Will Victoria be Amused? Sudan British v Dervish

Having enjoyed our Sharp Practice games with the 15mm Anglo-Egyptians and Dervishes Dave found a new set of rules for us to play called 'Will Victoria be Amused?'. 

They are (slightly) unusual in that all the players are the British/Egyptians with the Dervishes being controlled by what these days is called 'AI' (or in effect, a dice throw and table which mostly results in CHARGE for the Dervishes).

The desert the British have to pass through. The Dervishes will arrive either on the flanks or at 'ambush points', the red counters in terrain:

The British column arrives. I am commanding the Highlanders and Sailors plus the cavalry while Dave has the English foot and artillery:

A few Dervish skirmishers observe the column from a distance:

Egyptian lancers charge into a Dervish horde:

The lancers push the Dervishes back:

The Dervishes are arriving in numbers now, some camel mounted warriors appear:

British infantry form line to repel the camels attack:

More cavalry move up to support the lancers:

One group of camels is thrown back but the other fights on:

The British line stands firm and repels all of the camel riders:

The cavalry continue to try to hold back Dervish warriors:

They are succeeding but becoming worn down:

The overall position, the British have pushed ahead well but the baggage is at risk from some recently arrived Dervish cavalry:

The reckless advance of the baggage results in it being attacked:

Remarkably the baggage guard defeat the first Dervish cavalry group but get attacked by the second and fall:

At this point we called it a day with the baggage lost and most of the Dervishes being dispersed. The rules are very generic but good fun with a number of cards with special abilities for the various officers and a system of gaining (or losing!) reputation determining which of the British officers has 'won' the game. As a result there is some competition between earning individual glory and ensuring that the whole army does not collapse! 

In this game for instance the cavalry commander held off a load of dangerous Dervish foot but didn't actually break any of them earning little glory while Dave's infantry commander shot away a few skirmishers and destroyed the camel warriors earning a much enhanced reputation!

At some point I'll try out the rules with my 10mm Zulu wars armies as they should suit solo play quite well.