KHARTOUM TO GREASY GRASS VIA YORKSHIRE

A WEEKEND AT LEGENDARY WARGAMES. One of the most pleasurable aspects of wargaming is having the time, space and resources to fight a really big game. A divisional bash at the local club is all well and good and is, for most of us, the staple fare of our wargaming lives; but the opportunity to fight In the Grand Manner as the late Peter Gilder called it, is something to be savoured. With this in mind a group of us decided to try something a little different and booked ourselves a weekend with a new company specializing in wargaming holidays - Legendary Wargames.
This is a fairly new company offering more unusual games - a change from Waterloo, Gettysburg and Kursk and although we are fairly conventional wargaming types, playing conventional periods - WWII, Napoleonic and American Civil War for the most part the chance to try something that was both different and light hearted really appealed and it was with a sense of some anticipation that we arrived at the venue, the pleasant Yorkshire village of Church Fenton. The two gentlemen in charge: Richard and Andy, are based at the well appointed village hall and things were set up and ready when we arrived. We had decided to journey up the Nile on the Saturday (Mahdist War), followed by an evening at the local pub before tangling with Crazy Horse on the Sunday (Pony Wars) - a couple of gentle easy paced games... DAY ONE: FOUR FEATHERS AND A FUNERAL The first thing that struck me on walking through the door, on Saturday morning was both the size and quality of the terrain - hand made by those clever chaps at T M Terrain. There were two parallel tables, each over 20 feet long with the Nile running between them. There were two floating boards, linking the two banks; one containing a substantial village garrisoned by a force of Egyptians and yours truly; the second supporting a couple of heavily armed gunboats and the water-borne elements of the relief column. All very impressive.

Words & Pictures by Steve Shan

Our hosts proceeded to explain the situation facing us. In simple terms, we controlled a relief force which had to fight its way up the full length of the table and relieve a small outpost, a larger village on the river and, at the far end of the table, a fort. There were, needless to say, a large, though unspecified number of ill-natured Dervishes standing in out way. I was volunteered(?!) to take the besieged garrisons, composed mainly of Egyptian troops, whilst the others divided up the relief column between them. FIRST CONTACT Expecting a leisurely few moves to get into the swing of things, the left bank column pushed its troops forward at full speed. First mistake of the day. Failing to scout an ominous looking depression to their right front, the Jocks were suddenly confronted by a sizeable force of Fuzzies that seemed to appear out of the ground. The leading company blazed away but was unable to stop the charge and was hit front, flank and rear by the fleet-footed dervishes. Three more companies, unable to fire for fear of hitting their own men, charged into the melee. After a few anxious moments the attack was driven off, but with heavy losses to the kilties,

The Khartoum board and the members of Legendary Wargames with the author second from the right.

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whose leading company lost over 50% of its men. A dodgy start. Fortunately the gunboat was on hand and its fire kept the Dervishes at arms length. The column on the right bank was meanwhile having problems of its own. The cavalry scouting ahead of the main force encountered another body of Dervishes hidden in broken ground. One troop failed to evade in time and suffered heavily. The rest of the natives bypassed them and charged towards the camel corps, which was hastily dismounting. Having little time left, the player commanding them opted for rapid fire, whereby each figure is allowed to fire twice, but at the cost of three rounds of precious ammunition. Fortunately the dice were with them and they inflicted nearly 50% casualties, driving the Dervishes back. TRAITORS! The river column safe aboard its gunboats sailed serenely on, using its guns to support whichever imperial units were most threatened. As they approached the river village, they came under fire from previously unseen riflemen and an artillery piece manned by curiously proficient gunners. These turned out to be Egyptians who had been persuaded to fight for the Mahdi. They scored a direct hit on the main gunboat (three hits and it is forced to beach for the remainder of the game) and the rifle fire also proved fairly accurate. To make matters worse a couple of innocent looking dhows (boats) appeared on the scene packed with dervishes. These proceeded to disembark in the town, closely followed by the gunboat. A hectic scramble on the river bank resulted in the dervishes being all but wiped out by a combination of fire from the gallant Egyptian garrison and the gunboat, but not before a number went down to thrown spears and vicious handto-hand fighting.

DOGGED DEFENCE Having relieved the town and the smaller village, we were at last able to set up a couple of heliograph teams in both locations, which put us in touch with the beleaguered fort at the far end of the table; this was one of the objectives for which we were to receive victory points.

THE ANGLO-SUDAN WAR

The history of the British Empire is littered with desperate battles fought against implacable enemies across disparate landscapes. Few opponents, however, were as underestimated as the Dervishes who gave the Empire fits in Africas Sudan region. In 1819, Egypt invaded neighboring Sudan and established a highly unpopular regime. But it was not until the 1870s that a leader emerged who could successfully throw off the Egyptian yolk. His name was Muhammed Ahmed, a cleric who styled himself the Mahdi, an Islamic messianic figure. Ahmed started with a small but loyal following, but his reputation was enhanced greatly when his men annihilated an Egyptian force sent out to arrest him. The Mahdis rebellion grew to alarming proportions for the Egyptians who finally took the matter seriously and sent a 4,000 strong force to crush the rebels. Their plans came unstuck when the Mahdi led a dawn attack against the Egyptian camp, killing everyone. The British, who had assumed joint administrative control of Egypt with the French, were next to send a force against the Mahdi. To that end, the British organized a force of over 8,000 mostly undisciplined native auxiliaries under the command of Colonel William Hicks. They set out from the Sudanese capital Khartoum in September 1883, but were ambushed and wiped out trying to relieve the town of El Obeid. Hickss head was taken to the Mahdi as a trophy.

The British response to Hicks defeat was to pull Egyptian forces out of the Sudan and they sent the diminutive Major General Charles Gordon to effect the evacuation. Although a war hero from his time in China and immensely popular in Britain, Gordon was the wrong man for the Sudanese job. Rather than evacuate immediately as required by his orders, Gordon set up camp in Khartoum, thereby almost inviting the Mahdist siege that was to follow. At first, it seemed that Gordon could hold out almost indefinitely against the 50,000 strong force surrounding Khartoum. But as the siege wore on into weeks then months it was clear Gordon was in deep trouble. The British organized an expedition under Sir Garnet Wolseley to relieve Gordon, but they arrived too late and found Khartoum sacked and Gordon dead. It would take more than another decade for the British to return to the Sudan. In 1898, the time was ripe to attack once more. Major General Herbert Kitchener led a 25,000 strong Anglo-Egyptian force into Sudan. He took a cautious approach, building forts as he progressed and laying a rail track behind him for supply. He also advanced down the Nile using gunboats to cover his army. The climactic battle took place at Omdurman on 2 September 1898. The Dervishes, 50,000 strong, charged into machine-gun and artillery fire, and the Anglo-Egyptian force poured disciplined volleys into them. The Dervishes had little chance and 30,000 fell. It would take another year for the final mopping up to take place, but Omdurman effectively destroyed the Mahdist regime and returned Sudan to Egyptian control.

The rules used for FourFeathers were based on Science vs Pluck although they were adapted so they were much quicker to play with a large group.

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EVENT Report

So far things seemed to be going fairly well, despite heavy casualties to the highlanders. Unfortunately the very next move saw a major sandstorm blow up, rendering our heliographs useless and preventing any land based movement at all. (The Dervishes were allowed to move at half speed.) Under cover of this, the crafty Mahdists managed to get a large

force of spearmen, supported by rifles hidden amongst the rocks and scrub, to within striking distance of the left hand column, now strung out between the small village and the river. For once the cavalry proved quite effective, intercepting one group of spearmen and driving them off in fine style. The other group bore down on the infantry, whose fire, though effective, could not stop them. Only a dogged defence with the bayonet kept their opponents at bay long enough for supporting units to bring their firepower to bear and eventually force the dervishes to disengage, after inflicting numerous casualties on the shaken British infantry. It was with some relief that the umpires called a halt for a well-earned lunch break.

ROUND TWO If we were hoping for an easier time after lunch, we were to be disappointed. Several attacks on the left hand column were launched by Dervishes, using the nearby high ground to cover their approach. Although these were held by good shooting from the hard-pressed British infantry, a large column detached itself from the main body and headed towards the walled town, now held by only a single company of Egyptians. The firepower of this isolated company proved insufficient to halt the attack and the Dervishes hit the wall at full tilt. At first the Egyptians bayonets held the Dervish horde back, inflicting some loss, but eventually weight of numbers told and a

foothold was gained on the walls. It was soon all over as the badly outnumbered defenders were overwhelmed and the main British base was in enemy hands. To make matters worse the fort now came under fire as the enemy unmasked several Krupp guns on the nearby high ground. And a huge force of spearmen headed towards the river village. This was the turning point of the game and the players rose to the challenge. Having disembarked the Naval Brigade to support the Egyptian garrison, the commander of the river column steamed his gunboats into a
Above: Innocent looking dhows with a deadly cargo! Below: The Naval Brigade spring into action

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position from which they could support the outnumbered defenders. It was clear that if the village and its garrison were overrun, then the fort could not be relieved that day! The fire from the defenders had little effect at first, but as the Dervishes closed the range, more and more of them were shot down by fire from the buildings and barricades. Even so, large numbers still survived to reach the village and things might have become very sticky had not the gunboats raked the flanks of the Dervishes as they tried to force an entrance, driving them back. The right hand column, advancing steadily towards the fort, hastened their flight with further volleys. LAST THROW OF THE DICE Even now the Dervishes were not finished. A further large body supporting the guns on the high ground overlooking the fort decided on one final throw before the British relief force got too close. Hurtling towards the walls, they were at first checked by fire from the fort, but they rallied and tried desperately to overwhelm the garrison before help could arrive. It was not to be. Punished by accurate fire from the defenders, and taken under a crossfire by British cavalry that had pushed on ahead of the main force, they melted back into the hills. A couple of moves later, the gates were opened to admit the exhausted British cavalry. All that remained to do was to beat off a few half-hearted attacks from some Dervish cavalry and the game, at last, drew to a close. So, how did we do? On the whole pretty well and we felt that we thoroughly

deserved our tiffin after a desperate day of fighting. Casualties had been heavy, particularly amongst the Highlanders and the hard-used cavalry, whose combined losses totaled around 30%; there would be questions in Parliament over that one! We had relieved the village, river village and fort and inflicted heavy casualties on the Dervishes. The only serious black spot was leaving our base in the walled town insufficiently garrisoned, thereby allowing it to be overrun. Our story would be that one cant be strong everywhere, impossibility of making omlettes with intact eggs, fog of war and so on. Hopefully The Queen would understand. The form at Legendary Wargames seems

to be that after a hard days fighting, a hard night of eating and drinking is called for. We therefore retired to our accommodation for a wash and brush up, before heading out for the evening. Richard and Andy had arranged a meal at a nearby Indian restaurant, before spending what remained of the evening in the local. After a good nights sleep and a hearty breakfast, we were ready for day two; an appointment with Crazy Horse and friends at the Greasy Grass.
Above: The Egyptians are overwelmed in the town. Below: The Dervishes get there comeuppance.

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DAY TWO: GREASY GRASS On arriving back at the venue, we were faced by another very impressive sight; laid out in front of us was a large table with even more impressive terrain. Things were set for another good day of gaming. The Pony Wars game is based very closely on the old Tabletop Games rules of the same name, which are now some 30 years old! Venerable they may be, but they are still for my money one of the most inventive and enjoyable sets of rules ever written. As with the Sudan game, all the players were on the same side and the randomly generated Indians were controlled by the umpires, who also dispense advice, rule clarifications and not entirely sincere condolences when things went wrong. The scenario itself was quite complicated, involving a number of often conflicting objectives. Most of the players controlled various units of Americans. These were usually troops of U.S. cavalry, but could include infantry and units of artillery as well as various scouts. Muddying the waters further were groups of often uncooperative civilians, who needed to be rounded up and escorted to the fort, as well as less respectable cowboys with herds of cattle, gun-runners and other assorted neer-do-wells. Each player was given a roster with his initial forces and objectives, along with the all important ammunition supply. There was some room for co-operation but with bands of ill-disposed hostiles flitting in and out, it soon becomes a question of every man for himself. The main difference between the Pony Wars and the Sudan game was that in the former the vast majority of troops were mounted. This makes the game very fast moving and very fluid. What looks like

a situation that is well in hand can degenerate into a very untidy massacre alarmingly quickly - as we were about to discover. Our objectives were to get the civilians into the fort using either the long way around the tables U bend, or via the much more dangerous pass, as well as protecting the various other groups who were going about their lawful business. This included the miners busily digging away in the mountain pass, the cowboys taking their cattle to market in the town and the Pony Express rider attempting to get through with the mail. There were other assorted issues concerning buffalo hunters, who were not popular with the natives, and gun runners who were. There was also a large Indian settlement at one end of the table, which held considerable, but undisclosed dangers.

D TROOP COMMANDER Rather than try and give an overall picture of the game, which was very confusing, I will limit myself to describing my own part in it. I commanded D Troop, who were charged with escorting the civilians from the settlement to the fort. I was also tasked with meeting up with the Colonels Lady, who was en route in the stage coach to join her husband. As a secondary task, I was also made responsible for getting the cowboys and their 30 longhorn steers to the town. I was going to be busy! Moving out from the fort, I was halfway to the settlement, when the stage coach hove into view with a band of braves close behind. Fortunately the Colonel,

The Miners.

THE PONY WARS

Almost from the moment Europeans arrived on the North American mainland, conflicts broke out between the colonists and Native Americans. Their widely divergent cultures, moreover, and differing social, political, and economic systems almost guaranteed that any accommodations would be merely temporary. Superior technology, disease, and numbers pushed the Native Americans west, but they fought back with every step yielded in a conflict that would last three hundred years. The culmination of that war came in the late nineteenth century when fighting broke out across Americas Great Plains in what came to be known as the Pony Wars. The Pony Wars started in earnest after the American Civil War, although there had already been fighting between the US Army and the Indians before then. The Civil War brought repeating rifles and better cannons

into the US armory, however, and Indians too began to arm themselves with better weapons. The US Army was also full of ambitious officers eager to build reputations at the expense of the Indians. The Indians at this time were not a unified single people, but a group of tribes that fought each other more often than they fought Europeans. Tribes such as the Sioux, Cherokee, Cheyenne, and Crow contested territory at a time when horses and improved access to weaponry gave them a greater capacity to do so, and when European encroachment limited what they already had. Many smaller tribes were annihilated during this time, others assimilated with the Europeans as best they could, sometimes fighting alongside them as scouts or auxiliaries. The presence and actions of European civilians along the frontier often made a tangled situation worse. In the colonial period

then up to the 1840s, the interior saw very little European civilian traffic. That would change dramatically when gold was struck in California and the United States annexed Oregon and Texas. New trails to the west sprang up almost overnight, all of them through Indian Territory. The Indians usually left the emigrants alone but some raids took place, the effects of which were amplified in the eastern press. The consequence was that the army became more involved and placed forts in Indian Territory to control the trails. The US government also made treaties with the Indians but failed to control the civilians who wanted nothing more than to what they wanted where they wanted without regard to the feelings of savages. Miners in particular saw no reason why they could not intrude on Indian sacred ground or hunting ranges. The Indians, of course, fought back when they could and the situation soon spiraled out of control into open warfare.

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obviously concerned for his wifes safety, had already sent another troop out to meet her. Before I could gain some Brownie points with the boss, the newcomers flew past at the gallop and return with her ladyship to the fort. One less thing for me to worry about. Pressing on to the settlement, I attempted to bring the civilians under command; this is a process whereby army officers have to persuade the farmers that it is in their best interests to do as they are damned well told or risk losing their hair! Would that it were that simple. The officer in charge has to throw dice to bring this about - the lower the rank the harder it is. I seemed to have been landed with a particularly unco-operative bunch as they just would not listen. Sure enough a large band of hostiles then turned up in the middle of

our negotiations and proceeded to attack. Forced to dismount, I was soon fighting for my life behind a line of fences and wagons as the clueless civvies continued to argue the point. Much to my dismay the umpires wouldnt allow me to just leave them - not done apparently - so there was nothing for it but to stay put. Eventually after using up a large part of my ammunition the attack was driven off, but it still took a further two moves to persuade them to pack up their wagons and leave. The cowboys meanwhile arrived with their cattle, requesting an escort to the town. Again, I had to comply. Splitting my force in two, one section led the civilians back to the fort, without incident fortunately, whilst the others trotted forward to the sound of moo-ing and knocking knees. The only possible

The rules used for FourFeathers were based on Science vs Pluck although they were adapted so they were much quicker to play with a large group.

Her ladyship is safely delivered. The period between 1864 and 1876 saw the most intense fighting along the frontier. The US Army launched frequent campaigns into Indian lands and the Indians fought tooth and nail to keep them out; quarter was rarely sought or given on either side. The Indians scored some significant victories such as the Fetterman Massacre in 1866 and the crushing defeat of Custers 7th Cavalry a decade later. There were also many smaller engagements that have passed into western lore, but the overall tide was always against the Indians who lacked the men and material to remain a viable fighting force. They met their final doom as a free people at the Massacre of Wounded Knee in 1890.

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Escorting thirty Longhorn steers proved no easy task.

route led through a wide valley and things seemed to be going well at first. In the distance, near another settlement, I could see a force of U.S. infantry with what looked like artillery support and my spirits soared. It didnt last. Before I could say Sitting Bull I had groups of truculent looking horsemen on both flanks and another body, further off, closing in from behind, cutting me off from the fort. I was about to suggest to the cowboys that we run for it, only to see that they already had, just escaping the pincers that closed behind them, leaving me surrounded.

Deciding that the cattle had escaped them for the moment, the Indians concentrated on me and charged full tilt from three sides. There was nothing for it but to dismount and try and fight it out and hope that the distant infantry might jog over and give me a hand. As in the Sudan game, when you are in a fix, you are allowed to fire at twice the normal rate, but at the cost of treble your normal ammunition expenditure. As bullets are of limited use when dead, I poured it on with a will, dropping them in heaps, but others got in close and soon my position was the scene of desperate hand-to-hand fighting and point blank pistol fire (my

carbine ammo having been exhausted.) Things were looking pretty bleak as another wave of attackers formed up for a charge that would surely sweep over me. Before they could move however, shells started falling amongst them and the crack of the infantrys rifles (which have a longer range thank God), further thinned their ranks. They finally broke, giving me the chance to mount up and dash for the cover of the foot sloggers. It seemed that they had seen off a few minor attacks already, apparently without much trouble thats what comes of bringing 12 pounders with you!

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The Colonel sallies out of the fort.

UNGRATEFUL DOGS! Babbling my thanks I galloped off in pursuit of my charges the ungrateful dogs-eventually catching up with them on the high ground overlooking the town. They seemed pleased to see me, as well they might, considering their way to the town and saloon was barred by a huge band of mounted braves that had just emerged from the Pass. I later discovered that 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 of small groups of troops and civilians en route. To put the tin hat on it, they had just had a meeting with the gun runners and were also well armed with repeating rifles! IN FOR THE KILL I wont go into too much detail, but we had our own version of Greasy Grass as my survivors and the remnants of two other troops, along with a few scouts, cowboys and the odd longhorn formed a ragged circle on the high ground overlooking the town. Another force of braves (my, my, the gods were with us werent they?) arrived on table just behind us and charged without feeling the need for formal introductions. At first we held them off, as my colleagues still had a fair amount of ammunition. Unfortunately the main body now had considerable firepower of their own, thanks to the gun runners and one by one we went down. At last, having weakened us sufficiently, they closed in for the kill. Down to our last few rounds of pistol ammo, we couldnt stop them and within a couple of moves it was all over. As we surveyed the wreckage, a voice piped up: Well at least the Pony Express got through. The Indians were so busy with us that they hadnt noticed the little blighter as he slipped behind them and through the pass to the fort. Small comfort. ENORMOUS FUN So what else had been happenng? The Infantry and their supporting guns continued their majestic way to the fort, hammering every attack made against

them. The Colonel, assured of his wifes safety, had sallied forth with a force of cavalry and scouts, soundly thrashing a large body of hostiles before wheeling left and charging pell mell into the Indian village. It was indeed occupied by a considerable force of braves who rode forward to meet the seemingly exposed cavalry. Undaunted, the Colonel led his men in a series of sabre charges and absolutely hammered them without firing a single shot. Such is fate. So, how had the weekend gone? First and foremost it had been enormous fun. Whilst I enjoy fighting large scale battles, there is something particularly enjoyable about skirmish wargaming. It seems a bit strange to describe these games as skirmishes at all, with many hundreds of figures on the table, but whether commanding a company of highlanders in the Sudan or a troop of cavalry on the plains, each individual figure was important. The quality of the terrain and figures was excellent and the games looked great always an important factor for me. The venue was light and spacious and the games were well run by the hosts Richard and Andy, who seemed to both control the hostile forces and run the wider game without either getting in the way or gloating too much whilst chopping up the visitors. All in all a great weekend of wargaming and socializing that I can unreservedly recommend. The guys have their own website at www.legendarywargames.com which contains contact information and lots of other goodies. Give it a try.

The braves surge forward.

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