"maximum/right manageable n° of natives figures for TSATF" Topic

Hello to all TSATF players and lead pile workers
With a too hot summer to paint i'm in the process or reviewing my painted/unpainted TSATF armies..i've begun with the natives..for some i certainly have too many..or at least many that i'll never finish to paint..so i was asking your opinion in order not to accumulate excess number of casting but, on the other hand, not risking to give away minis that could be usefel in the future..i said i would asking your advice on how many, in your personal game experience, maximum 28mm minis should those armies contain for be able to play various scenarios/campaign manageable in a wargame table :

Dervish:
Zulus:
NWF Tribesmen
Boxer/Chineese:
Boers:
Moros:
Arabs/Moroccans:

thanks so much

The ratio is generally 2 or 3 Native units to one British unit, the exception being Boers who are one to one. Native armies that have a good number of firearms ar eusually 2 to 1.

thanks Nick …but i was wondering, taking into account this ratio, which is the maximum number that could be managed in a table without being obliged to game in Villa Borghese (the equivalent of Central park in Rome) and without recruiting a full team of TSATF experts/gamers offering them every our some strong coffee..

Those ratios depend on the level of expertise of the players and the circumstances.
An inexperienced British player can lose in an even number game if he does nut understand how to play his forces.

The recommended ratio is in the rules, and I consider them highly optimistic.
Having said that, I will let you know how our Maiwand game this Saturday works out.

thanks..i understand…i was asking that because i should simply decide how many minis to keep and which ones, in case, to sell

Well when I had a 5x9 ft. ping pong table to game on, our TSATF games were generally 4 British units against 6 – 8 native units. If you really want to weed figures out, decide which ones give the best games and sell the others. Personally, I'd say the Zulus are the least interesting enemy and the Dervish the most interesting.

I agree Nick, Sudan is the best, I have a need to do this someday soon, must finish Crimean War first. Ratio, 5 dervish units per 2 imperial, with at least one unit with Remington's or Martini Henry's. I can't recall ever reading where those goofy jezail gravel shooters were used in any numbers.

How many units can your table support? We regularly play games with 100 vs 200-300 using the basic rules on a 5x10' table. We have also played large games of 250+ Brits vs 900+ (Zulu War). With 2 players the large games can be a bit much, but with 4 to 8 players they are doable. The key is having players who are at least familiar with the rules. That said, when we ran the Zulu game at Historicon only one or two players had even heard of TSATF. Still, the game went well because we had two GMs who knew the rules thoroughly and all had a grand time.

How many figures are enough? How much room do you have?

How many figures are enough? How much room do you have?

Too true.
I ran a few games of Gloire, a great game where there should be no more than 4 figures on the table. I ran games ("Rescue Roddy McCorley") with 50 per side. The mechanics allowed it, but…

We did Hlobane with 240 Zulu in 4 Ibutho against 1 unit of Boers (20), 3 units of irregular Cavalrey (12 ea) and a unit NNC (20)

but with a player for each, went really well

my probably oversized army is, maybe, the Mahdist one..as i did'nt resist to buy plastic Perry Ansar that, summed with my Conoisseur/Britannia/Warrior Ansars/Fuzzy and my Minifigs accuratly painted Jihadia riflemen(that i don't want to send in anticipated retirement) should raise up the total at about 14/15 TSATF units..probably i could consider that entire Armies composed only of Bejas/Fuzzy could be alternative to Armies of Ansar only..so this total could be split..
as regards to zulus..thanks for your info Dentwist..Hlobane seem to be a very difficult but interesting battle..i'll keep all of them..by chance your Boers, for this game purpose, were mounted or dismounted?

I think the Boers were mounted for that battle, weren't they? Not that they have to be for the game, of course…

Yes, and started Mounted, then dismounted, for a bit too long and were slaughtered.