The Rampant Colonialism rules include army lists and ideas for playing a variety of battles.  Some scenarios need just a little imagination and creativity to set up a fun and historically accurate game.  Rorke's Drift is an ideal example of what can be done with just a little extra thought and effort.  The special rules we used to recreate the battle of Rorke's Drift are reproduced below, and can be found printed in the Rampant Colonialism rules as well.

What you will need to re-fight Rorke's Drift:

• Six units of 8 British regulars.
• Models for Lts. Bromhead and Chard, Corporal Schiess and Assistant Commissary Dunne.
• Scenery to recreate the outpost and surrounding area (see below for terrain tips).
• The Rampant Colonialism Rules.
• Some standard wargaming dice (D6, D8, D10, D12 and D20), preferably several of each.
• Some casualty caps, preferably in different colors (white, red and yellow are good, and are all readily available from Wargame Accessories).
• Zulu figures.  I personally recommend 200 to 250.  Less is not enough, and more is too much.  See below for details.

As any veteran miniature wargamer can tell you, how the battlefield looks can make or break the game.  Playing on a battlefield with unattractive terrain is not nearly as much fun as playing on a beautifully laid out table.  When recreating a historical battle there is the further consideration of making the terrain lay out as realistic as possible.  What is nice about the battle of Rorke's Drift is that you can accurately recreate the entire area with little fuss or - just as important - cost.

Below are several different views of the battlefield.

This overhead view gives a good impression of the station at Rorke's Drift itself.  The bottom of the picture is approximately north.  The far building is the storehouse, and the closer one is the "hospital".  Just south of the hospital is the water cart, which is an important item as without it the British will suffer from thirst and their morale will suffer accordingly.  To the south is a stone kraal.  To the northwest (the right side of the picture), is the cook house.  The entire compound has been enclosed by a wall of mealie bags, and has been further bisected by a row of biscuit boxes.  To the southeast, just outside the south wall, is a ridge of rocks that provided a formidable obstacle to the Zulu advance on that front.  A road leads up to the compound near the corner of the mealie bag wall and the kraal.  There is an area of trees and scrub just to the south as well.  Note that the compound is a little wider than would have been the case historically.  This was an error on my part, as I did not have the good sense to bring my reference book with me!
 
Here is a view of the compound from the southwest, giving a good view of the stony ledge to the south of the compound.  This feature is critical to recreating the battle, just as it was critical in the battle itself.  It costs the Zulu an extra 2" of movement just to scramble up this feature, and it allows the British to get in at least one round of defensive fire before the Zulu can close with the compound on that side.  Just behind the trees in the bottom center of the shot can be seen a bit of mealie bag wall that wasn't completed, forming a partial redoubt just outside the compound.  Note that the hospital and storage buildings are just over 12" apart.  This becomes important after night fall.
 
This is a view from the south of the station.  From here, you can see Shiyane hill to the north.  This hill had a rocky area on the lower portion of its slopes.  It was from here that Zulu "marksmen" harassed the defenders of the compound.  When setting up the battlefield, I made sure that the rocky slope was within rifle range of the compound, ensuring that the Zulu could place their snipers (such as they were) in a useful position.  From here you can also see the great expanse of open ground that the Zulu have to cross in order to get at the station from the north and west.
 
 
This is a view of the compound from the south.  At the bottom of the picture is the garden.  This area plays no real part in the battle, but is included as a nice aesthetic piece.  Historically, it was surrounded by a fence, but as I didn't have any with me, I used some hedge instead.  After the garden is a stretch of dirt road, and then the area of scrub and trees beyond.  This terrain feature blocks line of sight, giving the Zulu a safe area in which to organize their attacks on this side of the station.

The remainder of the battlefield is basically clear terrain, with a few rocky areas where the Zulu can lay down and take cover from British rifle fire.

Those of you who are familiar with this battle will realize that not all the minor buildings are represented.  This was done so as to not clutter the battlefield (okay, okay - I don't have the other bits; where can I find a 15mm outhouse?).

If you are playing on a 4'x8' table (a standard size), you will need to lay the compound diagonally across the center of the table to give the Zulu enough room to deploy.  If your table is wider than 4', then you should be able to set the compound parallel to the table edges.

The buildings and mealie bags/biscuit boxes are made by Hovels.  The set is quite reasonably priced.  For those of you who have to know, I used four sets of mealie bags and two of biscuit boxes to recreate the Drift.  The other small building outside the compound (the cookhouse) was scratch built by yours truly out of a small box and some flat toothpicks for roofing.  The trees are from kits made by Woodland Scenics, which are by far the best value in miniature trees around.  The table was set up by laying out pieces of styrofoam to give the ground the contour it needed, and then laying out a sheet of fabric "fur" over the top.  The fur was basically golden in color (like lion fur), but I had given it a light dusting of green spray paint.   The end result looks very much like long grass.  My estimate of the cost to purchase all the items needed to set up the battlefield is somewhere around $100 US.  Considering that it is all reusable for other battles, this is a pretty great price to have such a nice looking battlefield.

We used the Rampant Colonialism rules to recreate the battle, with the following special rules:

• The game will be 20 turns long.
• It is daylight until Turn 12, at which time night sets, limiting visibility per the RC rules.
• The Zulu get to move first.
• The British must start deployed within the confines of the compound.  They must cover as much of the compound wall as possible, although one unit may be kept as a fighting reserve if desired.
• The British have three leaders:  Bromhead, Chard and Dunne.  There is also Schiess, an individual, with the skills of Good Shot and Fighter.  Chaplain Smith is another individual with the Inspirational skill.  He is unarmed and will not fight, although he will roll a die as normal to defend himself in melee.  Bromhead and Chard have pistols and rifles.  Dunne and Schiess have rifles.
• The Zulu are placed on the board per their deployment rules (see below).
• Zulu may regenerate (see below).
• The Zulu may attempt to set a building on fire.  To do so, a Zulu model must be in contact with the building in question and spend the entire Zulu turn there without moving.  At the end of the Zulu turn, roll 1D10.  On a natural roll of "10", the building catches fire, and must be evacuated within three turns at which time everyone still inside will perish.  Up to three Zulu models may try to set a building on fire in a turn.  Once one building is set on fire, no other buildings may be for the duration of the game.
• If the Zulu ever gain control of the water cart, the British will be at a +1 to morale checks for the rest of the game (that's a bad thing).  Up to six men may pull/push the water cart at 1/2" of movement per man.
• The British may loop hole the buildings in the compound.  Every model that starts in a building is assumed to have done this prior to the battle starting.  If done during the battle, it takes an entire British turn to make a loop hole, during which the model may do nothing else.  Models only have a 45º arc of fire from a loop hole.
• The game is over at the end of the 20th turn.  If the British manage to inflict 350 Zulu casualties prior to this point, then the Zulu will automatically withdraw and the game will end.  The British win if they inflict 350 Zulu casualties, or if they are in uncontested possession of at least the portion of the station in front of the storehouse.  The Zulu win otherwise.

The Zulu are deployed in the following order:

• Turn 1:  North, just to the west of Shiyane Hill - Four units of 20 Zulu each, plus two Zulu leaders.  These Zulu should have no firearms with them, but one of the units may be an elite "White Shield" unit.
• Turn 3:  At the rocky base on Shiyane Hill - One unit of 8 Zulu "marksmen", armed with rifles, plus one Zulu leader.
• Turn 5:  West of the compound - Two units of 20 Zulu each, plus one Zulu leader.  These units may be armed per the army list in the RC rules.
• Turn 7:  South of the trees and scrub to the south of the compound - Three units of 20 Zulu each, plus two Zulu leaders.  These units may be armed per the army list in the RC rules.
• Turn 10:  Anywhere - Two units of 20 Zulu each, plus one Zulu leader.  These units may be armed per the army list in the RC rules.

Wargaming the Zulu war is pretty darned entertaining.  You have all the makings of an adventure movie or novel, right there on your tabletop (okay, minus the beautiful leading lady).  Perhaps the only downside to wargaming the Zulu is that it is a figure intensive army, however, it is possible to get around this, and nowhere is it easier than when re-fighting Rorke's Drift.  To represent the Zulu hordes we use the "Regenerating Zulu" rules.

As you are playing and the Zulu take casualties, place these casualties off to the side where you can keep count of them.  Whenever you get 20 casualties, they must be deployed back on the board at the start of the next Zulu turn.  Note that to regenerate an Elite unit, you must have 20 elite casualties.  Zulu units can only be deployed in an area where the Zulu have already deployed.  So, if you regenerate a unit on Turn 6, you can only place it to the North or west of the compound.  Zulu are free to move/fight normally on the turn they regenerate.

All regenerating units must be deployed outside rifle range, or outside line of sight of the compound.  At night (Turn 13 through 15) the Zulu may be deployed within 20" to indicate reduced visibility at that point.  Zulu do not regenerate after turn 15, so any Zulu that did not make it back on the board by then will not rejoin the battle.  This represents the waning spirit and fatigue of the Zulu towards the later stages of the battle.

Don't forget to keep track of the number of Zulu casualties.  If the British can inflict 350 then the battle is over!

Those are our suggestions for recreating the battle for Rorke's Drift.  We found that when we did it, the game played very close to the actual event, although the British casualties were a little higher.