by Billy Riley, 17 September 2020 ~ #UnboxingDay
There are some battles in history that draw a certain respect due to the adversity faced.
The 6 Day War with an almost defenceless Israel and rapid, massive deployment turning certain defeat from a larger enemy into an unexpected victory.
Victoria Cross II
The Battles of Rorke’s Drift and Isandlwana
Worthington Games
The Falklands Conflict where a numerically superior, entrenched invader was ousted by a smaller force at the absolute limit of it’s supply chain, with minimal air support.
This game contains two others – The Battle of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift. I have to forget the imperialism that was going on at the time in order to not feel guilty about my respect for these battles.
Isandlwana was a small professional British force (circa 2000 troops), well armed with artillery and arrogant commanders facing a much larger (circa 15,000) Zulu warriors.
Rorke’s Drift was an even smaller professional British force (circa 150) with decent commanders facing a smaller enemy force than was at Isandlwana but still considerably outnumbered by their enemy (circa 4000).
These battles capture my imagination and respect because of the adversity faced by them. The Zulu’s at Isandlwana and their brave warriors charging a very respected, professional, well armed British force – who had artillery – one of the most feared weapons of the rifle age – and the British at Rorke’s Drift – watching thousands of Zulu warriors charge them with no fear.
So what I’m trying to say is – this game is right up my alley (and no – I don’t know why I haven’t bought a game on the 6 Day War – yet!)
click images to enlarge
Box Art
Displays the battle very well. The cover is of Rorke’s Drift. It perfectly portrays the desperation the British were feeling with such an onslaught of brave warriors.
Box – Rear
The rear of the box shows the maps provided in the game, a sample of the counters and gives a brief description of both battles
Rules
The 16 page rules book is very light – coming in at 9 pages for the core rules with some optional rules following. Some solitaire notes and examples of play following.
Inside shows some nicely laid out rules with specific rules for Rorke’s Drift being bordered in red and Isandlwana rules being highlighted in a brown box…all very clear
Player Aid Card
There’s two of these – pretty standard – not the same though
Turn Charts
Counter Sheets
I have to say, I think these are beautiful. There are 3 of them and the numbers on the Zulu counters do fill you with some trepidation
The counters are all rounded and fit nicely back into the frame used to cart them around. This is similar to the counter system used in the Conflict of Heroes series.
Counter Tray and Dice
There’s lots of dice – you need them due to the number of Zulu – and a nice tray to keep the counters in.
Isandlwana Map
Absolutely beautiful. Not over detailed and does seem to fit with maps of those days – at least it looks like a hand drawn tactical map
Rorke’s Drift Map
And the beautiful Rorke’s Drift map. Again – functional, like a drawn tactical map
And that’s it. The rule book is easy going to read, nicely laid out and there’s not a whole lot to absorb. Even I’m finding it easy to read – and that’s an area of board gaming I normally struggle with
The components are of very high quality and really scream out the era.
I can’t wait to get this to the table.
Thanks for joining this month’s #UnboxingDay with the Armchair Dragoons and we hope you enjoyed our recon of our recent acquisitions.
You can always leave us your feedback in our #UnboxingDay thread, or in the comment area on this article, below.
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