A minor tribe of Southern Africa defeated
Reports have arrived that a small tribe led by Shaka have been defeated by the Ndwandwe near Gqokli Hill thereby altering the future history of this nation by not allowing it to have a glorious defeat some fifty years in the future as a result.
Andrew called me and said he was on vacation and wanted to have a game, "something in 15mm".
Not having done anything with my Zulus for awhile, I pulled them out and using a modified DBA rules and used a scenario from the details by an old Wagames Illustrated article by Ian Knight on the historical battle of Gqokli Hill. This battle brought the Zulu under Shaka to prominence with a defeat over the Ndwandwe in the year 1818.
The scenario had Andrew commanding the Ndwandwe to divert troops to burn the Zulu krall (homestead) and gain a moving herd of cattle. ( I also had the provision for a roll each turn to have part of that army, based on the actions of some of the thirsty troops of his army to move to back to the river but totally forgot that once the game had started! Would have changed things a bit I would suggest.... ) The rolls was random and thus the very large Ndwandwe army would be broken up as it crossed the river.
As it were, the Krall and cattle were not taken and the diversions but held up the advance but little. Nevertheless the Zulu seeing some advantage to the scattered enemy, came off the hill to the attack. The large leading Ndwandwe regiment was eventually seen off but the much smaller numbers of the Zulu lead to them being flanked and eventually defeated.
This fun game highlighting that the Zulu, both in their early history and the later 1879 era, still hold great interest for me.
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| My 15mm Zulu hordes (playing Ndwandwe) in front of my homemade krall. The huts are solid wood for use as doll heads painted as thatch. The 'wood' fence is unwound copper cable wire. All of which is placed on an old computer CD. |
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| The Ndwandwe file across the river ford and attack the krall defended by a few Zulu. |
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| Andrew pushing in his troops once again as Shaka himself aids in the defense. |
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