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.