54mm Battle of Tokar

Date: 23 July 1898/2016
Location: Near Dongala, Sudan - Home of Jim P., Der Alte Fritz
Situation: Battle of Tokar AAR
Turn 1: 9:30am
Finished: Circa 3:30pm after 12 turns.
Rules: Batailles de l'Ancien Régime 1740-1763 {BAR COLONIAL}
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AFTER THE BATTLE

Back home again, it's time to put soldiers, terrain and rules away,

but someone....

These companions agree.

Seated from left to right: Jim H., Keith L., Morgan E. and Dan E.

Standing left to right: Yours truly Bill P., Jim P. Der Alte Fritz, John B. and Chuck L.

THE ADVANCE TO THE WELL AT EL-DUBIE

Camp Dongala on the Nile River.

The Army has already departed to capture the well at El-Dubie.

General Pettygree looks in and rides past Sinclair's square. 

Farther into the desert is Barlow's Square.

Squares and horsemen are carefully covering each other.

Someone must have studied Vauban's covering fire tactics.

Dervish scouts observe oncoming Imperials from El-Dubie.

Dervish infantry eventually appear on Barlow's right flank....

As Barlow reinforces his right flank. El-Dubie is closer now; upper right. 

The 21st Lancers support Barlow at the top by facing the same Dervishes. 

CHARGE OF THE 21st LANCERS

General Pettygree observes the charge start at the trot, then canter into....

Melee and charge through the Dervishes --- stopping their advance.

The foe will turn to engage the lancers but....

The greatly reduced cavalry gallops away leaving a side table....

Eventually entering Barlow's now contracted square for protection

back on the main table. It was the last many saw of Barlow's men.
The Dervish broke the square.

THE BROKEN SQUARE

The next day.
"Waverleigh. Do we know exactly what happened to Barlow?"
"We do now, Sir."

"Dervish horsemen gathered on the far side of El-Dubie...." 

"Staying carefully out of sight of Barlow's weapons. To the right [4-5' away], a large mass of Dervish assembled in the village of Tokar. Their astonishing numbers washed over Barlow --- not without difficulty."

"One moment Barlow's men were blazing away. Then not a man stood where he had been. So, you gave orders for the rest of the army to pull back to the River Camp."

"Sinclair's men had been roughly handled."
 "They gave better than they received. No shape to press on."

"So we began to retire into the camp."

"Sir. This is Winston's tent. He was there. Why not speak to him?"

"Lieutenant, give me your account of Colonel Barlow's last stand."

"Sir, as the Dervish approached from the northwest, the remnant of the 21st rallied within the square. Then Colonel Barlow opened the square, we trotted out...."

"Formed line and engaged the foe then attacking the square in prodigious numbers."

"Though I was hotly engaged, I happened to turn about seeing only a section of the Black Watch who had beaten off the Khalifa himself and his bodyguard. The Marines had been cut down to a man and the Gardner crew was in great distress."

"Later I found Naval Detachment, Black Watch and Gordon's Highlanders men who had escaped. They returned to camp. From them I learned the fate of Colonel Barlow. Most likely dead Sir."

"Thank you Lieutenant. We must and will do better next time."

CLOSING REMARKS

1) Dear readers, you now have the story of the Battle of Tokar from the standpoint of the 54mm soldiers under my command. Frankly I can't wait to take the field again. I'm already making plans. 

2) By now many of you have seen Jim's AAR on his Der Alte Fritz Blog. If not, please go there for the rest of the story soon.

3) This game featured a new way to use charismatic officers. We thew a D6 per officer. Officers with a Charisma/Skill rating of 2 were able to fire three individual revolver shots and count as three men in melee. Officers valued at 1 fired one fewer bullet and meleed as one less man. 

Shots hit targets in open order or cover on a D6 throw of 6. If the target was a mass, a 5-6 hit home. Hits got saving throws. This was a fun way to easily introduce heroic or professional skills for Imperial leaders. 

4) See you next time, perhaps at the club in Cairo. Meanwhile, why not leave a remark below at Comments? Later we can talk about it in the Mess. Tally Ho! Respectfully, Bill P.

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