Merry Christmas!

The Fighting Retreat to Dusters' Drift

Our Colonial game this week was a LOT of fun!  It saw a British Column, led by the 3rd Foot & Mouth Regiment (Major Backsight commanding) conducting a fighting retreat to the small logistics base at Dusters' Drift. Opposing them were the Impis of Zulu noble Oomagooglies (the Zulu King's cousin twice removed, on his mother' side).

  I've done something a bit different and stitched together a video of the after action dispatches!
 

"We come on the orders of the Great White Queen!"

My Imperial Force

As promised, here is the British and Boer forces for the Zulu war.  The British Cavalry bore the worst of the damage to their lances and swords but otherwise this whole thing is a testament to the wonderful Testors' dullcoat - and always use two coats! The lad helped me build this - my first wargaming video. Its a but self indulgent but it was fun to make For those who prefer stills, here are the key ones.

24th Foot: The Thin Red Line

The 60th Rifles

Stout lads of the Naval Brigade - with Gatling Gun!

Fire support of the Royal Artillery

Breach loading 9pdr - note the VC on the right most figure (painted on during a game in which this gun, down to the last man, held off and then broke the last Zulu Regiment to claim the day!)

British Cavalry - 17th Lancers and Hussars

Boer Irregulars

Hoping to get them onto a table for some action shortly!

Lord Chelmsford and the senior staff

"Zulus Sah! Fousands of 'em!"

Massed warriors (around 350 of them)- how a Zulu Impi should look!

This is a post some 24 years in the making. Some time ago I quite enjoyed Colonial gaming and the Zulu War was my conflict of choice.  Some mates and I put together armies in 15mm and had a great time.  Early in 1994 I had a major life change and the figs were packed away.  I've since moved house some 18 times and the figs have remained unopened; the awful noises that came from the box made me shy away.  Then last week when there was interest at the club about doing some Colonial gaming and I realised I (might) have all the figures.  Depending on how they fared at least. Here is what greeted me once I plucked up the courage to open the Zulu Box...

The Horror... The Horror...

And after 23 years this was the sum total of damage - other than bent spears and knoberries which needed reshaping

The vast majority of these figs, if not all, are from Essex 15mm colonial range

Usuthu!!!

I love the warrior in the bottom right corner wearing a captured British flag as a trophy!

And if one of going to cross the Buffalo River into Zululand, you need some terrain to fight over right?

Semblance of a small veldt hamlet named after an Irishman

British tentage and a Kraal

Next Up: The British and their Boer allies.

Nemo's War 2nd Ed Arrives!

A year without a post here at the blog? Goodness me, what was I thinking? Entombed in a submersible vehicle with a mysterious Captain of unknown origin I was. Lucky I have now resurfaced with the arrival of Nemo's War 2nd Edition - and worth waiting for it was too!

I'll do a full review in due course but first impressions are: WoW! The opponents are fantastic and this game has gotten the warranted lavish attention it deserves. Its clear from the multiple victory conditions, difficulty levels, upgrade options, counter mix and large card deck that this game has lots of replayability too.  Games are reported to last 1 to 1.5 hrs in length.

Non KS backers will appreciate that the vast majority of rewards were realised in upgrades to the core game, so with the loss of only two token bags you get everything else. One particularly nice addition is the plastic Nautilus model instead of a counter.  Pics of some very nicely painted ones are appearing at BGG and with only the one model to do it wont take as long as your other wargaming forces!

And finally, I really liked the attention put into the ship counter mix.  The Warships are all historical with accurate silhouettes etc, building a greater level of enjoyment than generic Frigate/Cruiser etc. And I was thrilled to see a certain Victorian Monitor make an appearance!

And finally, this new edition has a co-op version allowing it be be expended from solo play up to 4 players. Haven't tried it yet but it sounds interesting - I love coop games.

So first impressions are: Well worth the wait! And there are already rumours of booster packs being developed by the authors with additional cards, motivations and crew counters...

EDIT: A rumour no longer - play testing has already commenced!
https://www.victorypointgames.com/news/nemo-booster-packs-playtesting/