Unboxing 'Zulu - Rorke's Drift'
The Wargames, Soldiers, and Strategy team recently received the Black Powder Epic Battle: Zulu Rorke's Drift set. We thought we'd do an unboxing for the Editor's blog to show readers what's in the set.
Being fans of both the original Zulu (1964) and Zulu Dawn (1976) films, we were excited to receive the box for our Let's Play of the game. While a little pricey, it's a hefty box, and there's a lot in it!
It always amazes me how companies like Warlord Games manage to pack everything so neatly into the box. I know that as soon as we start taking out the contents, we'll never be able to get it back in again, particularly when we start assembling the units and buildings. Time for a Really Useful Box or two!
The resin components were crisply cast and well packed. There is a good selection of boxes and mealy bags for barricades, plus extra parts for the Drift's buildings. I particularly liked the wagons, which had been joined together to form part of the barricade.
Next, we have the sprues, enough for 32 bases of British infantry, 16 bases of the Natal Native Contingent, plus a whopping 40 bases of unmarried Zulus and 40 bases of married Zulus. That's going to be quite the painting challenge! The set certainly provided more than enough to get started in the period.
There's no British cavalry nor any artillery, but these are available in the Epic Battles Isandlwana set or bought individually.
With that many bases of troops, any player is going to need a lot of bases. Thankfully, bases are provided for all the units. The set also has the lavishly illustrated Anglo-Zulu War Black Powder rules. These are currently only available in the boxed starter sets, but presumably they'll be available to buy separately at some point.
The storehouse and hospital at the Drift are provided as MDF kits from Skytrex. These are essential for recreating the battle. Added to the resin parts reviewed earlier and a decent paint job, these will really look the part.
The box also comes with a fold-out paper scenery mat, which is very useful for setting out the terrain for Rorke's Drift. The main buildings and walls are marked, so setting them up is easy.
Some of the outer walls and extra bits of scenery are made of hard cardboard rather than resin. There are also additional bases for the defenders. Dice and some markers are also included. To round off the set, there are thirteen special characters for the British and Zulus in Epic scale for the scenario, based on the 1964 film. Expect Bromhead, Chard, Colour Sergeant Bourne and Private Hook, and a mounted Zulu general plus a witch doctor, to name but a few.
Overall, with the Rorke's drift starter set, you certainly get what you pay for. Both the scenery and the models are very good. There's quite the painting project ahead, but the end results will be... EPIC!
