Heroic Stand : Rorke's Drift: Men of Harlech

(1879) The Battle of Rorke's Drift, was an engagement in the Anglo-Zulu War. The successful British defense of the mission station of Rorke's Drift, began when a large contingent of Zulu warriors broke off from their main force at the day-long Battle of Isandlwana on 22 January 1879, diverting 6 miles (9.7 km) to attack the British, under the command of Lieutenants John Chard of the Royal Engineers and Gonville Bromhead, 24th Regiment of Foot at Rorke's Drift later that day and continuing into the following day. The massive but piecemeal attacks by the Zulu on Rorke's Drift came very close to defeating the much smaller garrison, but were consistently repelled. Just over 150 British and colonial troops defended the station against attacks by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors. Eleven Victoria Crosses were awarded among the defenders, along with a number of other decorations and honors.

All the games, (“Rorke's Drift”, “The Alamo” and “Thermopylae”) from the “Heroic Stand” series are Solitaire games and share the same basic game mechanics. Hand management and deck depletion. The rules let you go easily from one game to the other without a lot of extra rules. With quick and easy to learn rules the game has a fast pace, either played solo or multi player. When playing a co-operative game helping each other out will be the way to win. With a clutter free game board and cards, a game is easily played in 30 minutes.

Game rules are easy to learn, but the game play is very strategic with every decision you make being key to winning the game. Which card to play and when, are just a couple of them. With several difficulty levels of play and a random difficulty level option, the games have great replay value.

What card will you attack with? Will you use one of your special cards to increase your attack? Will your location give you a bonus? Defeating the second unknown enemy card is the constant gamble you will need to take with the cards you hold.

Each game has its own feel to it and aims to capture the key elements of the battles.