The Mahdi v. Martini-Henry again

Following his crushing victory last Sunday, this time the Mahdi took on the Anglo-Egyptians in open battle.

The Mahdi deployed first, placing his 3 infantry divisions in front of the oasis the British have to reach.  His cavalry is out of sight behind ridges & coud be on either flank.  The Brits deployed second. The Egyptians are on their right & their cavalry in the far corner.

 The Mahdi's centre advances with 2 division n successive lines with skirmishers in front.

The Mahdi's cavalry on the left & infantry on the right has been slow to advance in support of the main attack.   The Mahdi's first wave hesitated after taking along range volley, but the second wave charged home.  Two British units broke on their right leaving an ominous hole in the line, but the Egyptians wheeled left and poured fire into the victorious fuzzy wuzzy units, either breaking them or forcing them to retire. The rest of the attack bounced back with more losses. 

The cavalry has engaged on the far flank & the Mahdi infantry is now attacking on the left. 

The patch of broken ground is protecting the Egyptian infantry & preventing the Mahdi cavalry using its superior numbers to effect.  he cavalry fight is still indecisive, but the Egyptians are inflicting a lot of casualties.  The second Mahdi infantry attack  is faltering.

The British cavalry has been broken, but their opponents are mostly shaken &  Egyptian cavalry in the second line are in good shape. In the centre the Mahdi has withdrawn the remaining infantry to rally it. The attack on the near flank has faltered.

The Mahdi infantry on the right has now broken.

The Egyptians have broken one of the Mahdi cavalry divisions & the other is doomed.  The Mahdi has s lost 3 of 5 divisions so fails the army break test.  The Brits have had 2 cavalry & 3 infantry units broken.

It's a tough ask for the Mahdi to attack over open ground, but as it happened a piece of terrain was a major factor in his defeat.  The patch of broken ground that protected the Egyptians was critical in protecting the Egyptian infantry from the Mahdi cavalry allowing them to stop the Mahdi's infantry breakthrough, then help defeat the Mahdi's cavalry.