Rorke's Drift Map?

[warrenss2]

Hi, all you colonial gamers.

I'm looking for a good map of Rorke's Drift. Locations of buildings, sand bag barricades, etc...

I'm not a colonial gamer but plan on running a post apocalyptic version... replacing the Zulus with mutants.

Sounds corny, I know, but Zulu is one of my all time favorite movies.

[Plynkes]

Clearest one I could find with a five-minute internet search.

This one has more detail but is smaller and a bit harder to make out:

Between them that should do you. 

[Doomhippie]

Hi, all you colonial gamers.

I'm looking for a good map of Rorke's Drift. Locations of buildings, sand bag barricades, etc...

I'm not a colonial gamer but plan on running a post apocalyptic version... replacing the Zulus with mutants.

Sounds corny, I know, but Zulu is one of my all time favorite movies.

No problem with that. I remember I read a 40k battlereport way back in the 80s in a White Dwarf magazine where they used that scenario with Imperial Guard and orcs. As far as I remember the orcs had to roll on a random table to see what their attack waves consisted of. I think it was the time before fixed units and unit coherency.

[keeper]

I remember Custom Hobby saying once he'd made one for a customer in 1/72 scale.

http://www.customhobby.com/forum/index.php?topic=169.0

[former user]

these maps are good
the only thing missing is the river and the sniper mountain, if they were needed for the scenery
but these should be placed nearer to the farm because of wargaming ranges anyway

but then, in wargaming terms the fortification would be smaller anyway

or do you want to stage it 1:1?

[Galman]

Nice maps! Also, good Lord its been forever since i have seen that movie.  Great flick and Michael Caine at his best i think.

[Leapsnbounds]

Zulu is one of my favorite war movies too (along with "Waterloo" and "Burn!") only my version is called "Orc's Drift" and I can never field enough Orcs for it.

[Doc Twilight]

Zulu is one of my favorite war movies too (along with "Waterloo" and "Burn!") only my version is called "Orc's Drift" and I can never field enough Orcs for it.

Most colonial gamers don't do Rorke's Drift completely 1:1, at least not all on the same table at the same time. Typically, what you'll see is 1:1 for the British, and 1:5 for the Zulus. The Zulus, if represented in 1:1 terms for numbers, actually don't all appear at once in most scenarios (and they didn't, historically). Typically, they come on in waves, with different break points for the waves, allowing the Zulus to prepare for another assault, the British to lick their wounds and reposition, etc.

If you represent this with Orks, or anything else, you can probably represent a larger number of figures using "wave" attacks.

As for the river and the "sniper mountain", the sniper fire by Zulus is generally handled abstractly in most scenarios I've read or played (it wasn't very effective), and the river played no actual role in the fighting of the battle.

-Doc

[former user]

what you'll see is 1:1 for the British
[....]
As for the river and the "sniper mountain", the sniper fire by Zulus is generally handled abstractly in most scenarios I've read or played (it wasn't very effective), and the river played no actual role in the fighting of the battle.

very true
but it depends on how You expand the original setting
it has never ocurred to me why the british actually survived
why the initially overzealous "loins" of Isandlwhana became reluctant and uncoordinated

the question is if wargamers want to copy the tactical behaviour of the Zulu or allow the Zulu player other options, including operational moves represented in off-table deployment options
in this case the mountain and the river could very well become interesting, as well as random fugitive parties from the lost battle
I did play some 2 variations of this incident, with parties being represented proportionally
the only reason the scenarios were balanced was that the Zulu were not allowed to enter from all sides
and the british were allowed to recover casualties between waves and had british firing drill
we even tried to represent possible disagreement on the Zulu side by splitting them between several players

seriously over 100 british??
and some - 400? Zulu?
that would be a massive scenario

[Doc Twilight]

Well, granted, that's an extreme example. I've run it at about 1:2 for the British (or about 50 figs), and about 50 figs per wave for the Zulus, in four waves (if memory serves, I may have altered this a bit - I know I did one Zulu War battle at about 1:4 for the British). I used similar scaling down when doing Lula, which requires about 1-200 Askaris and countless Wahehe.

I have, however, often seen the British done 1 for 1. The thing that amazes me about this is that such games are usually run using "The Sword and the Flame", which was never intended for that many figures on a table - maybe 100 figs, tops, and that's really stretching the system (in my opinion). I usually use a variant of "Brother Against Brother" for my colonial games. Works out pretty well, most of the time, unless you've got one of those sick people who can only roll 1s... which means it can be a very quick game (rolling low is good in BaB).

At one Historicon I saw Rorke's Drift in 6mm, 15mm, and 28mm. I also saw a 10mm Rorke's Drift setup for sale (but I don't think it was being used to run any games at the con.) To say that it's a bit overdone as a convention scenario is probably an understatement, but I can understand why. It's one of those "last stand" type scenarios where either side could have a legitimate chance of winning.

-Doc

[former user]

we used both T&T and WHAB, adapted and it worked well

anyone, fancy some pics?

[macgarns]

it has never ocurred to me why the british actually survived
why the initially overzealous "loins" of Isandlwhana became reluctant and uncoordinated

Hi!
1st post on this web site!
The tactically abble King Cetsawayo had forbade his officers & troops to attack british troops who where laagered, or entrenched, but his brother , commanding the party who attacked Rourke's drift ignored that wise order , that 's why the overzealous but tired & hungry loins ( just in search of looting & trying to wash their spears in blood ) didn't succeeded , and also because of the " short chamber Boxer - Henry 4.5 caliber , it 's  bayonnet & some guts behind it ! "

[d phipps]

Still one of my all-time favorite movies, and quite a popular subject to game. 


HAVE FUN!

[Grekwood]

Don't know if this is any use but it's a model my Dad put together for our 15mm Rorkes drift stuff...built for a 1:1 game

[former user]

wow, nice

now that's something new, Rorke's Drift in 15 mm