Games and stuff in April

 Blog posts have been a bit thin on the ground over the last month or so.  

A combination of work stuff, family crises, a trip away to Glasgow and being knackered after trying to get the garden looking less like a jungle and more like a messy semi-wild garden have meant I've had little time or energy to do any painting.  

Work has become very busy as people become more confident in coming back out into the world (I work in charity-sector community development so being out there is quite important).  On a plus side we did manage an actual, real-life team meeting for the 1st time since 2019.  Much gin was consumed and it was great to see everyone in-person rather than in a little box on a screen.

This doesn't mean there hasn't been any actual gaming though...

The fortnightly role-playing game that we started online back in 2020 is still going strong.  We're playtesting a world-setting and rules which will eventually be published and having great fun in the process.

There have also been a couple of games courtesy of Eric the Shed.  We finally played out the last of our Wars of the Roses games with a refight of Stoke Field.  There is a great write-up here on Eric's blog  This was one of the best games in the series and definitely the closest.  At one point both armies had run out of morale tokens and a single loss could have swung it either way...

All photos shamelessly nicked from the Shed Wars blog!

We also played a great game of Muskets and Tomahawks.  I managed to throw away my 2 British regular units who were caught in the open and were quickly whittled down by fire from the French and their Native American allies.  

My plucky band of locals who should have proved ineffectual actually fought much better, holding off a French column until the Rangers arrived.  Sadly the other relieving force was badly mauled so victory went to the French. A great set of rules that I ought to play more often.

Musket and Tomahawk





 

 

 

I haven't played Musket and Tomahawk for ages [at least 18 months if this blog is anything to go by] so when Andrew at the club asked if I could arrange a game of something but foolishly left the choice to me, it seemed like a good excuse to dig out the rules and give it another bash.

 

 

After a quick run through the mechanics [which are fairly straightforward and bear some similarity to Sharp Practice which Andrew and I have played before] we were off.  M&T uses a set up system where each player roles to see what their objective is... this can lead to games where both sides could theoretically win [it's happened once when I've played] but this is unlikely.  In our case the objectives matched nicely: Andrew's British troops were tasked with protecting the villagers while my Frenchies were given the appropriately names 'Slaughter' mission.

 

Both sides had a mix of Line Infantry and Indian allies... the British also had a lowly unit of Militia while the French had some hardened Canadian Irregulars.

 

 

The British were able to deploy in and around the village and quickly moved out to screen the villagers who began streaming back to the houses.  The French Line infantry meanwhile advanced steadily with one unit struggling to make it's way through the woods.  Their Indians and Canadians who were using hidden movement [using counters with 1 dummy counter] circled wide to the left using the woods and cornfields to ensure that they weren't spotted.

 

The woods are full of Indians!

 

 

The British Iroquois allies spent a couple of turns wandering around somewhat indecisively before settling in the hedged field next to the village.  The British also had 2 units held off table as reinforcements. The Militia turned up first and quickly sheltered in one of the houses as they could see the advancing counters of the French Indians.

 

The opposing Line units had advanced to meet each other and exchanged some long range fire which resulted in one of the French units being wiped out completely.  The other did manage to inflict some casualties on the British forcing them back from the hedged field which was rapidly becoming the key feature of the game

 

 

 



The French firing line...just before the left hand unit was wiped out!

Over near the British table edge the Canadians and one unit of Hurons were beginning to approach the nearest house in which the Militia were hiding.  I had a bit of a premonition at this point and swung the Canadians round to face the table edge as I had a feeling the remaining British Line unit was due to make an appearance and sure enough Andrew immediately made the required roll to bring them on, directly facing the Canadians. 

This now became a game of chicken... waiting to see who's card would come up first and luckily it was the French Irregulars.  As I suspected I wouldn't be able to win a firefight against a Firing Line the Canadians charged, throwing tomahawks as they went in.. a couple of rounds later and the British recoiled back off the table and were lost!

The other French Indian unit tried a similar charge against their Iroquois enemies which drove them back and then tried the same trick against the British Line troops in the field.   They forced the enemy back but they happily responded by reforming and pouring fire into the Indians, driving them back out and into a nearby cornfield

The Canadians and Indians, flushed with success,  tried advancing up to the nearest house and taking on the much derided Militia who managed to force them both back repeatedly with close range fire.

By this point the casualties had mounted on both sides but crucially my French were nowhere near getting to their objective of massacring the civilians... sadly the piles of dead British infantry didn't help with the victory conditions.... so the game ended as a British victory but one that would surely lead to awkward questions back at Horseguards about the heavy price [or at least that was my small crumb of comfort!]

As always Musket and Tomahawk gives a great game with a dramatic feel to it... we both forgot about our side missions along the way: Andrew's officer was meant to prove himself by taking on the enemy in hand to hand and I was meant to capture a prisoner... I might have been able to salvage a draw if I'd thought of it instead of merrily scalping everyone we met!!

Painters progress...

Well my resolution to try and actually paint something this year has got off to a reasonable start.

2 months into the year I've completed the batch of Gripping Beast Saxons that had lingered around since last year.  I've also now painted up some Peter Pig artillery to accompany my French troops in North America for Musket and Tomahawk.

I suspect that there are limited opportunities for a cannon to actually be effective in M&T and the crew are likely to be scalped before they can fire a round but I quite fancied the idea of having some.  I just need to engineer a scenario now where the brave French are defending a village which happens to be devoid of surrounding woodland and has clear lines of fire marked out!


I've also painted a unit of Russian Sailors from the excellent Copplestone Back of Beyond range.  I know they weren't on my schedule but I came across them in a box and decided they'd be fun to paint.  I haven't used my BoB figures for some time and quite fancy trying to resurrect them.

In the past I've used Chris Peers Contemptible Little Armies rules for this period and have a few other rules tucked away in the great rules box but I've heard very good things about the Triumph and Tragedy rules distributed by Empress Miniatures so will have to see about getting a set.

Cavalier is on at Tonbridge in Kent this Sunday and I should be going if all goes to plan [dependent on what time my son makes it back from Berlin on Saturday night...he has a considerably more exciting life than I do!!!].  It's a show I've always really enjoyed... not too big but usually a good spread of games and traders.  I'll update on the show next week.

The British Raid....

 

A hastily arranged game of Muskets and Tomahawks last night gave us a chance to try out another variation off troop combinations.

I fielded a mixed force of 3 French Line Infantry units and 2 groups of Indians but Anthony had the opportunity to unveil his new British troops.  He’d decided to go for quality over quantity with a unit of Grenadiers, a unit of Light Infantry and a unit of Rangers... all elite, a smattering of marksmen but very limited in numbers.  Would the Grenadiers impressive hats win the day?  Was the purchase of a cavalry sword for his officer going to influence the gods of war?

In a reverse of our last game the British were intent on attacking some peaceable French settlers and torching their log cabins.  The French had been warned of their advance and were tasked with destroying them. 

Keith had joined us for this game and took command of the Indians while I looked after the French Line.

The side missions had led to the British officer dragging a young lady as a hostage along with him [possibly in some not very well thought out attempt to impress her] and left a French officer hostage at the far end of the table [who we decided to ignore for the rest of the game... hopefully he eventually managed to chew through his bonds!]

The game began with the French advancing slowly past the village while the Indians trotted off through the woods trying to find an opportunity to fall on the British flanks.  The British Light Infantry and Rangers sped off south towards the village, leaving the Grenadiers to plod along slowly in their wake.  Having seen the speed of the British Irregulars advancing the French switched direction and took up position behind the village fence bracing themselves for the oncoming hail of elite fire.  One of Keith’s Indian units appeared from the village and charged straight for the Rangers in a flurry of feathers and hatchets.  A furious few minutes of hacking ensued and what was left of the Rangers fled back out of the woods.  Unfortunately this left the Indians at the mercy of the Light Infantry who almost wiped them out with musket fire, leaving one lone Indian to flee out of the woods back towards his French colleagues [remember him... he’ll reappear in a minute!]

The French defend the village...note the lone psychopathic Indian by the wood

 

Meanwhile the French Line infantry had redressed their lines and got into position to finish off the few remaining Rangers and to exchange fire with the Light Infantry.  We may have forgotten to re-roll some of the Lights missed shots [with the Marksman trait] but even if we had I suspect they would still have come off worst against 2 Line units in Firing Line.  Although their casualties weren’t high the Lights were forced to recoil and here we learned a crucial rule in M & T.... don’t advance down the table edge: if you do and then recoil you’ll move off table and be lost forever!

 

Keith’s other Indian unit had been shadowing the Grenadiers who had suddenly accelerated and were beginning to threaten the village.  Repeating his successful tactic and madly charging straight at the enemy the Indians charged through the woods onto the Grenadiers.  This was a much closer fight... the Grenadiers melee ability is as good as Indians and they outnumbered them but the Indians were ‘bloodthirsty’ making them especially effective in hand to hand.  Again Keith was able to force the British to recoil and again the table edge proved a valuable ally as the Grenadiers were forced over it and destroyed.

 



The French advance on the British Light Infantry

To add insult to injury Keith’s remaining single Indian [remember him?] took the opportunity to charge the lone British officer... a furious last ditch duel took place before the opponents managed to kill each other, leaving our hostage untended and in the relative safety of hordes of Frenchmen...



 So, the Quality vs. Quantity experiment wasn’t a great success... the Grenadiers might have made a difference but were slow in getting to the front [I blame their hats!] and the volume of ‘adequate’ gunfire outweighed the ‘elite’ fire that the British had in too limited numbers. 

And remember.... stay away from the table edge!!!

Log Cabins and Postman B****y Pat!

A tale of great products and not so good customer service...

My Musket and Tomahawk games have been suffering from a lack of buildings for the settlers to hide in when the rampaging Indians/French/British come calling so I was very tempted by some log cabins I came across produced by 4Ground.    4Ground's website

 

Technically these are listed under their Europe at War range and I guess are designed for use in Russia and Eastern Europe.  I’m sure there are some architectural experts out there who will point out discrepancies in the roof design but I figured a shack is a shack and no one would really notice. 

 

 

 

 

At £20 for 3 pre-painted cabins these represent really good value: they come in a flat pack assembly style and the main problem I had putting them together was that several pieces fell out of the frame before I could work out which was part A and which was part B!  Luckily I had my son on hand who was  after a favour and within an hour he’d built all three and assembled the pack of fences I’d also bought.  The models look great and are shown here with some Blue Moon 18mm figures for comparison.  They also smell really nice!!!  There’s more than a hint of woodsmoke presumably thanks to the laser-cutting which certainly adds to the atmosphere when your Indians are trying to roast the settlers hiding inside!

 

 

Actually getting my hands on the cabins was a lot more complicated than building them though!  I’d ordered them in mid-October and duly received confirmation from 4Ground that they’d received my order and then that it had been despatched.  I was away for a week in Scotland and assumed they’d be waiting from me [or at the post office] when  I got back.  On my return there were some parcels to collect but sadly nothing from 4Ground. 

 

Here’s where the customer service part went wrong.  I’d discovered the T&Cs which let me know that if I’d spent £2 more I would have had it sent via courier but as I’d spent £28 I only qualified for normal Royal Mail post and a proof of posting certificate: not 4Grounds fault as it was clearly on their site although I was a bit gutted as it looked as though my parcel had gone astray and there would be little I could do.  As we were now approaching a month from placing the order I emailed 4Ground... nothing.  I called... they’d have a look and get back to me... then nothing.  I called again asking for some kind of response... nothing [and nothing for the last week].  At this point my wife, out in the back garden with the dog discovered a parcel lying in a puddle by the back gate... the b***y postman had obviously lobbed it over the fence rather than leave it with a  neighbour or taking it back.  The packaging pretty much disintegrated when I brought it in but luckily the contents were sealed well inside and were intact.

All in all I’ve been left with pretty mixed feelings... the cabins are really great... some of the nicest I’ve seen and are really affordable .  For the sake of a call or an email though 4Ground could have made me a much happier punter.  As for the Post Office, I’ve logged a complaint but don’t really expect to hear back.  Would I buy more... definitely... but I’ll try and make sure I’m around when they’re delivered!

The Raid on Ste. Lorraine

We played another game of Muskets and Tomahawks at the club last night.  In previous games we’ve both fielded a mix of regulars, irregulars of various quality and Indians but I was keen to see how the game played when a regular line army was faced with a more mobile but less drilled force.

As usual Anthony took on the role of the British while Martin and I played the French and Indians.  The British had 3 Line units supported by some Rangers, defending a small hamlet deep in the Canadian woods.  The Indian raiding party, backed up by some Canadians and Coureur du Bois were intent on slaughtering the civilians cowering in one of the log cabins.

The British line up in front of the Village...but where are the Indians??

 

The British were faced with a mass of Hidden movement markers which caused widespread confusion, especially amongst my Indians as I kept forgetting which were real and which were dummies!

At the start of the game only half the British troops were on the table and Martin’s Canadians tried to take advantage of this by pushing forward through the trees towards the village on the British right, while the Indians took a slightly less direct route, trying to find a way through the woods and over the river onto the flanks of the British troops.  The British responded by sending the Rangers  into the woods to drive off the Canadians and after an exchange of fire the Coureur du Bois recoiled back under a hail of rifle fire.

The remaining British troops now arrived with one unit moving into the village while the other got bogged down on the wrong side of the river trying to work out which Indian markers were real and which were bogus.



The Canadians advance on the rather battered Rangers

Over on the British right the Coureur du Bois pushed back and combining their fire with the ordinary Canadian Irregulars inflicted heavy casualties on the Rangers who were still trying to work out how to reload these new-fangled rifles.  The Canadians then charged home and after a brief and bloody fight forced the Rangers to flee.  Unfortunately for the British this left one of their officers sat on his own in the path of a horde of angry French-Canadians...after a brief flurry of tomahawks and knives it was all over.  They followed up and also finished off what was left of the Rangers and opened up the path to the village.

Meanwhile the Indians were slowly picking their way towards the village and tying up 2 of the 3 British Line units who couldn’t decide which way to head.  The Indians revealed themselves by firing into the flanks of one of the units, slowly whittling it down while other pesky Indians advanced through the cover of a wheat field, doubtless sharpening their tomahawks as they went.



The Indians reveal themselves with a surprisingly effect volley

The continuous fire from the remarkably accurate Indians polished off one of the regular units and at this point, as the evening was drawing on, Anthony conceded the game.  The Indians and Canadians had both managed to get within 4” of the village which the British had been trying to prevent and although we hadn’t actually managed to slaughter any civilians [who’d remained safely tucked away in a cabin] it was only a matter of time.



 

 

The game felt very different to previous games of Musket and Tomahawk that we’ve played.  In these the line troops had been very effective and were able to put down heavy fire with devastating results but this time the regulars were much less effective.  Anthony had to continually try to readjust the units to maintain his facing opposite the Indians whose faster movement through the woods really came into its own.  There was a palpable feeling of growing claustrophobia and the Ambush markers crept closer and closer to the enemy and a real frustration for the British at not having the mobility to counter this.  The Rangers may have been able to have countered this but had met a bloody demise by this point.

Another excellent outing for these rules which had proved really impressive so far!