The Zulu force

Having played a few games of “The Men Who Would Be Kings” I decided to get out my Zulu War armies and my magnifying glass as I haven’t used these for a few decades and was not sure how the old eyesight would cope with 5mm figures again. With a quick re-base and flocking and they came up quite well. I will do the rest of the British and the few remaining Zulus when I have ordered some more mini dice and frames from “Minibits”.

The scenario was a simple re-working of the “It’s awfully quiet out there”  scenario in the book. I didn’t worry about points and just used what figures I had enough dice and frames for.

The Zulu inDuna and the British Leaders are Heroes that count as a six strength unit, plus whatever characteristics they dice up at the start of the game.

Zulu King

Zulu Impi (armed body of men)

Four Zulu  Impis form into an iButho (Regiment) and their inDuna (Colonel)

The entire Zulu ambushing force

The British force

Artillery crewed by the Royal Navy

“Voortrekker” Supply Wagons

Frontier Light Horse (mounted infantry)

Australian Irregular Light lancers

British Leader

The objective was for the British to travel across the table to the safety of a “friendly” Kraal for the evening, without loosing supply wagons or artillery. The safe arrival of three of the five “scoring units”(wagons and artillery)” is a British victory less is a Zulu one.

“Friendly” Kraal.

The Zulus must set up an iButho behind the ridge line on either side of the valley. Where is their choice.

The Battlefield.

We played two games taking turns with each army. The British, which had considerably more points, won both games. The British firepower meant that very few of the Zulu attacks were able to be coordinated.

In the first game the Zulus were not able to concentrate and so were defeated piecemeal. In the second some attempt to form a proper battle line before combat was attempted and as a result the British lost a general, a wagon (scoring unit) and a mounted infantry unit. All two little and too late.

Photos for game 1

Photos for Game 2

A great game system that will benefit more from greater playing experience. The 5mm scale used gave a great panoramic effect to the game visuals.