George and I are still in the process of building and painting our Anglo-Zulu War armies, but we were determined to get a game in as near as we could to the anniversary, and fortunately Steve had a large number of Zulus already painted. I'd managed to make the buildings but we had to use some generic stone walls in place of the melee backs and biscuit tins.
We both started with 36 points but the Zulus could regenerate badly mauled or destroyed units on a D6 roll of 3+.
My Zulus advanced through the long grass en masse...
Whereas Steve spilt his force to attack both buildings...
Steve managed to get one of his units into hand to hand combat against the 24th Foot in the hospital but was beaten back...
Likewise my Zulus reached the melee bag wall....
...only to be beaten bag with several casualties.
Steve's Zulus attacking the Commissariat came under rather accurate fire and were Pinned (we used some spare shields as Pin markers).
My attack wasn't going too well either with many casualties and two units Pinned.
Half of Steve's force was getting annihilated!
I decided to switch tactics and take a leaf out of George's Mahdist tactics book and use my Zulus with rifles to pepper the defenders. As they were firing at long range and against a target in cover they needed three hits to inflict a casualty but did manage to draw blood - but not Pin a unit.
George's dice rolling all evening was very impressive, he clearly had been saying prayers to the gods of dice before the game!
With most of the first wave having been wiped out, the second wave emerged from the long grass!
And charged towards the hospital...
...into heavy fire from the 24th Foot!
Meanwhile Steve's second wave charged in on the Commissariat building, again suffering a number of casualties.
My dice rolling was not as impressive as George's and even when my Zulus got into hand to hand combat they found the dice let them down (needing three hits to inflict a casualty).
Meanwhile the 24th Foot showed the were as adept with bayonet as they were shooting!
My second wave was pushed back...
And Steve's Pinned! Things were not looking good for the brave warriors of amaZulu!
Once more my Zulus rushed the defenders...
...only to be defeated by my own poor dice rolling!
However, despite being Pushed Back, the Zulus had chipped away at the numbers of defenders...
....and eventually they breached the barricade!
Meanwhile Steve charged in once more against the few remaining defenders in the Commissariat building...
Faced with the prospect of his defences being breached, George's 24th fell back from the external barircade...
...whilst a unit of my Zulus stormed into the Hospital!
Outside the hospital the Zulus who had breached the barricade rushed in to stab the few remaining defenders there with their assegais!
Only to be embarrassingly beaten back over the defences and Pinned!
Surely though Steve would at last manage to storm the Commissariat defended now by a small number of the 24th?
Unfortunately not. The round of combat was tied and the Zulus forced back...
Meanwhile the 24th waited for the Zulus in the Hospital to charge out!
Which they did, bundling into a unit of the 24th...
...and pushing them back!
Unfortunately they were now looking down the barrels of twelve Martini-henrys!
The remaining warriors of my second wave rushed to try and support them...
But found themselves under heavy fire!
One last unit managed to engage the 24th in hand to hand combat...
But despite inflicting some casualties was defeated and Pinned!
And pretty much wiped out by a volley of rifle fire...
As the gun smoke cleared the Zulus found themselves left with a handful of surviving warriors and rifles, the 24th Foot still having a number of units intact. The Zulu izinDuna decided that fate was against them and admitted defeat...
Overall a resounding British victory that in many ways repeated history and was a lot of fun. The rules worked pretty well and George's dice rolling certainly made a difference - or maybe it was both Steve and my lamentable dice rolling, who knows?
Next up though time to turn the tables - the Isandhlwana refight!
