The Battle of n'Gornali's Kraal

 After an hiatus beyond the control of either of us Paul was able to visit GHQ once more for our monthly game. He had requested an Anglo-Zulu wargame and even gamely volunteered to be the Zulu commander, despite everything I did to try and dissuade him from his reckless choice! So, the Battle of n'Gornali's Kraal, pitting the Zulus' of Chief Watzoni n'Gornali against the Imperial column commanded by our old chum Utterly -Barking, one of the least known and even less successful Victorian generals. We used Black Powder 2 rules to play out the game and set the maximum length at 12 Turns. As is my custom now an annotated photomontage to give any interested reader a sense of how the battle unfolded ~

The Zulu impis parade outside the kraal of chief Watzoni n'Gornali.

Empress Miniatures Zulus make up almost all of my collection bar a handful of rifle arme skirmishing figures and some character figures from Casting Rooms Miniatures.

Utterly-Barking leads his column towards n'Gornali's Kraal at an unhurried pace.

"Zulus' Sah! Thaarsends of 'em!" Well, a slight exaggeration perhaps but still quite a sight.

Sighting the second Zulu impi making ground rapidly to his right Utterly-Barking orders the lancers to attack, supported by his small contingent of Mounted Infantry (who will do sterling service throughout the battle by the by.)

"Charge!" Lance points lowered the troops surge forward against the leading regiment of Zulus.

The 24th & 80th regiments make heavy weather of their advance while the Hales rocket troop is also tardy in it's deployment. It seems that Utterly-Barking is complacent about the Zulu threat.

The lancers' charge smashes into the leading Zulu regiment and scatters them, continuing through to crash into the second, while the third is disordered by rifle fire from the supporting Mounted Infantry.

With the impi threatened with destruction the third regiment rallies in a fierce struggle with the tiring lancers whose casualties have mounted steadily over their exertions.

Finally the gallant lancers can take no more, their morale fails and they break for the rear and safety. Only disorder prevents the victors at this juncture from sweeping forward to overwhelm the Mounted Infantry.

Meanwhile, on Utterly-Barking's left front more Zulus' are seen surging forward towards his slowly deploying main column of infantry.

While the Frontier Light Horse deploy as skirmishers to harass the Zulu advance the Hales Rocket troop are ordered to open fire on the leading Zulu regiment.

Disaster, the rocket explodes in the tube and is destroyed along with the crew! Utterly-Barking's eyebrows are scorched by the blast!

The 24th and 80th have finally deployed into firing line and casualties begin to mount for the Zulu attackers.

Still, the Zulu regiments press forward undeterred by mounting losses!

The leading regiment crashes into the 24th. Fierce hand-to-hand fighting erupts all along the regiment's front.

Despite some losses it is the Zulu regiment who break and flee. It seems that, "They don't like it up 'em!" to coin a phrase?

There is no respite it seems for the gallant 24th as more Zulus' surge forward in the attack.

On the far right the lads of the Mounted Infantry are finally beaten and flee the field. Their job is done though as the Zulu impi is broken and cannot threaten Utterly-Barking's main column. 

The final push sees the Zulus' spirits finally broken and the impis melt away into the veld's safety to regroup and fight another day. Chief Watzoni n'Gornali is beaten, for now, but not bowed.

The small garrison at the mission station are saved! They have not faced the ultimate test of bravery in the face of overwhelming odds. Utterly-Barking, despite his lethargy in the field, has triumphed over Chief Watzoni n'Gornali and saved them.

A fine game in which it's fair to say neither side performed with vigour at times. Paul struggled to get his Zulus' moving and was frustrated at times by my uncharacteristically good Saving dice! The Mounted Infantry were particular recipients of this good fortune over three rounds of combat. In the end mounting losses and some poor Morale results broke the Zulus as an effective fighting force and handed the victory over by default.