..hot dry desert sands.... part 2

...the game has started, but rather than saving up the whole narrative for one large post I think I'll put up separate posts based on each playing session, as I'm playing the game as an when I get little "parcels" of time...

Either way - having diced for their arrival, the British arrived on the board at entry point 2. (shown in blue on the following):


They deploy with the Egyptian cavalry (in line) first, followed by Camel Corps (also in line), and then the two companies of infantry in column (see picture).

Spotting distances in the rules immediately required that anything deployed in 1/. (in red on the map above) should be seen as the British had entered the table almost on top of it, but when the card was turned over it was found that the hill was deserted...


(Rules explanation: I use a set of spotting rules I found in a WWII set - this allows for automatic detection at very low distances as was the case here, and in the open, but a D6 test to see units at longer distances and where units are hidden)



The British commander ordered his cavalry forward towards the empty hill 1/. while at the same time carefully scrutinising hill 3/. through his binoculars (ie. he rolled a dice to see if he could see anything on the hill - the other terrain features, while within range, were blocked line of site)

Here he could see some movement (successful roll) and when he looked more closely he saw Dervish foot hidden in the rocks on the hill (turned the card over and found that it was Dervish foot - unit no. 3 who are rifle armed. These were deployed on the table)


The Dervish were out of firing range, but showed no signs of advancing on the Imperial troops, seeming content to sit and watch (when the Dervish were deployed I decided to do an immediate reaction test for them, as this was the first time they had seen their enemy. The test has a specific set of results for being significantly outnumbered - which they were - and the result of the test was "Stay put and do nothing this move. Test again next move. ")


The Imperial commander now needs to decide what to do - drive off these Dervish, or ignore them, and move on... to be continued, so far, so good..... J