Arab
Revolt - 1916 to 1918
The
taking of Akaba
Prince Auda Ibu
Tayi with 50 Arabs, “advised” by Lawrence of Arabia (and 22,000 British gold
sovereigns) leads a daring assault on Akaba (a port on the Red Sea) to break
the deadlock in the Middle East War. The force crosses the harsh Nefud desert
terrain swelling to 500 men as they travelled, attacking the Hejaz Railway on
route, and avoiding the Turkish cavalry sent to intercept them.
On July 6th
1917 the Arabs meet the Turkish infantry guarding the land approach to the port
at Abu al Lissan. The Arabs skirmished ineffectually at first but goaded by
Lawrence they charged on camel back into the enemy positions.
During the fight
the Arabs lose a handful of men killed
and an unknown number of wounded - far less than the losses to snakes and
scorpions in the desert! The Turks are overwhelmed, many are killed after
surrender as the Arab leaders struggle to hold back their jubilant men.
Lawrence was
lucky to escape unhurt as in the excitement of the charge he managed to shoot
his own camel in the head! Luckily he was thrown clear and managed to avoid
being run down by his own allies!
The arrival of
the Arabs from the desert resulted in the surrender of the Akaba garrison. Lawrence then made an epic dash to inform the
British, who quickly sent ships with supplies and transported units of Prince Feisal
Arab Army to consolidate the success and launch the next phase of the campaign.
The success also encouraged many men from the local tribe to join the revolt, which
diverted Turkish troops, and helped the Allies advance into Palestine.
The game was set up much more to the Laurence of Arabia film than the "Real History". In Reality the battle was mostly focused around a Turkish block house. Which was situated between two towns (Akaba and Ma'an). Wikipedia has an entry on the battle should you be interested in what actually happened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Aqaba
And indeed was more balanced as a game. I did use a very simple set of rules that I had made up myself and they led to a quite balanced game. On the day we played 2 games. Tim and myself took the Arabs in the first game with Peter and Graham taking the Turks. In the second Game Peter had to leave early and Richard sat in for him.
In each game the two Turks in the trench died very quickly (as they are supposed to). But after that each game went completely differently.
In the first game I had spotted a gap in the Turkish troop line (they were spread thin. And managed to slip around half a dozen Arabs into the rear of the army. When I brought my arabs into melee the Turks (Peter) was able to beat them of with bayonets and my atrocious dice rolls. Not once while in Melee in the first game did I roll higher than a 2 on d6. Mostly I threw 1's. While Tim managed to hammer into the Turkish main line and not only keep them occupied but also to break them. All the while my troops in the rear stopped the Turks from getting any reinforcements which resulted in the Arabs being able to out gun the Turks and close for melee combat. It was a close run thing with each side capable of winning it.
Lucky for me the Arabs won the first game but it was balanced on a knife edge at one point.
The Second Game was more one sided. We had all learnt from the first game. I think I used up all my favours from the dice gods as well as my Turks were turning out to be crack shots (I rolled high on the dice a few times more than usual). My troops this time (now the Turks) were rubbish in melee (my dice rolls). But as My troops were mostly able to keep the Turks at a distance the rifle fire was the telling blow. Additionally both Tim and myself had learnt the value of slipping Arabs into the rear (ohh err! Waits for Tamsin to make a choice comment!) so we put a stop to that. Which allowed us to keep reinforcements arriving. And by having reinforcements we were always able to keep up the pressure on the Attackers .
Overall it was a very good day and we mostly played for fun. The photography is a bit hit and miss as mentioned on Monday my Camera was playing up and it is no where near the quality of Grahams hence the different colour tones.
Anyway thanks for looking and with luck more again on Friday.
All the best Clint
I know I was expecting Spanish Civil War as well.. OK so what went wrong. Well as I was putting away my Camels from the Arab revolt game I found some British soldiers from my Afghanistan game a few years ago that were un painted. This little selection is from Brittania now run by Grubby Tanks LINK.
These troops are 20mm and nicely proportioned. While I had no use for a mortar and crew at that stage (or indeed now) as they were free and I needed the room for my camels it would have been rude not to have painted them up. 
When I found these troops I found 12 more troops for the SCW tucked away somewhere safe which is why I have delayed doing those just yet as I now have some extras to do. After those I only have officers and flag bearers to go so expect them finished very soon. Mid week I would expect.
