It took us far too long to play this game. COVID, work, and other inconveniences delayed us by a surprising number of months. Here, finally, is how the game played out.
The four natural points for assaults on Khartoum's defenses were at the three "gates" into the city (where the three roadways passed through Gordon's ring of earthen ramparts) and at the White Nile end of the line, where the Nile flooding had turned the defenses into a sea of mud. At the start of our game, Al-Sharif's Red Flag had occupied Burri village and was threatening Burri gate. Gordon had removed the bridge over the water-filled trench there and installed an iron gate. The gate was also guarded by Fort Burri.
The Massalamuja gate was the only one where Gordon had left a bridge over the trench. This gate was threatened both by the Red Flag and by Ali Hilu's Green Flag. Gordon has placed one of his machine guns to defend the bridge.
At the Kalakla gate, Gordon has also removed the bridge over the trench. That gate is defended by a mountain gun. The Black Flag of Abdullahi threatens both that gate and the muddy end of Gordon's defenses. The muddy area is defended by troops on moored barges, by Gordon's other machine gun, and ultimately by Fort Mukran.
Gordon also has a small reserve force in place along the Blue Nile.
We played the game with three special rules. First, Gordon's reserve must stay on the Blue Nile until the Mahdi's forces are inside the ring of defenses (to represent Gordon's need to guard against an assault on the city by water). Second, the morale and effectiveness ratings of Gordon's forces were reduced after every three turns (to represent the despair and starvation of the siege). And third, victory by the Mahdists could only be achieved by eliminating Gordon within an agreed-upon number of turns (to represent the prospect of Wilson's relief expedition arriving at Khartoum from down the Nile).
An initial artillery exchange accomplished relatively little, causing just a few casualties and destroying one Mahdist battery.
The Mahdist forces then simultaneously assaulted all three gates and the muddy end of the defensive ring, trying to take advantage of their vastly superior numbers.
All four assaults were beaten back, with heavy casualties among the Mahdi's forces. A few of the Ansar made it across the mud, but they were quickly eliminated by the machine gun and the defenders on the barges. Gordon's forces suffered only relatively light casualties in this fighting.
The artillery on both sides had been largely ineffective throughout the fighting to this point, especially on the Mahdist side (where the effectiveness ratings were very low). One lucky shot by a Mahdist Krupp, however, changed the tide of the battle. That shot took out the machine gun that was guarding the Massalamuja gate. The Mahdists immediately renewed their assault on that gate and threatened to break through Gordon's ring of defenses.
I'll post the report on the remainder of the game in a few days, when I have some more time.
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