Rorkes Drift

While we were off for the Christmas holidays, I decided to put a couple of games on at my house with a barbeque between the games (luckily in Spain it's barbeque weather all year round). I decided for the the morning to put on a refight of the Battle of Rorkes Drift again. I had played it last Christmas as a solo game and once with Jose, but this time I would be playing with four others. As usual I left a few things until last minute, and one thing was the rules. I had an idea to mix and match the home grown rules I used last year with some of the Sword of the Flame Rules that we had been using this year. I was going to work out the fine details a few hours before everyone arrived., but I woke up feeling terrible with a headache and sickness and so I spent the time trying to recuperate.
Everybody turned up on time and so we started the game. Myself and Miguel were the Zulus. The Zulus were split into 4 units of 100 figures representing the left horn and left Head and loins commanded by Miguel. I had control of the right horn and right head and loins. Jose, Javi and Kiefer controlled the British. Jose was Lt Chard, Javi was Lt Bromhead and Kiefer was Lt Ardendorf. There was roughly 70 British figures that they split up equally between the commands. Also there were "hero" figures such as Pvt Hook, Pvt Dunbar and Colour Sgt Bourne etc. Each British player took control of a sector of Rorke Drift to defend.

The intial setup, in the foreground are Miguel's left horn and on the the right the head and loins, just below the heights of the Oskarberg is my right horn (ooo-er missus).

The initial setup of the British looking from the kraal, there were quite a few troops in the centre attempting tp build the redoubt, but they soon scattered when the Zulu marksmen started firing. Each unit of the Zulus had to be activated and they had to go through 4 stages before charging from resting, standing, chanting , beating of shields and finally charging this was decided by a 1D6. That way it was harder for a Zulu player to be able to co-ordinate all of his units to charge at the same time. The problem was our Zulus were very reluctant to be activated (needing a four or more to be activated). This meant for the first hour of battle time there were no charges. Battle time was decided at the end of a completed turn, a D6 is thrown and for every number 5 minutes is moved on the clock.

Zulus of the right horn preparing to charge, above them the Zulus with rifles are firing down fron their vantage point. The firing rules were quite simple and easily remembered with no need for charts using a 1D20 for each figure firing.

The right horn as they neared the Mission started to take casualties from the deadly British rifle fire.

The first part of the Zulus contacted the store house and I quickly scrambled around for some close-combat rules to use, I settled on some I used before that have the same mechanism with the game Risk. Depending on who has the the advantage they throw more D6s than the other fellow, highest number wins this may lead to death, wound or just being pushed back. The Zulus managed to enter the store house and killed 3 British soldiers. Heroically the last two soldiers managed to kill the rest of the Zulus before the second wave of Zulus were able to reach them.

The main assualt hit the barricadess and the British right flank was pushed back into the compound causing a few casualties. Again reinforcements were at hand to push the Zulus back and the first attack had finished. The timer dice was thrown and a "1" meant all this action had lasted only 5 minutes. A setback for the British was that Pvt Dunbar, the sharpshooter, was killed. (He can just be seen in the photo above, last man on the right of the ramparts, wounded surrounded by three Zulus)

Next it was the turn of my right head and loins to charge the Hospital. I´m afraid there were not any other photos of this action. I think I was to busy trying to enter the building. Surgeon Major Reynolds removed the wounded into the compound with help from some reinforcements. But he didn't need to worry because my attack was repulsed and the hospital was not set alight. (Due to me forgetting that particular rule until the game had finished.)

At last Miguel's Zulus woke up and attacked, although causing the British some casualties on their left flank when a few Zulus managed to jump over the barricadess and into the compound. The dead included Corporal Frederic Schiess.

At last the time reached 7.00pm and dusk settled. The three British officers set about working out their defences for the next days action. They decided to give up the Hospital and to consolidate their position in and around the storehouse. Surgeon Major Reynolds started to come to the aid of the wounded. This was worked out using 1D6 on a wounded man, 5 or 6 brings a wounded man up to full health however a 1 means he died on the operating table. As it happened Surgeon Major Reynolds was quite a butcher during the night including killing off Lt James Ardendorf. During the night, unmolested by the Zulus the British were able to build the Redoubt.

Not long after sunrise the first Zulu attack came, which was a coordinated attack of both parts of the head and loins of the Zulu force. With no defence by the Hospitial the Zulus poured over the defences like a flood into the compound.

Miguel's Zulus received most of the deadly fire whilst my Zulus ran almost unhindered towards the storehouse.

Soon all of the British defences were surrounded, with Miguel's Zulus attacking the kraal which contained the seriously wounded that had been evacuated from the Hospital.
The attack was eventually beaten off with many British casualties meaning that even the outer perimeter barricade could not be defended and most of the British retreated to the redoubt.

Miguel´s Horn attacked again, Lt Bromhead fired from the redoubt with Lt Card giving support from the store house.

The Zulus were temporary kept back by the rifle fire but some had entered the Kraal again and attacked the last few survivors including Surgeon Major Reynolds.

The Zulus had finished of the last defenders in the Kraal and were now stabbing the helpless wounded lying on the ground. More Zulus jumped over the barricades and attacked the redoubt. Special note here for Commissary Dalton who had been supplying others with ammunition when they had ran out (A "20" on a D20 when firing.) At first he was outside the redoubt due to their being no room for him inside. However he managed to kill two Zulus even though he could only throw 1D6 to their 2D6 and was able to jump inside the redoubt for the final stand.

Sadly the last few soldiers in the redoubt including Lt Bromhead were slaughtered by the victorious Zulus. The Zulus now attacked the storehouse but the walls were too strong and the attack finished. It was around 6.00 a.m and the players thought it was good time to finish. (We could start smelling the barbeque.). But Jose who was playing Lt Chard wanted to carry on to the bitter end.

The last attack came from my right horn who had not moved since the initial assault the day before. Lt Chard led a stiff resistance, but there were to many doors and windows to protect and soon the Zulus were inside and he was torn to shreds by the assegais. We diced for the time, it was 6.35 a.m when the last British man died . Another 25 minutes until Lord Chelmsford`s relief column would appear.

Conclusion. This turned out to be a great game, with all that participated having a great time. The rules were simple to remember and soon the players who had no previous experience of colonial gaming were able to perform firing and close combat with no reference to the rules or myself. It was quite bloody but this was mainly because I didnt use the morale rules for the Zulus because it becomes less interesting and disheartening for players playing the Zulus seeing their attacks being repulsed before they get to grips with the enemy most of the time.

After the first attack I also put the film "Zulu" on for a little background noise and entertainment for the guys who weren't heavily involved in the combat at different times. Javi was still whistling "Men of Harlech" at 8.00 o'clock that night whilst we were playing our Napoleonic game of Lasalle.

Battle of Ali-cante

On December 17th we met at our local club to play a large Ancient game using the Impetus rules. Originally we were going to play a 6 player tournament, Romans against The Enemies of Rome, but one had to pull out due to other commitments. Instead we played a fictional battle on a 12ft by 4ft table. The Romans had three players each with a 300 points army and the other side were two players with a Carthiginian and Moorish Army of 450 points each.

The two battle lines were drawn up, the Romans on the left side and the moors and Carthaginians on the right

I had the honour to control the center of the Roman line and was overall commander of the Roman Army. Although with only playing a few Impetus games during the summer (and losing). I wil admit that I leant heavily on the advice of my two flank generals Guillermo and Toni.

Guillermo's impressive objective camp stood on the edge just behind my position. I just hoped I didn't knock it off the table.

The Roman's right flank, which was controlled by Toni. He began advancing against the Moors controlled by Cristian. Toni due to his bad luck threw four "ones" in a row putting most of his troops disorganised. Cristian however was able to move his light cavaly from his left flank all the way to his right flank without any problems.

I steadily moved my Roman line forward towards Miguel's Carthaginians.

The Allied Objective (A small town) was placed on their far right flank, behind Miguel's Carthaginians. They were faced with Guillermo's Romans and he was soon charging across the plain to try and capture the objective.

My steady advance in the centre was beginning to break down and to further compound the problem, the Moorish Light Cavalry was bearing down to threaten my right flank. Although Toni was supporting me with two units of his cavalry.

The Moorish Cavalry all of a sudden turned away and the threat had passed. I was able to reform my line, just as the Carthaginians started to advance to meet me.

With the Carthaginian support gone from his left flank I was able to position my troops to outflank him.

The Carthaginans crashed into my legionnaires, although I took a few casaulties, I gave as good as I got and held them at the front whilst my right flank began to turn their flank.

View of the Roman right flank, Toni has started to engage the Moor's units in the rough ground, but most of the Moor troops are rooted to the spot neat their table edge.

With the help of Guillermo's troops on my left flank we start to destroy the large warrior double units.

My ballister acts as the starting point for my troops to act as a hinge and begin to close the door between the Moors and Carthaginians.

Although some of my troops are taking more casualties, they are starting to double up on the enemy units and even starting attacking enemy units in the flank.

On the Roman right flank, things have come down to basically a stand off, with no real gain and with the Moor main line refusing to move to meet the advancing Romans.

With the successes in the centre and the Roman left flank the Carthaginians reach their breakpoint of 50% losses and begin to flee the field. The Moors are still well formed and almost untouched, however they have lost 1 unit. This means now the Carthaginians have all fled the allies have now suffered over 50% losses and must leave the field to the victors, The Romans.

Conclusions

This was a very enjoyable game and I was very satisfied with the use of my troops ( I didnt lose a unit). However I was dealing with mostly legionnaires and a few skirmishers and If I had to use other troops I would have probably got into more trouble. For me the action that decided the game was Cristian stopping his Light cavalry from threatening my right flank. Like myself he hadn't played Impetus a lot and had deployed his troops too close his own table edge. Had he advanced his main line it might have lifted a little pressure from his allies the Carthaginians.

Lasalle Tournament Alcoy Nov 5

For a little change from all our campaigning activities, Jose had kindly organised a Lasalle Tournament in Alcoy. Each army had two supports and as there were eight of us, four with French Armies and four with Coalition armies (two British, one Austrian and one Russian, it was also turned into a team game.
There were to be three games, two in the morning, dinner and then another game in the afternoon and all be finished for half past six. I thought this was a little optimistic on Jose's part because playing with two supports can last over three hours
There were four tables already set out representing a Napoleonic battlefield and each player was able to play on a different battlefield in each of his games. I managed to take a few photos of mine and the other guys battles, but as I was trying to concentrate on my games it was hard to keep an eye on the other peoples battles.

My first game was against Dani, I had a French Conquest infantry Division and for support Light Cavalry Brigade and a Veteran Infantry Brigade. Dani, had British Light Division and for supports Light Cavalry impetuous and Brunswick Brigade. I was attacking and set up first, the battlefield was based on Wagram and because we were playing with supports it was 60cms longer in length.
My initial setup was artillery on my left flank with all my infantry in the centre and my cavalry on the right flank to sweep around before he could bring his reserve cavalry on.

Everything started well, my artillery were causing havoc on his Brunswick troops. Whilst my cavalry thundered over the hill and taking out an artillery battery, but I had forgotten about impetuous cavalry throwing twice to come on the table and on turn four his cavalry appeared.

My veteran infantry in the centre, instead of facing just infantry now faced infantry and cavalry and by his combined attacks and rotten dice throwing on my half, I lost three infantry units from my right Brigade in one turn. The two left brigades advancing were also being checked by the counterattacking British.

Through my poor deployment my units could not advance and were being beaten piecemeal. My French cavalry were coming to the rescue but as they were held up by moving through a wood it was too late and my army routed.

The point system for the games was Major victory 3, Minor Victory 2, Draw 1 , Minor defeat 0, Major defeat -1

Therefore Dani was on 3 points and I was on -1 points.

On the table representing the Battle of Arapiles Miguel's Austrians fought Javi's French. This ended in a Major victory for the French proving that the Austrian avant garde can be beaten.

Therefore Javi 3 and Miguel -1

On the Battlefield representing Quatre Bras, Kiefer's British defended against Jose's French. Covering his left flank with a long wall, Kiefer set out his troops in one thin red line.

It wasnt long before the French managed to break through the British line and threaten the objective. But with equal number of pursuit cavalry, it was only a marginal victory.

Therefore Jose 2 and Kiefer 0

The last game of the first round was played on the battlefield representing Eylau. Toni's Russians against Cristian's French. This hardfought game ended in a draw so both players get 1 point each.

At the end of the first round the French were leading with 5 points and the Coalition had 3 points.

My next battle was against Miguel and his Austrians. After last games failure with my cavalry not supporting my infantry. I decided to mix them up a little, so the infantry were well supported. I was defending and placed a wall on each flank to protect my artillery.


This was the only other photo of this game because it was quite intense, Miguel attacked in force with his cavalry at the head of the charge, As they came down the hill my cavalry countercharged. This turned out to be disastrous and in the next turn I lost three of my cavalry units.
Once again my infantry were unsupported, but this time they put up a strong defence. It was a very bloody fight and on turn seventeen I broke, he was lucky, I had broken a few of his units and some more were on 5 DISRs, damn those large units. Therefore miguel scored 3 and and once again I scored -1 . I suppose I could argue two minus's make a positive.

As I have already said I didnt manage get around to take photos of the other games (sorry guys), the scores were as follows:

Toni's Russians marginal victory 2 points against Jose's French 0 points.

Javi's French drew against Dani's British therefore 1 point each.
Christian's French Major victory 3 points against kiefer's British -1 point


So after 2 rounds the score is finally balanced both sides having 8 points each.


The timetable of events was actually going on time and our host for the day, Rafa, took us to a restuarant up the road for a splendid "menu del dia".


After an enjoyable meal, we returned for our final battles, Kiefer's British were playing against Javi. Kiefer attempted to attack but lost the dice off and once again defended, this time learning from his earlier mistakes he decided not to over extend himself. But all was to no avail and with his open flank been threatened, the British broke. So Javi won 3 points to the French and -1 to the Coalition, making the scores French 11 points and Coalition back down to 7 points.




The next game was Miguel's Austrians against Cristian's French, although one of them was defending, it looks like they were both going to hold the middle ground. With the consqeunces of it all ending in a draw 1 point each. therefore the scores are now, French on 12 points and the Coalition back up to 8 points.

The penultimate game was against Dani's British and Joses's French. Jose was attacking and this was one of the few games where we used the whole length of the table. In the end Dani won a major victory scoring 3 points and Jose -1 point this changed the overall table dramatically and now both teams are on 11 points each. Which leaves one final game to decide it, mine.

I was playing against Toni and his Russians. Unfortunately Toni rolled for weather and managed to get mud. I was attacking and so knowing that artillery are very slow in mud , I unlimbered them all and placed them on my flank. With mud there is no time for manoeuvre and so using the cover of the woods I placed the rest of my force directly facing the objective.

Toni's Russians had 4 batteries of artillery and they started to pound my mass ranks as they emerged out of the woods. Although the first blood was mine when a Russian Infantry unit entered a town in march formation and recieved nine hits from my "Grand Battery".

Due to the mud and The Russian Batteries my main force could not get near to the Russian line. I tried with two light cavalry units which was reminiscent of the "Charge of the Light Brigade". On my extreme right flank, my French infantry were victorious in crossing the wall but I had taken to many losses in my centre and my army broke. With Toni only having Cuirrassiers for cavalry, he was unable to pursue me. Therefore he won a marginal victory 2 points and I recieved a big fat zero

This meant the Coalition at the end of the day had won by 13 points to the French 11. As Wellington was believed to have said "A close run thing".

The top Players were Dani with 7 points for the Coalition and Javi with 7 points for the French

Thanks for everybody especially Jose for a very enjoyable tournament with a twist with it being also a team game. We only ran over by 15 minutes which was a surprise to the doubters(me)

Hopefully we can all get together for a rematch to see if the French can get there Revenge.