The Battle of El Obeid (Shaykan) refought using Dominion of the Spear and Bayonet

I have been interested in this battle ever since I watched the opening scenes of the film KHARTOUM back in the 1960s. After a spoken introduction, the film depicts an Egyptian force, led by retired British Colonel William (Billy) Hicks, marching through the desert to find and confront the army led by the Mahdi. His army comprised about 8,000 Egyptian regulars, 1,000 bashi-bazouk cavalry, 100 tribal irregulars and 2,000 camp followers, accompanied by a baggage train with approximately 5,000 camels. They are ambushed at El Obeid/Shaykan and pretty well annihilated.

The film takes quite a few liberties when it comes to depicting the battle. For one thing, it didn't take place in a desert valley, but in an area of dense scrub and trees. For another, I have seen no evidence that the Mahdists were equipped with rifles, spears with bombs attached to them, or primitive hand grenades that were thrown by being whirled around the thrower's head on a piece of rope! That said, it was stirring stuff for a teenage me to watch, and left with an abiding interest in the battle.

Colonel Hicks (and his Chief-of-Staff, Colonel Farquhar) leading the Egyptian force to its inevitable doom.

The film depicted the Egyptian infantry as tired, thirsty, and on the point of collapse before the fighting started.

The film showed the Egyptians being overwhelmed very quickly ...

... but the reality is that they formed a defensive square as soon as the attack started, and the square did not collapse until it had been fighting off attacks for two days. In the end, about a one-third of the Egyptians surrendered and were later freed, although all the officers were killed. Only about 500 Egyptian troops eventually managed to escape and make it back to Khartoum.

In the DOMINION OF THE SWORD AND BAYONET SUPPLEMENT, the opposing armies are as follows:

Mahdists

• 1 x Cavalry
• 3 x Ambushers (armed mainly with spears and swords)
• 2 x Spearmen (armed with spears and swords)

Egyptians

• 1 x Cavalry
• 4 x Line Infantry
• 1 x Artillery

The starting positions were as follows:

Turn 1

The Mahdist Ambushers attacked the Egyptian Line Infantry in the centre sector. The Ambushers threw a 5 and destroyed the Line Infantry.

The Egyptians replaced the lost unit with one of the Line Infantry units from their reserve.

In reply, the Egyptian Line Infantry in the right sector attacked the Mahdist Ambushers opposite them. The Ambushers threw first and scored a 2 and the Line Infantry threw a 3. The result was therefore indecisive.

Turn 2

The Mahdist Ambushers in the right sector attacked the Egyptian Line Infantry opposite them. They threw a 3, and in reply, the Line Infantry also threw a 3. As a result, neither side prevailed.

The Egyptian Line Infantry in the right sector attacked the Mahdist Ambushers opposite them. The Ambushers threw first and scored 5, destroying the Line Infantry.

The Egyptians replaced the lost unit with the remaining Line Infantry from their reserve.

Turn 3

The Mahdist Ambushers in the left sector attacked the Egyptian Cavalry opposite them. The Ambushers threw a 2 and in reply, the Cavalry threw a 3. The result was therefore indecisive.

The Egyptian Line Infantry in the right sector attacked the Mahdist Ambushers opposite them. The Ambushers threw first and scored 3. The Egyptian Line Infantry threw a 4. As a result, neither side prevailed.

Turn 4

The Mahdist Ambushers in the centre sector attacked the Egyptian Line Infantry opposite them. The Ambushers threw first and scored a 6, destroying the Line Infantry unit.

The Egyptians replaced the lost unit with the Artillery unit from their reserve.

The Egyptian Cavalry in the left sector attacked the Mahdist Ambushers. The Ambushers threw first and scored a 3. In reply, the Cavalry threw a 5 and destroyed the Ambusher unit.

The Mahdist replaced the lost unit with a Spear-armed unit from their reserve.

Turn 5

The Mahdist Ambushers in the right sector attacked the Egyptian Line Infantry opposite them. The Ambushers threw first and scored a 5, destroying the Line Infantry unit.

The Egyptian Cavalry in the left sector attacked the Mahdist Spear-armed unit opposite them. They threw a 2 and in response, the Spear-armed unit threw a 3. The result was therefore indecisive.

Turn 6

The Mahdist Ambushers in the right sector outflanked the Egyptian Artillery in the centre sector. The Ambushers threw a 6 (+1 for outflanking the Egyptian unit) and the Artillery was destroyed.

The battle was over ... and the result of the refight was the same as the original result.

Comments

This was a very enjoyable battle to refight and took less than fifteen minutes to complete. This has convinced me that I could easily use these rules to fight a quick mini-campaign ... and I am already thinking about a suitable setting.

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Postscript

I hope to add a video about this wargame to the Wargaming Miscellany YouTube channel later this week.