Game preparation: TMWWBK

This coming Wednesday Thursday, my gaming buddy Alex and I will be playing a game of The Men Who Would Be Kings. The armies will my my 10mm Anglo-Zulu War stuff that I painted up several years ago for this very ruleset. This will be the first time playing the rules for both Alex or myself.  

 

To make things a bit smoother (hopefully), I watched a few YouTube videos on gameplay and I have printed up some game aids: quick reference sheets and unit profile cards. The cards are from the Shed Wars blog site, I ended up making one in the same style for the Natal Native Horse that will be on the table. I will probably make some game counters to reflect when units are pinned, close order, volley fire, or gone to ground. 

I have read some battle reports and reviews that mention native forces can really get bogged down when they are pinned. To help motivate this potential issue, I will add some terrain to break up the lines of sight for the Martini-Henry rifles and offer both cover and concealment for the Zulu forces. 

Here are some representative stands of the six Zulu regiments that will be on the tabletop (L-R): 

inDlondlo aka “Black Mamba” (Married)

InGobamakhosi aka “Bender of Kings” (Unmarried)

amaPhela aka “Cockroaches” (Married)

uThulwana aka “The Dust Raisers” (Married)

iNdluyengwe aka “The Leopard’s Lair” (Unmarried)

UmCijo aka “Sharp Points” (Unmarried)

The six Zulu regiments total up to a 24 point force. Our plucky British will field 3 companies from the 24th Regiment of Foot, the South Wales Borderers and a small unit of Natal Native Horse totalling up 22 points. The majority of the figures are Old Glory with a few Pendraken mixed in. All of the Native Horse with the exception of the English officer (Colonel Durnford perhaps?) are Pendraken. 

When I was initially planning this out, I thought I would paint up a small Zulu kraal and play out Scenario B: "Seek and Destroy" where my British would need to raze the native village to the ground. Real life intervened and that kraal was never built. Instead, I think either Scenario A: "Just Passing By" or Scenario E: "Run to the Hills"  might be a better option. In both of these, the British will have to be moving, so they will be less likely to deploy in close order firing lines. If it is the latter scenario, I will have to ditch the Native Horse to get down to the 18 points for the defender. 

Regardless of what scenario, I'm looking forward to getting some lead on the tabletop and rolling buckets of dice!