I'm preparing to game several battles from the Mahdist Wars, starting with the early (1883-85) period. I'm guessing there are some experts on that period who read this forum, and I could really use your help. I've finished a lot of the infantry and cavalry, but I'm having trouble finding information about the Egyptian and Mahdist artillery in use then. Several sources mention that the Egyptians (and, after captures, the Mahdists) used Krupp guns -- the 75mm field guns, I assume -- along with various older mountain guns and howitzers. So, first question: does anyone know which model Krupp gun was in use there and which mountain guns and/or howitzers were in service? Are there plastic versions of any of these guns?

The Krupp 75s from the mid-1860s to around 1880 seem like good bets to have been in service then, and to my eye the variants from those years all look pretty similar. But the only model of one that I can find is the Germania Figuren c64 in resin (for their Franco-Prussian range), which is both very expensive and looks oversized to me. I thought the gun in Strelets' Boer artillery might be a good alternative, at least as a starting point. So I added some distinctive Krupp brakes and axle seats. So, second question: does what I've created here look plausible for the early Mahdist Wars?





Here's the gun with Newline's Egyptian gun crew:



I also cobbled together some Dervish artillerymen from parts of various existing plastic figures:



But I'm waiting to figure out which guns I should try to make for them to serve. Any information on this topic that any of you could provide (or point me toward) would be greatly appreciated.

The Strelets Turkish artillery is a pretty good start point, for Egyptian artillery , and a paint job does the trick. Mahdist guns as you say were captured guns , so the same guns will do, the crews are a problem, these were often captured too and worked the guns in chains, as slaves or very closely supervised volunteers. They would make a very good subject for a set,seeing at Strelets have the guns already.

Thanks, Alan. I had forgotten about the Turkish artillery set, which I don't think I ever purchased. The gun in that set is the same as the one I used from the Boer artillery set, though, at least according to PSR. But the PSR review shows lots of Turkish gun crew in the set who could easily be recruited as Egyptians, as you say. I'll see if I can acquire one of those sets somewhere. I wonder if the Russian mountain guns in that same Strelets' Russo-Turkish line resemble anything that was used in the Sudan?

I have not done the period for a while, so my memory of researching it is hazy, but as a guide if the Egyptians had it, then the other guys probably did too.