Zulus Rising

Perhaps I expected too much but there was nothing 'epic' about Ian Knight's treatment of Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift in this book. I had re-read my now very worn copy of Morris' Washing of the Spears back in November and whilst dated, it still gets the blood pumping.

Where Zulu Rising did prove valuable is in new research at Isandlwana, for instance giving some of the distances the British forces opened fire at, Zulu tactics, their horns skirmished forward taking advantage of cover.  Zulu Rising was £2.98 on eBay, post free from Greener Books and certainly feel I had £2.98 value from it. The book itself arrived quickly in perfect condition, so I thoroughly recommend Greener as an eBay seller.

I'm disappointed because I've read and enjoyed many of Ian Knight's papers on aspects of the Zulu War but Zulu Rising leaves me questioning whether I'll buy another of his books. Though to be honest I'm not sure I really need to. I also question the value (at full price ) for a wargamer either.  By comparison Rorkes Drift by Adrian Greaves was gripping and spurred on the activity you see below.

Cut, cleaned, washed and now ready to glue together. Plastics? you can keep 'em. Seriously, I'd rather buy metals in future. They have their place in the hoby, but not in this house.

Cheers
Mark

Stop That Tiger!

German Fallschrimjager gatecrash American preparations for Christmas and waltz to the tune of Kampfgruppe Panzergrenadier in this week's Battle of the Bulge inspired game.

The Americans bravely held the roadblock, getting a couple of Bazooka rounds off before getting the "Hell out of Dodge!". Leaving behind three M5 Stuarts and the road to Stavelot open.

It's 3 in the morning, you're not getting any more out of me. Need to crash before Im up at 6am. Can a scratch force with Tank Destroyers plug the gap and Stop that Tiger! next time round?

Cheers
Mark

The Ghost Men of Bakonga - with IHMN and Belgians in the dark heart of Bakonga......

"So, Harry, you english, you have heard of our Fort Namur, on the Upper Bakonga, to the north of your Protectorate of Transbakonga? It is a small affair, garrisoned by a few Force Publique and their Askari but we like to think we do our part in eradication of the unlicensed slave trade. 

I diverge. Some months ago, my colleague, Commandant Dooderhever led a routine patrol after some ruga-ruga who had been molesting cattle. They ran these ragamuffins to a belt of jungle some kilometres to the west....upon entering the jungle they follow a track leading to une edifice. A temple perhaps. A ruin of zembabwe maybe? A runner arrived telling me this, and I led some of my Askari to the scene. The scenes of what? A chase of the goose of the wilderness my English friend. For the entire patrol had disappeared. Save of course for Commandant Dooderhever and one Gendarme, Morgan? Marant? One of your Anglo Saxon non de guerre no doubt. He ran, the malefactor and Dooderhever, he says nothing but drinks. So, he is normal for a garrisonaix of Namur. But there is a speculation amongst the wives of the Askari as to what happened and I now relay that to you, do not ask how I heard the tale, what? Yes, men of the world, of course.......

The Belgians advance to the strange ruins, scenting treasure some rush ahead....

Dooderhever and the Askari cover the rear but Lt Groot and the Gendarmes stumble on seeking ivory, gold! But what is that in the jungle, is it .... a lion man of Bakonga?

sadly, the Belgians fail to notice the lurking threat and with a cacophony of war cries, the Bakonganese crash out of the bushes. The dope addled  Ruga-ruga banging away with their muskets manage to hit no one, well perhaps a monkey. But a savage one, yes?

The Belgians drop some natives as they charge in but a lot of mobbing takes place and spread out as they are, the Gendarmes face a stabby and short future.....

Gendarme Moran (straw hat) holds his own while Groot and Doodehever fight hard to cut free.....

Moran has slipped away having killed his enemies, while Doodehever uses his trusty revolver to shoot his way out to safety

Lt Groot fights a lonely battle to the very bitter end......

"And so, mon ami, my little grey cells tell me that all of the command died that day, or in the case of poor Groot over a few days, perhaps. If we catch this man Moran, he who ran, well, the penal battalion maybe or perhaps a fair trial and quick firing party? As for Doodehever he is quite insane and so runs one of our smaller outposts, even deeper into les horreur de Bakongue. Now, I repair to my hotel, I meet some of your Transbakongenbosch Republicans tomorrow. Au revoir, Harry."

This was an ad hoc game of IHMN made up on the spot; Mark's recent frenzy pushed me over the edge. having glued up the last of my planned commandos, a game was called for. Figures are Foundry with two Perry Sudanese Askari. 

Cheers

Maff 

Umboko Gorge IHMN: Freddy's Sticky Wicket

You don't need half a ton of MDF masquerading as Victorian brick to enjoy In Her Majestys Name. Here, a young Freddy Pirbright leads a patrol of the Benson and Hedges down the Umboko Gorge to chastise Chief Catawali for some colonial misdemeanour.

With only a dozen redcoats on the table the game provided all the majesty, tabletop colour and thrills of a fully fledged battle utilising larger forces. The game ebbed and flowed, balance shifting constantly. And it was fun!

Umboko Gorge Royal Krall

Chief Catawaili in residence

Umbokos win initiative and assegai Private Steven

scouting ahead of Pirbright's command.

 Our trusty Sergeant advises Freddy to wait for the cavalry

 Nonsense! Freddy crosses the Umboko

in skirmish line with supports

An sniper on the terraces and another ambush take their toll

 Closing on the kraal, the Umboko Regiment

launches it's horms of the buffalo attack

Freddy steadies the firing line to meet the horns of the buffalo

Fix Bayonets!

 

 Hard pressed. The power of the Martini-Henry wanes

 The final stand. Down to bayonets now.

Freddy Pirbright makes off to save the colours

I learnt a lot about IHMN mechanics from this encounter and concocted a few house rules of my own during the course of play (such as scouting, figures fighting back to back/back to wall or as in this case rock). Well you have to don't you? Afterwards I tried out some further ideas whilst I still had figures on the table, but these need more testing, eg, the effect of leadership on shooting, all enemy bases in base to base contact (or in a contained area such as an alley, gap between rocks etc) becoming eligible targets for Volley Fire.

Using Zulu warriors on multiple bases certainly upped the visual and theatrical impact of the game. I'll base the rest on skirmish bases with the intention of replacing one of the warriors with a casualty figure to show when they are 'Knocked Down'. I made up stats for the Zulus and created some Traits using those in the rule book as examples, such as 'Iklwa' being their equivalent of 'Bayonet Drill' (+3). 

 Well there we have it, a simple scenario leading to another thrilling game of In Her Majestys Name. When I was a lad, one night in 1975 my dad came home and gave me Skirmish Wargames by Don Featherstone. It was completely out of the blue and not like him at all. I was immediately enthralled by Featherstone's new book, beginning a wargaming odyssey that night that and today's game with IHMN has recaptured those feelings.

Cheers

Mark

Victorian Officer Conversions - 2

Following on from my previous post in the early hours of this morning, thought I'd take a break at this stage to show you some of  my efforts so far. Heads are just blu-tacked into place for now, prior to being drilled, glued and having collars/facial detail rebuilt with Green Stuff.

First up our eponymous Victorian hero, Freddy "Umoboko Gorge" Pirbright. Fagged for Potter H. at Scones and a demon in the outfield. 

The head has been taken from the cook in Empress Miniatures' ZWB63 Rorkes Drift defenders! Body from Foundry DA15/1 British Command Characters.

Next, a variation on the movie version of Henry Hook from Empress Miniatures. I took the head off the Hook figure drinking from the bottle in the Empress Hollywood Heroes pack and will be attaching it to this body taken from Foundry's DA15/4 British Infantry Characters.

I may change my mind and use the historical Henry Hook body in shirtsleeves from Empress Miniatures ZWB39 but I'm really happy that Hooky now looks like he means business.

So, now the original movie Hooky's body is 'eadless, what do we do with it? Hands up here, I bloody hate square-on standy around figures, don't understand why gamers would want to buy them myself? In this instance, we use the head taken from the Foundry officer in patrol jacket who is drawing his pistol, marry the two together.....and we have O'Reilly, inept political agent, corrupt trader & Irish adventurer to fate.

 That head was a sod! Took best part of half an hour of careful cutting at different angles before I was able to remove it without damaging any detail on the figure, the head or my fingers. What made it harder was the rear of the sun helmet came down over the collar . I decided in the long run it would be easier to preserve the shape of he helmet rather than recreating it with Green Stuff.

And finally, before I return to the cutting mat on the kitchen table....Dr Watson in patrol jacket? One of the necessary but unspeakable Corps chappies? Definitely needs more facial hair though, clean shaven he looks too much like Ben Affleck rather than a Victorian gent at war and that will never do. So maybe this head instead taken from a Black Tree Design figure, for the last stand around the Mess. Last man standing pays the Mess bill.

If trying this yourself, and I know some of you are proficient, I recommend surveying the model before you start to determine the best and safest cutting angles. If the figures needs to have mould lines or flash cleaned, nows the time, especially around the head. Unless the figure has a pronounced neck, rather than cut straight across, I angle my knife slightly down and will cut from each side, producing a V shaped cut. I find this the safest way and it usually prevents a slip of the knife or too much pressure applied in error (or frustration) slicing off the figure's chin/jaw or drawing blood. I then make smaller cuts front and back following the best line to join up the cut, applying pressure as necessary.  It can be time consuming and hard on the fingers, but worth it to create some unique characters if like me, you are not a whizz with Green Stuff.

Cheers
Mark

Quick Victorian Officer Conversions

Thanks to eBay I've been able to duplicate my Foundry British Zulu War command figures relatively cheaply and I'm just playing around with them tonight before starting some conversions tomorrow.

I really like these Foundry figures not only because they are so full of Zulu War character, but they are equally incredibly versatile for any gamer interested in Darkest Africa, Victorian Pulp and VSF gaming. In fact, some headswops, maybe change the rifles to the SMLE, a C20th paintjob and you have some extra characters for VBCW.

For gamers of In Her Majesty's Name, you have a nice little adventuring company just there. Note that the official Foundry pack also includes a soldier in shirtsleeves. To make these figures even more interesting, the two officers armed with swords (top right, bottom left) come with separate left arms and the pack includes a sprue with an extended arm firing pistol, crooked arm with pistol and an arm with binoculars.

The easiest conversion I'm going to do is to the officer firing a pistol,shown top left. I'll  swop his head with the one taken from the NCO (bottom middle) and add a Zulu shield. That's it. A simple conversion yet I think you'll agree he's now brimming with even more character.

It might be worth pointing out that being officers, the majority of castings have no equipment beyond their pistol belt. This would make it easy to add some additional IHMN furnishings such as steam driven exoskeletons, electronic ocular enhancers, ornithopters etc. And if you want to make them usable on the streets of London as well as the Veldt, just replace the sun helmets with Glengarries which are available as separate heads from Empress Miniatures.

Hope that's given you some food for thought. At the very least It's got me wanting to create some interesting figures, regardless of final use on th table and paint them. A good thing, as I barely touched a brush in 2013 and a small discrete group of figures like this may just break the anxiety that's now compounding the problem. In addition, you know, it's just occurred to me that I entered my first painting competition back in the seventies with a 54mm Cliff Sanderson Zulu War British officer. Maybe just maybe there's an omen in all this.....and it's a new year after all.

Cheers
Mark

New Years Eve Zulu Bash with IHMN

Let's see out 2013 with a quick but colourful Zulu War bash using In Her Majesty's Name. I hope everyone had a great Christmas and looking forward to 2014.

2013 has been a year of challenges. The last few months at work have been demanding and left me with little in the way of energy in the evenings. Whilst we've also dealt with the double change curve of Heather first being made redundant after 20+ years with the same company and then going off to university as a mature student to do an MBA. Glad to say that as a consequence of all these things happening I begin the new year in a great new job together with a new mindset.

My own wargaming orientated Christmas presents this year revolved around the Zulu War. These were Warlord's new Black Powder Zulu! colouring book which came with a nice Prince Imperial figure. Heather gave me Adrian Greaves' Forgotten Battles of the Zulu War.

To the game. Nothing complicated. A small column carrying medical supplies has to leave a wagon behind when it breaks an axle. Lt  Richard Vandyke and a small detachment of the 2nd Benson & Hedges has been detailed to remain with the valuable supplies whilst a replacement wagon is sent from Eshowe. On hearing of Zulus approaching Vandyke decides to build a small barricade with the supplies, behind which he will make his stand.

The one change I made to IHMN was to use a base of 4 Zulus to represent 1 Zulu warrior under the game rules, purely so I could use a mass of warriors on the table. This is Victorian pulp after all, the stuff that builds an Empire!

"Sentries report Zulus, Sir. Thousands of them."

 "Because we're here, lad. Nobody else. Just us."

"Fire at Will!" "That's very nice of him"

"Hold them! Hold 'em!" 
 

 "But bullets run out... and those bloody spears don't."

"It's fear that dries the mouth, isn't it?"

"a bayonet, with some guts behind it!"

 Let's say up front, for a simple game, "That was fun!"  Sgt Doubletime went down straight away and the 'marksman' holding the bushes was overwhelmed by the Zulus who 'mobbed' him. Lt Vandyke proved his courage through his higher Pluck value which saw him and Private Henry Martins, pictured above, able to fight their way back to cover. Martins offered to 'hold them off' whilst Vandyke escaped into the rocks but Vandyke passed his pluck roll and opted to stand side by side with the valorous private.

It was a cider gulping finish. Three against two. Two bases of Zulus 'mobbed' Vandyke who shot one with his Beaumont-Adams revolver before being assegaied, whilst Martins dispatched the other base with his last cartridge (determined by a Pluck roll, just for the sake of it!). Martins now showed off his 'bayonet drill' skills and drove his Sheffield steel blade into the Zulus to remain last man standing on the field. "God Bless 'er Majesty!"

Using multiple bases to represent warriors such as the Zulus worked far better than expected. I kept forgetting that they represented only one man as far as the game was concerned and this both increased the in-game tension and overall enjoyment. The only thing that would have enhanced the game visually, apart from getting round to basing my redcoats, would have been some dead figures to replace those who became casualties. BTW, all the redcoats were painted by James Brewerton, a really good painter and a great bloke.

What a great way to finish 2013!

Happy New Year to everyone from us here at Winter of '79. Have a great 2014!

Cheers
Mark