Text by Ian Knight and Color Plates by Gerry Embleton, published by Osprey in 1996 and reprinted in 1998. It is number 301 in their Men-At-Arms series. As are all books in this series, it has 48 pages of text and 8 pages of color prints. This book also contains 45 other illustrations: 1 map, 18 drawings and 24 photographs. This book like all of this series doesn’t have a bibliography. They do however refer you other Osprey publications for more information. It does contain a helpful glossary.

This is a splendid addition to a Colonial Wargamer’s library. It is well written with concise descriptions of 8 military actions covering the period from 1836 to 1898. These include numbers of forces involved and describe the tactics used by the British, a variety of African tribes and the Boers during this period. In addition, small action opportunities are well described. Your scenario opportunities can include much more than Boers versus British. And the scenarios don’t need many figures to provide an enjoyable and hard fought battle on the tabletop. I never thought of the Boers having African allies, until I read this book. I was surprised by the support provided by the African natives to the Boers.

I particularly liked the map of the early Boer battles. It names and locates major rivers, mountain ranges, towns, and governmental territories, except for the Transvaal. It identifies the native tribes and the battles mentioned in the book. The map includes a scale for distance measurement. It doesn’t have an arrow showing north, but that is only a quibble. It will help you understand the actions described in this book.

Is it worth the money? I think so. It has enough information to get you quickly into battle with your favorite colonial rules set. Mine is The Sword and the Flame. I learned a lot about the Boers, their allies and enemies. I along with many others only think of the Boers as having fought the British, and that being the war at the turn of the 19th century. It has certainly whetted my appetite to learn more about the Boers and their battles. At the May Miniature Figure Collectors Show in Valley Forge, I purchased two other Boer War books, The Boer War by Thomas Pakenham and Military Notes on the Dutch Republics of South Africa. The latter book was compiled in Section B, Intelligence Division, War Office, June 1999.

Included Wars:

The Wars covered by this book include: (1) The Trekker-Ndebele War, 1836, (2) The Natal Adventure, 1837-42, (3) The Boer-Basotho Wars, 1st - 1858, 2nd - 1865, (4) The Conquest of the Transvaal, 1854-1864, (5) War with the Pedi, 1876, (6) British Intervention 1877, (7) The First Boer War [1881 Transvaal War] and (8) The Final Subjugation of the Transvaal 1884-1898. They will provide a wargamer with any number of scenarios. The book is replete with descriptions and numbers of opposing forces.

Color Plates:

The book provides color drawings of 26 different figures, providing the figure painter with enough information to paint Boer [4], African [6] and British [16] soldiers. There are more British soldiers shown because of the wider variety of uniforms. Plate A contains four figures, only three of which are in color: Boer Voortrekker, 1836-45; African agterryer (after-rider); Tswana warrior, 1820s-1830s; Ndebele warrior, 1836. Plate B has four different figures of British Forces, Orange River, 1845-48: Private, 7th Dragoon Guards, battle of Zwartkopjes, 1845; Officer, Cape Mounted Rifles; Trooper Cape mounted Rifles, field service uniform, 1845; private, Rifle Brigade, Zwartkopjes, 1845. Plate C shows three British Troops at the battle of Congelia, Port Natal, 1842: Officer, 27th Regiment; Gunner, Royal Artillery, undress uniform; and private, 27th Regiment. Plate D has three figures of the Basotho Wars in the 1860's: Boer, Free State Commando; Basotho warrior, 1820s-60s; and a Transvaal warrior, 1850s-70s. Plate E contains three figures of the British forces at Elandsfontein, Pretoria, 1881: Lieutenant, 21st Regiment; private, 94th Regiment; and a civilian volunteer. Plate F has three figures of the British forces at the battle of Ingogo, 1881: General Sir George Colley in his personal uniform; private of the 3rd battalion of the 60th Rifles; and a mounted infantryman, 58th Regiment. Plate G shows four participants of the battle of Majuba, 1881: Seaman, Royal Naval Brigade; private, 92nd Highlanders; officer, 92nd Highlanders; Boer commandant. Plate H contains three figures of the final conquest of the Transvaal: Transvaal African, 1870s-90s; gunner, Transvaal Staat Artillery, 1890s; and a Swazi warrior, 1870s.

Drawings:

The other drawings and photographs, included in this book, although in black and white, will provide you with information to recreate the terrain that these battle were ought over, Boer and British wagons, Boer artillery adaptations, British artillery in the field, British civilian volunteers, small British stone fort and Boer soldiers and African warriors. The drawings are as follows: (1) Skirmish between Boers and Xhosa warriors during Cape Frontier War of 1835, (2) Boer party ‘on trek’, (3) Voortrekker commando, (4) Battle of Vechtkop, 19 October 1836 [versus Ndebele], (5) Battle of Congella, 23 May 1842 [versus British], (6) British camp at Port Natal, 1842, (7) Troops in longboats, Natal Bay 26 June 1842, (8) Battle at Zwartkopjes, May 1845, (9) Cape mounted Rifles after battle of Zwartkopjes, (10) Battle of Bloomplatts, 29 August 1848, (11) Orange Free State forces attacking Moshoeshoe’s stronghold, August 1865, (12) Southern Sotho warrior, (13) Orange Free State Boers being killed by BaSotho warriors at ‘Hell-Kloof’, (14) Back veld Boers in mid century, (15) Boer commando, 1875-1885, (16) Battle of Laing’s Nek, 28 January 1881, (17) Battle of Majuba, defense of the crest-line, and (18) British collapse at Battle of Majuba.

To whet your appetite, I’ve sketched some scenario ideas in the paragraphs that follow.

Scenarios:

One scenario could be the defense of the 50 wagon laager on the Rhenoster River on 15 October 1836; where 35 Boers, their women and children and some African retainers held off 4,000 Ndebele warriors with accurately aimed gun fire, the latter attacking with thrown spears. The casualties were 2 Boers and 500 Ndebele warriors. The Boers conducted an active defense, sortieing out on horseback. The Boers fired small bags of shot, which had the effect of a shotgun. Another scenario could be a combined Boer and Tswana [several hundred] party attacking the Ndebele settlement at Mosega. They were able to burn quite a number of houses and drive off several; thousand head of cattle. A third scenario could be developed around a force of 360 men in a Boer Commando supported by several hundred Tswana auxiliaries attacking the Ndebele in the Marico valley. The Boers refused to close with the Ndebelke impi’s and attacked the horns. The Ndebele fought in the Zulu style.

You could also try your hand at leading the punitive expedition of Major T. C. Smith on 23-24 May 1841. After he arrived in Port Natal with two companies of the 27th Regiment, two 6 pdr guns, some men from the Cape Mounted Rifles and 50 civilian wagon drivers, he constructed a fort of wagons in a circle a, surrounded with a rampart and a trench. He had 100 men and two guns of the 27th to attack the Boers, who were camped near Congella Bay. Smith had one of his guns in a longboat, which ran aground, and didn’t supply supporting fire. The Boers ambushed the British, driving the British back to their fort. The Boers followed them and attacked the fort. Smith was saved from destruction by a relief force arriving just over a month later. HMS Southhampton bombarded the Boers while an amphibious assault brought troops ashore. The Boers melted away into the bush.

A somewhat larger scenario could be built around the battle between the troops of Sir Harry Smith, who in 1848, annexed the area between the Orange and Vall Rivers. Smith had 800 British regulars from the 45th and 91st Regiments and the Rifle Brigade. He was supported by 3 field guns, four companies of the Cape Mounted Rifles and 250 mounted Griqua [mixed race descendants of the Khoi people of the Cape.]. He was opposed by a 300 man commando under the command of Andries Pretorius, the victor at Congella. An ambush was tried at a deserted farm called Boomplaats, but failed when some Boers prematurely fired their weapons. The battle was fought over an undulating plain, crossed with ridges and surrounded by hills. The 3-hour battle resulted in 14 Boer casualties, 9 dead and 5 wounded. The Boers left the field to the British. The British had 50 casualties, 25 dead and 25 wounded.

It was a different story in ‘The First Boer War’, fought in 1881. The opening of the war could be turned into an interesting campaign including both the Transvaal and Natal. British troops garrisoned in frontier towns the Transvaal, with poor morale and contemptible of Boer fighting abilities, dressed mostly in scarlet Zulu War uniforms versus poorly disciplined Boers, experienced in field-craft and marksmanship, dressed in mostly brown, drab civilian clothes. Small British detachments were located in seven towns in the Transvaal: Pretoria [four companies of the 2/21st, mounted infantry, two 9-pdr guns of battery N/5 Royal Artillery and detachment of Royal Engineers, Army Service Corps and Army Hospital Corps], Rustenburg [one company - 21st Regiment], Lyndenburg [Lt. Col. P. Anstruther with HQ company and two companies - 94th regiment], Marabastad [two companies - 94th regiment], Wakkerstroom [one company - 94th regiment and mounted infantry], Standerton [one company - 94th regiment] and Potchefstroom [two companies - 21st regiment, mounted infantry, and two 9-pdr guns of battery N/5 Royal Artillery]. The nearest British reinforcements were located in Natal [General Sir George Colley with the 58th and 3/60th Rifles]. Two companies of the 58th were going to reinforce Pretoria, but ended up in Wakkerstroom and Standerton instead. Boer Commandos outnumbered the British many fold. You could add some suspense and variety to the game by having the Boer player secretly roll a die to determine how many commandos [up to 20] he is able to raise and how many men would be in each [up to 400]. They would be raised in the vicinity of towns in the Transvaal.

An ambush scenario could be constructed with 150 Boers versus Lt. Col. P. Anstruther with HQ company and two companies - 94th regiment. The battle occurred on 20 December 1878 in open country, flanked by sloping ground near a stream named Bronkhorstspruit. It was a Boer victory; they had 6 casualties [2 dead and 4 wounded]. The British had 157 casualties [77 dead and 80 wounded]. If you set up this scenario, the victory conditions should be predicated upon the number of British casualties and those of the Boers.

Several battles of the Natal Campaign also lend themselves to scenarios. The first being the battle at Laing’s Nek, a pass in the Drakensburg Mountains to the Transvaal, fought on 28 January 1881. Sir George Colley led a British force comprised of the HQ and five companies of the 58th, the HQ and five companies of the 3/60th Rifles, 80 men of the 2/21st, a Naval detachment - 120 men with two Gatling guns and three rocket tubes, 70 men mounted [mounted infantry of the 58th, some of the 1st Dragoon Guards, and some men from the Army Service Corps], four 9-pdrs [N/5 and 10/7 Batteries, two 7-pdrs, manned by men from the 60th, and the Natal Mounted Police. This was the last battle where a British Regiment carried their colors. The Boers led by Commandant -General Joubert and Commandant Nicholas Smit had a total of 2,000 men. The result was another Boer victory; 24 Boers killed or wounded versus 190 killed or wounded British.

The book also gives sufficient information on recreating the battles of Shuinshoogte on 8 February 1881 and Majuba on 27 February 1881. The Final Subjugation of the Transvaal 1884-1898 had the Boers fighting against the African tribes who inhabited the Transvaal, Pedi, Ndebele, Tlou, Sotho and the Venda. The Boers had auxiliaries from the Swazi and Shangane tribes in the their battles with the Tlou. By this time, many of the African warriors had guns. The section of this book will give you enough information to game the battles fought against these tribal groups.