Our start in the Boer War

[the fallen scholar]

Hi Group;

I now have a painted army of Boers (60 infantry, 20 cavalry, 2 staats artillery 1lb pom pom guns and 2 staats artillery field guns).  A good sized force.  My friend Derrick and I have decided to campaign out our version of the conflict.  Our first skirmish was based on a scenario found in  "The Second Anglo-Boer War (Wargaming in History)".  Lt Hunt leads a small force across the border to attack a Boer outpost at the outbreak of the fighting.  20 sleeping Burghers are attacked by Lt Hunt and 16 mounted infantry.  British Objective:  Kill or capture as many Boers as possible.  Boer Objective:  Get as many Burghers as possible too escape off of the table edge.   The Boers start off asleep and are limited in ammunition.  Each squad only has 2D6 rounds worth of ammunition for the game.  (I think this rule will work out great in the later phases of the war.)  End result....Lt Hunt is a beast.  Only 5 Boers escape but the Brits are reduced to only 5 men.  A bloody battle for the farm.  

The next game the 5 escaped Burghers will return with a troop of ZARPs (South African Republic Police) to face Lt Hunt and reinforcements.

Now the question:  Does anyone have an idea on what we should do next?  I plan on getting wagons for a lager and civilians for the Brits to put into camps.  The Boers can blow up a train or two.... ideas?

Thanks


Fallen Scholar  

Conflict:  2nd Anglo Boer War
Rules:  GASLIGHT, Sword and the Flame, GASLIGHT/SATF hybrid
Figures:  Boers Infantry:  Old Glory Boxer Rebellion Armed Civilians (calling them city Boers)
             ZARP Infantry:  Old Glory Boer War British mounted infantry on foot
             Boer Cavalry:  Old Glory Boer War mounted Boers
             ZARP CAvarly:  Old Glory Boer War British mounted infantry mounted
             Boer Staats Artillery:  Old Glory Boer War Boer Artillery

[Hobbit]

I think that the 2nd Anglo-Boer War is fascinating - I wrote my BA dissertation on the the early conventional phases of the war.

The battle of Elandslaagte is quite a nice small scale set-piece (I don't have the book you mention but I think this action is covered in it). You could also do the Defence of Duffer's Drift (an imaginary scenario but written shortly after the Boer War and a thoroughly fascinating read packed with little tactical titbits for the wargamer) or the Battle of Talana Hill. A friend put together a full strength British 15lb battery and gamed the saving of the guns at Colenso. Anything from one of the larger scale actions either scaled to fit your figure collection or a small episode from one of these actions. Deneys Reitz's Commando is full of ideas for small skirmishes during the guerilla phase and is very well written.

For fairly generic "what if" type games you could have:

Boers trying to cross a British block-house line  - the small round blockhouses are quite easy to knock up.
Boers trying to ambush either a British patrol or convoy.
A Boer raid to capture weapons and/or ammo and/or food and/or horses from a British outpost.
A British sweep across an area that has impenetrable terrain on one side so that the Boers need to break out through the advancing British.
A group of British soldiers pinned down and trying either to extricate themselves - they may need to send small parties to gather water from a nearby river and/or scavange ammunition from dead or wounded comrades.