As a wargamer of many years standing I have always been interested in colonial warfare. The problem has always been the rules. There are rules out there that cater for smaller battles but I wanted to game big battles with lots of figures. A number of years ago I came across the 'Battles for Empire' rules by Chris Leach. Initially I didn't pay much attention to them but realised after a short while that they were very good. There were subtleties in them that gave a really good game. Naturally like every wargamer I altered them slightly. I included purely skirmish units.

Over the last few years we as a club (The Sons of Simon DeMontfort, based near Loughborough, Leicestershire) have played almost all the battles of the Zulu War. The problem with these engagements is that the Zulus didn't have a chance in most of them and the British didn't at Isandlwana. So in all these I changed things slightly to even things up; and so I did at Kambula.

The Campaign

I do not intend to give a potted history of the campaign. Basically a pretext was found to attack the Zulu Kingdom and it was invaded by 3 main columns under Lord Chelmsford. The centre column lost half its force at Isandlwana and retreated. The right column was surrounded and beseiged in the abandoned mission at Eshowe. It is the left column which concerns us. On the 28th March 1879 the commander of the left column, Col. Wood VC sent his light horse and native troops to raid the stronghold at Hlobane Mountain. This was held by a subject ally of the Zulus, the Abaqulusi tribe. It was a tough fight that went vey badly wrong when the main Zulu Royal army appeared. The British lost some light horse and almost all their natives. The remainder returned the column base at Kambula, where in reality the next day the Zulu army launch a series of uncoordinated attacks on the British who were dug in, and were mauled. I don't think the Zulus ever recovered from this battle.

The Battle

It is here where I have changed history. After the return of the remnants from Hlobane Mountain, instead of staying at the camp, a decision was taken to withdraw across the border into Natal.The table we used was 10'x6'

Map of Battle

Orders of Battle

British

Mounted Force

Lt Col. Redvers Henry Buller VC

1 Squadron of Mounted Infantry

1 Squadron of Natal Native Horse.(Sikahli)

4 Squadrons of Colonial Light Horse

All are reg. All are 1st Class shots when dismounted (apart from the Natives who are 2nd class)

All are 3rd class shots if firing mounted (apart from the mounted infantry, who cannot fire mounted)

All can deploy anywhere within 24'' of A.

All can sustain 4 hits

British Main Body

Colonel Henry Evelyn Wood VC; Colonel Philip Gilbert; Major Robert Hackett

5 companies of the 90th Foot (Perthshire volunteers)

5 companies of the 13th Foot (Somerset Light Infantry)

All are first class shots, can rapid fire and can sustain 5 hits.

Woods Native Auxiliaries 1 massed native unit. 3rd class shots.

N battery 3rd Brigade Royal Artillery--2 models

Spare guns--1 model.

All artillery is 1st class artillery

Royal artillery rocket battery--3rd class artillery

3 ammo mules

8 wagons.

All are regular except the 13th Foot who are elite.

All can sustain 4 hits except the British infantry which is 5 and gun crews which are 2.

Deploy within 12'' of A. A total of 2300 men for the whole force.

Need to get off at C.

Zulus

A great deal of detail of some of the units present and strengths is pure guesswork, it is there to provide a game more, as opposed to a serious study of the battle.

Local Forces

4 Skirmish units of Abaqulusi, I local chief.

3rd class shots, reg. can take 4 hits

Deploy in the hills south of C, 6'' in.

The Zulu army was organised in their usual formation of Left Horn Right Horn Chest and Loins. The Chest was the main body designed to fix the enemy whilst the horns enclosed it. The Loins was the reserve.

Chest

Chief Induna Ntshingwayo

Udhloko Regiment (savages) 4 massed units 1 skirmish unit

Thulwana Regiment (dust raisers) 4 massed units 1 skirmish units ELITE

Indluyengwe Regiment (leopards lair) 3 massed units

Isanqu Regiment (white tails) 2 massed units 1 skirmish unit

Ndhlondhlo Regiment (poisonous snakes) 3 massed units 1 skirmish unit.

7400 men

Loins

Induna Mnyamana

Ududu Regiment (from Nodwngu) 2 massed units

Mbube Regiment 3 massed units 1 skirmish unit

Uve Regiment (uve bird) 5 massed units 1 skirmish unit

Mzinyati Regiment (buffalo village) 1 massed unit

5000 men.

Right horn

Induna Mavumengwana

Ingobamakhosi Regiment (the bender of kings) 6 massed units 1 skirmish unit ELITE

Iqwa Regiment (frost) 2 massed units 1 skirmish unit

Ngulube Regiment (cockroaches) 3 massed units 1 skirmish unit

5200 men

Left horn

Induna Zibhebhin Ka Mapitha

Khandempemvu Regiment (sharp points) 3 massed units

Mbonambi Regiment (wild men) 2 massed units

Nokhenke Regiment 3 massed units 1 skirmish unit

Umxhapo Regiment (mongrels) 2 massed units 1 skirmish units

4500 men

Unless shown all zulus are regular, can take 4 hits and are 3rd class shots

Deployment

Turn 1 Ingobamakhosi 6'' in on C

Turn 2 Iqwa as above

Turn 3 Ngulube on 1d6 1-3:C, 4-6:D

Turn 5 Khandempemvu and Mbonambi 1d6 1-3:E, 4-6:F

Turn 6 the rest of the Left Horn as above.

Turn 7 Udhloko and Thulwana of the Chest each 6'' in 1d6 1,2:G, 3,4:H, 5,6:I

Turn 9 Indluyengwe, Isanqu, Ndhlondhlo each roll 1d6 4-6 come on as above. Roll for each Regiment.

Turn 10 All remaining Chest come on as above.

Turn 11 Uve from the Loins roll 1d6 if 6 throw again 1-3:J, 4-6:K; if not roll as Chest.

Turn 12. Bring on Uve if it did not come in on 11.

Turn 13 1d6 rest of Loins where Uve came on if 5,6 thrown. subsequent turns add 1.

Refight

8 members of my club fought the above described game on the 17th January this year. 3 players took the part of the British and 5 of the Zulus.

Like the real battle the Right Horn attacked first. The Zulu commanders played a cautious game here and after deployment went to ground and employed skirmishers.

The British thought it was the main Zulu Chest they were facing and deployed most of their forces as the expected more Chest units and the Loins to appear.

On turn 5 the left horn appeared.

The British had made good use of their light horse to scout and had seen these columns approaching the battlefield (I was the umpire, I told them)

The Left horn quickly became embroiled in a close fight and both sides started to lose heavily. Some Zulu units here started to break around the flank of the deployed British infantry. Dismounted light horse stated to have an affect here. Meanwhile the Iqwa and Ngulube Regiments had moved to their left and engaged the 13th Foot.

At this stage the game was evenly matched. It appeared however that the British infantry and artillery were too thinly stretched with no reserve. When the Chest and then the Loins arrived the few units drawn from the British line could not stem the tide and eventually a flank attack by Thulwana helped destroy all companies of the 13th with Col. Gilbert dying amongst his men.

Zulu units then pressed in from all sides and the defensive formation broke up into parts. Col Buller was killed with his men and Maj. Hackett also went down.

Eventually only 1 company remained with Col. Wood, they died also.

The British had not formed any real defensive position facing the Chest and it was able to break into the back of the Force. The entire British force was destroyed apart from 2 units of Light Horse which wisely fled the field. However they had done some real damage as the Zulus lost about 4000 men, men they could not replace.

It looks a disaster from the British perspective, however it is a difficult game to win; a lot is anticipating the arrival of Zulu forces and holding a reserve.

It was a very enjoyable game that lasted about 5 hours. The rules worked really well, especially as I have worked in all the recent updates and new rules, they give a real flow to the game. I would recommend players try BFE rules; using them gives me an opportunity to deploy about 1000 15mm Zulu figures, not something you can do with most rules.

.....It's the Sudan next.

THE SONS OF SIMON DE MONTFORT

Battle of Kambula, 28th March, 1879