Washing the Spears - Rules for Wargaming Battles from the Zulu War, 1879

These rules for refighting battles from the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879 grew out of the previous set in this series, A Good Dusting, which received a very positive reception from gamers. They are designed with enjoyment between like-minded friends firmly to the fore, not competition play, and focus very much on throwing loads of dice and Washing the Spears in the process! Games should play out satisfactorily in two to three hours on a table about 7' x 4' or so. There is no figure, time or ground scale to worry about, just cut straight to the action 'somewhere in Zululand'.

The game mechanisms allow all players to take on commands within an Imperial force, with the Zulus controlled by all of the players in accordance with the auto generation and action rules. It is equally possible for two or more players to take on opposing Imperial and Zulu forces and play the game out conventionally. The rules aim to give you an enjoyable game where, if correctly handled and blessed by the dice gods, the Imperial forces should win. However, the Zulus are always in with a chance, especially when the close to combat with their opponents.

The full colour rules include 37 illustrations of action on the tabletop, units and individual character figures; a sample scenario to get you started straight away; a play sheet which can be photocopied; a short reading list; and a suggested list of figure manufacturers, in 28mm at least.