Narrative No Brain Campaign

     After my last No Brain Wargame, I put a little thought into a narrative to the game.  I could see two neighboring tribes raiding each others territory the steal cattle to suppliment their herds.

"Two tribes, the Nsundu (brown shields) and Mhlophe (white shields) main source of food are Nguni, cattle that feed on the grasslands of the tribal lands. They do suppliment their diet with corn, but the soil is ill suited for farming .

 During most of the year there is plenty of grass  for the cows to feed on and water in the ponds for drink. However, as summer comes on, the ponds dry up and the grass starts dying off. Both tribes finds it necessary to bring the cattle to the Umfula River, were there is still plenty of grass and water for the cows. The Umfula forms the border between the two tribes. With both tribes so close, the temptation to raid each other becomes too much." 

Such is the simple narrative for my last game. I played a second game after coming up with this narrative, of which I shall post about shortly.

The Nsundu (left) and the Nhlophe (right) face each other before the Umfula river.

No Brain Wargame to Battle Doldrums

       The last few months I have been looking at different wargame rules and campaigns, each one more involved than the last. Every time I tried to get a game going, the complicated rules and limited time would frustrate me and I would give up on the project, only to start the process all over again. About a month ago I took a break from wargaming, until last week. I decided to play a No Brain wargame using my Zulus. In the end the White Shield tribe beat the Brown Shields.

  After the game I  remembered an article in Lone Warrior about a simple campaign rule idea where each side gets so many coins, and roll to decide how many coins they are playing for. Just for fun I rolled for both tribes. The Brown Shields rolled a 4, the White Shields 1. I imaged the tribes were fighting over cattle (cattle being the source of wealth with the Zulu) and the Brown Shields lost 4 head of cattle. 

   I started thinking more of a simple narrative campaign, going so far as coming up with tribal names and the reason for their battles. I even looked up how much beef 4 cattle would provide: at between 1600 to 2000 pounds of beef, to me it would be worth fighting for.

The two tribes close for battle.

The Brown shields fall back and lose 4 head of  cattle.

A Peter Laing Coronation Parade

 The coronation of King Charles  calls for a parade of Peter Laing Victorian Parade figures as a tribute to this historic  event.

The cavalry decides to make a grand entrance!

I only need about 6,900 more figures to do it right.