Napoleonic and Zulu games 16.5.13.

I don't know if I've mentioned this before,but it's great being retired,because you can wargame as often as you like!!
Today I had two games,one this morning against Brian ( a Napoleonic) and one this evening against Paul,with able assistance from Brian.
The first game involved me attacking a Port held by Portuguese troops,who were being reinforced by a ship load of British troops,and an overland contingent too.Although this game did not involve alot of units,it was never the less an absolute classic!

This first photo shows the Port being held by the Portuguese,with the bay to the right,where the British troops were going to land.

Two regiments are about to leave the ship and assist either the Port or the overland force,which you can just see in the background.

This shows my French arrayed against the Port,and a column about to take out Brian's gun battery.This part of the game saw both sides battling it out by fire-fights and melees,it was very difficult to get into the Port,and Brian's troops fought well.

Brian's British have landed,and I have met him with a brigade of French,who shot the hell out of him!!Meanwhile I am still trying to capture the Port.

This shows the far flank,with the overland brigade being sorely pressed by me,Brian's cavalry are beaten,and his infantry are about to be forced into square.

With the far flank beaten and the ship troops being driven back into the sea,all was lost for the British,it was just a matter of time before I could bring the full weight of the French attack to bear on the Port.

A fine French victory,however as you can see in the following photo,Brian took the defeat well......

By the time my wife and I got him to his car the sobbing had almost stopped!! Bye bye Brian ,see you tonight.

The second game was a Zulu classic!!

The left hand map was the one given to Paul,and showed his dispositions etc,the right hand map was our (Brian and I) proposed routes of attack.

At first things went well,with Brian commanding the left horn and defeating the NNC and Native horse,meanwhile I took the Centre and attacked the fort on hill B (not without a bit of bother,it has to be said)

The main British camp,very peaceful,maybe too peaceful!!

The fort taken,now onto the main camp (no soldiers were hurt in the making of this game!)

The Right horn has emerged from the woods and is begining to assault the camp,whilst the centre has reformed and will join the attack as soon as possible.Paul is giving the leading Zulu regiments a "baptism of fire" which they did not like!!

Brian's left horn is being slowed down by a combination of NNC and Sikali horse,this allowed Paul to bring a couple of British companies out of the camp and form up,ready to blast the Zulu formations,this he did in grand style,eventually bringing the whole horn to a standstill.

The main attack is going in!! However the British proved too strong,and a combination of fire power,including Gatling and Battery fire,had weakened the regiments before they got into melee,and fighting at minus one from the dice,they eventually broke and "retired"

Look! one regiment of Zulu (the plural of Zulu is Ama-Zulu) has breached the British defences,but with another company ready to assist,all was lost!!
The right horn is retreating,the left horn is "stalled" and the centre is too weak to carry the camp,The Zulu are beaten,and the British declared the winners.

As you can see from the following photo,Brian took the defeat very well.......

By the time Paul and I got him to his car the sobbing had almost stopped!!

Roll on Sunday.