Avernos' Rorke's Drift

Before getting into the rules, I’d just like to take a moment to talk about what these rules have been written for. This game is primarily my version of Rorke’s Drift a blend of the film Zulu and the historic action that is intended to be played by multiple players at Conventions and the like.

As such there may be things that skew gameplay in one way or another to achieve specific effects, it is also written to be played with The Men Who Would Be Kings on an 8×6 board.
If either of these things isn’t what you’re looking for then change them, it is after all only a game.

Forces.

The British forces are easy to field,each unit is a standard regular colonial force lead by one of the heroes of Rorke’s Drift, my initial game was written for 6 British units, now I have 8 units for larger games with some stat changes, copies of each are included in the files at the end of this post.
The Zulu impis are a little more complicated, but only a little. The most important thing is that you will want to field 1 “regiment” less than the number of British units. I use the word regiment because with one exception each regiment is two standard tribal infantry units, the exception being the snipers on the Oskerberg ridge.

Activation.

Each unit (or regiment for the Zulu) has an assigned card these are shuffled and drawn randomly. When a card is drawn the corresponding unit activates as per the normal rules from TMWWBK. After the activation is complete a new card is drawn and this continues until all cards have been played. This constitutes a game turn after which all cards are shuffled together and the procedure is repeated.

Playing Cards on Zulu Regiments works slightly differently. The snipers play out as normal, but every other regiment has one card for two units. This gives Zulu players weight of numbers but also reflects the piecemeal attacks and somewhat disorganised assaults.
However, we don’t want to turn this into a shooting exercise for the British so to balance this if both units from the same regiment start with models within 4″ of each other they may make a group Move or At the Double action with both units activating on a single card. Note the units do not need to end within 4″ of each other only begin the activation within range.

The Joker is a special card that can be played on any Zulu regiment. It counts as being the regiments activation card. This allows them to take a second Action of any kind that it is normally allowed. Including the new Recycling Action.

Recycling

The Zulu Impis didn’t attack all at once, but their numbers were such that they were able to keep a sustained assault throughout the twelve hours. To represent this a regiment can use a card (theirs or the Joker) to recycle units.
Cards are played in one of two ways. A single unit on the table can be removed regardless of its current status or position.
A Full unit that is off table can be returned to the tabletop from either a board edge or from behind a Screening Unit (below). If both units from a single regiment are off table they both may be deployed as a group. Deploying from a board edge allows the unit, or regiment, to take a Move Action (not At the Double) moving up to their maximum allowed speed.
If deployed behind a Screening Unit they are placed 6″ to the rear of the unit placing models so they do not project beyond the footprint of the Screening Unit and this counts as their full Action for the card.
Regiments deployed in this way must remain in cohesion but otherwise, you may place them any way you see fit.

Screening Units

Any unpinned unit that consists of at least 50% of their starting models within 6″ of a British unit may be used to screen the deployment of recycled Zulu units and regiments.
The Screening Unit may not have British Units to their “rear” to check this draw an imaginary line across the front of the unit as long as all the British units are in front of this line recycled units may be deployed to the rear.
Line of Sight is not a factor, however, so if other British units are in a position to target the newly deployed Zulus they may still be deployed.

Removing Cards from the deck.

If a British unit is destroyed their card is discarded after it is drawn and a new card is played instead. If using the optional rule (pg38) Taking Command of Leaderless Troops the lower the card for the absorbed unit is discarded. Because the British regular army was tightly structured you may want to allow any units to mob up even if their leader is still alive, in which case the lowest ranking officer’s card and activation card are placed to one side. If that unit suffers a Leader casualty subsequently then those cards are swapped rather than leaving the unit Leaderless, as the lower rank once more steps up to take control.