Lance Weller - 01:46pm Oct 3, 2003 PST (#3278 of 3295) 

Played through the first Assault Period of Zulu! solitaire this morning
and, after getting used to the mechanics (ie: lack of ZoCs, hexes, MPs,
attack/defense factors, etc) I found the game to play very smoothly.
It's also a lot of fun. 

Without getting into the minutia of a blow-by-blow, the highlights: 

Zulus opened with the iNdluyengwe imbutho deploying in Section 1 and
making a bee-line for the hospital and the South (wagon) wall. Much to
the chagrin and horror of the Brits, I realized I'd neglected to
garrison the hospital! Big Mistake. As Chard and a few others manfully
started trying to knock holes in the walls and get the Patients out, the
Zulus crowded the Hospital on two sides and started setting fires, with
the excess warriors mounting shock attacks against the South wall and
the wall north of the hospital. 

The southern attacks got nowhere while the Zulus easily overran the
north wall (the small area there only allows about 3 British units to
deploy there and they can't hold long in the face of determined
natives). 

By this time, half the hospital was afire but a goodly portion the
patients had been evauacted to the large area north of the Commissary
(except for poor Mayer who was resting abed until the door crashed in
and he was neatly ka-bobbed). Future Victoria Cross recipient Allen
heroically did his best to douse the flaming hospital but met with no
success--failing his roll again and again. And again. 

So, the Brits lhave lost the hospital, are driven from the North wall
with much bloodshed and maintain a shaky hold on the South wall when the
next Zulu iButho is deployed--the inDlondlo in Section 2. These warriors
head straight for the Commissary's south wall and the small kraal in the
south part of the mission. Good thing for the Zulus they arrived as the
inDluyengwes, having sustained 47 hits, Withdraw from the board. 

But, again, the Brits are in trouble since they've shifted a good # of
troops to the north part of the mission to deal with the earlier threat
there. The small kraal is easily overrun and there is some fierce
fighting in the commissary itself when warriors do a little wall-busting
of their own. Soldier Cole's small squad, cut off and unable to retreat,
is slaughtered to a man. The hospital patients are shifted, yet again,
to the main part of the compound and, just when it looks as though the
north wall will be overrun, the Zulus fail their Withdrawl roll and
leave the field with 41 hits against the inDlondlos. 

The second Assault Period, Night, comes next but both sides will have
the opportunity to lick their wounds first. Also, the still have a full
strength Ibutho, the uThulwana, to bring on-board from the north (the
last Section available for deployment). 

Mechanically, once you get your head wrapped around certain ideas, the
game plays very quickly. I was able to play out the first assault period
(half the game) in an hour-and-a-half. The game as a miniatures "feel"
to it that I like and graphically my only gripes are the hospital spaces
aren't large enough to accomodate the counters esepcially when you have
patients, fire-markers, soldiers, warriors and broken wall counters on
board. Also, there ARE no broken wall markers included in the
counter-mix so I had to come up with my own (the small counters from
Yaquinto's French Foreign Legion work well for this). 

I'm lance, that was my report. 

PS--don't forget to garrison the hospital.