Wednesday, January 02, 2019

Action on the iNyezone: Zulus

To celebrate my 71st birthday we played a slightly modified version of the Action on the iNyezone scenario in the Black Powder 2nd Ed book, using our Hail Queen Victoria variant of Hail Caesar.
Zulus: 3 Impis of 6 warbands (Renfrey, Maike & Jim).
British: 2 brigades of 2 British infantry & 1 mounted inf
             1 brigade of 2 batve inf & 1 Natal volunteer mounted inf
             1 brigade of 2 British infantry
             1 gatling gun, 1 rifled cannon & a wagon train.
All units command 9.
The british column is moving out of their camp over the ford in the iNyezone River.  The smaller brigade is still breaking camp.  They know there are Zulus about. There two ridges along the near side of the table & a wood in front of the column that could be hiding them. The Brits have to get theri column & baggage down the road & off the table.
After 3 turns the last brigade has broken camp & formed up.  Still no sign of the Zulus.
Suddenly there were Zulus everywhere.  The commander of the left horn was so excited he forgot to take a Photo in the turn his Impi burst out of the woods just off the bottom of the pic as Mike's swarmed over the ridge through the village & Renfrys showed up on the far ridge.  The native infantry & volunteer cavalry at the head of the column were overwhelmed & destroyed in one turn.  Only the lead British mounted infantry stood firm against the onslaught.
The infnatry of teh lead British brigade counterattacked & Zulu centre was pushed back while the left Impi seemed more interested & finishing off the wounded than continuing the attack.   The right Impi is swarming forward in the background.
The Brits form a defensive box as their last mounted inf delay the right Impi, the  Zulu centre renews their attack & the left Impi still dithers.

Half the British rearguard has broken but most of the right Impi are for now busy pillaging the baggage.   The centre Impi has been pushed back again.  The left Impi has finally renewed their attack.  
On the British right 1 infantry unit has formed square. The other has been pinned frontally, attacked din rear & broken.  The British force is below half strength (counting only British inf & cav), so the Zulus have won according to the rules, but we were having so much fun we agreed to institute a the or glory rule & fight to a finish.
The last 4 British units are hanging on grimly. It looks hopeless, but the Zulus are still dying like flies & running out of un-shaken units.
The group of shaken units has beaten off another attack & the isolated square hangs on.
The square has finally broken & the yet another swarm of Zulus charge the last survivors breaking the square (the last un-shaken Brit unit) the finally overwhelming the last stand.


1 comment:

Gonsalvo said...

A nice change of pace, if a bloody day for the British.

Happy Birthday!