![Wild Australia Wargaming? 28mm Ned Kelly Gang & Victorian Police Review [7 Days Early Access]](https://images.beastsofwar.com/2026/01/unboxing-traders-galaxy-australiana-ned-kelly-gang-_-victorian-police-coverimage-225-127.jpg)
Rorke’s Drift! Box Set From Warlord Games
January 6, 2012 by darrell
Video Sponsors: Dark Age - Infinity - Wayland Games - Heavy Gear - Battle Foam
Darrell’s got his hands on the new big box from Warlord Games, Rorke’s Drift!
Join him as he explores the contents of this massive set and watch out for Andy getting involved when they both have a look at the scenery set featuring all of the key buildings from Rorke’s Drift!
Here’s a list of what’s in the box:
- Laser-cut wooden Hospital building with Teddy Bear Fur thatch.
- Laser-cut wooden Storehouse building with Teddy Bear Fur thatch.
- Resin Wagon Barricade
- Resin stone wall Kraal (4 x 6in sections)
- Resin biscuit box barricades (2 x 6in sections)
- Resin biscuit box/mealie-bag barricades (3 x 6in sections)
- Resin mealie-bag barricades (3 x 6in sections)
- 20 plastic multi-pose British Line Infantry
- 40 plastic multi-pose Married Zulus
- Metal mounted Zulu InDuna
- Metal Zulu in British jacket firing Martini-Henry rifle
- British characters: Lieutenant Chard (Royal Engineers), Lieutenant Bromhead, Colour Sergeant Bourne and Private Hook.
If you like your historical gaming and want to recreate the epic battles between the Zulus & English then this is a great set to kick off with. Perhaps you could even paint up your own Michael Caine!
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
Supported by (Turn Off)
I think the idea with the teddy bear fur is you get a wide brush and comb it into straight lines, then varnish it or paint PVA on following the grain to give you a more random thatched texture to take a base coat and a dry-brushed highlight, it might seem a little involved, but when the alternative is layering bits of bristle etc it suddenly looks a lot easier.
As for the loopholes in the walls, surely Darrell, you have to see the wisdom in the old tenant “Its better out than in”, not just for ventilation of unpleasant gases, but it means once the building is inevitably surrounded by orks later, your space marines and/or guardsmen get to shoot out more.
That box is Huge.
Just an FYI but if you want to play this ‘realistically” you would need around 500 Zulus vs the 20 British infantry. 1:25 was the troop ratio. (Total British troops (who did not retreat before the battle started and actually fought) was around 150, Zulus at 3,000 – 4,000)
The movie was fairly inaccurate as regard to who did what…
Given that the Brits had just lost a much bigger battle against the Zulu’s – the Battle of Isandlwana, this was really just an aftermath skirmish. I would think the British like to recall the Rorke’s Drift fight, but the African’s probably prefer to recall Islawanda… but your point about them being happy they held is well taken.
The divorced Zulu’s weren’t there. Remember these are the guys who’ve proven that there is no point in sticking around just to get your arse kicked every day. They would have taken a look at the British rifles and figured, nah, just more of the same…
The spear is called an Iklwa.
There were 11 VC’s awarded for the battle.
Pvt Hook was one of 5 soldiers who fought in the Hospital.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfred_Henry_Hook He was NOT a rogue, as portrayed in the movie, but was in fact a teetotaler and a model soldier who later became a sergeant.
Color Sgt Bourne did NOT get a VC, he got a Distinguished Conduct Medal.
Lt Broomhead – the Lt played by Caine. The movie tried to play up the issue of overall authority, having Broomhead receiving his commission just 3 months after Lt Chard, but in fact he was commissioned 3 years after Chard, leaving Chard clearly in command.
Love the fur. I need a new chest hairpiece so this looks a good way to go!
Hmm, I’ve never been called “less of an idiot”. Is that a good thing?
I’d rather use the ‘mohawk’ bit to cover the join line, even if the farm ends up looking like the top of Beckam’s head.
You really should poke out the holes in the exterior walls – it’s what they did to provide fire holes.
The room to room fighting occurred in the Hospital, not the Store.
They forgot the Stone Kennel, which anchored the east wall section.
What you call the ‘back’ of the hospital – was actually the outward facing section of the building – very hard to defend because of the multiple dorways out (but no internal doorways which is why they had to dig though the walls.)
The distance from the Store to the hospital was much greater than shown here, about 2 lengths of the store. While you might get 150 troops shoulder to shoulder in ranks in the set, in reality there was a good 4-5 feet between each man.
I think films where:
Zulu Dawn- the Battle of Isandlwana
Zulu- Rokes Drift
Impressive box set but then if your my age Zulu was the film of the mid sixties that really caught a young lads imagination and it still does it now.
Got to agree with you a mini set of rules would be great idea to make it a stand alone game or a way of introduction into a full set of rules.
I like the look of the laser cut buildings, I havn’t seen any in the flesh yet, only online. I hope to see more of it. I’m sure it wouldn’t be to difficult to design it so you could put it together without glue. Flat pack scenery now that would be good.
Impressive box set, but not as impressive as it’s price. Is it a good idea to put multiple models on a base if your going to have room to room fighting?
one word awesome
Wow all that for that price? I would have thought that price for the terrain only. This is one of the best deals I’ve seen in a long time.
Every time you say Lieutenant the American way, Darrel, God kills a kitten.
Other than that….looks like good stuff!
How the heck to you guys get an ‘f’ sound out of ‘ieut’ ????
I assume we can blame the french
wiki says:
The word lieutenant derives from French; the lieu meaning “in place” as in a position (cf. in lieu of); and tenant meaning “holding” as in “holding a position”; thus a “lieutenant” is somebody who holds a position in the absence of his or her superior (compare the Latin locum tenens). Similar words in other languages include the Arabic mulāzim (Arabic: ملازم), meaning “holding a place”, and the Hebrew word segen (Hebrew: סגן), meaning “deputy” or “second to”.