Sudan - The Men Who Would Be Kings - First Game

British / Egyptian force Scale 20mm or 1/72 Rules: The Men Who Would Be Kings Objective: British need to obtain supplies I was able to get a copy of the rules for $9.00 and as much as I love The Sword and the Flame, I wanted rules that would move the game more quickly. We had 2 Highlander units, a unit of Naval Infantry and an Egyptian unit trying to move forward to a town to scrounge for supplies. They were opposed by a unit of mounted Tribes men, a unit of rifles, and 6 units of infantry. The board is sparsely populated with terrain. There are hard and soft cover with a few hills. We skipped customizing units and leaders until we get a better understanding of the rules.

The Mahdi forces start off in the hills and will quickly approach from the opposite side. Since they can move free they will cover a lot more ground then the Brits.

The Mahdi cavalry move in losing only one figure to fire.

The infantry moved across the field to the walls with no opposition as the British moved slowly, in fact the Naval infantry failed activation twice and never moved after the first turn.

The Mahdi rifle unit moved to the left to delay the British, getting pinned in the process

The Egyptians gained access to the village but could only move half distance because vllages are difficult terrain.

Soon the Mahdi rifles on the left are reinforced by a unit of Fuzzy Wuzzy which is also pinned.

In the village the Egyptians meet the tribesmen after grabbing some supplies, they were driven out before obtaining the second set of supplies.

Meanwhile on the backside of town the Ansars try to charge the Naval infantry but fall short by one inch. The Ansar are met by a volley fire which reduces the tribesmen and pins them. A unit of Fuzzies makes it in town but fail to charge the Egytians until 1 turn later and pushed them out of town. .

The Brits hold the Madhi left flank preventing an overrun.

The game was very close but the Allies pulled it off. I really like the rules, there are no surpises and they do the job with no flash. I will be using them for gaming in the future. The British were not very mobile due to a 6 inch move rate, which is halved in difficultterrain. The British fire, especially volley fire, ground the native units to a pulp. Hidden native movement and ambushes will be a good addition. British troops do take far more casualties in these rules then The Sword and the Flame rules. Melee is also resolved faster. Will try another scenario soon.