Tri-State Bolt Action and other wargaming stuff Blog

Turn 9

Headlines from the London Times News – “Khartoum within reach” the final push is on to crush the revolt in the North and East and push to Khartoum.

The West: Again with no forces in the West there is nothing here for the Allies to do but wait for reinforcements to arrive from the north.

The East: With the Revolt index in the east at 1 and only Kassala left there is no rush to push to this town until the North is cleared.  The British force at Trinkitat continues reinforcing the defenses. The force at Suakin is also building up supplies and defenses in case Osma Digna decides to attack the town to recover his honor after the defeat at Atbara

The North: The force at Abu Klea advances to Metemma where it links up with the British force from Berber along with the steamer Hermes.  Here there is no Dervish with a revolt index of 1 this is the last town to the finally clears the North. This force consists of the following: 1^st Infantry Brigade Commander, the 75^th Gordon Highlanders, 89^th Royal Irish, Camel Corp Commander and the Guard Camel Regiment, the 3^rd Infantry Brigade Commander, consisting of the 2^nd Battalion 46^th and the 1^st battalion 79^th, along with the Mounted Infantry and 3^rd Royal Artillery 7pdr Mountain Screw Battery. The steamer Hermes is providing fire support and transporting supplies for Khartoum

The force at Korti advances on to Abu Klea across the desert.  The reinforcements at Wadi Halfa only have to wait one more turn for the Desert Railway to open. The Egyptian force at Abu Hamed, consisting of the Mounted Bashi Bazooks, 2^nd and 3^rd Cavalry squadrons, 1^st Camel Company, 5^th and 6^th Egyptians, Xth and XIth Sudanese, and 6^th Artillery is ordered to advance up the Atbara to Kassala to clear the east. This is a very mobile force and should quickly retake Kassala.  The first stop is Adrarna where there are no Dervish forces.  Next is E1 outpost on the river which again is not contested by the Dervish. Maybe Osma Digna has retreated all the way back to Kassala

The South: Relief of Khartoum is only 1 turn away.  The issue is will they arrive with enough troops to force the passage up the Nile. Next at Kosti the Egyptian forces here continue resting and begin reinforcing the defenses here so the when the British advance up the Nile they have a base to operate from. There are rumblings that the Ruby T and the Egyptians may try for Fashoda when the British arrive which is not sitting well with the Egyptians that have been fighting here for the last couple of months.  They want to take out their revenge against the Dervish after the loss at El Obeid and being forced back to the Nile. 1^st Brigade Commander has his work cut out for him, letting his troops know that they will be in the fight to take back the West.

The supply situation in Khartoum is reduced from 3 to 2 with the British relief column only 1 move away. Kosti has 3 turns so the Egyptians there may rest for a turn before advancing back out.

With the Revolt in the North crushed and the East only 1 turn away. No reinforcements are available.  There is a rumor of unrest in the North West Frontier so some troops may be needed there and in South African the Boers are starting to act up again. 

Closing out the turn The North with an index of 0, has had the Revolt crushed in this section.  The East stays at 1. In the South it goes up to 6. While in the West it goes up to 7 since there are no Allies present anywhere in the West.  Again both of these are at the Game Masters decision to possible have a bigger game at Khartoum next turn and a bigger fight at El Obeid.  The Mahdist only gains 26 points this turn for a total of 319 points.