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Post by paintdog on Jun 23, 2017 3:28:38 GMT
We're having a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings tomorrow & I'm setting up the table. The scenario is called "The Village at El Hab": An Anglo-Egyptian army has smashed an invading Dervish force near the Egyptian Sudan border. The Dervishes are retreating south & have left a rear guard at a pass to slow down the pursuing British. Unfortunately for the Dervishes, several units have been left behind & cut off at the village of El Hab. Worse, an important Emir (the Mahdi himself ?!??) is with these forces & must not be captured or killed by the infidel. I'm still working on terrain etc but I really needed a game. Some crummy photos from my phone: donald
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Post by paintdog on Jun 24, 2017 8:34:06 GMT
A bit of a game report. The Men Who Would Be KINGS: Scenario
Pursuit at El Hab
Pretext:
An Anglo-Egyptian army has smashed an invading Dervish force near the Egyptian Sudan border.
The Dervishes are retreating south & have left a rear guard at a pass to slow down the pursuing British. Unfortunately for the Dervishes, several units have been left behind & cut off at the village of El Hab. Worse, an important Emir (the Mahdi himself ?!??) is with these forces & must not be captured or killed by the infidel.
Goals:
Dervish: 1. Get the Emir off the table via the pass at the southern end.
2. Get their forces at El Hab off the table via the pass at the southern end without being destroyed or severely mauled (at least 2 units exit with more than 50% of their strength intact).
3. Hold the pass against the Anglo-British to save their retreating army
4. Kill as many “Turks” (ie British and Egyptians) as possible
Anglo-Egyptian: 1. Take (priority) or kill the Emir (the chief goal & worth losing some men over)
2. Destroy the Dervish force at El Hab
3. Suffer less than 50% losses.
4. Take the pass
Deployment:
At the north end of the table, 3 Dervish units are deployed (with the emir) in and around the village of El Hab. One Ansar (tribal infantry), one Camel (tribal cavalry), one Jehadia (rifles) units.
At the south end of the table, in and around the pass, are the rest of the Dervish forces (2 Beja tribal infantry, 2 Ansar tribal infantry, 1 camel & two Baggara cavalry units). An additional Beja unit will enter the game from the extreme NW corner on Turn 4.
The Anglo-British will be deployed in the centre of the table between both Dervish forces. They will field 6 infantry units, 2 camel units & a gun. There will be some cover (soft) for them to use if they so desire.
I won’t bore you with a blow by blow account. Suffice it to say the game went very smoothly & pretty quickly: about 3 hours. This is despite we’re still learning the rules & despite our “tweaks” which run to a page & half. We’ve certainly “customised” the rules!
The Mahdists won a minor victory, with the British (me) withdrawing in good order (after sustaining quite a few casualties) & after it became apparent they would not catch the Emir. This gave the Dervish 2 ½ out of a possible 4 victory points with the British getting 1 point out of 4. The scenario might well be worth re-playing. I really like the mixture of units with good British (with sometimes poor leadership) & sometimes dodgy Egyptians (some poor leaders, obsolete rifles, lower shooting & fighting stats etc). I must hand it to my opponents for their game-winning aggression. They were like a pit bull at your throat!
I suspect the Anglo-Egyptians will need another unit or two to make them more competitive against the numbers of Dervish I have who have won all 4 games we’ve played so far.
donald
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Post by Redneck26 on Dec 10, 2017 3:10:05 GMT
I've got to ask, how do you make the movement trays for your tribal infantry?
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Post by paintdog on Dec 10, 2017 21:25:55 GMT
I've got to ask, how do you make the movement trays for your tribal infantry? You can buy such from wargames companies (eg Litko) but the P&P for me is crippling. I got mine for $2 a tray from a chap who has a laser cutting machine & lives minutes away: so no postage required.
donald
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