Pony Wars: The Homestead, Turns 9 - 16

The situation at the end of turn 8.

 Turn 9

The turn began with the arrival of the buffalo close to the north east homestead.

Hunters arrived to the south of the south east homestead and will seek out the buffalo.

Continued -

TBW Miniature Flags

A brief interlude from the wild west. I have just received the below from Michael of TBW Miniature Flags and bring it to your attention.

If you are setting out on a Waterloo project I heartily recommend this book which contains the flags you will need for all nations and units. The 16 page A4 book provides guidance on attaching the flags, full orders of battle, a map detailing initial deployment and 3 pages of flags. You have a choice of flag sizes, A or B. With A being slightly smaller. This is useful if your preference is for smaller flags or you have smaller castings such as Heroics & Ros. My own flags align with size B.

The flags themselves are absolutely superb and I only wish it had been around when starting my project. 

Different scales are provided for including 10mm, 13mm Epic, and 15mm for Waterloo. Other battle specific flags include Gettysburg and Wavre 1815.

More information can be found at https://www.thebattleofwaterloo.com/, and a link has also been added to the list on the right.

Pony Wars: The Homestead Turns 1 - 8.

The first outing for Pony Wars rules which has been languishing for a couple of years now having completed all the figure painting required.

The rules were originally written in 1980 and recently updated. They are firmly aimed at the earlier Hollywood version of the Wild West rather than historical accuracy. Written primarily for 15mm figures, Baccus now have a range of 6mm tailor-made for these rules. 

A table size of 8' x 6' was recommended for 15mm figures with all measurements in inches. I have selected a 6' x 3'9" table for my 6mm collection with measurements reduced to two thirds. A suitably sized 2/3 ruler can be downloaded from the Pony Wars website which I have printed off for use.  

4 scenarios are included with the rules, the first being 'The Homestead'. It seemed as good a place to start as any and should allow for a decent test of the rules.

In this scenario, there are 5 homesteads scattered across the board, each with 5 civilians occupying them. 4 of the 5 are situated near passes which provide shortcuts but with the risk of an Indian ambush.

For ease of reference, looking towards the fort is north, left west, right east with south in the foreground.

Fort Laramie is situated at one end of the board. They have received word from scouts that Indian war parties are on the loose placing the homesteads at risk. It is the task of the US to round up all civilians, including any that appear as a result of cards drawn, and to escort them safely to the fort.

The appearance of Indians, civilians and US reinforcements will be determined by drawn cards and dice rolls will indicate where on the board they enter. 

Victory points will determine how well the US did with the game ending when there are no civilians left to save.

Dice rolls are made to ascertain the US cavalry strength at the start. The garrison consists of 10 infantry, 2 x 6pdr cannon with 4 crew each, and 9 cavalry with the General commanding. The cavalry and General are a reserve and may be deployed from the fort but at a victory point cost. 

It was my original intention to break the segments down reporting on turns 1 - 12, 13 - 24 and 25+. This neatly aligned with level 1 and level 2 relating to the relevant card details on reinforcements etc. with turns 25+ being no further cards drawn unless the drums were beating. 

It was also my intention to be more brief on the action report. On that I failed and with wargaming time in short supply over the past month have decided to limit this first segment to 8 turns which should be more digestable. 

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879, Turn 23 - Conclusion

 Turn 23

3 combats are conducted during the British turn. On the left the Zulu assault on the redoubt is inconclusive and will continue.

Immediately to the right of that combat the British section successfully repels a warband but has left it shaken.

Bad news for the British on the right which saw the destruction of Dalton's section. Dalton himself narrowly escaped and has joined the section at the foot of the redoubt. The victorious Zulu warband is both shaken and disordered preventing any further progress. 

The hospital is engulfed in flames but with all occupants having evacuated there were no casualties.

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879, Turn 19 - 22

 Turn 19

The fire continues to take hold on the hospital roof but as yet has not spread or become more severe. Combats continue with the 2 men of the 2/24th on the right doing a good job holding the external door.

More dramatically on the left, Zulus have broken through the internal wall and Sgt Wilson with the Private from the 2/24th find themselves having to defend themselves against 2 attacks. The Private fights off the attack on the door but Sgt Wilson is killed fighting the second attack. 

Lt Addendorf with his 4 NNC corporals charge into the warband that had breached the wall. The fresh attack on the shaken and disordered Zulus proved too much for them and they were ejected from the defences.

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879, Turn 15 - 18

 A combination of family commitments and unseasonably hot weather has resulted in a delay in gaming but finally got around to the next batch of moves:

Turn 15

A brief respite allowed sections to pull back from the front wall and move towards the stores building and the biscuit box barricade. 

3 more patients of the 1/24th successfully crossed the open area and closed in on safety.

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879, Turn 11 - 14

 Turn 11

Another break allows the British to pour fire into the Zulus as they prepare for another attack.

Lt Bromhead organises the 2 sections moved into reserve from the back wall.

Another Zulu incursion into the hospital. 2 men of the 2/24th are pushed into an adjacent room.

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879, Turn 7 - 10

 Turn 7

A great mass of Zulu warriors swoop down towards the Hospital. The main body has arrived.

At the hospital corner, Dalton and his section fire into another body of Zulus who then clash with them at the barricade.

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879, Turn 1 - 6.

 Turn 1 - 2

On seeing the approach of the Zulus, the Stores building is quickly occupied by Daniels, Sgt Mabin and the Chaplain on the left, with the centre room occupied by the 3 Commissariat men. Along with the hospital orderlies on the right they prepare to fire through loopholes made in the wall.

A ripple of musketry erupts from Shiyane Hill inflicting a casualty on the unprotected troops manning the front wall. As soon as the Zulu warriors move into range several of them fall to the rifle fire from the back wall, who have now been reinforced by a section from the front wall, and the hospital.

Continued -

Zulu War: Rorke's Drift 22- 23 January 1879 - Introduction

4'6" x 3'9" table.

As a young boy I saw the film 'Zulu' when it was released in the cinema. It fired my imagination and played a major role in kickstarting my interest in wargaming. It remains my favourite war film and I promised myself that one day I will wargame the battle. The problem I had was space. How was I going to play it through using a 1:1 figure ratio?

I naturally looked at scaling it back but felt it was never going to do it adequate justice. Then came 6mm! There were still hurdles to overcome. Primarily basing and not making it too fiddly, particularly with regard to the room to room action.

Zulus were less of a problem. I remained close to my standard basing but with a 6mm frontage per figure rather than 5mm. This gave base sizes of 18mm x 18mm each with 5 figures. The British also have an 18mm frontage but with a depth of 9mm and containing 3 figures. 

The original intention was to use rules that cater for figure removal and I have a number of figures based singly to allow for that. I have since reconsidered and have decided to use Black Powder with amendments recommended in the Zulu supplement and also my own.

One of the most notable changes are to unit sizes. A standard Zulu unit consists of 20 figures on 4 bases with a 2 base frontage. The British equivalent will be 6 figures on 2 bases with the same frontage. In circumstances where smaller units come into play, particularly within buildings, I have introduced stats for British 4, 3, 2 and single figure units (the latter being Tiny, the rest versions of Small).  For the Zulus, 2 bases is a small unit, 1 base a very small unit (basically adjusted stats), and less then 1 base (4 figs or less) a Tiny unit. 

I have less than 1,400 Zulus painted and with therefore recycle units up to the estimated 4,500 present at the battle. 

Another problem surfaced, that of the Rorke's Drift model. I originally purchased that produced by Leven Miniatures but it was clear that the footprint was far too small when playing 1:1. I have therefore opted for a 10mm model by Old Glory. Bearing in mind that Baccus figures are closer to 8mm the difference in scale is not too obvious. It has the additional benefit of removeable rooves with individual rooms represented. Ideal for action within the hospital. 

Continued -