March to Victory - Game One

 

I planned to run two games; both set in the French & Indian War, based on scenarios provided in Wiley Games' Fistful of Lead: Horse & Musket rules and adapted to use the same terrain set-up so there was no need to change the layout between games.

Game One was titled "New France 1757: Defending the Ford." Scouts are trying to find a suitable river crossing to make a sweeping flank move. Unfortunately for them, the only forde is guarded by determined troops. 

Rules: Muskets and Mohawks by Two Hour Wargames / Rebel Minis. 6 units of French troops - 2 Rep 4 Regulars with Leader, 2 Rep 3 Militia with Leader and 1 Rep 5 Grenadier and 1 Rep 4 Marines - were up against 4 British units - 2 Rep 4 Regulars with Leader and 2 Rep 4 Provincials with Leader. The French had the advantage of numbers, the British the defending position. The side with the greatest number of troops closest to the ford and the road exiting the board edge at the end of the session time would win.

The defenders could set up hidden and the attackers could use hidden movement until actually spotted - which generally meant leaving the cover of the woods.

Terrain from the British side:

 And from the French:

The British deployed one Militia unit at the woods' edge on their right flank; a perfect shooting position providing cover, and held the second in reserve. They brought the Regulars into the open on the road.

The French came forward in 3 columns - the Grenadiers and Marines in the open up the road, the Regulars in the woods on their left flank (facing the Brirtish Provincials) and the Militia using hidden movement through the woods on their right flank.

The French troops made it to the edge of the river and the firefight began, both sides loosing a Volley and then settling into Firing at Will, the Provincials in the cover of the Woods getting additional protection.

The French right flank Militia that had been moving "silently" through the woods suddenly burst into the open and made for the river's edge. It would take two turns to cross the river outside the ford, and the two lines of troops blazed away at each other in the meantime, the British getting the worst of the exchange.

As soon as the French Militia made the far bank of the river they charged the left flank British Regulars, passing an unlikely Charge test! A round of Melee was fought and both sides passed their Morale rolls, meaning the Melee would continue when either side next Activated. Next turn the second unit of French Militia appropriately enough failed their Charge test. The Melee was then joined by the British Great Man himself and then the French Marines that crossed the river at the ford!

 

 

The French Grenadiers, arguably the best troops on the field, were repelled twice as they tried to cross the river at the ford by the valiant fire of the other weakened unit of British Regulars.

 

Finally, after losing 2/3 of the unit, the British Regulars in Melee failed their Morale test and recoiled. The French units, also considerably reduced in the hand-to-hand contest, decided not to Follow Up.

It was at this late point in the battle that the British committed their last unit of Provincials, moving them into the open (leaving the cover of the Woods) in front of the advancing French Regulars. It would prove too little too late as the French outnumbered the British by 2 to 1 in position re the Victory Conditions when time was called, and so claimed the field.

General note: I think the game would have been closer run had the British not held their Provincial unit in reserve, and instead had it in firing position at the Woods' edge from the beginning of the game. On either flank would have been useful, potentially causing more French casualties, and they would still have had the cover of the trees for several fires.

Note to the players, if you happen to read this. During the Melee, the British should have taken an automatic casualty each Activation for EACH unit they were fighting, instead of the single casualty I assigned. The Melee should have been a more lop-sided victory for the French. It was the only ruling anyone questioned, and I didn't want a fine set of commercial rules taking the blame! Again, if the reserved Provincials had been stationed on the left flank, the Melee may never have happened. . .

Game Two in the next post. See ya!

 

 

March to Victory!

 

 

March to Victory, Wiley Games' first ever wargaming convention, is in the books! https://www.marchtovictory.net/ is the official website. Yours Truly hosted two games on Saturday, which I'll share more about here in a few days. Until then, you can see some images from the Muskets & Mohawks game at about 6:23 of the video at The Baron's blog. There are lots of other games to check out, too, in case you missed this March, and I fully expect the next March will be even better!

Congratulations on a fantastic first event, Wileys!

Happy New Year. . . I get to start it with Covid.

 

Yup. I have The Covid. A mild case; one night of fever and two days - so far - of a sore throat and occasional cough - which I am attributing to being vaxxed and boosted. And quarantine. Hopefully the symptoms remain mild.

 

Now on to the gaming content. No predictions or goals or New Year resolutions as to how many minis I plan to paint this year. Sorry - just don't need the extra pressure at this time.

 

The last game I played was at The Baron's, of course: Flower of Chivalry published by The Canadian Wargames Group. Typical medieval mayhem so the photos will be hard to make sense of - the video can be accessed via this POST. I commanded the left flank battle of our side, which I failed to hold, and our side eventually lost.

 

 

It has been YEARS since I played FoC and it showed. But I was reminded what an intriguing set of rules it is, and its Battle Lust mechanism can give a basic "advance and bash" period some real flavor and nuance. So I found a used copy of the rules online with the thought I might adapt them to the earlier Norman Conquest, only to find the earlier armies/troop types already catered for in the rules. There is also a conversion guide for rules and troop types to the DBA, Tactica and WRG rules, which might also provide an indication to the age of rules, but is a bonus in that I like to base minis so they can be used for DBA (3.0 of course) too. Win win win!

 

See ya. . . after I kick Covid, of course.

Muskets and Mohawks at Wiley Wargame Weekend

 

 

Not a very timely post but it is what it is. . .

I brought out the toys in October in honor of The Baron's Birthday. I only had the time and access to my toys (refer to previous post) to put on a smallish game (5' square foot table), so decided to take up where we left off two years ago at the first Wiley Wargame Weekend. There I hosted a bigger game (here) of Muskets and Mohawks that timed out just as the two armies were faced off for a firefight across the river. I thought it would be fun to let the same armies have that firefight, and replaced the river with a road to make it easier for them to get at each other. 

 

Maneuvering for both sides was literally straight forward into musket range, except for the Natives that Fast Moved into charge range of the British left flank Regulars.

 

 

The ensuing series of charges by the Natives chased the British Regulars into the cover of the woods at the cost of one of the Native units. When the Melees were over, the British Regulars were gone and only the Native Leader remained of the two original units. The line troops blazed away at each other. . .

 

 . . . until there were only two line units left on each side, the French having the edge in quality and the lone Native Leader causing morale issues for the Provincials by firing into their flank from the trees.

 

Feeling outnumbered and perhaps outmaneuvered, the British conceded. The players were all new to the system, and seemed to generally enjoy the game.  One player REALLY didn't like the activation rules. This is not an uncommon reaction to a first go at Two Hour Wargames rules; they can be an "acquired taste."

See ya!
 

Sixty-Two Special leads to The Big Move

 

Here are our boys all saddled up for The Big Move.  

My last post in June suggested there were some game reports coming. What happened? Well, the Summer of COVID 2020 for us was followed by this most recent Summer of The Big Move 2021.

Big Move. . . what happened? 2 days after my last post I found myself unexpectedly and ostensibly “retired.” Yeah. What would our response Move be? After some hard deliberation, we decided our best Move might be to take advantage of the red-hot real estate market in the Twin Cities and sell our house in preparation for a Move back "home" to Kansas City. It's what we intended for the end of our current Five-Year Plan to Retirement. . . we would just Move up the date, without the actual retirement part.

 

So, between mid-June and late August, we prepped our home in the Twin Cities for sale, sold it

 

. . . bought a new home, then packed our entire household and put it on a truck for Overland Park, Kansas

 

 . . . and finally, moved into that new home - with our boys, of course.  

 

It was truly a Big Move, and despite the reason for it I am profoundly grateful that it worked out as well as it did. 

Because this is primarily a blog about gaming, I have intentionally understated the intensity and trauma of the overall experience. I'll just acknowledge and thank my wife, family and friends for their help and support and do my best to continue to cultivate a grateful spirit. 

 

"Moving in" turns into "settling in," and while that is happening there may not be much personal gaming news to post. All my stuff is still in boxes. However, I am back in the home town of The Baron, Wiley Games and the Basement Generals, so will be doing some gaming. For instance, I've already participated in this Star Wars bounty-hunting game of Fistful of Lead: Galactic Heroes. And if you want to hear me "drone on and on until I start foaming at the mouth and falling over backward" about terrain, you can check out this episode of BS-ingwith the Baron, which I did just before leaving Minnesota, from a room that was mostly filled with packed boxes awaiting loading.

 

Bruce and I did get that game of DBA 3.0 Big Battle in before the Move. Bruce brought 2 armies that looked terribly mismatched on initial review: II/33 Polybian Roman and I/36b Italian Hill Tribes/Sardinian. The Sardinians are all Psiloi and Auxilia except for a possible Chariot General; I "won" the Sardinians and prayed to the terrain gods. Terrain can be the great equalizer in DBA if your opponent cooperates.

 

I defended (of course) and chose Difficult Hills and Woods, which mostly ended up on the right side of the table, so that is where I set up to fight. Bruce wanted to fight in 3 neat Roman lines, but I wanted a messy scrum in the terrain so maneuvered to set up good positions with a refused line on the left to hold the flank.

The Roman Cavalry general took the bait and led his Auxilia into the woods and was killed after some initial success. His Auxilia had a little more success, but not enough, and the command was eventually demoralized.

At which point the Romans withdrew to form a defensive "square" and the Sardinians solidified their terrain wall. The Romans weren't going to fight in the woods and the Sardinians were not coming out, so we had a draw, advantage Sardinians because of the demoralized Roman command. A very interesting positional battle from my point of view. Thanks, Bruce, and stay well!