Sunday, March 31, 2019

Sharp Practice 2 - Zulu War - Playtest & yet more tweaks.

It's not until you put the toys on the table that you get to iron out some of kinks.
The initial worry was the two rounds of fire from the British would stop the Zulu's in their tracks  but when I looked at the casualties at the end of the game that was simply not the case.

The first thing came to mind was that there were simply not enough Zulus for 60 points, you really want then several ranks deep to get the period feel.



60 Points for each side only gives you a couple of sections for Brits with some Native Horse and a group of NNC, but the Zulus were only around 50 men strong. Not quite enough to give you any more than a single horn.

The Skirmish unit on the hill proved to be very useful, but arming them with breach loaders gave them to much firepower, even with a minus one for being poor shots.


The moveable deployment point proved to be useful and the Tactical trait which allowed them to launch a surprise move and get close enough to launch a fearsome charge into the NNC who unsurprisingly were forced back.


Whether it was lucky cards or poor deployment by the Brits, the two rounds of fire was not enough, I gambled on presenting and firing, when perhaps I should have just blazed away. Mind you a poorly timed Tiffin card did not help couple with a Zulu 4 flag turn....


With the Zulus closing fast and the "horn" driving a gap in the line after defeating the NNC the British fixed bayonets and prepared to give the Zulu cold steel.


The Zulu is jolly deadly in Hand to Hand and the Brits were soon running. The Clan status really makes a difference when it comes to the number of dice thrown.


A valiant attempt to slow the advancing Zulu with a flank charge by the Frontier Horse proved no better, Scouting Cavalry are no match for Clan Warriors. (Next time we will be upgrading these to Dragoons to give them the option of dismounting and firing.)

The Brits were well beaten.

Thinking through future tweaks the Zulu's need more bodies even if they gave the Brits a good seeing to on this occasion, if they were in a formation rather than two groups I am pretty sure the outcome would have been different.
The plan is, is to include the option of a tribal option rather than clan, which cuts the cost down by almost half, not as nasty in hand to hand but it would give them mass.

I have dropped in the "fighting cocks" trait for the Brits which allows them to ignore to casualties difference, they really need to go down fighting once engaged by the impi.

The Skirmishers were a little to powerful for their point costs and their rate of fire was to much this needs down grading and the points increasing.

So here goes with the new stats.

Elite Warriors
Type
Clan
Points Value
7
Weapon
Thrusting Spear & Shield
Size
12
Formation
First
Fire
Controlled Volley
Crashing Volley
Step
Out
Drill
Characteristics
Always
No
No
No
1
3
Aggressive, Tomahawks, Tactical, Hearth & Home, Pas De Charge.

Experienced Warriors
Type
Clan
Points Value
6
Weapon
Thrusting Spear & Shield
Size
12
Formation
First
Fire
Controlled Volley
Crashing Volley
Step
Out
Drill
Characteristics
Always
No
No
No
2
3
Tomahawks, Tactical, Hearth & Home, Pas De Charge. 

Regular Warriors
Type
Tribal
Points Value
5
Weapon
Thrusting Spear & Shield
Size
12
Formation
First
Fire
Controlled Volley
Crashing Volley
Step
Out
Drill
Characteristics
Always
No
No
No
2
3
Tomahawks, Tactical, Hearth & Home, Pas De Charge.

Skirmishers
Type
Irr Skirmishers
Points Value
10
Weapon
  Rifled Muskets
Size
6
Formation
First
Fire
Controlled Volley
Crashing Volley
Step
Out
Drill
Characteristics
No
Yes
No
-
3
-
Poor Shots, Moveable DP.

A typical force could now look something like this.

Leader Status II
Leader Status I
Two groups of Clan - Elite Zulu's.
Leader Status II
Two groups of Clan - Veteran Zulu's.
Leader Status I
Two groups of Tribal - Regular Zulu's

54 Points.
72 Warriors.  

The British remain unchanged with a section coming in at 13 points add a reasonable officer class say Bigman 2 and the ratio is around 2:1 in terms figures on the table, that seems far more reasonable.

British Regulars
Type
Line
Points Value
13
Weapon
Breach Loading Rifles
Size
8
Formation
First
Fire
Controlled Volley
Crashing Volley
Step
Out
Drill
Characteristics
Always
Yes
Yes
2
2
2
Good Shots, Fighting Cocks..

NNC
Type
Tribe
Points Value
6
Weapon
Mixed Weapons, Rifled Muskets
Size
12
Formation
First
Fire
Controlled Volley
Crashing Volley
Step
Out
Drill
Characteristics
Always
Yes
No
No
3
3
Mixed Weapons, Poor Shots, Prominent Leader

Let's see what happens next in a stand up fight...

4 comments:

  1. Great read Stuart and interesting to see the adjustments you made. Looking forward to more.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good work on your adaptation!
    Nice looking test game to boot always good to see Scarlet Tunics and Zulu Feathers!
    Looking forward to the next trial.
    I'm thinking of using Smooth & Rifled for a lot of my 'larger' skirmish games as it has modules for a lot of periods and handles bigger forces than SoDS.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Interesting. I would question making British infantry good shots though. Weren't they very restricted in practice?

    ReplyDelete