Saturday 11 May 2013

The Ultimate Imperial Adventure


Khartoum - I can almost feel a rush of Kipling based war poetry coming on just looking at the cover!

I picked up the above title for two reasons. Firstly, the author, Michael Asher, has written a first class biography of T.E.Lawrence entitles Lawrence: The Uncrowned King of Arabia which I enjoyed enormously and secondly, because my knowledge of the wars for the Sudan is rather modest.

Khartoum - The Ultimate Imperial Adventure by Michael Asher (ISBN 0-670-87030-7) covers the military campaigns from the massacre of the Hicks Pasha column at Shaykan in 1883 to the final confrontation at Omdurman in 1898. The story of the Gordon Expedition, gunboats on the Nile, Camel regiments, 'Fuzzy Wuzzies' the Mahdi, naval brigades and charging with the 21st Lancers at Omdurman are the quintessential elements of any good Colonial war game and  so I am really looking forward to reading this.

If truth be told I would also like to tackle this using figures at some point but this is some way off. I will go so far though as acquiring a copy of the rules published by Peter Pig - Patrols in the Sudan - as they are pitched at the right level in terms of the amount of material needed - typically 80 figures a side - so it would well within my means to take on.

Not of course, that I need another project....;-)


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13 comments:

  1. Conrad Kinch11 May 2013 at 20:22

    Science versus Pluck is also worth a look.

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  2. David Crook11 May 2013 at 20:27

    Hi CK,

    I have heard good things about this set so will investigate accordingly.

    Many thanks for the heads up.

    All the best,

    DC

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  3. Mosstrooper11 May 2013 at 20:34

    A brilliant book - I loved reading it !

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  4. David Crook11 May 2013 at 22:07

    Hi Mosstrooper,

    I have been waiting for a book like this to come along - simply because I really like the writing style of the author.

    I just know that something gaming related will come out of it!

    All the best,

    DC

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  5. Lead Legion11 May 2013 at 22:56

    You can't go wrong with a good book to kick start a new project - and kick your wallet where it hurts, for that matter.

    Looking forward to seeing your Sudan collection, should you give in to temptation.

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  6. Bluebear Jeff11 May 2013 at 23:07

    You wrote . . . "Not of course, that I need another project".

    David, of course you need another project!

    Do you want to die from "lack of another project" disease?


    -- Jeff

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  7. David Crook12 May 2013 at 08:53

    Hi Lead Legion,

    You are so right - on both counts!

    All the best,

    DC

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  8. David Crook12 May 2013 at 08:54

    Hi Jeff,

    I hadn't thought of it that way so I suppose for the good of my health I should give in and bow to the inevitable!

    All the best,

    DC

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  9. Steve-the-Wargamer12 May 2013 at 09:02

    I'm with Mosstrooper on this one... a brilliant book... you may get some idea's from my Sudan project page.. but other than the above suggestions my favourite rules at the moment are "A Good Dusting"...

    http://steve-the-wargamer-sudan.blogspot.co.uk/

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  10. David Crook12 May 2013 at 13:23

    Hi Steve,

    Many thanks for the recommendation - and the useful link to your blog with some great information in it!

    It is one of those things I will tackle at some point but I have a lot of ground to cover beforehand!

    All the best,

    DC

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  11. legatus hedlius17 May 2013 at 21:00

    It's an excellent book!

    Perry Plastics! Forget 15mm!





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  12. David Crook17 May 2013 at 21:05

    Hi Legatus,

    If they only extended the range to cover plastic Imperial and Egyptians I would be more than tempted!

    All the best,

    DC

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  13. Steve-the-Wargamer18 May 2013 at 09:12

    While my own project is 15mm, if I were to do it again I would seriously consider the Newline Designs 20mm range... best of both worlds.. small enough for big units, big enough to see the beautiful detail... and cheap...

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