The Men who would be Kings: Passing By
I invited my friend Aaron over the other day to try our first game(excluding my solo game) of "The Men Who Would Be Kings" Kati decided to be the Ref and recorded for the game. Aaron and I rolled off to see who would be Brits/Zulus and I was awarded the Zulus. we used the point system in the book and took the basic "suggested" list for the Zulu War.
The British force consisted of:
3 Regular Infantry units (12 men)
1 unit of Irregular Cavalry (8 men)
1 unit of Unenthusiastic Tribal infantry, NNC (16 men)
Just a side note this is the first game I have played that treats the NNC the same as Zulu units and while I think it may be an accurate representation its hard to get used to them not having a range advantage. If I remember correctly though only one in ten men had a rifle so I think it's fine.
The Zulu force consisted of:
3 unmarried units (16men)
3 married units (16 men)
The differences between the two are that the unmarried units have a better attack a 4+ compared to a 5+ and the married units are veterans and have a +1 discipline compared to a 0, Not a huge difference but enough to make them feel and play a little different.
We made up this movement trays for games of Black powder and while made for 20 guys I couldn't resist being lazy and using them.
Visually the unmarried units have either black shields or a mixed of shields and all the married units have brown shields.
I forgot to take my traditional battlefield layout picture so the initial deployment will have to due. the Scenario is pretty straight forward you both start touching the board edge catty-corner from each other and points are rewarded for getting off the table on the opposite side and for killing enemy units.
As you can see I started my men in a pretty basic formation.
Aaron started his fanned out a bit.
First turn went to the British, the cavalry and one unit of regs were the only ones to make their leadership roll.
After failing my first at the double roll I decided to start taking advantage of the tribal units free action which is a regular move. I knew I would need to leave some men behind as a block unit so moved two units north.
Turn two saw the Brits moving steadily up the field.
The Zulu doing the same.
Turn three would be more of the same. Aaron would form up his southern most unit into close order and I hid one unit of men in the Rocks near the camp.
turn 4 saw the action really start. The Brtish formed up and prepared for an assault in the center. The southern most unit peppered my married unit killing 3 guys but didn't get the pin on them. So I did what I had to do!
I followed the first assault with another from out of the trees and was able to wipe out the center unit of regulars. The cost was high as I was left with 2 units bloodied from the melee.
on the next turn, I made my intentions pretty clear...
The regulars used the skirmish action to back up and score a pin on one of my units.
Aaron was also able to hit my first wave with a sharp volley while he moved his cavalry up the field.
My center began to crumble.
I try for a charge and come just short....not good.
The cavalry engaged one of my "defense" units and it doesn't go well for the Zulu. Cavalry have a huge advantage in melee with infantry.
The Zulu are starting to weaver at this point but continue to fight on.
Cavalry engages a second unit which is starting to wear them down.
I lose another unit to a rally test but follow it up with an assault.
The assault leaves my last unit in the are crippled.
The cavalry making their exit.
The final melee of the game sees my last unit wiped in a melee with the NNC as the rest of the British march off the table. The final score is 16 to 1 British coming out way on top.
Final thoughts, while the Brits won there was a point where it looked like anyone's game. We felt that it played great and "felt" right for the period. The first few turns went fast and the whole game was over in an hour and a half. At this point, TMWWBK seems like a winner what it lacks in some depth it more than makes up for in its fast and rewarding style.
My first time using the tribal infantry was quite the learning experience and I am excited to start some "listing" for future games as I found that the unmarried 4+ attack trumped the married 1+ discipline but I am sure that is personal preference.
