa, the Axis will be desperate for at least one clear weather impulse in N/D. They have two hexes on Paris and can do a small land offensive using Rommel as they have 11 O-points and the French have no bombers left – they have all been shot down. Partisan roll is a 7 – no partisans for China or anywhere else, Japan is pleased at least. USE entry is again a non-event as the Senate goes into early recess – no US entry actions taken. Rebase, production and N/D reinforcements.
N/D – Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence
The Axis fail to win the initiative and elect not to reroll. Allies go first and roll a 7! Snow in the Artic and Temp but great news for the Japanese who now have their first fine weather in the N Monsoon and are set up to assault the Nationalist front line.
Western Europe - Italy still inactive and France defending stoically thanks to weather and short turns - 3 x 1's in a row for EOT rolls.

Paris holds - just one clear weather impulse is all I need says Rommel

The CW starts to advance to the Libyan border now that General Alexander has arrived.

It's all about the garrisons

The Far East

Japan set up to assault the Nationalist line, Arty, Acft, HQ's 
and fine weather finally in the N Monsoon. 
Trouble for the Chinese me thinks.

Minimal losses - bad weather and another short turn.


Don't Mention The War - Part 6

Perhaps I should have titled this game as "Don't Mention The Weather."

The sixth session started with production for the July/August turn and concluded with the production for the September/October turn.  From that you can imply that it was a short S/O turn.  And why was that?

Rain

Let me repeat that: RAIN!

And again in case it hasn't sunk in (like the panzers in the mud)
@#$%^&*! RAIN !!!

But the fighting must go on, and besides we have a secret weapon.

We have umbrellas!

Black line is September/October start line,
and the red line is as far as the Germans were able to advance,
in the murderous mud, torrential down pours and all round sodding conditions

Things got off to a good start with winning the initiative, but it was a cruel stroke of luck as the weather for the first impulse was rain.  Poor weather means fewer impulses, airforces at half strength and armour effects non-existent - the three things the Germans need to be able to exploit. Oh, and it halved supply range as well as movement, making things a leeeetle difficult.

First attack, Operation Regenschirm, cleared the wood southeast of Paris (a plus 19.5 blitz with a 14.6 dire roll for a TOTT result).

Second impulse saw more rain.  I should add that there is a 60% chance of fine weather during the September/October turn.  Operation Regenmantel approached Paris from the east (a plus 8.3 blitz lead by Rundstedt with a die roll of 10.5 producing a just a retreat).

Third impulse and rain continued despite a 60% chance of fine weather, just saying.  Operation Galosch Verlassen and Operation Richtiger Galosch really put the boot into the French who were hurriedly packing up their gear and heading home for Christmas (both blitz attacks one at plus 16 dire roll of 14 and the other at plus 8 with a die roll of 8 - why couldn't the rolls be reversed?  One German loss, at least it was cadre, and at least the hexes were taken, although the troops were spent, exhausted and sodden).  The fact that the units were all flipped might have been a problem in further impulses, but...

Not surprisingly the turn ended, but not before the nasty British snuck in a terror bombing of Dortmund causing the poor workers to down tools and head for shelter.  Mr Churchill is being referred to the League of Nations War Crimes Commission as soon as it can be established. 

Production


Not much is changing, steady, but slight growth, production spread across all arms.  Oils stocks are high (one benefit of short turns).

Grossraum Wettererkundungsstaffel is established (sadly there is no counter for this much needed unit.  Read all about it here:   

But there are other plans as well to combat the peril of the weather:   https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/oct/12/weatherwatch-hitlers-plan-for-intuitive-meteorologists

In other news

The USSR invaded Iraq, alarming the US Senate who proceeded to do nothing.

Italy and Japan keep trading with the US and using diplomacy to try and get Britain to cease its war of aggression.

There is talk of Herr Hitler visiting Paris in the Springtime. 

The weather forecast for November/December is snow (30% chance of clear weather).  Initiative is with the French

Thursday, April 28, 2022

Practice Snappy Nappy

At the club Darren will soon be running a big game based on the Marengo campaign using a version of the Snappy Nappy rules.  Last night we had a practice/refresher game.

While I am not crazy about the SN rules, I do very much like the concept.

The central third of the table where my command is approaching the enemy.
Do some of my guys look a little thin?
Maybe even flat?

There's Dave waiting for my guys to advance.
Russell on my left decided to hide his troops in the wood.
Then Darren pulled a random event and it started raining.
The game bogged down

After it was pointed out that a rain was prohibiting play.
sunny skies appeared and the slaughter commenced.

SN can be slow to get going, but once action has started, it can develop very quickly due to the need to continue to do Morale Checks until they are passed.  As with Napoleon's Battles the scale is high level, in fact SN is 1" represents 150 yards, compared to NB's 1"is 100 yards.  A unit represents a brigade, large regiment or a small division with player's commands being corps sized formations.


Wednesday, April 27, 2022

War For The Union - Part One

After our test game Richard and I decided to have another go.  I had hoped to have read the rules this time, but all I managed to do was skim a few pages and see that I'd done a few things wrong in the previous game.  The rules are very comprehensive, just takes some time to dig through them to find what you are after.

In our first session we completed 1861.

In the East the action has all been with the pick and shovel

The Confederates invaded Kentucky,
but then promptly retreated.

Late in the year the Union made a landing in Florida,
more testing of how to do things rather than trying to seize any particular advantage.

The Union also made a successful incursion into Arkansas



Tuesday, April 26, 2022

Second Napoleonic Austrian Muster

Not sure much has changed since my first review of my Austrian collection in July 2020, but this is more to high light that I have added a Page to the Blog that itemizes all the units.  It can be found here.


All based for Napoleon's Battles and provides for:

  • 2 Corps Commanders
  • 6 Divisional Commanders
  • 5 Light Cavalry Brigades (3x16AsLC and 2x12AsLC)
  • 1 Heavy Cavalry Brigade (16AsHC)
  • 4 Heavy Batteries (As12#)
  • 11 Horse Batteries (As6#)
  • 2 Grenadier Brigades (24AsGN, 16AsGN)
  • 13 Infantry Brigades (28AsLN, 4x24AsLN, 20AsLN, 7x16AsLN)
  • 4 Grenz Brigades (20AsGZ, 3x16AsGZ)
  • 1 Landwher Brigade (16AsLW)
  • 1 Militia Brigade (16AsMI)
  • 1 Jaeger Brigade (16AsJG)
  • 13 casualty bases, 2 markers and 3 spare gun crew bases.
Main shortfall is in commanders and there are number partially painted on my workbench.

Sunday, April 24, 2022

Don't Mention The War - Part 5 from Facebook

 AUSGAME 2022 - 940 J/A

Germany’s Woes Continue - a Second Very (un)lucky EOT Roll
A start of a new turn J/A – German roll a comfortable 7+2 (9) which the Allies fail to challenge – hope in the Axis camp is resurrected as they win the initiative and roll 6 for weather avoiding the dreaded 10 which would have been bad weather as there was a +2 on that first weather roll. Axis 1st Impulse, Germany declares a Land offensive led by Rundstedt (13 O-Points spent) in order to break the French front line. The two German ARTY Divs sitting on the border thunder as they are doubled for the GS phase targeting the two forward French stacks. A Stuka flies GS to the French ARM stack as insurance and a second Acft attempts a GS v the Ardennes Forest hex on the border of Belgium. Only 1 Corps on each of the front-line stacks is inverted, with none in the Ardennes Forest hex as the French AA helped distract the attacking bombers. The French ARM stack is blitzed with a TOTT roll – only just with a +13 Blitz and an ordinary roll of 10 for a 23 – 2 losses to the French as the 7 factor ARM Corps is sent to the spiral (rear areas) for repairs. No other attacks declared - German ARM and MECH advance across the border threatening to outflank the BEF in Lille. Ftrs and Stukas are also rebased forward as Rundstedt reinverts the two Arty and a 6 Ftr. This is the only attack as the German anticipates a long turn. Italy again considers its position vacillating between a DOW against France and/or the CW but remain neutral and take a no cost Combined. Japan takes a Combined as reinforcements arrive on the Chinese mainland from Japan, Chinese AA Gunners adjacent to Sian drive off the Japanese GS acft, so with no inversions Japan declines to assault the city – they have time, as more acft arrive from Japan.
Allied 1st Impulse – CW and France take Land Actions as the BEF vacates Lille to avoid being outflanked, handing over the City defence to a French 6.1 Garrison – good luck boys. The British attempt a disrupting GS against the German Advance guard of two ARM – but the Luftwaffe do what they do well, promptly shooting down both the Wellington bomber and the escorting Spitfire – rolling 16 and 4 on the +1 table – Churchill not happy and regrets sending two valuable acft to help the French out. The French rush reinforcements to the front line to attempt to hold up the German advance. Russian declares its interest in Bessarabia, and with Germany still behind in the French Campaign, Rumania with no support from Germany concedes and Russia gains a valuable buffer zone as they occupy both Chisinau and Cernauti, now Russian supply and reinforcement cities. The carve up of Rumania begins. China reinverts its AA gun defending Sian and prepares for the next onslaught.
Axis 2nd Impulse – weather roll is a 10, clouds start to form as Germany takes a Land and GS two forward hexes again, and the tactically important Ardennes Forest hex again. The ARTY and acft fail to invert any units so it is up to the Heer to do the job on the ground without any help from the Luftwaffe. Lille is assaulted from 4 hexes (66 factors), but a cheeky ground spt mission from the French Po63.1 FB, slips through the ME109’s and adds a handy +2 to the defenders, converting the +19 assault to a +13.5. The assault is launched and an ordinary 5 (18) is rolled -/1, Lille falls, no German losses but the four stacks are now fully inverted – very handy for the BEF on the coast. On the Belgium border, another French stack is blitzed as the German ARM max out their armour bonus but roll */1B as they widen their front advancing another hex closer to Paris. German HQs reinvert what they can as Ftrs and the last of their bombers redeploy forward to support the next phase – the destruction of the French Army and the capture of Paris.
Japan GS Sian again inverting 1 Corps, they manoeuvre more units to improve their odds as this is a key city and must be taken after the debacle of last months failed O-Chit assault. Units in S China move forward under the cover of the storm setting up for the Southern Campaign once the weather clears. Italy, content to watch a world descend in to chaos takes a no cost Combined.
Allied 2nd Impulse – CW takes a naval and ships a unit to Gibraltar, three units now defend the ‘Rock’ including HQ Alexander – handy for emergency supply – just in case Gib gets cut off. Malta receives a Div and Morocco 6.4 INF, actions all designed to deter a vacillating Italian. Convoys are escorted and transports in the East head out to S Africa and Australia despite the stormy weather. France takes a Combined and its transport sails from Dakar with the handy Dakar 6 INF. They readjust their line and await the next assault. Russia having secured Bessarabia at no cost, and hungry for more oil, moves units to the Iraq border under the command of Zhukov seeing another opportunity after their successful Iranian expedition.
Axis 3rd Impulse – Weather, everyone expecting another 10, but a 5 is rolled. Germany takes a Land and presses on, clear weather and the French in retreat -now to make it a route. Another ineffective round of GS by the Luftwaffe as the arty and Stukas fail again. German ARM attack another fully stacked hex on the French/Belgium border for a Blitz result sending all the units to the spiral – the lack of destroyed French units is disappointing as the German rolling has been sub-average, except in the air.
With the Chinese AA out of ammo, Japan GS Sian and inverts the 2nd Corps – it’s on! led by GEN Hisaichi Terauchi, failure unacceptable launch their assault against the city on a 10.8 rolling a 15, the city falls but ill-discipline cost a chit as US reporters tell the tale of atrocities conducted by the Japanese troops – the US Senate stirs. Relief for Japan as Sian is a gateway city and has a valuable resource which is now denied to the Chinese and a bonus build for the Japanese. Italy – no cost combined, redeploys a 4.5 MOT to Sardinia. The Italians have now moved their Divs and Minisubs to Sicilian ports, and their subs have rebased to Sardinia and Sicily for ‘Training’.
Allied 3rd Impulse, with the focus on ‘saving France’ the other Allies elect to pass, with France taking a Land as she throws her final reserves into the front line, leaving two 3 factors to impose delay on the advancing German Armour. French MOT shuffle forward to meet the German advance and the 3.5 CAV on the Italian border canters N to meet the Panzers – shades of the Polish Campaign. This latest move peeks Mussolini’s interest – a single 1.1 GAR now defends the mountain pass to Lyon. With a +1 on the EOT roll the CW again attempts an EOT roll of 1 – Germany sighs with relief as this time the CW roll fails, and the German can press on.
Axis 4th Impulse, weather roll 6 fine everywhere, storm N Monsoon. Italy calls a conference with Germany – as the Italian French border has been stripped to a minimum – War or Peace – Mussolini defers and sits on his hands, obviously their devious plans remain secret. Germany takes a Land and attempts GS on the last upright French units, including the two 3 factor French rear-guard, again all the GS fail – something wrong with their bombs (fuse settings perhaps). With no additional plusses the German overwhelms the two French Corps on a +19 and +14 and exploit into the interior of France splitting the LOC between Metz and Paris – things are looking grim for France as their air-force is expended and all their HQs are inverted, as the panzers have open plains before them as they attempt to out-flank the French right flank. Both Japan and Italy take Combines with little activity as the Japanese manoeuvre their units and set up the S China for the next offensive when the Monsoon weather clears.
On the first Axis EOT Roll, and there it is – another 1!– silence in the room as all, both Axis and Allied players recognise the enormity of that roll, especially after the same EOT roll from the Allies ended the previous M/J turn on a 1 – So the Axis, the Germans principally has had two 1’s rolled in a row for the EOT rolls in the two clear weather turns of 1940 during the French Campaign. The German cannot believe his bad luck – 2 x ten percent EOT rolls – two 1’s in 1940. The German is praying for a long clear S/O otherwise France could well survive into 1941, which will make any early 1941 Russian Campaign problematic, Op Barbarossa may have to be delayed till 1942 – just gotta love those dice in WIF!
Partisan roll is a 9 – another partisan turns up in China – the Partisan pool is almost empty and they are all in China – luckily for Japan they are mostly 0 factor units. The US Senate finally stirs from its winter recess and after 6 months of inactivity takes two actions; embargoing strategic materials (1 less resources to Japan but they keep their BP) and resources to Western Allies – both generate welcome tension as a chit from each pool moves to their respective tension pool. Return to base, production and reinforcements for a very important weather and initiative roll next week.
· EOT – End of Turn
· BP - Build Point
· TOTT – Top of the table a 23 or more
· LOC – Line of Communications
· NCC - No Cost Combined – no oil used
· USE - US Entry

Western Europe - Italy still at peace, but for how long

France was about to be overwhelmed but saved by another EOT roll of 1, 
this time by the Germans, saving the French

All quite in the Western Med - but there is a clear build up of Italian naval and land assets

Egypt - happily safe and secure - for the moment

Perception and reality

Russia looks to play in the sand pit

Russia grabs Bessarabia whilst Germany is still heavily committed to the French Campaign as the carve up of Rumania begins

Partisans in the North are breading well as the Chinese line is double stacked in the mountains

General Hisaichi Terauchi leads the assault against Sian - taking the city - who needs O-Points

Japan finally has some success on the battlefield taking Sian

Japanese take Sian - US Senate gains a chit

Losses - mostly French with some British and German air casualties

French reinforcements thanks to mostly Blitz results all the early work undone by an EOT roll of 1


Don't Mention The War - Part 5

Superbly skilled German craftsmen continue to deliver exceptional equipment focussed on peace keeping and civilian defence.  Workers gave up their summer holidays to meet demands; demands that are so high they will only be met by adding additional factories.  French workers in British occupied Lille cry out for freedom and the chance to be part of a progressive labour force within an innovative Industrial Relations regime.

Production for May/June (which is done at the end of the Turn)
Slight amendment as the March/April double build of pilots exceeded BPs available.
(Pity as I have more planes ready to deploy)

July/August 1940

Meanwhile, General Guderian had written a book... 

Achtung-Panzer!

Clearly the British had not let their French subjects, eh allies, read it.  

With the help of some precious O Points (or Offensive Chits) Guderian pitted all the German armour against all the French armour in a plus 13.9 blitz and when combined with a die roll of 9.6 produced a 23, Top Of The Table result.  That's oakleaves, diamond cluster and koala stamp for Herr Guderian.  

A Char B providing cover for some extremely lightly armoured German motorised troops

Terrified, the British abandon Lille leaving behind their French au pairs.  A very promising plus 19 attack collapsed into a mere 13.5 after the French airforce intervened after evading the Luftwaffe and the sleeping 88mm AA gun crews which, when coupled with a miserable roll of 5.6 produced a halting success.  The city is liberated, but all attacking forces are exhausted after celebrating with the newly freed French au pairs.

Lille citizens flock to find a copy of Achtung-Panzer at a book sale

Perhaps more critical, the Ardennes hex that secured the French line was captured by von Beck on just a plus 6 blitz but with an impressive roll of 14 that did the trick.  Phew.

The panzers then rolled on for their third impulse conducting a plus 12 blitz with a 9 die roll producing a TOTT Blitz result and a big hole in the French line.

The British tried to halt things with leaflet drops and promises of tea and peace treaties, but the Germans were having none of that.  Fourth impulse saw the front start to close towards Paris with two attacks, plus 19.7 die roll 13 and plus 14.7 die roll 9.5 both producing TOTT results.  The scene was set for some final action when inexplicably the Germans stopped (I rolled a @#$%^&! one and ended the July/August Turn - this is the second time I've been robbed of long turns with good weather at the first attempt - 10% chance.  Not happy!)

1 - Guderians's initial attack
2 - The liberation of Lille and the Ardennes
3 - The destruction of the French centre
4 - The break through and exploitation.

While all this was going on the USSR bullied Rumania into parting with Bessarabia.  This then saw Bulgaria and Hungary pile on and demand bits of Rumania as well.  Germany was called in to mediate and waved all this through, saying "Can't you see I'm busy?" 

The USSR conducts yet another Special Military Operation

And in the Far East Japan took out its frustrations on the inhabitants of Sian, upsetting the US who promptly applied sanctions.  Further impoverished Chinese joined the partisans.

 


Thursday, April 21, 2022

They Don't Like It

I roped Stephen into playing a game with me at the club.  Brendan joined in to.  Using the ever adaptable Song of Blades and Heroes, eh, Songs of Drums and Shakos, I came up with some very simple profiles for the few figures I have in my Sudan collection, including my just completed Beja warriors.

In order to encourage Stephen to get on with his Dad's Army figures, I made this game about Corporal Jones having to take his newly arrived boys out on a patrol.  Brendan added that one of them, Rifleman Pike, had lost his hat and that was what the patrol was about.  Made sense to me.

Corporal Jones, in his sun faded uniform,
addresses his boys in their bright new green threads
"Now lads, we have to find Pike's helmet

They form up ready to scour the sands of Sudan for poor Pike's helmet

The newly arrived indigenous inhabitants
 do not take kindly to these strangely garbed and coiffured intruders.

A shot rings out from a rusty musket creating much smoke, but little damage.
However some followers of the Mahdi rush the patrol.

Pike makes it to the rocks and finds his helmet.
but his comrades might be in a spot of bother.

The peaceful inhabitants rush to join in, 
concerned that they might be missing out on the fighting,
Corporal Jones' last words are "Don't panic!"

Enter Lieutenant Napier and the rest of the platoon,
coming to the rescue, if a tad late for some of Jones' boys.

Pike, without his corporal to tell him to put his helmet on his head, 
places it at his feet and wonders what all the fuss is about.
"I don't see anything."

He is quickly proved wrong.

Lieutenant Napier now has to contend with the Fuzzy-Wuzzy tribesmen!

He skillfully starts to retreat after ordering covering fire,
but then standing in the way of said covering fire.
Oh dear.

Pike has perished.
Who will tell his mum?

One shot wonder!
Unlike the Mahdists who rarely failed activation rolls 
my guys generally and repeatedly failed to budge.
Still, they looked good.


I did make a few changes on the fly.  Main one was using only half the Sudanese.  Corporal Jones had a sword, not a rifle and the bugle was given a rifle rather than nothing.  Shooting result that was greater than but not double produced a knock down or rather a duck for cover.  Knocked down figures lost their abilities.  Not sure I had the mechanics for the Lieutenant's group activations worked out properly, but regardless, we had fun.