Peculiar doings in Port Royal

 With a new fleece mat for my Port Royal game it's starting to look good.

And yes, the cobblestones are a little large but I'll live with it!

It's a good looking game, that has high terrain demands with a very low figure count.

And I've named each figure, although "La Loup's" name tag needs glueing back on!

Actually I probably went too big at 3ft -4ft here.  A 2ft square game works well too, but I have the big cobblestones for it. 

And I used the fountain model to mark the board centre, critical for deployment 

Washing the Spears again

 A straight forward Blood and Steel game.

Lt Colonel Pea followed his orders to reconnoitre the Zulu positions.  His force consisted of Mounted Infantry, NNC foot and a single company of British Regulars, veterans of 1/13th.

The Zulu are up in the hills.  The "British" approach from the valley below.

And the Zulu are revealed in six large groups, all Married Warriors

And the Zulu open the moves with a lot of running to ground.

The Imperials fire is not too effective thus far.

And Colonel Pea rides off towards my baseline.  Can't really catch him though.

I used the rocky slope to stage charges out, using that extra 2" charge to effect from the Married guys 

And my Generals stay back, counting the guns.

The carbine fire does kill some of the Zulu but it's not enough in a six turn game.

And the Zulu charges cause mayhem.  Both sides lose heavilly

In fact the NNC struggle against the Zulus numbers

Horrendous casualties, but the Zulu have larger numbers and can afford to lose more.

With the NNC all but wiped out and a single standing mounted group the British Regulars are isolated.

Trading losses seems effective for the Zulu.

But the Colonel gets his strike points against the Zulu for getting to their board edge.  He leaves his men to die though!

The Zulus stand, but the Imperials are struggling.

And even for a force of 64 Zulu, the loss of so many stings.  The game is drawn.  It's a salutary lesson to us all.

Great game Blood and Steel.  The Mahdists are up next week.  Should be equally blood thirsty.

The Zulu revisited

Lt. Colonel Buller has been sent out to reconnoitre Hlobane and Zuinguini.

It's a bath-tubbed Hlobane battlefield.

The Zulu come out of the hills

And on Zuinguini they block the track

In retrospect the sides are too far apart

The shooting from the mounted infantry makes little impact.

Meanwhile still up on Zuinguini.

Turn three!

The Natal Carabineers charge home before they get jumped on

The Mounted Infantry are looking thin on the ground now.

And the Zulu right start to come down from Zuinguini.

Game over as the Mounted Infantry pull back.  Actually historically correct.