Incorporating a battle and barbecue to mark IRL's retirement and sometime migration from the MondayNight fold to sunny Cornwall …
The dateline read August 1889, on the banks of the Nile …
In which the Dervishes were located in the desert, about to move North, and so Colonel Kitchener was despatched to prevent their moving and goad them into battle …
This being effected, the Officers were able to take tea (a steamer arrived with some fine confection from Northamptonshire …) …
All of which allowed young Kitchener the opportunity to get well ahead of his support and engineer a legendary stand against overwhelming odds (actually, it did look as if he might get overwhelmed)
But several stern volleys did indeed (and surprisingly) show that they didn't like it up'em …
The net which it looked like they would slip through finally closed with the arrival of the main force under Wodehouse and Hunter (with some chivvying from General Grenfell, commanding) …
(there was some dislocation of space on the table … the umpire was working it out on his map, and effectively it worked as above. It made it convincingly difficult for us to coordinate the marching columns)
(Wodehouse forms into a line of battle to take on the Dervishes)
Phase Two … the battle of Toski
In somewhat ragged form, Kitchener held on until the enemy were driven off and drawn off by the main force.
(here we see a long shot of the table, with Wodehouse's men and Hunter's Horse artillery deployed for action)
And despite all that the gentlemen had contrived, the final action looked not a lot different to the events of 1889 ..
(depictions of Toski, sort of 'then and now' …)
In a final charge, the enemy fell in heaps before the unwavering fire of the Egyptian regulars and the day was emphatically won.
This was a satisfying social game of Howard Whitehouse's Science vs Pluck, hosted by Trebian in his shedquarters, with the table game in 15mm using Treb's Peter Pig Sudan collection.
Phil
See also:
Trebian's Toski pt 1, Trebian's Toski pt2
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