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| Zulus and British deployed |
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| Zulus advance |
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| British form close order |
Last Wednesday night I went over to Rick's place and we played an Anglo-Zulu War game of The Men Who Would Be Kings. Rick and Gary commanded the British and I was the Zulu commander. The scenario was To the Last Bullet (p.48), which is based on the retreat of forty 80th Foot, under the command of Serjeant Booth, from a Zulu ambush at Intombe River. This proved to a very one sided game and a tough scenario for the Zulu attackers. I had four units of umarried Tribal Infantry who were fierce and two units of married Tribal Infantry who were veterans. The British had three units of Regular Infantry and only two of these did any actual fighting!
The British volley fire proved brutally efficient and only one Zulu unit made it into combat, they were beaten off with ease and then blown away in the next turn. Failed attempts to rally saw most of the pinned Zulu units rout. More terrain and better dice may have helped the Zulus but their best chance seemed to be to try and get behind the front firing arc of the close order British infantry. Still it was fun to get out and use Rick's Zulus and British.
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| Back Zulu unit rallies from pinning, the rest advance |
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| Attack at the double! |
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| Brits fight off the attack, Zulu unit retreats pinned |
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| Zulus are pounded by volley fire |
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| Attack fails, most Zulu units rout |
Hi! great to see that conflict in action!
ReplyDeleteThanks Michal, Rick’s Zulus and British are very nice.
DeleteSuperb looking action!
ReplyDeleteThanks Meic.
DeleteOoh, those look pretty. Nice pictures. I remember the days of Flames of War rules and the tons and tons of figures. This seems more doable painting wise, especially since I'd be the only one painting any up.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Kevin
Thanks Kevin, the unit sizes aren’t too bad,12 for regular infantry and 16 for tribal. Don’t you have some NW frontier terrain and figures?
DeleteIf your talking Afghanistan, I have a box of Brits from Perry Miniatures for that and was going to use it for Sudan. I’ve three boxes of Perry Berbers. Nothing painted or assembled.
DeleteI will usually sit down and play at a convention if figures and table are nice for period in question. Many years ago when Flames of War was popular I had friends that painted and collected Zulu Wars stuff, and that’s how I played.
I do own the rules for the men who would be King to use if I ever get off my butt. But I have tons of different periods I am painting that keep me from taking the leap.
Cheers
Kevin
Perry do a plastic set of Afghanistan tribesmen and you can use the British infantry there as well. I know what it is like, I have far too many unpainted armies but always seem to find an excuse for a new period or army…
DeleteIt's really tough for the natives using TMWWBK get looking table regardless of the result.
ReplyDeleteCheers
Stu
Thanks Stu, it is for sure, we’ve played a couple of Anglo- Sudan War games too.
DeleteTough to be Zulu! Great looking figures and table.
ReplyDeleteThanks Aaron, it was in this scenario, you really need a really big Zulu numerical advantage to have much of a chance.
Delete