Move 1 Continues. The Western Sudan.

El Obeid. Western Sudan.

Slatin's force moves off to liberate El Fasher. It's first waypoint is Foga. Remembering that the RI of the area is 6, they will be attacked considering that a 2 is rolled.

As the difference between the RI and the dice roll of 4, the Egyptians will face four enemy units. I then roll for unit type. A 5, a 6 a 3 and a 5. This equates to three units of Ansar and one of Jehadiy'ya Riflemen.

Rolling then for the type of engagement, I roll a 5. This is the pre-generated Scenario that arises:

Dervish attack on an Egyptian column.
Attacking a column: The Egyptian force enters one edge of the table and moves to the approximate center, with transport animals. They can be in square or column formation. Dervishes enter in an L-formation from the opposite edge and one side. Egyptians win by holding the field or by getting at least half their transport off the forward table edge.

UPDATE: This will be played out over the weekend. Anyone interested in giving general orders to the Mahdists?

The Trinkitat Times

From Occupied (or is it Free?) Trinkitat our correspondant scribbles. All the news that is fit to print.

All hate-mail to the Editor, please.

First Move - Part the Second

First up, a correction. The British Expeditionary force starts the game concentrated at Aswan. Every move I can roll a D6 and release that number of units for operations starting either there or at Suakin.

I rolled a 5 and will therefore have five units transported by the sea route to Suakin. These will be three infantry, one cavalry and one gun.

To determine what happens when they debark, I need to roll more than the regions' revolt index for the Dervishes NOT to meet me in the field. As the RI for the Western Sudan is 6, there is no chance of this happening, therefore we will fight.

To determine the composition of the Mahdist force one deducts the die roll from the RI. As I had rolled a 5, the enemy has one unit to oppose me. Two, since Suakin is a Garrison Town worth five points. I then roll again for each unit to determine the type: I roll two fours. On a 4-6 one gets Ansar. Thus my British force of five units will face a Mahdist force of two Ansar units.

Now, on the balance of probabilities, I would think the Ansar would get rolled over pretty quickly and that they would not in fact actually offer battle. Therefore I am going to consider that the BEF enters Suakin unopposed.

More updates as I work through.

First Move

The first step is to determine which regions of the Sudan are in Revolt.

As you will recall, the proceedure is to roll a D6 against each regions' revolt index. Any score that was less than or equal to the index meant that the region was in revolt.

Here are the indicies:

Southern Sudan, 4
Eastern Sudan, 4
Western Sudan, 6
Northern Sudan, 2

Here is what I rolled:

Southern Sudan, 5
Eastern Sudan, 4
Western Sudan, 3
Northern Sudan, 1

Oh, dear me. Only the Southern Sudan remains quiescent this round. The rest of the country erupts in flames!

As this is a turn where regions have erupted in revolt, we must determine whether any suprise attacks have been made on garrison towns.

Starting with the Western Sudan (Revolt Index 6), we have three Garrison Towns; El Obeid, Fasher and Dara. I roll a 4 and a 5 for El Fasher and Dara respectively. There are no modifiers to modify the RI for those towns, so they fall to the Mahdists. I roll a 4 for El Obeid but may modify the RI down by two points for her garrison and another for the fact that it is El Obeid. So, El Obeid is beseiged with supplies for 4 moves (1D6+1).

The Eastern Sudan has three Garrison Towns: Suakin, Trinkitat and Kassala. The region has a RI of 4. Rolling first for Trinkitat and Kassala I score a 1 and a 6 respectively. Trinkitat has fallen and Kassala holds out, albeit under seige and with 6 moves of supplies. Suakin rolls a 1. Is this a disaster? RI -1 because it's Suakin goes to 3. Then -1 for it's garrison. Oh dear. History repeats itself to a degree as Muhammed Tawfiq Bey and his garrison are put to the sword. This is disastrous!

With trepidation I roll for Northern Sudan. RI is 2. Wadi Halfa first: 5. No problem with 7 days' supply. Dongola rolls a 4, despite having no garrison and also rolls up 7 moves of supply. Abu Hamed squeaks it in with a 3 and also rolls up 7 moves worth supply. So far so good, eh? Berber next. I roll a 6 and a five to give the garrison there 5 moves of supply. Last one: Atbara. There is a significant garrison here. I roll a three, again squeaking it in and discover I have 5 moves worth of supplies laid in.

So far the Mahdists have accumulated 19 Victory Points with their daring surprise attacks as the regions went into revolt. They have gained Suakin and massacred two companies of Egyptian infantry in the doing of the deed. Western Sudan is also largely lost and El Obeid is under seige.

Oh dear.

In the Second part of the turn we will look at Anglo-Egyptian movement, battle resolution and bookkeeping issues.

Plotting and Scheming

If you care to take a look at my deployments, my plan is fairly plain to see.

I am playing a game whereby I will attempt to hold out for the British Expeditionary force to come to my rescue!

The key to that will be to hold out whilst the Desert Railway is built. I must maintain my hold on the river at least as far as Khartoum.

Slatin Pasha will need to be both lucky and active in Western Sudan to hang on as it will be tricky to re-inforce him.

Move one is about to begin.

We shall be rolling to determine whether any region revolts and whether the Mahdists put in any surprise attacks upon our garrison towns  - those marked with squares on our map.

Revolt Indices

Each area on the map except Egypt has a "revolt index," reflecting how much of the populace has risen against the government and gone over to the Mahdi. The indices vary from 0 to 10.

At the start of the game, their values are determined randomly. Roll 1d6+2 for the Southern Sudan, and roll 1d6 each for the Eastern, Western, and Northern Sudan.

Here we go then. I am using an online dice roll site, very useful if you are out and about!

Southern Sudan, 4
Eastern Sudan, 4
Western Sudan, 6
Northern Sudan, 2

Every move I will roll a d6. if the score is less than or equal to the Revolt Index for that region, then the region is considered to be "In Revolt".

You'll note the Western Sudan is starting the game in revolt already! That Osman Digna..!

So we begin

For a long time now I have been wanting to do a colonial campaign set in the Sudan.

I have finally decided to get things underway. I will be using Steve Winters' excellent campaign system which he detailed on his website "The Colonial Angle" many moons ago.

Let's see how we go.