Keep Calm and Carry A Fly Whisk - Warlord's Black Powder in the Sudan

The sun-baked soil of the Sudan, eighteen sixty-tiddly pom.

Victorian hero Hong Kong Gordy, famous for having the largest whiskers and smallest intellect of any general in the British Army is trapped in Pontoon by the forces of the Mad Mahdi.

Her Majesty is not amused.

General Fairly-Rusk makes a forced march across the desert to rescue the gallant Gordy with a British Army brigade consisting of two battalions of Guards camel riders supported by a Royal Navy detachment with a Gardner Gun.He also has an Indian Army brigade of two battalions of Sepoy supported by a battalion of Abyssinian mounted rifles commanded by Colonel Fred Karno.

As they approach a ridge before Pontoon they see smoke suggesting that it's curtains for Gordy.

Fairly-Rusk orders his brigades up onto the ridge in battle order. The Guards are delayed while the NCOs carry out a quick inspection to check that the Guardsmen are properly attired [bad command die roll].

Eventually, the Guards mount the ridge and only just in time. Pontoon has fallen and is swarming with Whirling Dervishes. Two hordes of spear-armed camel riders are fast approaching the British right flank when the Guards reach the summit The Abyssinians ride out to the edge of a wadi [blue] to guard the left flank.

Battle is joined.


The Abyssinians bravely hold position shooting up the approaching Dervish infantry. The camel riders charge. One horde is immediately disrupted by the Guards fire but the other charges home disrupting a guards battalion with their spearwork [the blue markers].

The battle on the right flank hangs in the balance.



Then a horde shatters and breaks when the Naval brigade get the Gardner working. They had been suffering mechanical issues [bad die rolls].

The second horde breaks.


Confused, a Guards battalion advances to the rear for a brew up.

The rest of the Dervishes retreat in good order.


[Two out of three units broken breaks the Dervish brigade, one brigade out of two broken breaks the army.]

A cracking game using Warlord's Black Powder rules and HaT 1/72 models.

My thanks to Shaun for commanding the Mad Mahdi's Merry Men and to Fred K for suggesting the title.

I won!!! I actually won a wargame!!!! That's the first time in weeks, nay, months.

Warlord Illuminati

   Had the great good fortune to play a game or two in John Stallard's games room in his impressive home in the centre of Nottingham, wargaming hub of the world. John is the Managing Director of Warlord Games. On the right is Rick Priestley, who designed Warhammer and Warhammer 40K. Both used to work for some other Games Company in Nottingham, the name of which eludes me.