ZULU WAR: The Battle of Gingindlovo

I recently had the opportunity to participate in another playtesting of Mark Fastoso's collection of Zulu War scenarios. Mark is a talented scenario designer who will be publishing these scenarios in book format. He told me they will be available for purchase at the next Cold Wars convention in March 2006. This latest scenario represents the Battle of Gingindlovo. This was shortly after the disaster at Isandlwhana and British commanders were now in the habit of forming wagon lagers after every day of marching, and only fighting the Zulus from within prepared positions or by forming squares if they were out in the open. In this particluar scenario the British start out already formed into a square. They also have the benefit of a wagon lager and a trench! Needless to say, this is a very challenging scenario for the Zulu side. Although a Zulu victory seems pretty hopeless, Mark said that it can, and has, been done. It is the recycling of spent units that gives the Zulus a chance. Mark came up with an interesting concept here. (Mark has a lot of interesting concepts along with a system for using 8 figure units instead of 20.) He allows every Zulu unit that has been reduced down to 3 figures to be recycled as long as the unit was reduced in close combat with the enemy and not merely by rifle or artillery fire. This allows the Zulu side to keep coming and coming, and it also forces them to do what Zulus do best; charge and fight hand-to-hand! However, I am sorry to report that when two other gamers and I played the Zulu side we failed miserably! We were snookered in the very beginning by a clever and gutsy move by the British commander. I'm not going to tell you what he did because I don't want to ruin the scenario before Mark's book is published. For now I will just share some photos of the action.
Good Hunting!
Bwana Bill