TheArcade

Campaign

The Margin Wars, Season 1

Nine episodes, one tactic each. The spine is a set of documented organizational ideas associated with Shaka kaSenzangakhona, the 19th-century Zulu king: the chest-and-horns formation, closing the distance, drilled discipline, speed and a held reserve. We borrow the strategy, not the imagery.

1. 01The MusterRank: RecruitOpen
2. 02Close QuartersRank: Line SergeantOpen
3. 03The FX FrontRank: Flank CaptainDrops in soon
4. 04Forced MarchRank: RunnerDrops in soon
5. 05The LoinsRank: Reserve CommanderDrops in soon
6. 06Chest and HornsRank: Field GeneralDrops in soon
7. 07The Agent FrontierRank: ScoutDrops in soon
8. 08New CurrencyRank: QuartermasterDrops in soon
9. 09The CouncilRank: Margin MarshalDrops in soon

How we handle history

We cite museum and historical sources and keep claims modest. Historians disagree about how much Shaka originated and how much he developed from earlier practice in Dingiswayo's Mthethwa army. The earliest written accounts were by European traders and are widely treated as unreliable. So we say "associated with", not "invented by". Sources: South African History Online; Ditsong Museums of South Africa; summary of the historiography. Academic reading: Carolyn Hamilton, Terrific Majesty: The Powers of Shaka Zulu and the Limits of Historical Invention (Harvard University Press, 1998), on how images of Shaka were made and contested; and Renier H. van der Merwe and Innocent Pikirayi, "The organisation and layout of Zulu military homesteads (amakhanda)" (University of Pretoria repository), on the amabutho age-regiment system.