We played a scenario of Muskets & Tomahawks last night,
300 points for each side. Bill commanded the mixed British force with a mission
to protect the civilians in the settlement. Rick commanded the largely Indian
force with a mission to scout all six quadrants of the table. I umpired. We got
off to a late start. Bill was delayed in transit by the closing of the Manhattan Bridge ; Rick had firemen in his
building. Fortunately there was no fire, just a spot inspection of another
building that somehow involved his too. The game began, an hour or so later
than usual.
Bill had Lieutenant Fussbudget, 9 regulars, 9 provincials,
12 rangers and 6 Mohawks to protect 15 settlers. They deployed as seen below.
The Provincials and the officer were kept in reserve per the scenario rules.
Both failed to arrive on the first turn.
Rick had Lieutenant Petit, 9 Canadian backwoods militia,
Chief Lisping Turtle and 24 Abnaki warriors. All arrived from the right side of
the table during the first turn. Firing broke out and units on both sides gave
ground.
The firing picked up. The Indians fell back on their left
flank, the whole force inclining to the right. Deadly fire from the Canadians
and Abnakis sent the regulars back in flight.
Lt. Fussbudget got his knickers in order and arrived on the
field. The Indians continued to incline to their right, overlapping the British
left. The regulars reformed and continued to fire at the enemy from an open
field.
Andrew arrived and drew the activation chits out of our
large teacup. The Provincials finally found their way onto the field. The
regulars fell back in order after taking the worst of a firefight. The French
Canadians charged a ranger unit and wiped it out. Bill’s dice also went cold on
his right where the Mohawks charged a beat-up Abnaki band and were driven off
with heavy loss after a prolonged melee. His spirits were low. At the end of
the 4th turn he rolled for game end and got it.
He had at least half of his civilians safe; in fact he
hadn’t lost one. His victory conditions were met. To his surprise, Rick didn’t
make his victory conditions. Rick's Indians had scouted all 6 quadrants of the
table but had not then exited the table. I attribute this to his late start on
scouting the far left quadrant, possibly due to his being distracted by the
combat going on in the center. We had played 4 turns in something over 2 hours.
M&T turns go one for quite a while; a lot happens in one turn. Indians, for
example, might move 24 inches in a turn though they usually stop to shoot at
the enemy along the way. Bill had accounted for 10 enemy warriors. Rick had laid
low 18 British, one short of forcing the British morale chit into the cup.
We broke for dinner and the usual bull session. Bill and
Rick departed. I introduced Andrew to the venerable and grand board game Quebec 1759. He got
close to victory as the British in his first game, giving me some anxious
moments. Perhaps I can find a first edition game in good condition, since my
old copy is really battered.
Unlike previous games, I didn’t overlook some rules. This
leads to one observation. Indians have the Native trait, which means they get
an additional modifier when shot at while they are in woods. But this only
comes into effect when shot at by Rangers, other Indians and such since ordinary mortals shooting at targets in woods generally only hit on a roll of 6. 6’s are always
a hit, so the extra modifier doesn’t buy much for the Indians.
French officers do not include one that can keep up with the Canadians, while the British can have Major Rodgers, for example. I should think Lt. Beaujeu should be an option, a backwoods officer dressed pretty much like an Indian and moving like one.
Correction: There is a Canadian Officer listed on another page from the French Officer, my bad. So we can have Lt.s Beaujeu and Langlade and their like in future games.
We will likely play another M&T game in a couple weeks and then get back to more serious fare with Bloody Big Battles. A last Young Bonaparte scenario beckons (if I can draw a mat for it), and the perhaps the American Civil War. I do at some time want to test a scenario for Stones River.
We will likely play another M&T game in a couple weeks and then get back to more serious fare with Bloody Big Battles. A last Young Bonaparte scenario beckons (if I can draw a mat for it), and the perhaps the American Civil War. I do at some time want to test a scenario for Stones River.
2 comments:
Very interesting write up , I enjoyed reading it .
Thank you. We shall try this again in a couple weeks, maybe increase the number of points if enough Fencibles show up.
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