Wednesday, February 24, 2021

Sharp Practice meets Infamy Infamy - Return to the Zulu Wars

A posting that's been hanging around for a while, back before the latest and hopefully the last lockdown, we dabbled with introducing elements of the Infamy Fervour rules for the Zulu's to give them a little more bite.

I am a great fan of the Sharp Practice Rules, but transferring them from the black powder era to colonial can be problematic when you introduce more modern weapons against native troops, shock slows them down and the force morale can be whittled down to nothing before they have gotten to grips with the European forces.


But with a few tweaks, notably adding in option for native leaders to generate fervour and the option to use some of the flags with SP to give drill orders from Infamy you have something which can balance engagements between spear and bayonet.

So your average day in Zululand, a British column on an expedition to burn a kraal, the Zulu's set out to stop them. We fielded identical points and hoped our plans and tweaks worked.


Straight away the Zulu's appeared on mass, 6 groups and a couple of big men, chanting and beating their shields, they started to raise their fervour outside of rifle range.


The thin red line entered the table and as Zulu skirmishers crept through the scrubland on the high ground shielding the village.



How could we not resist recreating the scene from Zulu Dawn. - "Oh no! Come all this bloody way to get shot by a bullet from Birmingham? Shoot straight you bastards!"

The British ordered range markers to be put up, this improved accuracy in the firing factors and created an incentive for the colonial troops to create a formal defensive posture.


On the right flank the mounted police and native troops made an appearance supported by the Gatling Gun, who had a good rate of fire but was prone to jamming... Machine Guns will they ever catch on?



The cavalry poured forwards catching the skirmishers who decided to stand there ground. First blood to the forces of the Crown.


The victory was short lived as the cavalry attack had triggered the left horn who came rushing forwards, the cavalry turned and ran.


On the left flank things were getting rather congested, the Impi was approaching fast and sniper fire was annoying the British troops as they attempted to line out, the volley fire was simply not killing enough and the normal shock was being countered by the fervour.... Gulp.



The Zulu's kept on coming, casualties were mounting but gap was closing.


With the new rules the Zulu's were able to feed the front ranks with warriors from the rear groups to keep up the momentum. The Crown forces threw everything at them including the NNC, things were desperate. 


The left horn moved forwards as all the British attention was focused on the mass of warriors still advancing on the red coats.


The Impi closed, the British opted for Open Order vs the mass of warriors gambling on inflicting maximum casualties to drive back the Zulu. Bad choice.


The front two ranks disintegrated under the stabbing assegai, the second rank stepped back to avoid being swallowed up by the native mass. Finally the casualties were starting to tell and the formation disintegrated with the warriors falling back.

An interesting game the added fervour rules gave the native command some protection from the mass fire of the Crown forces, the native command options allowing the Zulu's to infill and go to ground kept them moving when in previous games the shock forced the Zulu to stand still.

This felt a lot more balanced than in previous games, the Brits really need to concentrate their fire to pin the Zulu or get to them before they get to wind up their warriors before charging forwards.

Hopefully a few month months and we should be able to give this another run out.....

10 comments:

  1. Nice game and modifications Stu. Having just read and commented on the ethics of gaming at the Mad Padre's blog, it's timely this was a Colonial affair, which apparently some gamers eschew due to sensitivity about the history of European colonialism....personally, I am just too mean to buy and paint hundreds of Zulus for them just to be mown down in droves!

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    Replies
    1. Interesting thoughts Keith, perhaps we all need to remind ourselves that this it is a game. If I think about my Haiti gaming experiences it would be very unpalatable to truly represent the period with yellow fever sweeping through all the armies in the field. Historical accuracy aside, I tend to lean towards rules that allow me to keep the toys on the table longer, I do find it a little unsatisfying with certain rules, that the regiment you have spent hours painting is back in the case within 15 minutes of entering the table...
      Cheers
      Stu

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  2. Hi Stu, looks like a fun game. I noted the previous comment, I agree. Modern society is a fickle thing. Colonial Wargaming is what it is. A war game, set in a period, where people of their time conducted themselves as people of their time. I wonder what history will make of our time and our morals. Long may colonial Wargaming continue. If the logic of today’s virtue signalling world were followed, all war gaming would cease due to ethical and moral sensitivities. Great looking game. Long live colonial wargames.

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    1. Showing my age now, but I remember going to my first show as a 14 year old to be greeted by CND demonstrating outside a wargames show. Fortunately an Roman re-enactment group saw them off :-)
      I for one don't see Colonial gaming any differing to let's say WW2, Ancients or Chess, the emphasis is on the GAME not the WAR.
      An interesting one to explore is how recent do you draw line, Yemen, Syria, Sudan, interesting to see the rise of Vietnam again, does the passage of time make a difference in the 'games' we play?
      Cheers
      Stu

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  3. Great idea to add those elements into the game. Interesting post!

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    1. Thanks JBM it certainly makes for a more balanced affair.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  4. Interesting mods to play the game. Have been using The Men who would be kings for this sort of encounter, by SP might be worth a try. Great Batrep. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. My pleasure John, SP on it's own did tend to bog the Zulu down with Shock, but the fervour elements significantly rebalance encounters.
      Cheers
      Stu

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