khartoum & greasy grass:layout 1 - flames of · pdf filethis is a fairly new company...

This is a fairly new company offeringmore unusual games - a change fromWaterloo, Gettysburg and Kursk andalthough we are fairly conventionalwargaming types, playing conventionalperiods - WWII, Napoleonic andAmerican Civil War for the most part -the chance to try something that wasboth different and light hearted reallyappealed and it was with a sense of some anticipation that we arrived at thevenue, the pleasant Yorkshire village ofChurch Fenton.

The two gentlemen in charge: Richardand Andy, are based at the wellappointed village hall and things wereset up and ready when we arrived. Wehad decided to journey up the Nile onthe Saturday (Mahdist War), followedby an evening at the local pub before

tangling with Crazy Horse on theSunday (Pony Wars) - a couple of gentleeasy paced games...

DAY ONE: FOUR FEATHERS AND A FUNERAL

The first thing that struck me on walkingthrough the door, on Saturday morningwas both the size and quality of theterrain - hand made by those clever chapsat T M Terrain. There were two paralleltables, each over 20 feet long with theNile running between them. There weretwo “floating” boards, linking the twobanks; one containing a substantialvillage garrisoned by a force ofEgyptians and yours truly; the secondsupporting a couple of heavily armedgunboats and the water-borne elements ofthe relief column. All very impressive.

Our hosts proceeded to explain thesituation facing us. In simple terms, wecontrolled a relief force which had tofight its way up the full length of thetable and relieve a small outpost, a largervillage on the river and, at the far end ofthe table, a fort. There were, needless to say, a large, though unspecifiednumber of ill-natured Dervishes standing in out way.

I was volunteered(?!) to take the besiegedgarrisons, composed mainly of Egyptiantroops, whilst the others divided up therelief column between them.

FIRST CONTACT

Expecting a leisurely few moves to getinto the swing of things, the left bankcolumn pushed its troops forward at fullspeed. First mistake of the day. Failing toscout an ominous looking depression totheir right front, the Jocks were suddenlyconfronted by a sizeable force of Fuzziesthat seemed to appear out of the ground.The leading company blazed away butwas unable to stop the charge and was hitfront, flank and rear by the fleet-footeddervishes. Three more companies, unableto fire for fear of hitting their own men,charged into the melee. After a fewanxious moments the attack was driven off, but with heavy losses to the “kilties”,

One of the most pleasurable aspects of wargaming ishaving the time, space and resources to fight a really biggame. A divisional bash at the local club is all well andgood and is, for most of us, the staple fare of ourwargaming lives; but the opportunity to fight “In theGrand Manner” as the late Peter Gilder called it, issomething to be savoured. With this in mind a group ofus decided to try something a little different and bookedourselves a weekend with a new company specializing inwargaming holidays - Legendary Wargames.

86

A WEEKEND AT LEGENDARY WARGAMES.

KHARTOUM TO GREASY GRASS VIA YORKSHIREKHARTOUM TO GREASY GRASS VIA YORKSHIRE

Words & Pictures by Steve Shan

The Khartoum boardand the members of ‘Legendary Wargames’with the author secondfrom the right.

Khartoum & Greasy Grass:Layout 1 1/4/10 10:09

EVEN

T R

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whose leading company lost over 50% ofits men. A dodgy start. Fortunately thegunboat was on hand and its fire kept theDervishes at arm’s length.

The column on the right bank wasmeanwhile having problems of its own.The cavalry scouting ahead of the mainforce encountered another body ofDervishes hidden in broken ground. Onetroop failed to evade in time and sufferedheavily. The rest of the natives bypassedthem and charged towards the camelcorps, which was hastily dismounting.Having little time left, the playercommanding them opted for “rapid fire”,whereby each figure is allowed to firetwice, but at the cost of three rounds ofprecious ammunition. Fortunately thedice were with them and they inflictednearly 50% casualties, driving theDervishes back.

TRAITORS!

The river column safe aboard its gunboatssailed serenely on, using its guns tosupport whichever imperial units weremost threatened. As they approached theriver village, they came under fire frompreviously unseen riflemen and anartillery piece manned by curiouslyproficient gunners. These turned out to beEgyptians who had been “persuaded” tofight for the Mahdi. They scored a directhit on the main gunboat (three hits and it isforced to beach for the remainder of thegame) and the rifle fire also proved fairlyaccurate. To make matters worse a coupleof innocent looking dhows (boats)appeared on the scene packed withdervishes. These proceeded to disembarkin the town, closely followed by thegunboat. A hectic scramble on the riverbank resulted in the dervishes being all butwiped out by a combination of fire fromthe gallant Egyptian garrison and thegunboat, but not before a number wentdown to thrown spears and vicious hand-to-hand fighting.

DOGGED DEFENCE

Having relieved the town and the smallervillage, we were at last able to set up acouple of heliograph teams in bothlocations, which put us in touch with thebeleaguered fort at the far end of thetable; this was one of the objectives forwhich we were to receive victory points.

So far things seemed to be going fairlywell, despite heavy casualties to thehighlanders. Unfortunately the very nextmove saw a major sandstorm blow up,rendering our heliographs useless andpreventing any land based movement atall. (The Dervishes were allowed to moveat half speed.) Under cover of this, thecrafty Mahdists managed to get a large

The rules used for ‘FourFeathers’were based on Science vs Pluckalthough they were adapted so they were much quicker to play

with a large group.

THE ANGLO-SUDAN WAR

The history of the British Empire islittered with desperate battles foughtagainst implacable enemies acrossdisparate landscapes. Few opponents,however, were as underestimated as theDervishes who gave the Empire fits inAfrica’s Sudan region.

In 1819, Egypt invaded neighboringSudan and established a highlyunpopular regime. But it was not untilthe 1870s that a leader emerged whocould successfully throw off theEgyptian yolk. His name wasMuhammed Ahmed, a cleric who styledhimself the Mahdi, an Islamic messianicfigure. Ahmed started with a small butloyal following, but his reputation wasenhanced greatly when his menannihilated an Egyptian force sent out toarrest him.

The Mahdi’s rebellion grew to alarmingproportions for the Egyptians who finallytook the matter seriously and sent a 4,000strong force to crush the rebels. Theirplans came unstuck when the Mahdi led adawn attack against the Egyptian camp,killing everyone. The British, who hadassumed joint administrative control ofEgypt with the French, were next to senda force against the Mahdi. To that end,the British organized a force of over8,000 mostly undisciplined nativeauxiliaries under the command ofColonel William Hicks. They set outfrom the Sudanese capital Khartoum inSeptember 1883, but were ambushed andwiped out trying to relieve the town of ElObeid. Hicks’s head was taken to theMahdi as a trophy.

The British response to Hick’s defeat wasto pull Egyptian forces out of the Sudanand they sent the diminutive MajorGeneral Charles Gordon to effect theevacuation. Although a war hero from histime in China and immensely popular inBritain, Gordon was the wrong man forthe Sudanese job. Rather than evacuateimmediately as required by his orders,Gordon set up camp in Khartoum,thereby almost inviting the Mahdist siegethat was to follow.

At first, it seemed that Gordon could holdout almost indefinitely against the 50,000strong force surrounding Khartoum. But asthe siege wore on into weeks then monthsit was clear Gordon was in deep trouble.The British organized an expedition underSir Garnet Wolseley to relieve Gordon, butthey arrived too late and found Khartoumsacked and Gordon dead. It would takemore than another decade for the British toreturn to the Sudan.

In 1898, the time was ripe to attack oncemore. Major General Herbert Kitchenerled a 25,000 strong Anglo-Egyptian forceinto Sudan. He took a cautious approach,building forts as he progressed and layinga rail track behind him for supply. He alsoadvanced down the Nile using gunboats tocover his army. The climactic battle tookplace at Omdurman on 2 September 1898.The Dervishes, 50,000 strong, chargedinto machine-gun and artillery fire, and theAnglo-Egyptian force poured disciplinedvolleys into them. The Dervishes had littlechance and 30,000 fell. It would takeanother year for the final mopping up totake place, but Omdurman effectivelydestroyed the Mahdist regime and returnedSudan to Egyptian control.


88

force of spearmen, supported by rifleshidden amongst the rocks and scrub, towithin striking distance of the left handcolumn, now strung out between thesmall village and the river. For once thecavalry proved quite effective,intercepting one group of spearmen anddriving them off in fine style. The othergroup bore down on the infantry, whosefire, though effective, could not stopthem. Only a dogged defence with thebayonet kept their opponents at bay longenough for supporting units to bring theirfirepower to bear and eventually forcethe dervishes to disengage, afterinflicting numerous casualties on theshaken British infantry. It was with somerelief that the umpires called a halt for awell-earned lunch break.

ROUND TWO

If we were hoping for an easier time afterlunch, we were to be disappointed. Severalattacks on the left hand column werelaunched by Dervishes, using the nearbyhigh ground to cover their approach.Although these were held by goodshooting from the hard-pressed Britishinfantry, a large column detached itselffrom the main body and headed towardsthe walled town, now held by only asingle company of Egyptians. Thefirepower of this isolated company provedinsufficient to halt the attack and theDervishes hit the wall at full tilt. At firstthe Egyptians’ bayonets held the Dervishhorde back, inflicting some loss, buteventually weight of numbers told and a

foothold was gained on the walls. It wassoon all over as the badly outnumbereddefenders were overwhelmed and themain British base was in enemy hands.

To make matters worse the fort now cameunder fire as the enemy unmasked severalKrupp guns on the nearby high ground.And a huge force of spearmen headedtowards the river village. This was theturning point of the game and the playersrose to the challenge. Having disembarkedthe Naval Brigade to support the Egyptiangarrison, the commander of the rivercolumn steamed his gunboats into a

Above: Innocent looking dhows with a deadly cargo!

Below: The Naval Brigade spring into action


89

position from which they could support theoutnumbered defenders. It was clear that ifthe village and its garrison were overrun,then the fort could not be relieved that day!

The fire from the defenders had littleeffect at first, but as the Dervishesclosed the range, more and more of themwere shot down by fire from thebuildings and barricades. Even so, largenumbers still survived to reach thevillage and things might have becomevery sticky had not the gunboats rakedthe flanks of the Dervishes as they triedto force an entrance, driving them back. The right hand column, advancingsteadily towards the fort, hastened theirflight with further volleys.

LAST THROW OF THE DICE

Even now the Dervishes were not finished.A further large body supporting the guns onthe high ground overlooking the fortdecided on one final throw before theBritish relief force got too close. Hurtlingtowards the walls, they were at firstchecked by fire from the fort, but theyrallied and tried desperately to overwhelmthe garrison before help could arrive. It wasnot to be. Punished by accurate fire fromthe defenders, and taken under a crossfireby British cavalry that had pushed onahead of the main force, they melted backinto the hills. A couple of moves later, thegates were opened to admit the exhaustedBritish cavalry. All that remained to do wasto beat off a few half-hearted attacks fromsome Dervish cavalry and the game, at last,drew to a close.

So, how did we do? On the whole prettywell and we felt that we thoroughly

deserved our tiffin after a desperate day offighting. Casualties had been heavy,particularly amongst the Highlanders andthe hard-used cavalry, whose combinedlosses totaled around 30%; there would bequestions in Parliament over that one! Wehad relieved the village, river village andfort and inflicted heavy casualties on theDervishes. The only serious black spotwas leaving our base in the walled towninsufficiently garrisoned, therebyallowing it to be overrun. Our story wouldbe that one can’t be strong everywhere,impossibility of making omlettes withintact eggs, fog of war and so on.Hopefully The Queen would understand.The form at Legendary Wargames seems

to be that after a hard day’s fighting, ahard night of eating and drinking is calledfor. We therefore retired to ouraccommodation for a wash and brush up,before heading out for the evening.Richard and Andy had arranged a meal ata nearby Indian restaurant, beforespending what remained of the evening inthe ‘local’. After a good night’s sleep anda hearty breakfast, we were ready for daytwo; an appointment with Crazy Horseand friends at the Greasy Grass.

Above: The Egyptians are overwelmed in the town.

Below: The Dervishes get there comeuppance.


90

DAY TWO: GREASY GRASS

On arriving back at the venue, we werefaced by another very impressive sight;laid out in front of us was a large tablewith even more impressive terrain.Things were set for another good day ofgaming. The Pony Wars game is basedvery closely on the old Tabletop Gamesrules of the same name, which are nowsome 30 years old! Venerable they maybe, but they are still for my money one ofthe most inventive and enjoyable sets ofrules ever written. As with the Sudangame, all the players were on the sameside and the randomly generated Indianswere controlled by the umpires, who alsodispense advice, rule clarifications andnot entirely sincere condolences whenthings went wrong. The scenario itselfwas quite complicated, involving anumber of often conflicting objectives.Most of the players controlled variousunits of Americans. These were usuallytroops of U.S. cavalry, but could includeinfantry and units of artillery as well asvarious scouts. Muddying the watersfurther were groups of often unco-operative civilians, who needed to berounded up and escorted to the fort, aswell as less respectable cowboys withherds of cattle, gun-runners and otherassorted ne’er-do-wells.

Each player was given a roster with hisinitial forces and objectives, along withthe all important ammunition supply.There was some room for co-operationbut with bands of ill-disposed hostilesflitting in and out, it soon becomes aquestion of every man for himself. Themain difference between the Pony Warsand the Sudan game was that in theformer the vast majority of troops weremounted. This makes the game very fastmoving and very fluid. What looks like

a situation that is well in hand candegenerate into a very untidy massacrealarmingly quickly - as we were about to discover.

Our objectives were to get the civilians intothe fort using either the long way around thetable’s “U” bend, or via the much moredangerous “pass”, as well as protecting thevarious other groups who were going abouttheir lawful business. This included theminers busily digging away in the mountainpass, the cowboys taking their cattle tomarket in the town and the Pony Expressrider attempting to get through with themail. There were other assorted issuesconcerning buffalo hunters, who were notpopular with the natives, and gun runnerswho were. There was also a large Indiansettlement at one end of the table, whichheld considerable, but undisclosed dangers.

D TROOP COMMANDER

Rather than try and give an overallpicture of the game, which was veryconfusing, I will limit myself todescribing my own part in it. Icommanded “D” Troop, who werecharged with escorting the civilians fromthe settlement to the fort. I was alsotasked with meeting up with theColonel’s Lady, who was en route in thestage coach to join her husband. As asecondary task, I was also maderesponsible for getting the cowboys andtheir 30 longhorn steers to the town. Iwas going to be busy!

Moving out from the fort, I was halfwayto the settlement, when the stage coachhove into view with a band of braves closebehind. Fortunately the Colonel,

THE PONY WARS

Almost from the moment Europeans arrivedon the North American mainland, conflictsbroke out between the colonists and NativeAmericans. Their widely divergent cultures,moreover, and differing social, political, andeconomic systems almost guaranteed that anyaccommodations would be merely temporary.Superior technology, disease, and numberspushed the Native Americans west, but theyfought back with every step yielded in aconflict that would last three hundred years.The culmination of that war came in the latenineteenth century when fighting broke outacross America’s Great Plains in what came tobe known as the “Pony Wars”.

The Pony Wars started in earnest after theAmerican Civil War, although there hadalready been fighting between the US Armyand the Indians before then. The Civil Warbrought repeating rifles and better cannons

into the US armory, however, and Indians toobegan to arm themselves with better weapons.The US Army was also full of ambitiousofficers eager to build reputations at theexpense of the Indians.

The Indians at this time were not a unifiedsingle people, but a group of tribes that foughteach other more often than they foughtEuropeans. Tribes such as the Sioux, Cherokee,Cheyenne, and Crow contested territory at atime when horses and improved access toweaponry gave them a greater capacity to doso, and when European encroachment limitedwhat they already had. Many smaller tribeswere annihilated during this time, othersassimilated with the Europeans as best theycould, sometimes fighting alongside them asscouts or auxiliaries.

The presence and actions of Europeancivilians along the frontier often made atangled situation worse. In the colonial period

then up to the 1840s, the interior saw verylittle European civilian traffic. That wouldchange dramatically when gold was struck inCalifornia and the United States annexedOregon and Texas. New trails to the westsprang up almost overnight, all of themthrough Indian Territory.

The Indians usually left the emigrants alonebut some raids took place, the effects of whichwere amplified in the eastern press. Theconsequence was that the army became moreinvolved and placed forts in Indian Territory tocontrol the trails. The US government alsomade treaties with the Indians but failed tocontrol the civilians who wanted nothing morethan to what they wanted where they wantedwithout regard to the feelings of “savages”.Miners in particular saw no reason why theycould not intrude on Indian sacred ground orhunting ranges. The Indians, of course, foughtback when they could and the situation soonspiraled out of control into open warfare.

The Miners.


9190

DAYTWO: GREASYGRASS

On arriving back at the venue, we werefaced by another very impressive sight;laid out in front of us was a large tablewith even more impressive terrain.Things were set for another good day ofgaming. The Pony Wars game is basedvery closely on the old Tabletop Gamesrules of the same name, which are nowsome 30 years old! Venerable they maybe, but they are still for my money one ofthe most inventive and enjoyable sets ofrules ever written. As with the Sudangame, all the players were on the sameside and the randomly generated Indianswere controlled by the umpires, who alsodispense advice, rule clarifications andnot entirely sincere condolences whenthings went wrong. The scenario itselfwas quite complicated, involving anumber of often conflicting objectives.Most of the players controlled variousunits of Americans. These were usuallytroops of U.S. cavalry, but could includeinfantry and units of artillery as well asvarious scouts. Muddying the watersfurther were groups of often unco-operative civilians, who needed to berounded up and escorted to the fort, aswell as less respectable cowboys withherds of cattle, gun-runners and otherassorted ne’er-do-wells.

Each player was given a roster with hisinitial forces and objectives, along withthe all important ammunition supply.There was some room for co-operationbut with bands of ill-disposed hostilesflitting in and out, it soon becomes aquestion of every man for himself. Themain difference between the Pony Warsand the Sudan game was that in theformer the vast majority of troops weremounted. This makes the game very fastmoving and very fluid. What looks like

a situation that is well in hand candegenerate into a very untidy massacrealarmingly quickly - as we were aboutto discover.

Our objectives were to get the civilians intothe fort using either the long way around thetable’s “U” bend, or via the much moredangerous “pass”, as well as protecting thevarious other groups who were going abouttheir lawful business. This included theminers busily digging away in the mountainpass, the cowboys taking their cattle tomarket in the town and the Pony Expressrider attempting to get through with themail. There were other assorted issuesconcerning buffalo hunters, who were notpopular with the natives, and gun runnerswho were. There was also a large Indiansettlement at one end of the table, whichheld considerable, but undisclosed dangers.

D TROOPCOMMANDER

Rather than try and give an overallpicture of the game, which was veryconfusing, I will limit myself todescribing my own part in it. Icommanded “D” Troop, who werecharged with escorting the civilians fromthe settlement to the fort. I was alsotasked with meeting up with theColonel’s Lady, who was en route in thestage coach to join her husband. As asecondary task, I was also maderesponsible for getting the cowboys andtheir 30 longhorn steers to the town. Iwas going to be busy!

Moving out from the fort, I was halfwayto the settlement, when the stage coachhove into view with a band of braves closebehind. Fortunately the Colonel,

obviously concerned for his wife’s safety,had already sent another troop out to meether. Before I could gain some Browniepoints with the boss, the newcomers flewpast at the gallop and return with herladyship to the fort. One less thing for meto worry about. Pressing on to thesettlement, I attempted to bring thecivilians “under command”; this is aprocess whereby army officers have topersuade the farmers that it is in their bestinterests to do as they are damned welltold or risk losing their hair! Would that itwere that simple. The officer in charge hasto throw dice to bring this about - thelower the rank – the harder it is. I seemedto have been landed with a particularlyunco-operative bunch as they just wouldnot listen. Sure enough a large band ofhostiles then turned up in the middle of

our negotiations and proceeded to attack.Forced to dismount, I was soon fightingfor my life behind a line of fences andwagons as the clueless civvies continuedto argue the point. Much to my dismay theumpires wouldn’t allow me to just leavethem - not done apparently - so there wasnothing for it but to stay put. Eventuallyafter using up a large part of myammunition the attack was driven off, butit still took a further two moves topersuade them to pack up their wagonsand leave. The cowboys meanwhilearrived with their cattle, requesting anescort to the town. Again, I had to comply.Splitting my force in two, one section ledthe civilians back to the fort, withoutincident fortunately, whilst the otherstrotted forward to the sound of moo-ingand knocking knees. The only possible

THE PONYWARSAlmost from the moment Europeans arrivedon the North American mainland, conflictsbroke out between the colonists and NativeAmericans. Their widely divergent cultures,moreover, and differing social, political, andeconomic systems almost guaranteed that anyaccommodations would be merely temporary.Superior technology, disease, and numberspushed the Native Americans west, but theyfought back with every step yielded in aconflict that would last three hundred years.The culmination of that war came in the latenineteenth century when fighting broke outacross America’s Great Plains in what came tobe known as the “Pony Wars”.

The Pony Wars started in earnest after theAmerican Civil War, although there hadalready been fighting between the US Armyand the Indians before then. The Civil Warbrought repeating rifles and better cannons

into the US armory, however, and Indians toobegan to arm themselves with better weapons.The US Army was also full of ambitiousofficers eager to build reputations at theexpense of the Indians.

The Indians at this time were not a unifiedsingle people, but a group of tribes that foughteach other more often than they foughtEuropeans. Tribes such as the Sioux, Cherokee,Cheyenne, and Crow contested territory at atime when horses and improved access toweaponry gave them a greater capacity to doso, and when European encroachment limitedwhat they already had. Many smaller tribeswere annihilated during this time, othersassimilated with the Europeans as best theycould, sometimes fighting alongside them asscouts or auxiliaries.

The presence and actions of Europeancivilians along the frontier often made atangled situation worse. In the colonial period

then up to the 1840s, the interior saw verylittle European civilian traffic. That wouldchange dramatically when gold was struck inCalifornia and the United States annexedOregon and Texas. New trails to the westsprang up almost overnight, all of themthrough Indian Territory.

The Indians usually left the emigrants alonebut some raids took place, the effects of whichwere amplified in the eastern press. Theconsequence was that the army became moreinvolved and placed forts in Indian Territory tocontrol the trails. The US government alsomade treaties with the Indians but failed tocontrol the civilians who wanted nothing morethan to what they wanted where they wantedwithout regard to the feelings of “savages”.Miners in particular saw no reason why theycould not intrude on Indian sacred ground orhunting ranges. The Indians, of course, foughtback when they could and the situation soonspiraled out of control into open warfare.

The period between 1864 and 1876 saw themost intense fighting along the frontier. The USArmy launched frequent campaigns into Indianlands and the Indians fought tooth and nail tokeep them out; quarter was rarely sought or

given on either side. The Indians scored somesignificant victories such as the FettermanMassacre in 1866 and the crushing defeat ofCuster’s 7th Cavalry a decade later. There werealso many smaller engagements that have

passed into western lore, but the overall tide wasalways against the Indians who lacked the menand material to remain a viable fighting force.They met their final doom as a free people at theMassacre of Wounded Knee in 1890.

The rules used for ‘FourFeathers’were based on Science vs Pluckalthough they were adapted sothey were much quicker to play

with a large group.

The Miners. Her ladyship is safely delivered.

91

route led through a wide valley and thingsseemed to be going well at first.

In the distance, near another settlement, Icould see a force of U.S. infantry withwhat looked like artillery support and myspirits soared. It didn’t last. Before Icould say “Sitting Bull” I had groups oftruculent looking horsemen on bothflanks and another body, further off,closing in from behind, cutting me offfrom the fort. I was about to suggest tothe cowboys that we run for it, only tosee that they already had, just escapingthe pincers that closed behind them,leaving me surrounded.

Deciding that the cattle had escaped themfor the moment, the Indians concentratedon me and charged full tilt from threesides. There was nothing for it but todismount and try and fight it out andhope that the distant infantry might jogover and give me a hand. As in the Sudangame, when you are in a fix, you areallowed to fire at twice the normal rate,but at the cost of treble your normalammunition expenditure. As bullets areof limited use when dead, I poured it onwith a will, dropping them in heaps, butothers got in close and soon my positionwas the scene of desperate hand-to-handfighting and point blank pistol fire (my

carbine ammo having been exhausted.)Things were looking pretty bleak asanother wave of attackers formed up for acharge that would surely sweep over me.Before they could move however, shellsstarted falling amongst them and thecrack of the infantry’s rifles (which havea longer range thank God), furtherthinned their ranks. They finally broke,giving me the chance to mount up anddash for the cover of the foot sloggers. Itseemed that they had seen off a fewminor attacks already, apparently withoutmuch trouble – that’s what comes ofbringing 12 pounders with you!

Escorting thirty Longhorn steers proved no easy task.


92

UNGRATEFUL DOGS!

Babbling my thanks I galloped off inpursuit of my charges – the ungratefuldogs-eventually catching up with them onthe high ground overlooking the town.They seemed pleased to see me, as wellthey might, considering their way to thetown and saloon was barred by a hugeband of mounted braves that had justemerged from the Pass. I later discoveredthat whilst I had been otherwise engaged,a number of warbands had been raiding,with varying success up and down the

table, having chopped up a number ofsmall groups of troops and civilians enroute. To put the tin hat on it, they had justhad a meeting with the gun runners andwere also well armed with repeating rifles!

IN FOR THE KILL

I won’t go into too much detail, but wehad our own version of Greasy Grass asmy survivors and the remnants of twoother troops, along with a few scouts,cowboys and the odd longhorn formed aragged circle on the high groundoverlooking the town. Another force ofbraves (my, my, the gods were with usweren’t they?) arrived on table justbehind us and charged without feeling theneed for formal introductions. At first weheld them off, as my colleagues still hada fair amount of ammunition.Unfortunately the main body now hadconsiderable firepower of their own,thanks to the gun runners and one by onewe went down. At last, having weakenedus sufficiently, they closed in for the kill.Down to our last few rounds of pistolammo, we couldn’t stop them and withina couple of moves it was all over.

As we surveyed the wreckage, a voicepiped up: “Well at least the Pony Expressgot through”. The Indians were so busywith us that they hadn’t noticed the littleblighter as he slipped behind them andthrough the pass to the fort. Small comfort.

ENORMOUS FUN

So what else had been happenng? TheInfantry and their supporting gunscontinued their majestic way to the fort,hammering every attack made against

them. The Colonel, assured of his wife’ssafety, had sallied forth with a force ofcavalry and scouts, soundly thrashing alarge body of hostiles before wheelingleft and charging pell mell into the Indianvillage. It was indeed occupied by aconsiderable force of braves who rodeforward to meet the seemingly exposedcavalry. Undaunted, the Colonel led hismen in a series of sabre charges andabsolutely hammered them without firinga single shot. Such is fate.

So, how had the weekend gone? First andforemost it had been enormous fun.Whilst I enjoy fighting large scale battles,there is something particularly enjoyableabout skirmish wargaming. It seems a bitstrange to describe these games asskirmishes at all, with many hundreds offigures on the table, but whethercommanding a company of highlandersin the Sudan or a troop of cavalry on theplains, each individual figure wasimportant.

The quality of the terrain and figures wasexcellent and the games looked great –always an important factor for me. Thevenue was light and spacious and thegames were well run by the hosts Richardand Andy, who seemed to both controlthe hostile forces and run the wider gamewithout either getting in the way orgloating too much whilst chopping up thevisitors. All in all a great weekend ofwargaming and socializing that I canunreservedly recommend.

The guys have their own website atwww.legendarywargames.com whichcontains contact information and lots ofother goodies. Give it a try.

The braves surge forward.

The Colonel sallies out of the fort.


khartoum & greasy grass:layout 1 - flames of · pdf filethis is a fairly new company...

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