It has been admitted that the major battles of this campaign - Firket; Abu Hamid; the Atbara; and Omdurman - do not readily lend themselves to satisfactory wargaming, being too onesided through their vast disparities in military technology. However, there are numerous compelling alternatives to occupy British and Egyptian troops, camels, and river-steamers against the warriors of the Mulazamiyya and Jihadiyya, under their van -hued standards. Recommended Minor Actions The frontier fights on the southern border of Egypt, after Ginnis in 1885 up to the conquest of Dongola, offer a wide variety of engagements, such as cavalry reconnaissances; attacks - by both sides - on occupied villages, or on Egyptian-troop occupied blockhouses. The area around Suakin was dotted with redoubts, forts and blockhouses, and these mini-actions can be arranged to involve a few companies, up to a battalion. There were numerous Mahdists attacks on straggling columns and isolated bodies, with the Ansar endeavoring to hit the AngloEgyptian army before it was fully concentrated. Essential Factors Controlling Colonial Wargaming This type of wargaming requires rules tailored to the cardinal aspects of warfare between trained and well-armed forces opposed to fanatical ill-armed and untrained natural warriors fighting on their own terrain, with emphasis placed upon balancing the numerical superiority of the latter against the superior military technology of the much smaller force. Attempted in a spirit of historical authenticity, the devastating effects of the superior weaponry must be reflected and made possible in practice within the scope of the rules. It might not be enjoyable for the wargamer commanding the native foe to take three-times as many casualties as his opponent, but he has to accept that it is balanced by being able to place a force three-times as large as his enemy upon the table. In this way 'balanced wargaming' is achieved and enjoyable games played using completely different types of armies. The Answer in a Word The end-result of combat, throughout the Ages, be it through fire-fights or hand-to-hand combat, is to superimpose your will upon the enemy and sap his ability to resist. The dictionary defines it as 'the mental attitude or bearing of a person or group as regards confidence, discipline etc.' and the single word that covers this is MORALE - that nebulous quality which, in real life, determines whether a man or a regiment stands firm when others around them are breaking. And, in our world of wargaming, that factor grafted upon our inanimate armies by means of rules and their effects, gives smaller and more disciplined forces the ability to withstand the onslaughts of enemies far more numerous than themselves. Unlike humans, our little model soldiers do not posses this quality, which has to be bestowed upon them through the rules controlling the game. Morale taken in the context of the 1896/8 Campaigns In some varieties of Colonial warfare, the trained soldier's higher morale, drilled into him by discipline and drill, allied to his superior weaponry, is adequately countered by the native enemy displaying fanatical - sometimes almost incredible - courage when defending their homeland or religion. This situation was persistently revealed during the Dongola and Omdurman Campaigns (and indeed throughout all the campaigns fought in the Sudan from 1884 onwards) when the warriors of the Ansar persisted in suicidal courageous attacks. When wargaming these actions, the rules must make provision for uncontrolled charges by the native armies, thus simulating their innate impetuosity that caused them to hurl themselves into wild attacks at tactically unsound moments and without being ordered to do so. At Omdurman, although the major assaults were ordered and controlled by their leaders, disaster was frequently compounded by the courageous warriors persistently pressing forward when all hope of success had long since gone, and their leaders would no doubt have preferred them to withdraw and regroup. There were occasions undoubtedly when the death of a leader, seen by all, caused the morale of a group to plummet so that they broke and fled. Such eventualities must be considered when formulating rules for colonial warfare. Difficulties of simulating numerical balance in 1896/8 Campaign At the battles of the Atbara and Omdurman, the wargaming simulation of numerical balance so as to ensure both sides have a reasonable chance of winning, is difficult if not impossible. This is because the overwhelming technological superiority of Kitchener s smaller force is immensely difficult to counter through such conventional rule-ploys as natives being given a longer move-distance than the British/Egyptians; and 'weighted' values given to natives in hand-to-hand fighting (melees) to represent their natural fanaticism, ferocity and physical attributes. So far as the latter aspect is concerned, whatever superior value is bestowed upon them in melees is more than offset by the volume of fire they must first surmount before even making contact with the formed ranks of disciplined soldiers. There was but one instance at Omdurman where this situation did not prevail - the charge of the 21st Lancers into unexpected numbers of warriors hidden in a gully, who more than held their own in the close-quarters combat that ensued. The Ansar and Artillery The almost contemptuous bravery shown by the native warriors at Omdurman could give an impression of them taking artillery and machine-gun fire in their stride. However, it cannot be overlooked that the deadly explosive missiles of the noisy belching guns and the cascades of bullets thrown by Kitchener's Maxims represented a completely alien experience to them. Rules should reflect this by causing natives under such fire to perhaps be diverted, to 'angle' their collective movement away from the bursting missiles, and even forcing them to break more easily than they would do under musketry fire. Kitchener's Maxim Machine-guns The Ansar had experienced the possibly sporadic fire of Gatlings, Gardners, and Nordenfelt machine-guns at earlier stages in the Sudan campaigns, but the maxim guns with which Kitchener's army was equipped were a different story, being far more reliable and rapid in their rate of fire. Rules governing their operation should include a proviso that forces the advancing enemy to come forward as men would against a torrential monsoon - at a slower and more hesitant rate. That semi-comic rule beloved of Colonial wargamers of throwing a dice for each move for each Gatling to see if it has jammed, can be cast aside when handling the Maxim gun. Having said that native warriors should break more easily in the face of artillery and machine-gun fire, the wargamer has to consider that the Ansar, certainly at Omdurman, tended NOT to break, being stopped in their stride only when dead or too severely wounded to move. So, handle this aspect of the rules with a certain degree of circumspection. It is convenient to equate a machine-gun with the fire-power of an infantry battalion on the wargame table; this is not entirely accurate from the point of view of weight of fire, but includes the morale-destroying effect of relentless rain of bullets. Not All Native Armies Fought as Mobs! It must be remembered when attempting Colonial wargames, that not all native foes were untrained and indisciplined; some, such as the Zulus were martial races who moved collectively in recognized order under control of revered and respected leaders. The Ansar were certainly of that type and is thus indicated by 'Ismat Hasan Zulfo in his book KARAI., the Sudanese account of the Battle of Omdurman, when described in detail the ordered advances of the various coloured Standards. Reflect that aspect in your rules, and in so doing you will be honouring a brave foe who persistently pressed forward over heaps of his dead comrades. It has been asked 'were the, Madmen? Heroes? Fanatics?' - take your choice, but ensure that your rules include built-in factors reflecting this aspect. Back to MWAN #67 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 1994 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com