"Rules for 10mm Zulu War" Topic

I was fortunate enough to recently come accross a boat load 10mm Zulus, British, and a 10mm resin Rouke's Drift set for cheap. I'm soliciting suggestions of a set of simple rules designed for smaller miniatures or adaptations of rules written for larger sized minis that I could use for a Rourke's Drift scenario.

I know this is a pretty vague request, but I'm pretty much open to anything. I'm intrigued by the possibility of fighting the Drift on a 4x4 table with itsy-bitsy miniatures. Of course one of the most limiting factors is the amount of area inside the compound (with has building with removeable roofs and individual rooms.

I'm soliciting suggestions of a set of simple rules designed for smaller miniatures or adaptations of rules written for larger sized minis

Most rules are pretty much size agnostic.

I would suggest Black Powder?

Howard Whitehouse published a set of ancient rules called Clash of Iron some years ago. This was the best set I've ever used for the Zulu Wars.

It was card driven in terms of whose turn it was but the mechanism allowed you to either move your troops or bolster their stats.

Howard Whitehouse published a set of ancient rules called Clash of Iron some years ago.

I thought that was his Rome v Gauls game. Card driven yes. But late Roman Republic.

Try PDF link A simple set from the old 10mmworld site.

Battles For Empire 2 is a very good set of rules for the colonial period. Each group of four stands represents a company of Imperial troops or around 100 natives. Some of the mechanics are similar to Fire and Fury, but in my estimation this set of rules does the best job of simulating that "lava" like flow of native attacks and sudden rushes.

What is the basing scheme for BFE2? Can I fight a skirmish in a compound like Rouke's Drift or a kraal? (I'm just thinking of the practicality of using big bases in a small area.)

I was looking at my copy BP last night and considering halving all the movement and ranges. The problem with some rules is that they simply don't scale well, though. I think BP might and I've seem that some people use it when I was surfing for info last night.

Regardless of it's value for other periods, I've found BP to be horrible for Colonials, especially the Zulu War – it gets the balance between fire and shock all wrong for the period. Although, given it's popularity, there may be house rules out there somewhere. I wouldn't run it by-the-book though.

BfE is more of a big battle set, although it is very good. For Rorke's Drift I would use the venerable but enduring The Sword and the Flame. I play them with 10mm figures mounted on 20-25mm stands, and simply count 1 stand as 1 figure per the rules. It plays the same, and looks great.

My own rules are also more for large actions, as they were designed for actions generated by our Zulu War campaign. The link above (thanks for the props!) is dead, but here is a working one:
tiny.cc/k986ix

Cheers,

Christopher

With BP – I am thinking of using cm instead of inches, with 2cm square bases. This gives a huge playing area on a normal WG table.

There are several small scale scenarios for the Zulu War for BFE @, but it definitely is not a skirmish game. As stated above TSATF is the best set for that approach. In BFE you can pack as many figures as you want on the bases.

I've found BP to be horrible for Colonials, especially the Zulu War – it gets the balance between fire and shock all wrong for the period. Although, given it's popularity, there may be house rules out there somewhere.

Indeed. The suggested change for Zulu Wars is:
"British infantry had their shooting and melee stats swapped. So now they roll 6 dice for shooting and 3 for melee."
link

I've used Fields of Honor (now OOP). I've also used modified Fire & Fury for my Isandlawana game and it works really well. These are both for bigger battles though.

For Rourke's Drift I might consider using Sharp Practice.

"I thought that was his Rome v Gauls game. Card driven yes. But late Roman Republic."

It really works better for Zulu wars than anything else I've tried for them.

I agree that while I like Black Powder we have had a tough time using it for Zulu Wars. I have the new supplement but haven't used it yet, perhaps that will make it better.

Basing in BFE works on the principle of a 4 base Imperial unit in line is the same width as a 4 base native unit in a 2x2 formation

So if your imperial troops are based on 40mm wide bases then natives troops are based on 80mm wide bases

I am a big fan of BFE but I think you would have to tinker with the rules in order to do Rourke's Drift given the small space within the compound

There are some excellent scenarios for the bigger battles

It's worth getting hold of the Zulus War Colonial Campaign book by Mark Fastoso and Roy Jones. Although geared to TSATF it is easy to translate into other rulesets

This has a RD scenario
Thia

I have some custom/simple Zulu rules on my blog, as well as pics of past 10mm games. Email me if you have problems downloading the rules.

link

David G.
dglennjr@yahoo.com