Jackson Gamers' Zulu War Game
Using the variant for Larry Brom's "The Sword and The Flame" rules set
EVERY MAN A BRITON!

GATHERING IN THE LOST LAMBS


This game took place July 1, 2000. Players were Jim Pitts, Tim Latham, Fred Diamond, Sean Pitts, Robert Whitfield, and Bryan Thompson. Click Here to see the scenario and victory conditions.

Two "lone Zulu" stand atop a hill.

These figures serve as possible locations for the rebel chief Mmutsu. Note the black marker under the base of the nearest figure. When British forces reach the position they may read information on the bottom of the marker to see if they have found chief Mmutsu.

The British force advances on a wide front.

British infantry with bright red coats picked out by the flash. Behind them are a mounted officer on a very white horse, then border horse, naval landing party, and in the distance, another red-coated unit.

British forces advancing up the "last hill".

The Border horse also are moving up. The far side of this hill turned out to be a deathtrap, but of course the British forces did not know that. Naval brigade is shown moving forward in the center. The green and gray rocky kop in the top center of the photo is where the Rifle brigade discovered chief Mmutsu.


British forces crest the "last hill". The lower ground to the front of this hill was the last resting place for this unit.


A small Zulu impi (3 regiments) enters the field, making straight for the British on the "last hill".

The naval infantry unit probes into a small group of rocky ground

This reconnaissance finds a rifle-armed Zulu unit. After one turn a volleying at each other, the Zulu warriors threw down the white men's weapons and charged with their trusty short spears! Both the Zulu unit and the naval infantry were destroyed in this general area. At the extreme right edge of the photo the Zulu impi shown in the previous photo may be seen.

British infantry face an impi of attacking Zulu regiments.

Just to the left of the infantry can be seen the border horse which, after this photo was taken swung around to flank the impi. A the extreme top right can be seen the naval brigade battling among some rocks with a regiment of rifle-armed Zulu.

British forces start to withdraw

In the center, unaware of the plight of their comrades on the other side of the hill, the Imperial forces began to fall back in obedience to the general order to retire. At the top of the photo can be seen the dark mass of chief Mmutsu's tribesmen, being excorted to the rear by a platoon of the rifle corps.

The British infantry fires bravely into a mass of charging Zulu.

While they fire, the border horse has swung completely around to attack into the rear of the mass of Zulu. Unknown to them but caught terrifyingly by the photographer an even larger Zulu impi moves towards the rear of the border horse!

The red and yellow colored mass behind the zulu are a pile of 20 sided dice, used for the firing charts.

Yet another very large Zulu force (6 regiments) enters the battlefield.

THE OUTCOME

The 60th rifles, on the extreme British left located Chief Mmutsu with 3 units of his retainers, wives and herds. They escorted them to the rear and off the field. The order to retire was passed, all units safely exiting the field, except for the forces on the far side of the last ridge (1 platoon of British infantry and 1 platoon of naval infantry). These were cut to pieces by a tremendous force of Zulu, later estimated to be 12 regiments. After destroying these Britons, the natives did not pursue the other British units, remaining on the far side of the hill to pick over the battlefield.

Of this "over the hill" force, only a few wounded men survived, which were carried to safety by the Border Horse as they fell back. Several times the Border horse were closely approached by Zulu pursuers who entered from the right edge of the battlefield, very late in the game, but they always sucessfully evaded. The Gatling gun was overun at the last, but two of the crewmen made it to safety.

Two lone regiments of Zulu detached themselves and attacked the Highland light infantry, but the Scotsmen (although caught in open order) sucessfully defended their position in and around the deserted native kraal in the center of the table, driving off both enemy units, although with heavy loss.

The British force was very well handled and quite lucky that most of the Zulu units came in at the far edge of the battlefield, giving the British units a great deal of reaction time, and several turns of fire on most of them. Only the sailors in the rocky area were surprised when the rifle-armed Zulu unit sprang up almost on top of them.

A NOTABLE victory for her majesty's forces!


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