Pearson's raid: ZULU war 1879

Pearson's Raid: Zulu War Black Powder

Tonight Kati and I tried a homemade scenario based on a raid that Pearson had his men do while in Eshowe.  I have been doing research trying to find some unique battles or skirmishes from the war.   What follows is the Scenario that I wrote up Using Warlord Games Black Powder ruleset, then a brief battle report of the two times we tried it.

 The raid on the Fortified Kraal of Dabulamanzi

During the siege of Eshowe, Colonel Pearson felt he needed to lift spirits and break up the monotony of garrison life so he approve a series of raids out of the mission. The first of which was burning the nearby kraal of Dabulamanzi. This was carried out by a small group of troops relatively easily.

Rather than fight out the successful burning of the Kraal, this scenario represents the fighting escape the British made from the raid as described by James Grant in his contemporary account of the war. After burning the Kraal, the British raiding force was pursued by a large Zulu force through a wood (among other terrain ). While the man body of Zulu followed directly behind another smaller group attempted to attack the flank of the unit which was replied by a group of mounted scouts who were noted for how accurate their fire was and they were able to hold back the flank attack. After this a running fire was kept up until the fort was reached.

British order of battle

100 men of the 3rd and 99^th regiment (50 each)

25 men of the Naval Brigade

1 Gatling gun(naval)

group of mounted scouts, Rowden's crack shots

Zulu

2000 men

Black powder Order of battle

British

Commander (8)

Company of 3^rd: regular

Company of 99^th: regular

naval brigade: Small unit

Rowden's scouts: small Cavalry

Gatling Gun

Zulu

Main force

Brigade 1

commander(8)

3 units regular

Brigade 2

Commander(8)

3 units regulars

Flank attack

Commander (8)

2 units skirmishers

Setup and Rules

the board is a 6x4 table with sporadic tree cover and dungas

8 turns

The British are in column and arranged as depicted on the map

the Zulu Flank Attack enters on turn 1 24” in on the north/top side of the table from the east/right side of the table.

the Zulu Main force may enter on a odd number d6 rule starting turn 2

Objectives

the British player most exit on the east/right side of the table with at least 50% of his force

The Zulu must destroy at least 51% of the British force

The Zulu go first

British Army stats

Unit	Type	Armament	Hand to Hand	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
3rd & 99th	Inf	Breech-loading Rifles	6	4	4 up	3	Steady, Stubborn
Naval Brigade	Inf	Breech-loading Rifles	3	2	4 up	2	Small, Steady, Stubborn
Scouts	Cav	Breech-loading Carbines	3	2	4 up	2	Small, sharpshooter Marauder
Gatling Gun	Arty	Gatling Gun	1	Special	4 up	1	Stubborn

Zulu stats

Unit	Type	Armament	Hand to Hand	Shooting	Morale	Stamina	Special
Zulu	Inf	Spear and Smooth bore Musket	6	1	4	3	Bloodthirsty, Warband
Skirmishers	Irreg	Rifled musket and spear	5	2	4	2	Skirmish

First test run(super short)

This is the step up we did for the first run of the game.

The Zulu skirmishers entered the table and I dismounted my scouts to lay down some fire

They quickly made short work of my scouts, but as you can see the column moved right along.

The main Zulu force arrived...just in time to see my men roll a 3 for a command roll and walk right off the table.  Game ended on turn 3 and looks very similar to the real life events.

Test run 2

For this run we moved the British back a bit and gave the Zulu main force the chance to arrive starting turn 2.

Skirmishers enter as planned.  But this time my scouts refuse to move to intercept.

Thanks to another botched command roll the column ends turn one looking like this. the 99th and the Gatling gun moved and everyone else stalled out.  Will the Zulu enter on turn 2?....I hope not.

Half of  the main force enters and attacks the column.

Now surprisingly,  this melee will last 3 turns as the British hold their ground thanks to auto passing their first break test.  But alas the Naval unit breaks followed by a zulu unit and finally the 3rd falls.

On the other side of the table the rest of the column makes a run for it.  If I can get them off the table I can still win.

The Skirmishers take advantage of my staying in column and hit the Gatling gun.

Then they surround the column ending this game with a very different outcome than real life events.

So after 2 runs we think it turned out just OK.  We need to work on the extremely random movement that comes with the BP command system.  We are also thinking about trying it using Sharp Practice because it might play better.  Either way it was fun to research a little known raid from the Zulu War.