Another Zulu Wargame

   I wanted to try a couple of ideas for using my colonial troops. I came across Bob Corderys' WHEN EMPIRES CLASH! rules (I ordered the book online) and wanted to try his point system for troops. I rolled a 20D to decide on how many points the armies would have (what would I have done if I rolled a 1? Not the smartest system!) I rolled a 16. The Zulus would have 8 units, the British 4 infantry units, 1 Natal Native Contingent, and the Frontier horse. I used Bob Corderys' MEMOIR OF BATTLE rules.

The Zulus enter from the left, the British from the right.

The Zulus swarm over the large hill in the background.

The Zulus push back the NNC, the Frontier Horse, and two infantry units.

The British rally and push the Zulus back.

The NNC overruns one Zulu unit.

The Frontier Horse pushes back the Zulus left flank, but is now surrounded on three sides.

The Zulus now slam into the British line, causing heavy losses. One British unit is overrun.

Another shot of the slaughter in the British center.

The British, despite their losses, rally and eliminates three Zulu units. I was using Bob Cordery's rule where once an army loses 50% of their units, it can no longer advance. The Zulus have lost 4 out of 8 units.

For the British it looks like a victory.

However, at this point I realized that some of the Zulus were in contact with British forces. The British have already lost one unit. If the Zulus could eliminate two more units, the battle would end in a draw.

The Zulus strike! They manage to destroy one British infantry unit, however, their hopes of eliminating the Frontier Horse fails; the Frontier Horse retreats. At this point the British infantry can just hold back out of range of the Zulu spears and pick off the Zulus. Wisely, the Zulus retreat.

I find using the army point system makes it easier for me to make balanced armies when using native troops. I believe Bob Corderys system is better than the Hordes of the Empire system, as most of the HotE units are rated at 2; Bob Cordreys breaks the different units down into 4 different rating. In this game if I had used HotE, both armies would have 8 units. As it was in this game, it was a near run thing.