Governor-General Norton's first moves are to consolidate forces in those areas still under his control. Accordingly, he orders the 1/7 from Trinkitat to Tokar and the 1/8 north from Kassala to the unnamed point along the River Atbara.

In the west, the 2/5 advances from Dara to join the X/IV at El Fasher. The X/2 holds at El Obeid, awaiting reinforcement from the west.

At Khartoum, Norton immediately takes the field. All units in the city sortie to break the siege. But instead of the disorganized, poorly armed rabble they expected to fight, they find themselves facing 10 well-armed enemy units (2 ansar, 2 fanatics, 2 cavalry, and 4 jehadia sporting newly captured Egyptian army Remingtons!) plus two field pieces. (The enemy has 10 units because the revolt value of 7, plus Khartoum's size modifier of 5, was compared to a die roll of 2. The artillery is included because a Mahdist besieging force is given one gun per four basic units.) Not even the dubious support of the gunboats could rebalance those odds, so Governor-General Norton sounds a hasty withdrawal back within Khartoum's sheltering defenses.

In the north, the 1/4 at Berber is also ordered to break the Arab siege while the force at Wadi Halfa sits tight. But the Berber defenders likewise find themselves in an untenable position, facing 5 enemy tribes (2 ansar, 2 fanatics, 1 cavalry -- revolt level 4 plus Berber's value of 2, compared to die roll of 1) in prepared defenses, with a cannon. The local commander, Manila Bey, wisely orders his nervous men back to Berber. Even a siege looks better than those odds.

Norton and Manila Bey take careful inventory of their stockpiled supplies and discover that they can hold out for five and three turns, respectively. Not long, given the situation.

Only a single reinforcement unit arrives at Aswan, the 2/7 Egyptian infantry.

Revolt levels rise across the map, to 9 in the north, 10 (the maximum) in the south, 4 in the west, and 3 in the east. Expect to see more revolts next turn. The Mahdi ends turn 1 with 31 victory points.

All in all, a pretty disastrous opening turn for the Egyptians. The river is choked off, the garrisons in Khartoum and Berber are strongly besieged and slowly starving, Kordofan and Darfur are completely cut off from the outside world, and things are almost certain to get worse before they get better.

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