Incident near Tokar (or The Intemperance of Lt. Niven)

Following our first foray into the Sudan with The Men Who Would Be Kings we decided to automate the native forces and give Mr Babbage a try.

The three Imperial player's forces were as follows:
3 units of Regular Rajputs
2 units of Irregular Egyptian Fellahs plus 1 unit of Regular RMLI
2 units of Royal Dragoons plus 1 Gatling gun.

Only the RMLI had modern rifles and none were well drilled.

Dicing on the Leader's Traits table threw up some amusing results. 
The Rajputs were commanded by a Coward, a Weakling and a Bag of nerves. The RMLI a forgettable fellow and the Royal Dragoons a Cad and a Gentleman with a bottle, none other than Lt. Niven. As if to add insult to injury the RSM who manned the Gatling was short sighted, his myopia was to prove the least of his worries.
Only the Egyptian officers gave any sign of encouragement being Pleasant and Steady.

The operational brief was a simple one. Advance across the table and take the village on a far hill.
The Imperial forces deployed in one line with the Dragoons on the left and Rajputs on the right. This was to prove a tactical blunder, hardly surprising given the quality of the leadership on show.

After the first move by the Dragoons some Dervish pop up from nowhere. Steady firing from the Fellahin pin them immediately.

Through his alcoholic haze Lt. Niven sees a chance for glory. While Capt. Keen wisely chooses to whittle down the enemy with carbine fire, Niven bellows "Sshabers gentlemen!" and charges into the nearest unit of Dervish.

 

Bloody Hell! Where did they come from?! Dervish camels appear adjacent to the Gatling gun and charge it. Although the men fight bravely their failure to fire in their own turn means that a second charge wipes them out. All they found of RSM McNutt were his prescription spectacles and a note from his grocer.

  

Meanwhile the Rajupts advance steadily but none too bravely towards their objective.

Dervish riflemen emerge behind Capt. Keen's troop. Luckily their derisive fire means that he can turn about and see them off. Had they been swordsmen he might not have been so fortunate.

Meanwhile the RMLI have seen off the camels but are threatened again by more swordsmen.

Having finished his hip flask Lt. Niven is now imbibing from a bottle of Nurse Macreadie's Emollient Balm. He collapses unconscious in his saddle and fails to move on three consecutive turns. Along with a lone trooper they are all that remain of their unit as the pub beckons and the game draws to a close. 

The Imperial forces were very fortunate to have survived this encounter. Twice units of Dervish within charge reach and behind the line chose to slink away rather than charge and on several occasions similar charges fell tantalisingly short of their targets. Deploying in a single line is not something I think we will be trying again.

Activating the three forces in sequence, Dragoons - Egyptians - Rajputs, meant that the appearance of the natives and consequently the action inevitably skewed to one side of the table. We changed this about two-thirds of the way through the game and used three randomly drawn cards instead.

The Babbage Engine is a hit! It provides a very enjoyable game and we look forward to the next encounter in that god-forsaken desert. Will Lt. Niven recover from his epic hangover and take the pledge? Are the rumours that RSM McNutt was taken captive and spends his days playing gin rummy with the Mahdi true? Watch this space.