Battle of the Inyezane River 1879.

The "Fab Four" of Dave,Brian,Graham and I turned out last night to re-fight this interesting battle set during the Zulu War of 1879,and what a battle /game it turned out to be!

Top photo is the scenario,and bottom is the table before any movement.Dave and Brian were the British commanders and Graham and I were the Zulu commanders.

The British column crossing the Inyezane-what a quiet,peaceful scene(??)

The NNC making their way through the bush and tall grass on the slopes of Wombane Hill-what a quiet and peaceful scene(!!!)

USUTHU!!! a combination of Zulu stabbing spears and "friendly fire" obliterated the poor old NNC as they attempted to escape back down the hill-is Brian looking to the Heavens for help??
His regular infantry are forming a firing line,but has he left it too late?

Meanwhile,Graham has opened fire with his Zulu rifles,and inflicted a few casualties on the Naval contingent,who then replied with (laser guided?) rockets,Gatling(this battle was the first time a Gatling had been used in a land action) and Martini-Henry rifle fire,which sent the Zulu running!!!-this does not auger well!

Brian's infantry open fire on the fast-approaching Left Horn,who took horrendous casualties,but managed to get stuck into the Redcoats-hurrah!!-in the background,Dave's troops are taking up their firing positions,preparing to give the Centre and Right Horn a "baptism" of fire if they dare to approach!!(Graham and I had to throw a dice to see which move number the Centre and Right came onto the board and we both threw a 4)

This shows the Centre and Right coming onto the board-Dave was still moving his troops into position,and got quite a shock at the speed of the Zulu!!

My Left Horn is engaging the British in hand-to-hand fighting,and winning(for the moment!)
Dave has now got his troops into position and is giving Graham's Right Horn a right old pounding!!

My Centre Regiments are now making their presence felt and Dave is under severe pressure-however Brian is gaining the upper hand on his flank,and my Left is being beaten-woe is me!!

Graham is now lined up and ready to inflict a "ploating" on Dave's troops-hurrah!! however my Left is retiring(it's good being retired!) and my Centre is "not doing too well!"-come on Graham,it's down to you now!!

This shows Brian's way of saying "cheerio" to my Left Horn-at this point my Centre collapsed and began to retire(I refuse to say it's good being retired again!) but Graham was still winning with his Right Horn.

This shows the state of the Zulu Centre-shot to bits,but still trying to form a line facing Brian's advancing troops!

As Brian's troops advance to support Dave,it was clear that the Zulu were beaten,and we called it a night-all of us suffering from exhaustion(the nervous kind!!)
This was a tremendous battle/game and thoroughly enjoyable-well done lads!
Paul is back from his "jollies" next week(Rhodes) so we should have a full complement to fight an Ancients game over the same terrain!