Gatling's Jammed!, The - Big Battle Colonial Wargaming in the 19th Century

When conjuring up images of warfare in the Colonial Period what may spring most readily to mind are the smaller scale encounters between red-coated soldiers of the Empire battling against overwhelming odds at such locations as Rorke’s Drift where handfuls of Victoria Crosses are handed out and legends are made. However, as I have mentioned earlier, these rules are designed to fight the larger scale battles of the period such as Ulundi where two British brigades took on Cetshwayo’s army of 24,000 Zulus. To me, these larger battles are no less exciting or heroic than the small encounters and they allow players the distinct pleasure of fielding entire brigades of famous British regiments, such as the Guards Brigade with its Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards and Grenadier Guards, alongside a Highland Brigade with the Highland Light Infantry and the Black Watch.

These rules also give players the chance to fight such worthy opponents, whether it is a Dervish army using its knowledge of the local terrain to make its cautious approach before launching a ferocious charge, or a Zulu army battering the British line with the experienced warriors of the ‘chest’ while the ‘horns’ of the bull move round to envelop the flanks.