Straight away Andy found himself in the thick of it as his advancing Sikhs found themselves confronted by a Rub of Beja who appeared in front of them out of a donga...
A volley of Snider fire from the Sikhs bowled over half the Beja and pinned the remainder...
Who were almost wiped out with a second volley.
Spotting a camel in need of liberation the Bengal Lancers trotted swiftly forward followed by the Highlanders and Bazingers...
Every time an Imperial unit moved, George rolled on the Babbage Engine chart to see if any Native forces appear and if so where...
Unfortunately the Bengal Lancers attracted not only the attention of a Native Camel unit to their front...
But also a Rub of Beja behind them...
Who promptly turned 180 degrees and charged in on the startled Bazingers!
The outcome of Fierce Beja with sharp pointy sticks versus the Poor Beja was never going to be in doubt, though the Bazingers did manage to take down two of their attackers as they almost died to a man.
As the British regulars advanced on their camel hunt, the Babbage Engine generated a unit of Mahdist Rifles to their flank who took down one Englishman with a lucky shot...
Whilst the Bengal Lancers about turned to address the problem behind them, and try and capture a camel in the process.
Only to see Mr Babbage reward their change of direction with the appearance of another Rub of Beja near to the British base line!
Who swiftly finished off the poor Bazingers!
More Imperial movement saw another Beja Rub appear on the Mahdist right...
Who the Sikhs proceeded to riddle with fire from their Snider rifles.
Meanwhile the Bengalis lowered their lances and eyed up the survivors of one Rub who had been hammered and Pinned by rifle fire from the Highlanders...
But before they could charge in, a different Rub of Beja attacked them!
Whilst unable to gain the benefit of charging with with their lances levelled, the Bengalis beat off the attack, though half the brave comrades fell to the fierce Mahdists.
On the British left, Andy advanced a unit of Regulars though this generated a Rub of Kordofan to their immediate front!
And as the Sikhs attempted to push forward their movement generated the appearance of even more Kordofan!
From being largely empty, the British left flank now faced three units of enemy infantry between them and the prized camel!
Next turn saw the Bengal Lancers charge in on the Bejas they had just beaten off, their lowered bamboo lances wiping out the Mahdists to a man...
And although two more Bengalis fell to the native spears, the survivors were able to charge into the pinned Rub and almost despatch that!
The Mahdists were soon to gain their revenge as the Kordofan charged in on one unit of British Line...
And in one melee ten brave Englishman fell to the native spears leaving just their officer bravely facing down the charging horde!
A second unit of British line started firing volleys at the natives to their front...
Joined by the Sikhs.
Mahdist after Mahdist went down, but for every one that fell, it seemed that two more sprang up out of the dust!
The Bengal Lancers did not get the opportunity to finish off the second Rub as they were charged in the rear by a unit of Mahdist Camlely and wiped out.
A measure of revenge was exacted by the Highlanders who fired at the Mahdists...
Finishing off the Beja Rub...
And taking down most of the Camelry, Pinning the survivors.
Elsewhere the natives changed tactics employing their rifles to pepper the Imperial forces, the resolute Sikhs losing five men to the Irregular Rifles and becoming Pinned...
Allowing a nearby Rub of Beja to charge in on them and almost wipe out the sturdy Sikhs.
On the left flank the brave effort of the British officer to resist the Kordofan alone proved doomed...
With the Mahdists then charging in on the second British Line unit...
Heavily outnumbered it was inevitable their attack would be defeated but as the Kordofan died to a man, they took down the commander of the British Field Force!
Soon after the Sikh survivors were wiped out...
Leaving just the Highlanders and the leaderless Line troops to face the oncoming Mahdists...
Clearly it was not going to be possible to rescue the camels and the remnants of the British Field Force ceded control of the battlefield to the victorious natives.
Another decisive native victory, I must confess I am not convinced that our hybrid Babbage Engine approach didn't give the Mahdists too much of an advantage with them appearing at close range (or behind units), negating much of the Imperial firepower advantage, and also allowing them to act in a controlled aggressive manner (whereas the Babbage Engine might have them appear then maybe slink off or decide not attack the Imperial troops). Also the Native unit regeneration meant there was a relentless horde of overly effective natives who would always fight, rather than a rapidly reducing native force as the Martini-Henry's took their toll. Still it was quite fun though, and I do like the Babbage Engine when fully utilised , I doubt we'll try this hybrid approach to The Men Who Would Be Kings again.