Thukela River 1881.

O.M.G!! what a game we had last night-Zulu vs British,Brian and I vs Paul(aka nervous shaking wreck!!)

Scenario and table layout-Brian had instructions that he must attack the "Forts" and get across the river before he could call on his reserve regiments,Paul had to defend the "Forts" and the river crossing,whilst attempting to stop the Zulu attacks from my right horn and centre-easy!!!!

What fate awaits you lot?

Oh dear,how sad,never mind!!

As Paul struggled to get his wagons into some sort of laager,my right horn began it's attack,only to be met with murderous rifle fire,and Artillery fire!!!

At the same time as my attack began,Brian attacked the nearest "fort" and met with stiff resistance-Paul is sending the NNC to help out with the defence-tense stuff!!

The NNC have changed the melee!! and the Zulu are being pushed back-come on Brian,get some more stuck in!!!-luckily he did have a few more regiments to spare(!!!) and he piled them into the fray,and eventually forced the NNC back-hurrah!!(note that the flag is still flying!)

My right horn is being battered!-where are the centre regiments?-well,due to a throw of the dice,they arrived on the table on move number 4-will they be too late?

Brian's focus is now on the other "fort",and despite the Gatling gun on the island doing terrible execution,he took this fort with a bit more easily.On the next move the Gatling jammed-oh dear,how sad,never mind!! and had to retire,allowing a river crossing-hurrah again!!

Here comes the Centre!!

There goes the Centre!!-concentrated volley fire destroyed the leading regiments and Paul(as usual!) killed the leading Indunas too!!-I'm going to melt his bloody dice down!!!!!
I am now relying on Brian to pull something out of the bag,to win this game.

Smoke on the thatched roof is always a good sign!!-what of the other one?

Just about to go,I think-well done Brian,now send the reserve across the river and destroy the "intruders".

Most of my regiments are "pinned down" by rifle fire,leaving Paul free to move companies to his right and concentrate on the reserve regiments......................

As my right and centre are leaving the field,Brian's leading regiments are being "bowled over" by the might of the Martini Henry rifle,and RHA-woe is us!!
This was a tremendous game and thoroughly enjoyable,we all like the Colonial period,possibly because of the colour and "dash" of the troops involved,and the un-predictability of the of the result.
Roll on Sunday,probably War of the Spanish Succession(Marlburian)-so,Richard,start reading up  about the period tactics and battles!!