Well we were to say the least lucky on this occasion. Kipling's poem dedicated to Osman Digna's men gives full praise to them and rightly so. Full praise must also be given to the humble Tommy, for standing firm, as any wavering could easily of led to a total rout.
General Graham's plan of attacking in two large Infantry squares was a very difficult manoeuvre, especially over such rough terrain as that in the Sudan. It is as well he chose to do so on this occasion.
Had the British been in one whole square and the same confusion in orders arisen, the whole of the Black Watch Battalion may of been positioned in the front of the square and all charged forward, leaving a gap seven companies wide for the Mahdist to charge into.
It appears that the 1st Brigade lagged behind a greater distance than was designed due to the terrain, aiding the Arabs assault on the 2nd Brigade. As to the confusion in orders, we can only guess as to what exactly happened. Officers present give witness to the fact that Graham did order the Black Watch to advance.
Osman Digna used the Knor to successfully hide some of his force, if he had contested the difficult crossing of this, it too could of cost the British dear.
Finally we will let Osman Digna have the last word on the battle. He gives a somewhat tabloid view of it, in a dispatch he sent to the Mahdi.
This goes someway, to understanding how he was so successful in raising large numbers of followers to the cause, despite such crushing defeats inflicted on him.
'An English army of, it is said, 20,000 men including 6,000 horsemen arrived in the neighbourhood. The Ansar attacked them, and fought them the whole day until both forces retreated; the English returned to Suakim with a loss of 8,000 men.
[Shades of Falklands and Gulf War propoganda campaigns - on both sides!! What's that quote about history repeating itself?? Ed.]
WARGAMING TAMAI
Points to Note
If you wish to recreate the confusion of the event, try the following:
1. Use a random factor dice roll, to slow down or speed up both squares for each move. Use 2 coloured dice D6- one for faster speed and one for slower. Roll for each square, each move and the figure left from the equation = a extra 1/4 move forward or back. Example; a roll of three on the slower dice and roll of six on the faster dice = a three quarter of a move distance forward, on top of normal move rate.
2. If you are brave enough (the British player), use a random dice to see if you, by mistake order the front companies of one of your squares to advance. Do this when the companies are within a charge distance of the Knor. Use a D6 with 6 being the figure to charge. You can roll another D6 to see how many companies are effected by this mis-order. The Mahdist player, if he is close enough, can take advantage of this joyous event.
3. For rallying a Brigade. A suggestion is that the Mahdist should only withdraw if the 1st Brigade and Cavalry have inflicted a certain percentage of casualties on the attacking units engaged with the 2nd Brigade. The Mahdist player will have to be extremely careful when he times his attack, attacking when the 1st Brigade is crossing the Knor, is the best plan. Try to neutralise the Cavalry fire power, by threatening their flank with some units.
4. Quantities of figs required. For the Mahdist you can re-use casualties, but if you base them on 100mm x 45mm bases to accommodate 10 figures, but only use 5,6,7 filling up the missing figure spaces with rocks and scrub etc. This gives you a huge saving on figures and the bases looks so much better for it.
The British are based 12 to a company and to save you the expense of painting such a large amount of British, you could use any Egyptian and Sudanese, figures you have handy.
5. Figure availability. There was at one time I would of said, only one decent range of figures in 25mm which covered the Sudan in variety and quality, this being Connoisseur Range. This is still an excellent range, especially the variety of civilian Arabs.
New on the scene (see pictures) is the Redoubt Enterprise Range, which is growing faster than the Mhadi's Revolt, you name it and Peter's selling it. The variety of poses and detail on the figures is second to none. The Mahdist come with separate torso, to allow for a unique combination of figure poses, which gives you that truly irregular native unit. Having and still am painting up some 2,000 of these figures, I do not speak with forked tongue.
In 15mm the Essex Miniatures range springs to mind, it being fully comprehensive, with some very nice command group figures.
More Tamai
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