Friday 28 March 2014

The Battle of Ronshin 1884 - A Sudan batrep by Postie



Posties at it again, he doesn't want a blog himself, "Computers give me a headache" he moans. So another guest post it is then!

The Battle of Ronshin 15th March 1884 using  UP EM Rules by me Postie!

Yes its me, Postie, doing another guest post on Ray's blog, helped and typed by my son Ray, (whenever we go out, everyone thinks Ray is my boy????)

Part of the Gordon relief force under General Graham is advancing towards Berber on the Nile 100 miles away, running low on water the relief force has made a small detour to try and find water at a small village called Ronshin. Enemy scouts have sent word the Mahdi of the columns progress and position, will the Mahdi's force intervene or just watch the columns as they grow weaker with thirst and then attack.

The Game
The only forces on the table that are visible are the British and Egyptian columns as they head towards the village of Ronshin, can the British find water, if so can they secure it and hold on to the precious (my precious?) supply, Will the enemy attack, how confidant will they be after the defeats suffered already. Watch and find out????


  Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum
How longs an inch???


The village of Ronshin


Some units of mounted Fuzzy Wuzzy's guard the oasis. My precious.....


More Dervish troops have been spotted and have now deployed from their hidden movement card. 


After spotting some hostile troops, the British begin to deploy.
A very lucky long range shot from Richard's hidden Krupp gun severely damages one of the camel mounted artillery pieces and is then destroyed the following turn.


A small unit of Egyptian Camels try secure their rear and flank.


A good job too as they spot Dervish Cavalry advancing onto the rear of their lines.


Sujit manages to throw a 10 on a D10 and spots a rather large force of Fuzzy Wuzzy's by the
 village, I think "Oh Damn!" were his words!! But obviously that's not what he actually said!


The British Cavalry did quite well spotting more Dervisher's and have now withdrawn back to
 the relative safety of the British Infantry.


British forces advance and give the Dervishers a taste of lead!!


Masses of Fuzzy Wuzzy's head towards the British and Egyptian position.


Meanwhile in the rear, the Egyptian Camel unit has dismounted but receives a ferocious onslaught from Richard's Dervish cavalry. Richard wins the melee and routs the Egyptians, he then follows up and destroys the retreating unit.


The situation looks pretty dire for the allies????


A dervish assault is temporarily halted, they then decide to go to ground, so they are not
 such a big target for the British to fire at.


Yes Surjit DID place his Gatling gun in a nice position, so nice that he couldn't fire the bloody thing!!! Idiot!


Dervish force continue to press the attack with mush vigour.


Due to good British fire power the Dervishers were forced back.


Smiffy's Egyptians were taken over by the Dictator Supreme Sujit and what a mess he did make!!! Unlimber the gun, limber the gun , unlimber the gun and so on........................


Dervish camelry attempt to take out the Egyptian artillery but receive close range fire support
 from an Egyptian line battalion.


The British Cavalry are sent out to attack the enemy, a poor group of Jihadiya Riflemen
 receive a charge and get wiped out.


After destroying the Rifle unit a Dervish unit surprises them in the rear with a ferocious charge!!!
The Cavalry are wiped out......


John's forces manage to finally reach the British line, with 1 unit of Dervish infantry, they charge the flank of a British line unit. The Dervishers are destroyed for their troubles!!


Meanwhile at the rear, Richard never one to give up, sends more units of mounted Dervishers to
 attack the vulnerable Egyptians, who have been fighting on 2 fronts.


British and Egyptian troops have secured the sand dune
and palm tree?!?! Yipee! 
I think they forgot they were supposed to be advancing to the oasis??


Richard's forces start to pull back so as not to suffer too many casualties from British fire power.


Most assaults by the Dervishers were repulsed but they amazingly carried the day as night had begun to fall.
It was a close game, the Dervishers only needed to lose 3 more stands of troops and they would have been forced to retreat from the table. They lost 13 stands in total, roughly 30% of their army, but they still won a victory, mainly I'm afraid due to the British Commander being a bit of a plum!

Well done to the Victors Richard & John, I know you were both sweating and it wasn't just the heat!! Mark and Sujit.....what can I say?????




44 comments:

  1. Oasis, camels, desert village, Jihadiya riflemen, all this takes us to the heart of the action...love this immersive report Ray, great work!
    Best,
    Phil.

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  2. A great batrep mate, and a great looking game as usual. Glad to hear Surj is back to his old ways....he was quite well behaved during our Roman game, and he was on time for a change...hmmmm.... he hasn't got an identical twin brother has he?

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    1. Apparently he was quite a pain in Smiffy's rump, for the whole game, even taking over part of his command!!!

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    2. What Surje, touching another mans Mini's! Never!!

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    3. 'fraid so Lee, the rotter!

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  3. Lol.

    It was true British generalship ;P

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  4. Many thanks to Postie for the report, despite there not being a contractual shot of his emminence.
    Blood, sweat and tears (mostly British I assume) seemed to be the order of the day.
    It does beg the question whether or not R & F could have fared better.

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    1. Even Fran, on his own could've done better and that's saying something!!!

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  5. Well, despite the great attraction of the Perry range, I'm still convinced 15mm (or even 10mm) is the best size of figure to represent Sudan campaigns. It's the scale of the game that gives it its appeal to me. This it spot on!

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  6. What no picture of Postie? Great battle report and pictures! Thanks for sharing!

    Greetings
    Peter

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  7. Postie took all the pics and he doesn't do selfies.....

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  8. A very nice looking game. Great report!

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  9. This is great; it's inspired me to finish my Peter Pig Sudan stuff...doh!

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  10. Ash Ray , Postie!.... Cracking to see a Soudan game... They don't like it up em!....looks like great fun.

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  11. Is there any period Postie does not have figures for !!??
    Great AAR

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  12. Could have gone either way. A good match and a really pleasant batep, excellent Saturday morning reading.

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  13. Haaaaaaay! That's how Postie normally speaks! It was funny but while reading the report I read the whole thing in Postie's Tone and Iterance!

    I really did like the report, but I'm a sucker for the Sudan and colonial wargames anyway. Given the players involved am I at all surprised by the outcome....... NO! John and Richard are steady players. Smiffy is an unknown to me as I have only seen him play once. And Surgit has some good ideas and some bad ones but can't seem to tell the two apart!

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  14. Excellent job Postie. This is a nice looking table and a great change from the usual battles we see Ray post.

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  15. Excellent battle report! =)

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  16. Very nice looking game and a fun AAR as well!

    Christopher

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  17. Lots of hard work and fun.

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  18. Very nice looking game gents!

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  19. I love the sand and palm trees. Something I'd love to be visiting right now. Well, minus the gunfire. Great job, Postie.

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  20. Great AAR :-)

    Jason.

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  21. Tell Postie I enjoyed his guest post!

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  22. Great table, great miniatures, excellent after battle report, everything looks (repeating myself) Great! :o)

    cheers,

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  23. Lovely table and great post postie!

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