I Think I'll Slip On Down to the Oasis... First Sudan Game

Disclaimer: This game took place in July! My erstwhile opponent John and I have been talking for years about doing a summer game day in the backyard, accompanied by some burgers or some kind of meat cooked over open flame on a grill - you know, manly stuff. This year we finally scheduled one, and as it is wont to do in Michigan, it rained!

The heroic Highlanders!

Never mind, we moved it into my screen room/three seasons room or whatever you want to call it. We got several games in, I just never updated them on this here blog thingy!

First up was our first go at The Men Who Would Be Kings. I've become a fan of Dan Meresey's rules, even though I have never played one! Lion Rampant, Dragon Rampant and Pikeman's Lament are all on the to-do list. In the meantime, TMWWBK did not disappoint.

Well, this is a problem.

We often eschew the scenarios in rulebooks, especially when taking rules for a test drive, and that was the case again here. The basic scenario involved a column of British escorting a camel baggage train to God-knows-where stopping for a rest at an oasis. Unbeknownst to our heroes, a Mahdist horde has been trailing the column, and took this opportunity to pounce.

Jon commanded the heathen rogues, while I did my best with the Queen's troops. Which wasn't great! Despite my best efforts, and some reasonably good shooting, the devils were upon us in no time, and the column was overrun. This will not look good in the London papers.

Here they come!

The quick result was no fault of the rules. We decided we goofed by setting the sides up too close to each other. They were already in range, and by the time they moved, there just wasn't time for my heroic men in khaki to get off more than a couple volleys before it became a numbers game in melee. The difference in troop types did come into play somewhat, with the Scots holding on longer than the Egyptians, which seemed right.

Also of note, we played it with different leader characteristics for the British, but all the same for the Mahdists. Too difficult to keep track of individual leaders with that many units that all look the same. It worked fine. 

Terrain is scratch built, based on cork boards. The minis are all 15mm and are a mix of Essex, Peter Pig and Old Glory 15s. I like how this played out, and would like to add some more troop types.

I can see how this could be scaled up to a larger, multi-player game, and that's in mind for the future, too. It will just take painting a bunch more Mahdists! And there are the scenario rules provided, which I would also like to give a go sometime. Must keep the Empire intact, what?

Camels Without Hooves

One of my more amusing painting faux pas occurred years ago when I was painting up some 15mm WWI Arab camelry. Things were going well, and all looked very nice. As I was showing them to a friend - and I wish I could remember who this occurred to first - we noticed I had painted the camels with hooves. Camels don't have hooves!

Curiously, I haven't painted a camel since, until now for the Sudan project. These three are from Peter Pig's camel baggage train, with two Egyptian handlers. Note the fine detail on the packs. Note the accurate light color for camels of the region. Note the lack of hooves. :)

I think the Peter Pig minis are slightly smaller than the Essex I started with, but they won't be mixed together, and the difference is negligible. I like having little extras like this that provide something for one side to attack and one side to guard. Perhaps I should get some more.

Right now I have one final British unit almost done, and have started in on the Dervishes that I received from 19th Century Miniatures. Those look very nice as well. Stay tuned.

Rare Practical Application of Useless Knowledge Learned in Gaming

My wife often says it's too bad I can't put all of my (mostly) useless knowledge and interest in history and gaming to use making money. Well, the other day there arose a rare opportunity!

I work at a marketing/ad agency, and a colleague wrote an ad for a wine bar and asked me to review it. The wine bar was touting a new cocktail it offers, a French 75. The ad indicated that according to legend it was invented by a WWI pilot, and was named after the French 75mm artillery howitzer gun.

Umm. Le soixante quinze is a field gun, no? Oddly, I was the only one in the agency who caught that! :) I proudly told my wife and, of course, her response was "who knows that stuff?" Gamers, that's who.

I had design make that change, but opted not to get into crediting Raoul Lufbury for the drink's creation. I think the whole Lafayette Escadrille thing would really confuse these people.

So on that note, to illustrate the difference, I dug out some of my 15mm WWI French artillery pieces. The 75s are Peter Pig, and I think the howitzers were Houston Guns, crewed by Peter Pig.