Sharp Practice Sudan Mahdists v British

My third 'colonial' game in a row saw Dave and I try out the Sudan modifications for Sharp Practice from the 2021 Lard Mag. The modifications also include a short three game campaign so we played the first scenario from that in which the Mahdists have to capture a missionary and his family from a defended village before a relief column can intervene:

The Mahdists have two commands appearing from B and C on the map while the relief column starts from A and the missionary and the garrison from D.

The Mahdists make a strong start with vast numbers of fanatical warriors emerging from the wadi and rushing towards the village:

The British relief column arrives as does another Mahdist horde, neither force can see the other due to the intervening sand dunes:

Just in time the British Garrison deploys into the village before the Mahdist skirmishers can over-run it:

British fire cuts the skirmishers down in droves and they flee back:

The warriors are undaunted though and press on:

Hussars gallop ahead from the relief column to help out the garrison:

One group of warriors turn to face the Hussars while the rest prepare to assault the village:

The warriors charge home! they have taken a few casualties and lost their fervour, British infantry defending in cover are tough nuts to crack but maybe wild enthusiasm and numbers will prevail!:

Almost, but not quite! The British narrowly repulse the warriors but lose some men and take a lot of shock:

The warriors regroup and prepare to charge again:

Elsewhere the relief column is making slow progress while the other Mahdists lurk in the sand dunes hoping to attack the British as they march towards the village:

The Hussars crash into the Mahdist warriors at the gallop! The warriors refuse to be defeated and hold their ground:

Very much battered but still standing the warriors repulse the Hussars! 

The fanatical warriors charge home again!

This time the fight goes in favour of the Mahdists, one British group is almost wiped out and pushed back while the other is also forced back. Warriors swarm into the village searching for the hated missionary:

With the missionaries about to be captured (the Mahdi has demanded that they not be killed!) and the remaining defenders overwhelmed British force morale collapses and the relief force retires into the desert. A great victory for the Mahdists!: 

Despite my playing SP last week both Dave and I were rather rusty with the rules and hadn't had time to fully digest the amendments before the game resulting in us making a few errors which we can correct next time, none of them had much of an effect on the game I think and they probably balanced out as they were on both sides!

The amendments worked well, basically they introduce one of the concepts from Infamy of 'fervour' for the wilder warriors making them move quicker and be more resilient to the effects of shock. This is just as well as the British firepower with breech-loading rifles is awesome and can be devastating! 

We both really enjoyed the game and are keen to play the next scenario, my Sudan collection has not been used in years which is a shame as I am quite fond of them. Even though they are not really based for SP the casualty markers worked well, it has even inspired me to order a few more figures for leaders and the Naval Brigade for the next game!