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THE ZULU WAR 1879 - SKIRMISH WARGAME RULES By Jim Wallman INTRODUCTION These rules are intended for small unit skirmish-type actions, involving a handful of British and a larger force of Zulu. In general, odds of around 3:1 in favour of the Zulu produce a balanced game. The Zulu should be grouped into units of 20-40 figures each.
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- Zulu War Wargames Rules 2016
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- Zulu War Wargames Rules Download
- The same basic rules and procedures are used for all periods. Period specific rules and playsheets are provided to add color and unique features for each of the different wars. Period specific rules are included for the following wars. English Civil War 1642-1651. War of Spanish Succession 1701-1714. Great Northern War 1700-1721.
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- The following rules are a set of simple fast play rules to get you started.
The British had 2 brigades, each of 3 infantry units, plus a single light gun. The Zulus had 3 brigades of 3 warband units and a brigade of 2 warbands and 2 skirmishers (Head, Chest and 2 Horns!).
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Zulu War Wargames Rules 2016
As the left Horn closed in, the 2nd brigade deployed into line, but due to lack of space, crammed up against the baggage train, only one of then was able to fire at the incoming Zulus. The 1st unit was forced back in disorder and the Zulus crashed into the second rank. To try and make room to deploy the 3rd unit the CinC ordered the baggage forward, where they were pounced upon by a unit of skirmishers, who quickly destroyed the first stand (an unfortunate group of mules). The lead unit of the Head now came up and took out the other two baggage stands in quick succession. As that had been rather a quick game, we fought on, with the British making some astounding Break Tests (one shaken unit lost 3 consecutive routs of melee and still passed every time).
With one brigade broken on each side and the Zulu Chest moving around to get behind the surviving British, we decided it was time for lunch!
After a pleasant lunch and a beer (Wye Valley Brewery's Butty Bach), we swapped sides and played it again.
This time the Zulus came on at a similar pace, with the Horns slightly advanced from the Head and Chest. The British 2nd Brigade quickly deployed into a firing line, but the 1st brigade repeat their performance from the morning and took three turns to deploy and get into position.
The Zulus tried to close with the redcoats, but this time the British firing from the 2nd brigade threw then back and quickly reduced the left Horn to a single unit. 1 broken brigade for the Zulus! The Head moved across to engage the 2nd brigade as the right Horn crashed into the 1st brigade. The Zulu Head overran the gun, but were thrown back by the British firing once again. As the Zulu attack paused, one of the British units moved across to enfilade the Zulu impis. Pretty soon the |Head was also broken without even contacting the British line.
On the other flank the right Horn routed one of the British units in a hard fought melee then pushed the others backwards. Ina bloody round of fighting they broke the British 1st brigade, but became broken themselves from their losses in the same combat. With 3 Zulu brigades broken now it was a British Victory.
For some reason I completely forgot to take pictures of the first game but here is some of the action from the second one.
The 2nd Brigade deploy
The British firing line.
Halts the advance in it's tracks.
What's left of the Left Horn!
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Zulu War Wargames Rules Download
- I made some modifications to Neil Thomas’s One Hour Wargames in order to play an Anglo-Zulu War game last week. The results were fast moving and fun, and felt, to me, historically appropriate. The scenario saw a British force split over a river, with their light cavalry—Frontier Horse and Natal Native Horse—struggling on their own while the British infantry and an Gatling (or a Gardner…which is what I had painted) had their own problems. The Zulus surged out of a couple of gullies, and repeated charges battered, but did not break, the British lines. The battle ended with a Zulu withdrawal in good order, and the British relieved to be alive.My troops are 1/72 plastics, mostly the old Esci stuff, but the mounted troops are newer HaT plastics. Sadly the Esci plastics are succumbing to plastic fatigue, and just handling them for this game resulted in about a dozen ankle snaps. I will be replacing them with new HaT plastics and Newline Designs 20mm metal.Here are a few pictures, thanks for looking.A great looking game. Your figures and layout are very nice, though it’s a shame about the plastic degradation. It’s surprising how flexible Thomas’s rules are – a short time ago I did a similar thing to yourself and used them for a conquistadores/Mayan clash in 16th century Yucatan, and with minor tweaks they worked very well indeed!NathanielGood looking setup! I would love to see the mods you made. I’ve noticed many gamers making local mods to OHW recently: good news for us NT Fanboys. ðŸ‘x8DðŸ˜x81More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/I have a lot of US Cavalry and Plains Indians in 15mm, and Thomas’ book landed on my doorstep two days ago.  I’d like to know what mods you made too please?  And which section of the book did you play to, Rifle and Sabre?The internet, the apex of human technical and intellectual achievement, means that no matter how dim-witted you are, no matter how fundamentally stupid your ideas are, you can always find someone who thinks the same way and can tell you that you’re right.Nathaniel,Fantastic table set up. Sorry to hear about the figures nearing their end of life.The NewLine Design ones are nice but you will need to drill each one.I managed 32 before giving up and moving to 10mm for my TMWWBK project.be interesting to see your rules mods for OHW.CheersIanThanks for putting your mods on here.  From my reading Plains Indians, and maybe other Native Americans too, had a very unique way of fighting (or not fighting). Vray for 3d max 2017 free download.  They probably require a set of rules all of their own. I have such a set in Yellow Ribbon, but the space I currently have to play on prevents their use.  So I’m looking at other rules to see if they are suitable for modifying.The internet, the apex of human technical and intellectual achievement, means that no matter how dim-witted you are, no matter how fundamentally stupid your ideas are, you can always find someone who thinks the same way and can tell you that you’re right.Nathaniel,Thanks for sharing those ideas. They are great. One of the main reasons I like OHW rules.Are you part of the  AMW groups.io? If not you should join and share your rules plus there are loads of great ideas for all of NT rules.Group Email Addresses if you want to check it out:
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Help: [email protected]Cheers.IanCheers, Nathaniel. I recommend browsing AMW as Ian suggests. You might even find some of my junk in there.More nonsense on my blog: http://battle77.blogspot.com/Love the set-up, especially how you layed out the river and the dry donga/culvert.  Very effective.  Your variation on Neil Thomas’ rules are inspired.  I’ll have to get my copy out again.  Thanks very much for sharing!Ah, this makes me gush all nostalgic. Thanks for posting it.Self taught, persistently behind the times, never up to date. AKA ~ jeff
More verbosity: http://petiteguerre.blogspot.com/Great Mods, for some bizarre reason to had never occurred to me to use OHW for colonials. I like the retreat rule, I’ve been fiddling around with more subtle distinctions for the WW2 set and that is a nice idea.Right time to grab those Mahdists who have been languishing in their box for too long…I do like OHW, endlessly modifiable.'Mistakes in the initial deployment cannot be rectified' - Helmuth von Moltke