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 -

Zulu Wars - The Men Who Would Be Kings test battle

In preparation for Rorkes Drift (followed by Isandlwana) I have been on the look out for suitable rules. Until recently the front runner has been The Sword and the Flame which I used in days gone by for my 15mm Sudan collection.

Recently though, two more have materialised that have caught my eye. One is a Pony Wars conversion but I am holding on that until I become more familiar with them.

The second is The Men Who Would Be Kings.

Inspiration for this is down to Little Wars TV who used them for a 6mm Isandlwana game. This piqued my interest being a skirmish game written for larger scales and how it could be adapted for large battle small scale actions. If this worked I could see all sorts of possibilities in other periods, in particular Ancients which my own rules are really only intended as a stop-gap until I find something I like.

There are actually very few changes, in fact really only one - distances. I have opted to simply convert from inches to centimetres as I have done in other rulesets.

Continued -

On The Workbench: Rorke's Drift Garrison

The garrison for Rorke's Drift has now been completed on a 1:1 figure ratio. Most of the characters have been included with just the Chaplain and Surgeon Reynolds missing. I have yet to find a suitable figure for those two in 6mm.

Men of the 2/24th battalion to the rear and a detachment of 10 men from the 1/24th on the left.

Continued -

On the Workbench: Zulus!

 My Rorke's Drift project almost reached a milestone. 

Rorke's Drift will be played on a figure ratio of 1:1 with Zulu casualties recycled. To that end I planned on using around 1,200 Zulus which are now complete and appear in the photos below. I had not calculated on the number of figures per Zulu regiment which in the end gravitated towards 240 figures each. This left one regiment not quite complete and another only half complete. Another 145 figures required!

A rarity for me is movement trays. 40mm x 40mm mdf edged with the same card I use for the figure bases house 20 figures each. The Zulu warriors are 5 to a 18mm square base. Rifle armed Zulus are on the same sized bases but broken down into 1's. 2's and 3's. They are 12 to a movement tray 50mm x 25mm.

On now to the Rorke's Drift garrison while I wait for more Zulus from Baccus.

Continued -