Ango-Zulu War ~ Ntombe River ~ 12th March 1879 ~ AAR

[skirmisher]

After an initial, light-hearted game of TmWwBk with my friend, I decided I would employ the rules in re-creating  the historical action on the Ntombe River, at Myers Drift, as I felt the large-scale skirmish nature of this action (105 British v c.800 Zulus) might suit the TmWwBk rule-set.

As a solo game, I was not worried about having balanced sides, just about getting a historical feel & plausible result and I have to say the rules did this admirably.

A brief account of the historical battle can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Intombe
plus Official Despatch
https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/24712/page/2929
and useful Press Report
http://newspapers.library.wales/view/4475217/4475220/26/

The Laager Overwhelmed
In my game, the British laager was taken by surprise by Mbilini’s forces advancing through the early morning mist, its sentries swiftly over-run as they gave a a desperate warning.  The initial Zulu attack nearly came unstuck when several groups failed their commands to charge home into the laager but the reprieve this offered the just-wakened British was lost as many sections failed a scenario-specific test to ‘Stand To’ and a third of the British were quickly slaughtered, inc. Captain Moriarty. On the south-bank, Lt. Harward & Sgt. Booth did a good job of organising their sections to try provide some supporting fire for their embattled comrades.

The survivors on the north bank clustered on the river bank and made a gallant stand, driving back several Zulu groups with fire and bayonet. Combined with fire from the south bank, the Zulu’s were suddenly suffering significant losses (c.50 to British 35). However a further round of furious melee killed the most stubborn of the laagers defenders and forced the remainder into the river.  The last group of 80th Regiment men to fall on the north bank definitely earned renown for their defiance against the odds.

The Survivors Rally
The bulk of the Zulus now had a choice: loot the laager or attack the remaining British on the southern bank. I decided that to further pursue the British across the Ntombe River, a Zulu unit needed to make a Leadership test, taking account of its casualties and proximity to the camp (and its loot). Alas for Lt. Harward and his men, there was no shortage of desire to press the attack and a large force surged across the ford or swam the river.

Lt. Harwards men and the survivors from the north bank fell back and formed a good defensive line which severely checked the Zulu forces trying to cross at the ford or gain the river-banks after swimming across .

After several turns of holding off the Zulus forging across the river, it was starting to look grim as the number of Zulu units established on the south bank grew (and 8 unlucky survivors from the laager got slaughtered) when suddenly one pinned Zulu unit failed to rally with an auto-break result, triggering pin-tests and another auto-break and then another and another...so that as the result of one failed rally test, six Zulu units brokes! This fit the situation well as they had taken significant casualties.  I decided to call the game, as the British on the south bank had successfully prevented the Zulus from massing on their side of the river. It was a game of two halves: one mini-Isandlwana and then a mini-Rorkes Drift.

I was very pleased with how the rules worked: it felt desperate, chaotic, heroic and at same time, the overwhelming Zulu advantage slowly eroded once the British could establish a firing line.

[Eric the Shed]

Great report... Thank you for sharing

[skirmisher]

Thanks Eric! Big fan of your wonderful looking Zulu War gaming.

Note #1: to represent their initial confusion and un-preparedness, I treated each British section in the laager as requiring a command roll to ‘Stand To’, otherwise it was deemed still in its tent & disorganised, so could not move or fire and melee’d with half-dice (so sort of like starting with a pin result).  I also only assigned a few leader-characteristics, giving the bulk of units a generic  6 or 7 leadership. Lt. Harward (Ldr=6) though got “Bag of Nerves” (chance of running if his unit gets pinned) and Booth got “Jolly Good Chap” (leadership 5). On the Zulu side, Mbilini got a leadership of 5.

Note #2: I required a command roll for units to exit the river, to represent the difficulty of crossing a river in flood. Afterwards I thought I should have had a Zulu force timed to arrive on the flanks of the southern defenders, as opposed to allowing the Zulus ford across directly, as historically, from what I have read, a force of c.200 warriors crossed upriver and forced the British to retreat. That said, the way I played it made for high drama.

Note #3: civilian wagon drivers were not represented (only a few escaped the actual attack).

[vodkafan]

Great looking game and very interesting battle report.

[Marine0846]

Fine looking game.
Well done.

[LordSpode1879]

Superb looking game sir and a wonderful battle report .....real nip and tuck stuff!

[Bloodaxe]

Awesome set-up. What brand figs are you using?  Thanks for posting.

[skirmisher]

Awesome set-up. What brand figs are you using?  Thanks for posting.

Thank you gentlemen for all your kind comments and encouragement.

Bloodaxe, I am slightly embarrassed to say I am not sure what make the figures are, as I bought the armies online. I thought I had a note on the make of British figures from their previous owner but can't find it.

The Zulus may be a self-moulded & cast as they are a smallish size for 15mm and some weapons are not fully formed...but quantity has a quality of its own and they make do en masse. It will be awkward expanding the Zulu forces though, by adding other makers, due to the size difference between them and normal 15mm (which I discovered when I painted up Zulu casualty figures). Oh well. Meanwhile, a new engagement is unfolding on the battle-board, between a mixed-arms patrol from Luneburg and forces of the Zulu vassal Manyanyoba, but that's a post for another day... 

[Widows Son]

Great game!  I shared it with other chums and they also gave lovely comments on it.  Congratulations! 

[LordSpode1879]

Thank you gentlemen for all your kind comments and encouragement.

Bloodaxe, I am slightly embarrassed to say I am not sure what make the figures are, as I bought the armies online. I thought I had a note on the make of British figures from their previous owner but can't find it.

The Zulus may be a self-moulded & cast as they are a smallish size for 15mm and some weapons are not fully formed...but quantity has a quality of its own and they make do en masse. It will be awkward expanding the Zulu forces though, by adding other makers, due to the size difference between them and normal 15mm (which I discovered when I painted up Zulu casualty figures). Oh well. Meanwhile, a new engagement is unfolding on the battle-board, between a mixed-arms patrol from Luneburg and forces of the Zulu vassal Manyanyoba, but that's a post for another day... 

I shall look forward to the subsequent battle report with interest sir!

[wulfgar22]

Wonderful!

[Bardolph]

Thank you gentlemen for all your kind comments and encouragement.

Bloodaxe, I am slightly embarrassed to say I am not sure what make the figures are, as I bought the armies online. I thought I had a note on the make of British figures from their previous owner but can't find it.

The Zulus may be a self-moulded & cast as they are a smallish size for 15mm and some weapons are not fully formed...but quantity has a quality of its own and they make do en masse. It will be awkward expanding the Zulu forces though, by adding other makers, due to the size difference between them and normal 15mm (which I discovered when I painted up Zulu casualty figures). Oh well. Meanwhile, a new engagement is unfolding on the battle-board, between a mixed-arms patrol from Luneburg and forces of the Zulu vassal Manyanyoba, but that's a post for another day... 

The Brits look like Mike's Models to me. My first colonial figs were Mike's Models Brits and Pathans. I wish I still had them. Somewhat dwarvish in appearance but they saw many a battle under TSATF back then.