Redvers’ Reverse A Legion Wargames game by Geoff Noble and Godfrey Bailey “I was sold by a damned gunner!” Context and premise of the game Redvers' Reverse puts you into the polished boots of Redvers Bulleri as you lead a great army of British troops on their way to relieve Ladysmith; the eyes of the British Empire are upon you. General Buller left Chieveley Camp that morning with 16,000 soldiers in 4 infantry brigades, with 2,600 mounted men and with 30 guns of the Field Artillery, to which was added a formidable complement of naval guns - 14 12-pounder and 2 huge quick-firing 4.7-inch guns from H.M.S. Terrible. The latter were dragged by great teams of oxen. The last time such a great force had been fielded by any nation was 45 years earlier when, during the Crimean War, Lord Raglan took 26,000 infantry, 1,000 cavalry and 60 guns into action at the Alma River. Ahead of you lies the Tugela River, 70 to 90 metres wide, which you must cross, possibly under fire from Boers who may be hidden on the other side, or who perhaps are not there at all. You haven’t reconnoitred the river so you don’t know where the driftsii are, and you haven’t sent scouts to take a shufti at the land on the other side to see if Boers are loitering about. Instead you’ve been shelling the empty hillsides for 2 days, to no obvious effectiii. You have at least heard that before you arrived, the Boers blew the railway bridge, though the road bridge to the west of Colenso is still standing. Before dawn you start the advance on the river. Your orders take time to reach your subordinates, who sometimes simply ignore them, and after the two-day delay shooting at shadows, you’re in a bit of a hurry to reach the besieged garrison half a day’s march north. Geoff Noble’s design notes on page 12 of the rulebook give important background to the battle, the game and the design. General remarks The game allows for you to combine 8 “negative” variants with each other and 10 “positive” ones, with the proviso that the positive and negative points balance to 0, so hundreds of variants are possible. This version of the rules only refers to a small number of variants that change a rule. The game uses the Turn & Status track not just to keep track of the turns (and the status) but also to store up events that you won’t resolve immediately but that wait for future turns. It’s therefore essential to remember to move the Turn token along the track at the start of each move. When the rules ask you to select an area according to certain criteria, and more than one area satisfies them, you decide. Nomenclature The rules refer to Buller, Longiv, and the leadersv. If leaders are killed in battle, they are replaced by anonymous subordinates (shown by turning their tokens over); Buller and Long are not replaced (the backs of their tokens are blank). British officers (other than Buller and Long) show a letter A for Aggressive, B for Good, and C for Cautious, temperaments that influence their tendency to charge to the guns, follow orders, or ignore them. A brigade is commanded by a leader and comprises units that may be battalions (of infantry), regiments (of cavalry) and batteries (of guns). The map is divided into areas by parallel white lines. Distance (movement and range) between area a and b is given by the fewest number of parallel grey lines you must cross to get from a to b. Drifts (fords) and bridges are symbolised by squares. These are also treated as areas delineated by parallel lines. If a bridge or drift joins a and b, the range from a to b is 1 (the river counts as a single set of parallel lines), but the distance is 2, since units must enter the bridge or drift from a (1 set of lines) and leave it to enter b (a second set of lines). The rules refer to Boer zones. Zone A comprises the 5 areas abutting the northern, red edge of the map from Red Hill to the Tugela River. Zone B comprises all the other areas north of the river together with the drifts and bridges. Zone C comprises areas south of the river. The rules refer to emplacements, which are positions that the Boers have prepared for protection against hostile fire. Emplacements are shown on the map as rectangles with the name of the commandos that start in that area. These emplacements are fixed features of the landscape and may change hands during the battle. They modify dice rolls throughout the game. The rules also refer to emplacement markers showing “hidden” or “captured”. These markers have a Union flag on the reverse. The “hidden” markers remain in place, and contribute to modifying dice rolls, until a Boer unit fires from that area, after which you remove the marker from that area. The Boers can win back a “captured” emplacement from the British. You draw chits from cups, place markers on tracks, map areas and also on the tokens that represent units, and you use counters to keep track of quantities. The tokens for Boer commandos show a single digit, representing its fire power, or strength. Boer commandos can move from the area they occupy to an adjacent area (that is, they have a movement point of 1) each turn. Boer artillery never moves.

Rules reformulated by Martin Sharman March revised April 2021 The tokens for British battalions, regiments and batteries show the name of the unit at the top, on a strip whose colour corresponds to its brigade. The two numerals represent strength (firepower) on the left and capacity for movement on the right. On the reverse of a battalion token, the strength is lower, representing a depleted battalion. One side of the regimental tokens show strength and movement points when mounted, and the reverse shows the statistics when dismounted. Batteries have strength but no movement on the side representing unlimbered guns, and movement but no strength on the limbered (mobile and attached to horses) side. Leader tokens bear their names on the obverse and “Replacement” on the reverse. To the right of the letter A, B or C that represents their temperament, the numeral represents their capacity for movement. The British HQ is operative when the numeral 2 is face down, and ready to move when the 2 (its movement points) is showing. Setup 1. Track and chart markers: On the Turn & Status track at the top right of the board, place markers for Turn and Boer Confidence on 1, and for Loss on 10. On the Segment track immediately next to the T&S track, place the Segment marker on ‘British Send Orders’. This track is intended to help you remember where you are in the various steps in each turn. 2. On the “sequence of play” chart immediately below, place one of the two Step markers against ‘Return Close Order and Bob Hart to Cup’. Put the other Step marker somewhere on the “fire procedure” chart on the left margin of the board. 3. Prepare 2 Event and 1Boer Strength cups: Remove all 5 ‘Hesitate’ and 2 of the ‘Close Order’ chits1 from the British Events and put the rest in a cup. Place all Boer Events in another cup2. Set aside the 2 ‘No Fire’ chits3 from the Boer Strength chits and put the remainder in a third cup. 4. Prepare the drifts: Turn the drift markers face up and pick out the single 12, all 3 of the 10 and 1 of the 6. Turn them face down, shuffle them and place 1 each face down on 2nd Pont, Wagon and Native drifts on the Tugela River. Remove the remaining 2 drift markers without looking at them. You now have 3 drift markers, whose values you do not know, hiding 3 of the drifts. 5. The remaining drift markers comprise: a single 8, 2 x 6, and a single 4. Shuffle them face down and place 1 on each of Bridle, 1st Pont and Small Falls drifts. Remove the last drift marker without looking at it. All the drifts are now hidden, with unknown values. 6. Prepare the armies: A solid khaki background of the front side of Boer commando tokens indicates full strength, while a pale grey stripe on the back indicates reduced strength. The 2 Boer artillery units (one of 2 guns, the other of 3) have blank backs. Place all the Boer tokens, full strength side up, on their starting areasvi, giving each area that contains Boers a Hidden marker. Place 3 of the 4th Group commandos to the left of the main map in the ‘Robinson’s Drift area’ but do not put a Hidden marker in that area. 7. Place the tokens for General Buller and HQ (with the numeral 2 face down) in their spaces on Shooter’s Hill at the south edge of the map and Colonel Long in the space immediately to the east. Now fill up the other boxes in the areas near the middle of the south edge of the map, going from left to right, with: • 2nd Artillery (dark grey4): Lt. Col. Parsons, 63rd and 64th Field Artillery, both turned to show 2 movement points (and pictured limbered with a trailer) rather than 6 strength points. • 5th Irish (tan): Major Gen. Hart, 1st Royal Inniskilling, 1st Connaught Rangers, 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1st Border Infantry all showing 4 strength (800 men) and 1 movement. • 4th Light (yellow): Major Gen. Lyttleton, 2nd Cameronians, 3rd King’s Royal Rifle, 1st Durham Light Infantry, 1st Rifles (all 4/1). • Naval Art Bde (light grey): Captain Pitcairn-Jones, Guns HMS Forte 6, Guns HMS Forte 2 (both limbered and showing 1 movement point). • 2nd English (green): Major Gen. Hildyard, 2nd Devonshire, 2nd West Surreys, 2nd West Yorkshire, 2nd East Surreys (all 4/1).

• Naval Art. Sec. (light grey): Lieutenant Ogilvy, Guns HMS Terrible (1), limbered. Although the Artillery Section contains only one unit, the game treats it in the same way as other brigades. • 1st Art Bde (dark grey): Lt. Colonel H.V. Hunt, 7th Field Artillery, 14th Field Artillery, 66th Field Artillery, (all limbered, showing 2). You have now placed 3 brigades of guns, the 2nd Artillery, the Naval Art Bde and the 1st Art Bde. • 6th Fusiliers (white): Maj. Gen. Barton, 2nd Royal Fusiliers (2/1), 2nd Royal Scots Fusiliers, 1st Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 2nd Royal Irish Fusiliers (all 4/1 except 2nd Royal Fusiliers at 2/1). • Mounted (black): Maj. Gen. Earl Dundonald, 1st Royal Dragoons, 13th Hussars, Bethune’s Mounted Inf., Thorneycroft’s Mounted Inf., South African Light Horse, Composite Mounted Inf (all tokens dismounted side up showing 2/1). Set aside the token for the 2nd Royal Fusiliers (4/1)5 8. Place the Brigade Move marker on the map pointing at the 2nd Artillery box on the British left wing.

1 You would leave these chits among the event tokens for the “negative variants” Hesitate (-3) and Close Order (-1) respectively. 2 If you are playing the negative ‘No Hlangwane’ variant (-3), remove the ‘1st Group Released’ chit. 3 This is not about a variant of the game. If Boer confidence is shaken during the game, you will put these chits into the cup. 4 The colour in parentheses is that of the banner at the top of the tokens. 5 unless you are playing the positive ‘2nd Royal Fusiliers’ variant (+1). 2 Check that Lord Dundonald’s mounted regimentvii starts dismounted (a dismounted man and 2/1 rather than 1/2) and all 3 batteries start limbered (showing a limbered gun and movement point on the right of the token and no strength points on the left). 9. Take 8 command points6 from an off-board reserve and place them next to the map. Turns In the first turn, go directly to 2 British Command Points. Move the Turn marker to the next box along the Turn & Status track. 1. British Event: If any battalions are moving under Close Order, if they Hesitated last turn, or if the Bob Hart token is in play, take the chits off the battalion and put them back in the cup with the other British events. Draw a British event chit from its cup and resolve it as follows: Activated (2nd English, 4th Light, 5th Irish, Mounted). A new order has arrived from Buller. If the brigade is still extant and Buller is alive, remove the brigade’s planned objective marker if it’s on the map, place or move its objective marker (unless it is marked Fail) anywhere you like up to 5 spaces from its leader, and put the Activated chit back in the cup. If the brigade is eliminated or Buller is dead, remove the Activated chit from play (and if the activation order was intended for the 2nd English or 4th Light, find the second copy of the chit in the cup and remove it from play as well) and draw another event chit. Drift. If a British unit is in an area next to a hidden drift, they find it. In this case remove both the drift marker and the event chit from play; otherwise leave the drift marker where it is and replace the event chit in the cup. Buller dithers. Do not collect command points this turn. If Buller has been killed, remove the chit from play7 and draw another; otherwise replace it in the cup. Long gets Moving. If Long is dead, remove the chit from the game and draw another8. If there is an artillery brigade in Long's area with a viable objective marker (it does not show 'fail'), move the objective marker to an area on the south side of the river as close to Long as possible. Unless Long is already in this area, place the "Long Gets Moving" chit on him to prevent the chit reappearing before he reaches his objective and to remind you that the brigade must move with him. Replace the chit in the cup when he arrives. If the only artillery brigade in Long's area has a failed objective marker, move nothing, but replace the event chit in the cup. Bob Hart. If Hartviii is alive and the 5th Irish is extant, place the chit on him (otherwise remove the chit from play). All the battalions in the brigade are now in Close Order until the start of the next turn when the chit will go back into the cup. Lieutenant Roberts. If Boers are in an area next to Dundonald’s 1st Royal Dragoons or 13th Hussars, on a 1d6 of 1 or 2, Robertsix is killed; remove the event chit from play and move the loss marker one higher. Otherwise return the chit to the cup. Close Order. Place the chit on the leader of an infantry brigade. All its battalions are in close order until the start of the next turn. Hesitate. No units in the named brigade move in this turn. Place the chit on the leader of the brigade as a reminder. 2. British Command Points: Collect 3 CP if Buller and an operative HQ share an area, 0 CP if Buller is dead and HQ is inoperative, and otherwise 1 CP. 3. British Send Orders: If you wish to reproduce the historical objectives for the battalions, or as an introduction to the game, put your command points back in the bank and place all 9 brigades’ planned objective markers in the area labelled on the map as a historical objective9. Buller, or if Buller is dead, an operative HQ, may send orders to as many brigades as you wish, spending 1 command point for each order, until you have no command points left. An order places the designated brigade’s planned objective marker up to 5 areas away from its leader10. Towards Ladysmith is a legitimate objective, but drifts and bridges are not. Return any unused command points to the off-board reserve after you have sent orders. This means that you will only ever be able to issue 3 orders or fewer in every turn from now on. Unless he has the “Long gets Moving” chit, Long may, without spending command points, give an order to a brigade of guns in his area, even if the brigade already has an objective marker in place – unless that objective marker shows “Fail”. Orders arrive automatically in the hands of any leader who is in the same area as Buller (or Long or HQ if they issued the order). Leave the brigade’s planned objective marker in place and put its objective marker on top of the Turn marker on the Turn & Status track. If the recipient is 1 area away and you roll anything but 12 on a 2d6, place the brigade’s objective marker on the Turn marker. If the recipient is 2 areas away, with a roll of 10 or less, place the brigade’s objective marker on box Turn +1. If the recipient is 3 or 4

6 Poker chips make satisfying command points. 7 You should have removed this event token and all Activated tokens from the game when Buller was killed. 8 You should have removed the token from the game when Long was killed. 9 Rifle fire can only be directed 1 area away from the firing unit, so the historical objective of the 6th Fusiliers puts them out of range of any target. On the day, that was exactly where Barton stayed throughout the excitement, refusing to respond to calls for help from Dundonald in his desperate struggle on Hlangwane. You might consider ordering them to a different objective before they move away from Buller or the HQ in the second turn. 10 If you want to place new planned objectives on the map among previously planned objectives whose objective marker is on the turn track from an earlier turn, you might want to mark the tokens with cubes or dice to differentiate the new planned objectives, to remind you for which brigades you must roll to see whether the order arrives and for which you will be rolling to discover whether the leader obeys his orders. 3 areas away, place the objective marker on Turn+2. Orders never reach brigades further away than that. If an order fails to arrive, remove the planned objective marker from the board. 4. British leaders react to orders: If Long gave an order to a brigade of batteries in his area but there is a Fail marker on the objective marker, the brigade does not obey, but otherwise replace the brigade’s planned objective marker with its objective marker. Then for each objective marker in the same box as the Turn marker on the Turn & Status track, roll 2d6. What happens next depends on the character of the leader. ‘A’ leaders obey orders on rolls of 4 to 8, ‘B’ leaders 5-10 and ‘C’ leaders 7-11, and you replace the brigade’s planned objective marker with the objective marker. The officer disregards the order if you rolled below that range; remove both the planned objective and the objective marker from the board. The leader orders his brigade to charge the guns on rolls above that range; remove the planned objective marker and, for brigades of batteries whose leader is south of the river, place the objective marker in the nearest area on the southern side of the river. For other brigades, place the objective marker in whichever area containing Boers is closest to the leader. First turn: skip ahead to phase 9 Movement. 5. British Emergency Withdrawal: A brigade that has lost at least ½ of its strength points may withdraw. An ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ leader may also withdraw if his brigade has lost at least ¼ of its strength points and you roll respectively 9, 6 or 8 or more on 2d6. To withdraw, place the brigade’s Fail marker on its objective marker and move both to an area closer to the HQ than the leader and, if possible, out of range of Boer fire. 6. Boer Shell Fire: If the ‘Boer Guns Misfire’ chit is in the same box as the turn marker, replace it in its cup, do not fire and skip to 7 Boer Recovery. Follow the procedure in 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4. Each battery fires once. No commando fires in this segment of the turn. Boer units target areas but they fire at specific units within those target areas. 6.1. Selecting targets: These rules on selecting targets apply mutatis mutandis to both commandos and artillery. Section 10.1 of the rulebook explains the rationale behind these rules. 6.1.1. Range A commando target area may be their own or a neighbouring area that contains British units. An artillery target area contains British units and may be up to 3 areas away. If there are no target areas, skip to 7 Boer recovery. Suppressed units may only fire at units in their own area. Routed commandos do not fire. Drifts and bridges are not counted when determining ranges unless the firing unit or the target is itself in a drift or on a bridge. 6.1.2. Viable and Non-viable target areas Neither commandos nor artillery will target areas already containing a Multiple Attack marker, or ones that only contain Buller, Long, or the HQ. Artillery will not target areas that only contain suppressed or routed units. Any other area that is in range and contains a British unit is a viable target. Line of sight is never an issue. 6.1.3. Priority areas Boer units will give top priority to their own area, and then the 5 areas along the northern red edge of the map (zone A). They will then prioritise areas north of the river, drifts and bridges (zone B), and finally areas south of the river (zone C). 6.1.4. Selection process Each commando in a group can fire into different areas, but a single commando may not split its strength by firing into more than one area. The strongest unit (as determined by the strength on it token) plots its target first, followed in succession towards the weakest. The unit will plot its fire into zone A if it contains a viable target; if it doesn’t, into zone B if there is a viable target there, and if not, then into zone C. If there is no viable target in any of the zones, it will not plot fire. Within its target zone, the unit will now establish 6 plot markers binoculars-side up in the viable target areas. If there is a single viable target in the zone, all 6 markers go into that area. If there are 2 areas with viable targets, each gets 3 plot markers. If there are 3, each gets 2. If there are more, distribute the markers between the areas as evenly as you can, with areas closest to the firing unit getting the surplus markers. Plot markers may be established in areas containing Single Attack markers. Use a single die to select the target area from among the plot markers. Place a Single Attack marker in this area unless it already contains a Single Attack marker11, which you replace with a Multiple Attack marker. Remove all 6 plot markers. Repeat this sequence in 6.1 until every unit that will fire12 has selected a target area. 6.2. Firing: These rules on firing apply mutatis mutandis to both commandos and artillery.

11 Established earlier this turn by a stronger Boer unit. 12 Remember that each commando will fire into a just one area, and at this point it is the area that is targeted, not any particular unit in the area. 4 The strongest unit fires first. Boer strength point (SP) counters are used to randomise the strength of Boer units, so that you don't know how strong they are until they start firing. When they start shooting you draw an SP counter at random from the cup and place it onto the unit that is firing. SP counters contribute to the Boer Fire Modifiers and hence the effect of the unit’s fire. Routed commandos do not fire. If there is an “Hidden” emplacement marker in the area, remove itx. 6.2.1. Calculate the modifier to the dice roll (DRM) accruing to the unit that is firing, by adding the value of the SP counter to the unit’s strength points. Subtract 1 if the unit is disrupted and 2 if it is suppressed. If the target area contains more than 1 British unit, the Boers’ highest priority is to fire at any routed unit, and then successively in decreasing order of priority, at a mounted regiment, a battalion in close order, any other battalion, a dismounted unit, and bottom of the priority list, a battery of guns13. 6.2.2. Now calculate the DRM to account for the characteristics of the target. If the target area contains more than 1 British unit, calculate the stacking points by summing 2 points for each battalion of infantry, 1 for each regiment of cavalry, and 1 if there are guns in the area. If the area contains at least 9 stacking points, the DRM starts at 2. Add 1 if the target unit is in the same area as the unit shooting at it. Add 1 if a Multiple Attack marker is in the area. Add 2 if the target is a battalion in close order, or a mounted regiment. Add 2 if the target is on a bridge or in a drift, and add 3 if the shooter is a commando and the target is routed. Subtract 1 if the target is in a brush or hill area, and subtract 2 if the target is in Red Hill, Colenso, or Fort Wylie and there are no Boer units in the area. 6.2.3. Add the unit’s DRM to the target’s DRM. 6.2.4. Assess result of fire: Artillery fire disrupts all the units in the target area with an adjusted 2d+DRM of 8, 9 or 10. Anything lower than this has no effect. Anything higher suppresses all the units. Place a disrupted or suppressed marker on each unit in the area as appropriate. Rifle fire from commandos has no effect on its target unit with an adjusted 1d6+DRM of 7 or less. Above this, it reduces by 1 the strength of the target unit at a roll of 12 or less, by 2 at 15 or less, and by 3 at higher rolls. Any reduction in strength has the following consequences: a. Batteries are eliminated if their strength is reduced. b. If the target unit is a battalion, indicate how much strength the unit loses by placing a 1, 2 or 3 counter under the unit. c. If the strength of the unit minus the number on the counter drops to or below the strength on its reverse side, turn the unit’s token over and adjust or remove the number counter as appropriate. Any loss of strength to 0 eliminates the unit. d. If the target unit is a regiment, and if it already has a number counter under it, or if the number of strength points lost exceeds the strength of the unit, the unit is eliminated. Otherwise, place a number counter under the unit to show strength lost. e. If the reduction in strength eliminates its target unit, then any unit in the area of the same priority absorbs the additional strength points. If the area contains no such unit, but unit(s) of lower priority, then the points are absorbed by a unit of nearest priority (from highest to lowest: routed, mounted, battalion in close order, other battalion, dismounted, and guns). f. If the brigade leader of the reduced unit is neither Panicked or Standing Firm, a roll of 3 or less on 2d6 earns the leader a Panicked marker, while one of 10 or more gets him a Standing Firm marker. g. If Buller, Long or a leader are in an area in which a British unit has taken losses, the officer is killed on a 2d roll of 2 or 12. If Buller or Long is killed, remove his token from the map and “Buller dithers” or “Long gets moving” from the British events cup as appropriate. Turn a killed leader’s token over to replace him with an anonymous officer. h. If the 2nd English, 4th Light, 5th Irish or Mounted brigade is eliminated, remove from the British events cup its “Activated” token (2 tokens for 2nd English and 4th Light) (and, if you’re playing that version, its “Hesitate” token which you would also remove if the eliminated regiment is 6th Fusiliers). i. Brigade eliminated: If all a leader’s units are eliminated, remove his token from play. 6.3. Morale: If a unit in the area loses strength, then every unit in the area may suffer a change in morale. For each brigade in the area, calculate a DRM by accumulating -1 if it is the Mounted Brigade, -1 for every unit of the brigade that was eliminated or whose strength was reduced, and -2 if the leader is Panicked, then +1 if the brigade is in close order and +2 if the leader is Standing Firm.

13 RoMoClo, BaDiGuns. 5 The DRM is further adjusted according to the geographic context, with -1 if the unit is in a drift or on a bridge, +1 if no Boers are in the area and the area is Red Hill, Colenso Kopjes, or Hlangwane, +1 if it is a regiment or battalion and Buller is in the area, and +1 if it is a battery and Long is in the area. Add the DRM to 2d6. Morale is unchanged with a result of 8 or more, but units in the brigade are routed on 2 or less, suppressed on 3 or 4, or disrupted on 5, 6 or 7. Place the appropriate Morale markers on each unit of the brigade in the area, unless doing so would improve the morale of a unit that is already demoralised. If a unit is routed, and if the leader has a ‘Close Order’ or ‘Bob Hart’ chit, replace the chit in the events cup. If the leader is in the same area, he will rout with them. 6.4. Boer confidence: Move both the Boer Confidence and the Loss marker 1 box up the Turn track for each battalion whose strength has just been reduced, and for each battalion, regiment or battery that has just been eliminated. 6.5. Repeat from 6.2 until all Boer units have resolved their fire. If this is the end of rifle fire, go back to 16. 7. Boer Recovery: Each disrupted, suppressed or routed Boer unit now attempts to rally. If there are none, skip to 8 British target selection. Calculate its DRM by accumulating +2 if there is an emplacement in its area, +1 if no adjacent areas contain British units, and -1 if its strength is reduced. Add this DRM to 2d6. If the unit is currently disrupted it recovers morale completely with a result of 8 or more. For a suppressed unit, a roll of 7 or more allows it to rally to disrupted, and a roll of 11 or 12 recovers its morale. A routed unit rallies to disrupted with 7 or more and to suppressed with a result of 12. 8. British target selection and firing Check the current turn box on the Turn & Status Track to see if the the ‘British Guns Ammo Shortage’ chit is in the box with the turn marker. If so, and if there are no batteries 1 or 2 areas from the area showing the half-black, half-white circle east of Shooter’s Hill, then return the chit to the Boer Event cup, do not fire, and skip ahead to 9 Movement. Do not select targets for, or fire, any battalion or regiment in this segment of the turn, but for each battery, follow the procedure in 8.1 to 8.4. Fire each battery no more than once. If there are no unlimbered batteries in range of Boer positions, skip to 9 Movement. 8.1. Selecting targets: These rules on selecting targets apply mutatis mutandis to battalions and regiments, and to artillery. Section 10.1 of the rulebook explains the rationale behind these rules. British units target areas but they fire at specific units within those target areas. Range A battalion or regiment with normal morale may target their own area or a neighbouring area that contains Boer units. Suppressed units may only fire at units in their areas. Routed units and regiments with no strength points may not fire. A Boer unit is in range of an unlimbered battery up to 2 areas away. Suppressed batteries may only fire at units in their area. Limbered batteries may not fire. Do not count drifts and bridges when estimating ranges unless the firing unit or the target is itself in a drift or on a bridge. If there are no target areas in range of an unlimbered battery, skip to 9 Movement. Viable and Non-viable target areas No British unit will target areas already containing a Multiple Attack marker. Any other area that is in range and contains a Boer unit is a viable target. Line of sight is never an issue. Process For each unit that you want to fire14, place a Single Attack marker in a viable target area. You may direct the fire of units from the same brigade into different areas, but you cannot split the fire of a unit into more than one area.

14 You might find it helpful to place a cube or die on each unit as you go, to keep track of who has been given a target. 6 If you want to direct the fire of a second unit into an area that contains a Single Attack marker, replace the marker with a Multiple Attack. The effect of the fire of this second unit will be to increase the DRM applied to the first unit’s attack. You will not roll for this second unit15. 8.2. Firing: These rules on firing apply mutatis mutandis both to battalions and regiments, and to artillery. Section 10.1 of the rulebook explains the rationale behind these rules. British units target areas but they fire at specific units within those target areas. You may fire the units in the order you choose. All battalions and regiments may fire one shot. If “British Guns Ammo Shortage” and the Turn marker are in the same box on the Turn & Status track, return the chit to the Boer event cup; batteries more than 2 areas away from the “Supply” symbol16 may not fire this turn17 If you are firing at an area with a Multiple Attack marker, only fire one unit at one unit in the area, once. Calculate the DRM for the firing unit by adding to the strength points of the unit 1 if the unit is a battalion in close order, 2 if it is a Mounted regiment in close combat, 1 if it is in the target area, -1 if the unit is disrupted and -2 if it is suppressed. Add 1 to the DRM if there is a Multiple Attack marker in the target area. When a unit fires, its fire is directed at a single Boer unit in the target area. Add 2 if the target unit is in a drift or on a bridge. Subtract 1 if the unit is in brush or on a hill, subtract 2 if the unit is in an area with emplacements, and a further 2 if the unit is in an area with a “hidden” marker. If the firing unit is a battalion or regiment, but not a battery, and the target unit is routed18, add 3. 8.3. Assess result of fire: (identical to 6.2.4) Artillery fire disrupts all the units in the target area with an adjusted 2d+DRM of 8, 9 or 10. Anything lower than this has no effect. Anything higher suppresses all the units. Place a disrupted or suppressed marker on each unit in the area as appropriate. Rifle fire has no effect on its target unit with an adjusted 1d+DRM of 7 or less. Above this, it reduces by 1 the strength of the target unit at a roll of 12 or less, by 2 at 15 or less, and by 3 at higher rolls. If rifle fire causes SP losses, apply them to the target commando. Reduction in strength from incoming rifle fire: a. Batteries are eliminated if their strength is reduced. b. Indicate how much strength the commando loses by placing a 1, 2 or 3 number counter under its token. c. If the strength of the unit minus the number on the counter drops to or below the strength on its reverse side, turn its token over and adjust or remove the counter as appropriate. Loss of strength to zero eliminates the unit. d. If the reduction in strength eliminates its target unit, but additional losses remain to be allocated, then you may pick any unit of the same group in the area to pay the strength points owing. If there is no such unit in the area, then take the points from a unit in a different group in that area. If no commandos remain, take the points from a battery in the area. e. If the elimination of a commando means that the group to which it belonged is wiped out, remove the group’s “Released” token from the Boer event cup. If the 1st group is wiped out, also remove “Hlangwane” from the Boer event cup. 8.4. Morale: If a unit in the area loses strength, then every unit in the same group in the area may suffer a change in morale. For each group in the area, calculate a DRM by accumulating -1 for every unit of the group that was eliminated or whose strength was reduced. Any commando in the group that is in close combat accumulates another -1. Add the DRM to 2d6. If the group is in an emplacement, morale is unchanged with a result of 7 or more, but units in the group are suppressed on 4 or less, or disrupted on 5 or 6. If the group is not in an emplacement, morale is unchanged with a result of 8 or more, but units in the group are routed on 2 or less, suppressed on 3 or 4, or disrupted on 5, 6 or 7. Place the appropriate Morale markers on each unit of the group in the area, but not on units whose morale is already worse. If you have just completed the British rifle fire for this turn go back to 15. 9. Movement You may find it helpful to use the brigade move marker to show which brigade is moving, pointing it first at the box labelled 2nd Artillery, on the left flank, and moving the indicated brigade as you shift the marker box by box to the Mounted brigade on the right flank. Skip brigades with no objective marker on the map. The Tugela river is impassable except at a drift or bridge. Batteries can only cross the river on a bridge, not by a drift.

15 Example: Hart leads the 5th Irish (comprising the 1st Royal Inniskilling, 1st Connaught Rangers, 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 1st Border Infantry) to the Upper Frontline area adjacent to the (still undisclosed) Brindle Drift. Opposite him within range across the river, is the Emelo commando. You assign Emelo’s area as the target for the 1st Royal Inniskilling and place a Single Attack marker in that area. You also assign the 1st Connaught Rangers to fire into the same area, and turn the Single marker over to show a Multiple Attack on the area. This Multiple Attack marker means that the area is no longer a legitimate target for the 2nd Royal Dublin Fusiliers or the 1st Border Infantry. Even if there were more Boer commandos in Emelo’s area, you couldn’t fire at them. If there were commandos in another area adjacent to the Brigade, you could direct their fire into that area, but there aren’t. 16 A circle with one half white and the other black on the railway line east of Shooter’s Hill. 17 You might want to place a marker on all batteries that are eligible to fire but have not yet done so. 18 All the other DRMs apply to all the commandos in the area, but this one is specific to the target unit. 7 9.1. Brigade Moves: Routed units move before other units. They will move, by the shortest and most efficient route, closer to the HQ. The movement of a brigade centres on its leader. A leader moves by the shortest and most economical (in the sense of spending fewest movement points) route towards his objective marker; if his brigade has no objective marker in play, he may not move. Each brigade may move with its leader, or the leader may move alone or with one or more of his units, after which the remainder of the brigade may move. When a brigade has completed its movement, at least one unit must be in the same area as the leader. Once he has reached his objective marker he may not move any further. Remove the objective marker. He may now only move if a. he receives new orders or b. his units in his area are routed or c. he makes an emergency withdrawal (see 5). In a single turn a unit may move no more areas (cross no sets of more parallel lines) than its movement points allow. Units may move independently of their leader either towards, or within 1 area of, their leader (their “brigade radius”). A unit may move towards the northern red edge of the map only if the British strength (sum of all units) is greater than the Boer strength in the area at the time that it starts its move. During its movement, a regiment may mount or dismount at the cost of 1 movement point. It may only dismount if its leader has reached his objective marker. A battery takes all its movement points to limber, in the area it started its move. It may only unlimber, at the cost of 1 movement point, if the leader has reached his objective marker. The HQ is operative when the token is face up and you can’t see its movement points. If you want to move the HQ next turn, you turn the token over to indicate that it is preparing to move. This change from “operative” to “ready to move” takes all its movement points for the turn. If it is in range of Boer fire, you must prepare it to move. If it starts a movement phase showing its movement points, it can move independently of officers or units, and can become operative again by spending 1 movement point. If Buller and Long end their movement in an area containing units they must stack with one or more of them and rout with it if it is routed. A suppressed unit may enter any area except a drift*. It may leave a clear area, a bridge or a drift, but not brush, rough, or hill areas. Drifts and Bridges are special areas. Using a drift British units cannot use drifts until they have found them. Hidden drifts are indicated by a marker showing ‘drift’. If a battalion or regiment is in an area next to a drift marker showing ‘drift’, it can reconnoitre the river. To do so, turn the drift marker over to show a number. Roll 2d6. If the result is less than or equal to the number on the marker, the drift is found, you remove the marker, and British units can use that drift. If the drift is not found, leave the marker in place, showing the number, but remove the reconnoitring brigade’s Planned Objective and Objective markers19. British units may continue to try to find the drift in subsequent turns. Commandos know where the drifts are and can use them freely. If a Boer unit uses a drift, remove the drift marker. The British now know where the drift is and can use it. Drifts and bridges are narrow and large numbers of troops cannot occupy or move quickly over them. In a turn 2 units may enter or cross a drift, and 3 may cross a bridge. When all units have finished moving for the turn, only 1 unit may occupy a drift, and only 2 a bridge. *Any unit that is undertaking an emergency withdrawal (see 5) or has a Return marker may use a drift. Other than these cases, a disrupted or suppressed unit may not enter a drift, but a suppressed unit may leave one. When a unit exits a drift, decrease its morale from normal to disrupted, or disrupted to suppressed.xi 10. British Assault If any British units share an area with Boers they assault them. Regiments and battalions, but not batteries, may fire – unless they are routed. The assault comprises two exchanges of fire, the first as the commandos open fire on the approaching British, and the British reply, and the second as the British close on the Boers and close combat ensues. In the first exchange, all normal modifications for terrain and emplacements apply. First follow 6.2 to 6.5 for the commandos, and then 8.2 to 8.4 for the British units. If units from both sides still share the area, they exchange fire, and again, commandos fire first. In this close combat, there are no modifications for terrain or emplacements.

19 This represents the confusion and discouragement at reaching the river but being unable to find a way across. The delay would have discomfited and distracted the leader, who no longer knew if their objective was still relevant, far less achievable. 8 If close combat wipes out all British regiments and battalions in the area, but Buller, Long, leaders, or batteries remain on their own, then they are eliminated. In this event, remove, as appropriate, “Buller dithers”, "Long Gets Moving" and “Activated” tokens from the events cup. If a leader (or replacement leader) is eliminated, place the token, face down so that it shows the anonymous replacement, with the nearest unit of his brigade20. Survivors of this exchange continue to share the area, with the Boers remaining in their emplacement if one is present. 11. Boer status Move the Boer Confidence marker down 1 box on the Turn & Status track for every full-strength British unit that enters one of the “Towards Ladysmith” areas. 12. Boer event On turn 1, skip this step and go directly to 14 British rifle fire. On turns 2 to 4, skip to 13 Boer Movement. Draw a Boer Event token from its cup. If the token is either ‘Boer Guns Misfire’ or ‘British Guns Ammo Shortage’ you will resolve it next turn. Place it on the Turn & Status Track on the box representing the next turn to wait for you to get there. Resolve other events as follows: Released. The group is released if the cumulative number of British regimental or battalion strength points in a specified area is equal to or less than a threshold: 5 or fewer British SP in Lower Frontline to release 1st group (black), 4 in Central Frontline for 2nd (grey), 7 in Upper Frontline 3rd (orange), and 11 in Upper Frontline for 4th (white). If the group shown on the event chit has been eliminated, remove the chit from play and draw another. If a group is released, place a released marker on each commando and remove the released event token from the game. In the case of the 4th (white) group, 3 commandos are in the Robinson’s Drift area off the map to the left. There are 2 event chits that release the 4th group. If the 4th group is released, remove one chit from play and take the second chit from the cup and place it on the next box in the Turn & Status track to remind you that next turn, these commandos move onto the adjacent map area if there are no British battalions or regiments in that area. If the group is not released, put the chit back in the cup and sortie as follows. Sorties21 are limited to areas within one normal movement of a commando. Only one commando per group sorties. If a commando belonging to the released group is in an area with no battalions or regiments and a neighbouring area contains a battery but no battalions or regiments, it eliminates the battery. A sortie can only eliminate one battery. If no battery can be eliminated, place a suppressed marker on one unsuppressed British unit in an adjacent area. If there is no unsuppressed British unit in an adjacent area, place a disrupted marker on one British unit within a range of 2 areas. Hlangwane: If the Boer Confidence marker is with or ahead of the Turn marker, put the chit back in the cup and sortie one of the 1st group’s commandos (see paragraph above). If Boer confidence is below the Turn, place the chit on the Colenso kopjes and put a Return marker on units of the 1st group. If the 1st group has been eliminated, remove the chit from play and draw another. Boer Guns Misfire: Place the chit on the Turn & Status track on the box ahead of the Turn marker to remind you that the Boer guns will not fire next turn. British Guns Ammo Shortage: Place the chit on the Turn & Status track on the box ahead of the Turn marker to remind you that British guns more than 2 areas away from this symbol will not fire next turn. 13. Boer Movement If the turn marker on the Turn & Status track shows that the off-map commandos of the 4th group are scheduled to move onto the map, either move the commandos into it and take the released event chit out of play or, if a British battalion or regiment occupies the adjacent map area, move the event chit to the next box on the Turn & Status track and do not move the 4th group commandos. Boer artillery cannot move. Commandos will move one area in the following priority: First, move any routed commando towards the nearest ‘red map edge’ – or across it ‘Towards Ladysmith’ – unless it has a Return marker. Move the strongest unit first, and weaker ones in order. A unit’s current strength is the strength marked on its token less any number counter, less 1 if disrupted and 2 if suppressed, and adjusted up or down according to any strength point counter. Next, move commandos with a Return marker towards their starting area. If the commando belongs to the 1st group, and the Hlangwane marker is on the Colenso kopjes, treat the marker as the commando’s starting area. Then in any area where the total strength points of British units is greater than that of the Boers, move commandos in the same area as battalions or regiments towards the nearest ‘red map edge’ – or across it ‘Towards Ladysmith’. Finally, if there are commandos with a Released marker in an area that neither contains nor is adjacent to British units, move them towards the nearest area adjacent to British units. If there is more than one such area, prefer one with emplacements. Use drifts if the unit must cross the river.

20 This simulates a runner escaping the firefight to inform the surviving elements of the brigade that the leader has been killed, whereupon the senior officer immediately assumes command. 21 Conceptually, during the sortie the commando moves swiftly out from its area and back into it, or directs accurate fire at a selected target. 9 Commandos move towards a destination by the shortest possible route, one area at a time. If alternative routes are equally short, they will move into an area that contains only Buller, Long, HQ or batteries. In this case, they instantly eliminate that British unit, and if Buller is eliminated you remove “Buller Dithers” from the British events cup. If there is no such area on offer, the commando will move preferentially into an empty area, and if that is not possible, into an area where there are no battalions or regiments. If there is more than one such area, they will move into the one that contains the fewest Boer strength points. All other things being equal, an area with emplacements is preferred over and equivalent area without. If the unit has no access to any areas without battalions or regiments, it does not move and you remove its return marker if it has one. 14. British rifle fire Do not select targets for, or fire, any battery in this segment of the turn, but for each battalion or regiment, follow the procedure in 8.1 to 8.4. Fire each battalion or regiment no more than once. 15. British recovery If no British units carry Panicked, Standing Firm, disrupted, suppressed or routed markers, skip to 16 Boer rifle fire. Leaders who are Panicked or Standing Firm: leader by leader roll 2d6 and remove the marker for a result above 3. All disrupted, suppressed or routed units now roll for recovery. For each unit accumulate a DRM by adding 2 if the leader is Standing Firm, 1 if the unit is a battery or regiment in the same area as Buller, 1 if the unit is a battery in the same area as Long, and 1 if there are no Boers in adjacent areas. Subtract 2 if the leader is Panicked, and 1 if the unit is not at full strength. Roll 2d6 and add the DRM. If the result is above 7 and the unit is disrupted it will recover to normal. If the unit is suppressed and the result is above 10 it will recover to normal; above 6 it becomes disrupted. If the unit is routed and the result is above 11 it recovers to disrupted; above 6 it recovers to suppressed. 16. Boer rifle fire Follow the procedure in 6.1, 6.2, 6.3 and 6.4. Each commando fires once. No battery fires in this segment of the turn. Boer units target areas but they fire at specific units within those target areas 17. Boer confidence22 Put all the Strength Point counters back in the cup. The British capture any emplacement in an area that contains British units but no Boer units. Place a ‘captured’ marker in the area. The Boers re-capture any emplacement in an area that contains no British units. Remove the ‘captured’ marker. Move the Confidence marker up one box on the Turn & Status Track. Now accumulate an adjustment by starting at 0 and adding 1 for every emplacement recaptured by Boers this turn. If this is turn 5 or later and there are no British units north of the Tulega river, add 1 each (for a possible total of 3) if there are no British units in the Upper, Central, or Lower Frontline. Subtract 1 for each emplacement captured by the British this turn, subtract 1 if there is a British battalion at full strength and normal morale in a hill north of the river, and subtract 1 if there are units of an infantry brigade north of the river with total strength points at least 50% of its starting strength, counting only those whose morale is normal. Move the Confidence marker up or down the track by this amount, but not below box 1 or past box 20. If the Confidence marker is below or in the same box as the Turn marker, count the number of boxes between them and add it to 2d6. If the result is above 11, turn the Confidence marker to show ‘Shaken’ and put the 2 No Fire counters in the strength point cup. 18. Victory The Boers withdraw if the Boer confidence marker already shows “shaken” when Boer confidence is shaken again, or the Confidence marker drops to box 1 in turn 5 or later. Under these circumstances if the Loss marker is below 15 the British win the battle of Colenso – congratulations! The Empire thanks you! On to Ladysmith!, and win a Pyrrhic victory if the Loss marker is above 14 – at least you did a lot better than Bullerxii. The Boers win if either the Loss marker or the Turn marker reaches 20. You may reflect bitterly on the words of Arthur Conan Doyle, “So much for Colenso. It was an action which taught us nothing save that we had failed to grasp what had been taught us before.” If the game does not end, move the Turn marker one box up on the Turn & Status Track.

i The Right Honourable Sir Redvers Henry Buller, GCB, GCMG, VC, KRRC (1839–1908) had between 1887 and 1897 proved an excellent Quartermaster General and then Adjutant General. Made full general in 1896, his own opinion that he was unsuited for independent command in the field was amply confirmed by his actions at Colenso. Between dawn at 04:30 when the army began to move onto the battlefield and 12:00 when it had largely retreated back off it, he lost 1200 men killed, wounded, or missing, and uncounted horses dead or injured. The enemy had taken 10 of his guns, and from all this, he had gained nothing. Botha, his adversary, had driven off the most formidable army in the world and taken its guns and their ammunition, at the cost of 8 men dead and 30 wounded. ii The names of Dutch towns that end in -tricht, -drecht and -trecht were originally Latin names ending in a variant of traictum, or “crossing”. So, like Oxford, Maastricht is named after a shallow place where a river, in that case the Maast (Meuse), could be crossed. From Dutch it passed to Afrikaans and thence to English, as “drift”. A pont drift cannot be waded, but requires a punt. Rorke's Drift was named for James Rorke, whose trading post was at a drift on the Mzinyathi River. At Colenso, the British found one of the drifts, but crossing it under fire was made arduous by the coils of barbed wire that the Boers had placed under the water.

22 Called ”Boer shaken” in the rules. 10

iii Botha, the leader of the rag-tag assemblage of well-armed farmers who had grown up with a rifle in their hands (“the best marksmen in the world”, according to Arthur Conan Doyle (1900) in his book “The Great Boer War,” Smith, Elder, & Co.), knew that the British would probably shell the hillsides. He also saw that the open, gently rolling terrain of the veldt for two or three thousand yards to the south of the river (“a long slope which could be shaved as with a razor by the rifle fire of the enemy” (ibid)) offered no cover to the approaching army. Nor, in many places, was there much vegetation to obstruct the view across the river. To make their fire more deadly, he therefore had his men dig trenches in the flat low land immediately north of the river, to give them a flat, raking field of fire, rather than a plunging view. This would also keep them out of harm’s way during the anticipated preparatory bombardment of the hills. He did, however, place some of his commandos in the kopjes immediately above Colenso. At the last minute he also managed to persuade about 7 or 800 of his men to occupy Hlangwane, a tactically vital hill to the east of the river, under the leadership of Jozua Joubert. He understood the strategic importance of Hlangwane; Buller utterly failed to do so. iv Brevet Colonel Charles James Long, RA (1849-1933) served in the Second Afghan War of 1878-80 and was mentioned in despatches for his handling of the British and Egyptian artillery at Omdurman in the Sudan in 1897. He was promoted to Colonel in September 1899. At Colenso Buller ordered Long to use his 12 naval 12-pounders, in support of Hildyard, from behind Barton’s Brigade. The fuses of the shrapnel shells could be set to burst above the enemy 4000 yards away, putting everything in the vicinity of Colenso, including the artillery on the Kopjes and the commandos on Hlangwane, in reach of the position Buller had stipulated. Long, who had made his reputation for dash and daring by rushing his guns in front of infantry and positioning them under enemy noses, decided to ignore his orders. Although his subordinate officers remonstrated with him, when scouts report no sign of the Boers near the river, Long ordered the 14th and 66th Field Batteries to overtake Hildyard’s infantry and set up 700m from Fort Wyllie in the bend of the river around the settlement of Colenso. They got a bit closer than they expected, unlimbered, and lined the twelve Armstrong 15-pounder guns up across the mouth of the salient to Long's aesthetic satisfaction. At about 06:00 Long fired his first volley at the kopjes above Colenso. Immediately about a thousand Boer rifles opened up on them from positions 300 metres to their left, right and ahead of them on the other side of Colenso. Long’s guns volleyed again and again, exhibition style, at unseen targets, but by about an hour later, they had all, one by one, fallen silent. Most of the gunners, their officers and their horses, were dead or wounded – but the guns were not, as British newspapers would later have it, out of ammunition. The survivors, including Long, who had been shot through the arm and liver, took cover in a donga behind the gun line, from where they were rescued later in the disaster. The British managed to recover 2 of the guns with considerable loss of life, but in the early afternoon the Boers made off with the other 10, and, a little later, scooped up 12 ammunition wagons containing 1300 rounds. The triumphant Boers found that 6 of the captured guns were loaded. His obituary in "The Gunner Magazine" in May 1933 casts Long in heroic light: “Colonel Charles James Long, late R.H.A., will always be remembered in connection with the battle of Colenso. In order to cover the crossing of the Tugela by Barton's Fusilier Brigade, Colonel Long brought the 1st Brigade Division (14th and 66th Batteries) into action at about 1,000 yards from the enemy's position on the north bank, where, in spite of heavy shrapnel and rifle fire, they did excellent work until their ammunition was exhausted. Long was shot through the body, but would accept no attention till his wounded men had been seen to. Had the infantry advanced under cover of his bombardment the battle might have ended differently. As it was, the only possible course was taken; the personnel retired, carrying their wounded. Seven V.C.'s were earned by parties attempting subsequently to withdraw the guns, but on the retirement of our whole force in the afternoon the Boers, who were commanded by General Louis Botha, captured them. Botha stated that Long saved the British army from walking into a trap by drawing the Boers' fire on his guns and so giving their position away.” In reality, Buller recalled Hildyard’s brigade (not Barton’s) from their rather successful attack – they had reached the bridge in Colenso – because he was so dismayed by the harrowing consequences of Long’s foolhardy decision to win the war single-handed. v Maj. Generals Geoffrey Barton, Douglas Cochrane 12th Earl of Dundonald, Arthur Fitzroy “No Bobs” Hart-(Synnot), Henry John Thoroton Hildyard, The Hon. Neville Gerald Lyttleton, Lt. Frederick Charles Ashley Ogilvy (RN), Lt. Col. Lawrence Worthington Parsons and Capt. Edward Pitcairn Jones (RN) vi Commando Groups: 1st: Jozua A. Joubert (Wakkerstroom) and Swart (Standerton), 1st Sub-Group: Hendrik Potgieter (Krugersdorp, Vryheid, Heidelberg), 2nd Ben Vilhoen (Johannesburg Police, Boksburg), 3rd: Christian Botha (Zoutpansberg, Swaziland Police, Ermelo), 4th: Christian Fourie, Orange Free State: (Frankfort, Senekal, Vrede, Johannesburg, Middelburg). Artillery: Colenso Kopjes: 120mm Krupp howitzer, Krupp 75mm cannon, 37mm Maxim-Nordenfelt machinegun), Red Hill/Cannon Kopje: 2 Cruesot 75mm cannons. vii Lieutenant General Douglas Mackinnon Baillie Hamilton Cochrane, 12th Earl of Dundonald, KCB, KCVO, left England for the war without telling his wife. His soldiers called him “Dundoodle”. You probably don’t want the men to have a nickname for you, and if they have, you probably don’t want it to be Dundoodle. viii Hart (1844–1910) seems to have been a stickler for discipline. Before dawn on the morning of the battle he made his men parade for half an hour in the dark. At about 04:30 he then ordered them into the most compact formation in the book – quarter column, in which 3200 men in 90 files press into a column 40m wide and 150m long, and marched them in the brief twilight, prettily, prettily, down a track towards the Brindle Drift. The sun rose just before 05:00. At about 06:30, when they had almost reached the river, the guide pointed to a spot far to the north-east, beyond a northward bend. Hart’s orders stated that he was to find and cross the drift "immediately west of the junction of Doornkop Spruit and the Tugela", and his map – a rough sketch with almost no detail – showed the Brindle drift about 500 yards west of where the Dornkop Spriut entered the Tugela river. This mistake is repeated on all contemporaneous maps produced to illustrate the battle. In fact, the Dornkop enters the river about 1000 yards east of the Pont drift, which is 5 or 6 kilometers downstream, on the other side of a great loop in the river. With little else to go on from his rudimentary sketch, and from what he could see of the course of the Dornkop, Hart probably thought that the guide’s indication was plausible. Hart overrode his subordinate’s objections and followed the guide round the bend into a narrow salient, heading for Pont Drift. Ten minutes later all 3200, still in quarter column, were well into the 1000m-wide salient (-28.73362, 29.79383), when Boers opened fire. “All round, like the hissing of fat in the pan, is the monotonous crackle and rattle of the Mausers; but the air is full of it, and no one can define exactly whence it comes” (A.C. Doyle). In fact it came from the north-west, the north and north-east and, most strongly, from the east. High explosive and shrapnel burst among them from guns on Red Hill 3500m to their north-west. Much to the fury of Botha, his commandos to the west of the salient did not fire, responding to his order, “Hier het 'n nuwe generaal uit die lug geval en ander bevele gegee”, referring sarcastically to Botha’s recent elevation over many senior burghers. Hart, known as “General No-Bobs” because he made great play of being indifferent to rifle-fire and never ducking incoming shells, refused to allow his men to return fire, perhaps because there was nothing see, nothing to stand in neat lines, shoulder to brave shoulder, and fire precisely-commanded volleys at. Some of his men drove on against the snapping bullets to the river. A few found the drift and even crossed the river, only to turn back for lack of any reason to be there. When Colonel Cooper, commanding the Dublins, tried to move left to find Brindle Drift and outflank the Boers on the other side of the river, Hart recalled them into the salient. He lost 530 men in half an hour, and was finally rescued by Lyttleton’s brigade. Many of his men, the ones near the river, never realised that they had been ordered to pull back, and died alone, or were captured. ix Lieutenant the Honourable Frederick “Freddie” Roberts (the only son of Field Marshal Lord Roberts, Buller’s superior officer) responded when Buller called for volunteers to recover Long's guns. Mortally wounded in the action, he was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross. In the same futile attempt to limber the guns and drag them away from where their entire crews had been slaughtered in a withering crossfire an hour earlier, 6 other men also earned a VC, though they lived. x The Boers were so well hidden that to the British the landscape seemed empty throughout most of the battle. The newly invented smokeless cartridges not only helped conceal the shooter’s position but also gave their Mauser and Krag magazine rifles, and even their obsolete Martini-Henry single shot rifles, far greater range and stopping power than had been usual with the older black powder cartridges. xi The Tulega is 70 to 90 metres wide and even at a drift is still waist- or chest-deep. Botha’s men had put coils of barbed wire under the water. Footing in the muddy water was uncertain, the current was strong, and rifles were sometimes dropped or dipped below the water. Men and equipment were sometimes lost in the crossing, even when it was not opposed. After the crossing, it took time to assemble the formation. A wet uniform, soaking boots, and sodden webbing and gear did not improve morale. xii General Lyttelton said later that the battle of Colenso was one of the most badly managed that the British Army had ever fought, and that there was no more dismal example of tactical failure, with "no proper reconnoitring of the ground, no certain information as to any ford by which to cross the river, no proper artillery preparation, no satisfactory targets for the artillery, no realization of the importance of Hlangwane."

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