Zulu War British

 For my African gaming I've previously focused on WWI era East Africa. But with the release of "Death in the Dark Continent" and it's large variety of armies, I thought it was time to move a bit father back into the Victorian era.   A few years ago I had an order from Warlord go missing, and they were kind enough to throw in a few free sprues of their Zulu War British with the replacement package. Though they wouldn't have been my first choice for a new army (I would have preferred Sudan era troops), who am I to look a gift horse in the mouth. 

Looking at online references, there seems to be a lot of variety in the red and blue shades people are using for the uniforms.  I eventually settled on the following Vallejo color triads:

Red 70926, Carmine Red 70908, Scarlet 70817
Black 70950, Dark Sea Blue 70898, Dark Sea Blue/Field Blue 70964 Mix

The sprue doesn't come with a ton of options, which is a tad disappointing considering there seems to have been enough open space to add more.  I would have liked to see a couple of more heads and arm variants, such as can be found on the new Perry set. 

 Warlord does not have a plastic command sprue like the Perry set, so you're forced to buy command from elsewhere.  I had read the plastic figures were designed to match the Empress Zulu War range, so got a pack of their officers. They are a bit more slight with thinner bases, but I think they'll blend in fine once painted.

While Perry's seem to be the better of the two sets, overall I am happy with the final figures.  Warlord recently had a 50% off sale on loose sprues so I went ahead and picked up another squad (plus some Natal warriors).  Northstar is also working on a VSF set of rules, so I expect these will be pressed into service there as well. 

VSF Game with Sactanks Group

Over the holiday weekend I went up to Sacramento to visit family and was invited by Skrapwelder to join the Sactanks group for a VSF game using the Martian Empires rules.

Rather than a Martian invasion, this battle was set in the Harry Turtledove "Southern Victory" world. Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his troops were tasked with holding the Montana border against a British invasion from Canada.

The setup at the start of the game.  The American defensive line is on the left, and the British and Canadian forces  gather on the right to start their push.

I was tasked with holding the center against two light tanks and British postal troops. The Gatling guns proved ineffective against the tanks, and the infantry had partaken of a bit too much whiskey to hit anything.Some British lancers  came down the road and engaged one of my units in hand-to-hand combat

British and Canadian dead litter our left flank, but of their steam coaches managed to get across the line.

My unit finally managed to come out of its drunken stupor (either that or they got the lancers drunk), and managed to hold out for  five rounds of combat, delaying the British advance.

However, they eventually broke, leaving a gap in the line that the British began exploiting.

On our right flank, an American areonef arrived, drawing the attention of the British tanks and lessening the pressure on our infantry.  This is a beautiful scratch built model by Skrapwelder.

I had managed to drive back the postal troops, but they were rallied by an officer and came back with a vengeance.  Eventually I was down to just the Gatling guns, which were overrun in the flank.

Our areonef managed to disable the British heavy tank, but eventually was unable to steer after being hit by both light tanks.

At the end of the night six British units had made it across, but we inflicted enough casualties for it to still be an American victory.

Overall it was a lot of fun, and it was great to meet Skrapwelder, Leadfool,  Alfrik, and some of their other club members.  Hopefully I can work it into my schedule to visit again.