How Much Action?

I'm trying to determine how many of the Anglo-Zulu War battles I should include in my story. The most famous ones are the Battle at Isandlwana and the Battle at Rorke's Drift. They're famous because both have been made into movies. One was ZULU DAWN, starring Burt Lancaster and Peter O'toole, and the other was ZULU, starring Michael Caine and Stanley Baker. They were both good movies, and I liked them when I saw them so many years ago.

But I realize now that neither one was completely true to history. I suppose had they been books, they would have been designated historical fiction. So that's all right. So is my WIP, John Dunn, Heart of a Zulu. You don't refer to them for historical facts. They were interesting because they were based on true history, but that's it.

It kind of reminds me of that HBO miniseries a while back called ROME. I really liked it. It was based on the real historical events surrounding Julius Caesar and others during that time period, but it contained an awful lot of things that just didn't happen. Thus, historical FICTION, to be sure. But entertaining, yes.