Goya came over this afternoon so we could have a run
through with The Men Who Would Be Kings ruleset for colonial wargames. He
brought with him everything we needed in a single box, British and Mahdist 20mm armies, Rule book, desert terrain mat, rocks and some really nice palm trees.
As you know, I have a bit of a thing about colonial
wargames but I had never played these rules and was keen to see how they worked.
We had a fun little game for a couple of hour’s and I think managed about eight
turns.
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| We played on the kitchen table rather than in the cabin as it was a bit chilly outside. The game ran longways up the table, Mahdists nearest the camera, British top right. I love those palm trees. |
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| Goya did tell me what make these were but I have forgotten - lovely slender castings and superbly painted. |
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| I commanded the Mahdists, these are my cavalry and camelry charging forward (who doesn't like troops riding camels?). Goya painted the flag freehand. |
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| My infantry start to make an appearance but, to be honest, it was a bit difficult to get them to do what I wanted although I liked the rule mechanism for orders that caused this. |
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| Ouch! This melee ended in a draw. |
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| My forces eventually started to make a bit of progress. |
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| Until they came up against a solid wall of British riflemen. The chaps in red are Minifigs S-Range. |
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| I did have the advantage in artillery however - can you guess what make that gun is? (yes it is plastic) |
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| My poor camels!!! |
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| Well, I was never going to get very far against the soldiers of the Queen was I? |
In other news, work on the fusiliers continues but more
on that next time.
Colonial action in the Sudan? What's going on? I popped over to the blog to look something up and thought I'd hit the wrong link... Nice little game though - oh so tempted by something colonial but I must keep that butterfly pinned for the time being.
ReplyDeleteSorry to confuse you Rob but at least the figures are 20mm even if the game lacked any HH! One attractive thing about this colonial rule set is you don’t need loads of figures to start, just saying…
ReplyDeleteNice! Lovely models.Tempted to go down the colonial path. Trying to keep strong though, and posts like this aren’t helping!
ReplyDeleteChris/Nundanket
This is great stuff - apart from anything else, a couple of palm trees puts us straight back into the pages of Don Featherstone! You definitely need some compulsory b&w photos for this period. I'd be very interested to know a bit more about what you made of the rules.
ReplyDeleteNice one, anyway - the pictures cheered me up!
Chris, as distractions go colonials isn’t too bad as you can have a very good game with only 100 or so figures!
ReplyDeleteTony, yeah I missed a trick with the B&W photos! I’ve ordered a copy of the rules so I can give them a proper read. They are quite simple and fun and the command and control mechanism adds a lot of unpredictability, particularly when handling irregular forces. Also, Goya’s troops look great!
ReplyDeleteLooks like a fun game. The gun - Airfix ACW?
ReplyDeleteColkitto
Well done that man! ACW gun - what a classic!
ReplyDeleteThe basis for many a conversion (if sometimes only by paint) - great to see it going strong!
ReplyDeleteColkitto
Nice!
ReplyDeleteBit late in commenting but I identified the Airfix ACW gun too! Nice looking game - did you enjoy The Men Who Would Be Kings - I have had a couple of games and found them a pretty good set for smaller scale actions
ReplyDeleterross - Well done on spotting the Airfix gun. I enjoyed the rules as they are simple and yet give a bit of period flavour. I would definitely play them again!
ReplyDelete