Lament Ridge II; Rebels & Patriots AAR

Last night we played two games of Rebels & Patriots, the first scenario. The first game saw Ken play the resourceful American Lt. Jeremiah Varnum and I the Wobbly British Lt. Alton Fox.

The Rebel force 72 figures, 33% = 24:

4 green, timid (no bayonets) line infantry (militia) 2 points each

1 light infantry 6 points

1 sharpshooter skirmisher (riflemen) 6 points

1 light Dragoon 4 points for a total of 24 points

My lads 60 figures, 33% = 20:

3 line infantry at 4 points each

1 light infantry 6 points

1 skirmisher (Mohawks) 2 points

1 Light Dragoon (17^th LD) 4 points for a total of 24 points

The objective was an abandoned grasshopper gun on the ridge, dead center of the table.

My cavalry advanced, laying claim to the objective (within 3”, no enemy within 3”).

Ken had been getting a number of low activation rolls, slowing his movement. Now his cavalry charged my Light Infantry and rolled a load of sixes, shoving the troops back and mortally wounding Lt. Fox, hit as he ran to the rear crying for his mother. All British units survived a round of morale tests caused by this. The 17^th Light Dragoons then charged and routed the Rebel horse but were punished in their turn by enemy musket fire.

And then Ken surprised me.

The Rebels lost 20 figures hit, below 33% of their force. British losses were 12, also below 33%. We had played 10 turns in slightly over 2 hours. It was slow since Ken had not seen the rules yet. A fair amount of explaining was needed.

My score: 3 for more control of the objective + 2 for not losing 33% = 5 points, but none to the dead and disgraced Fox. Ken’s score was 2 for not losing 33%, which brought Lt. Varnum’s Honour score to 15. We broke for dinner. Andrew arrived with some excellent Six Point beer.

Dice determined that I would be the brand new 2^nd Lt. Archibald Smithersby, whose trait is fortuna belli and can re-roll any set of dice by either side once a game. I had our vivandiere accompany him as a reminder of this, in vain as it turns out. As before, I headed for the ridge with cavalry to stake an early claim on the objective.

If you are wondering about the raisins, they are actually dried sour cherries. I made the mistake of importing a couple rules from a Seven Years War set that I am reading into this game. The cherries were to show that the unit had not fired their first volley yet. Mea culpa.

And in a trice, the game turned totally around. It was a stunner. Had I remembered my trait, I could have tried to reroll the stunning melee dice of the enemy Light Infantry that started the disaster. Or perhaps the lousy morale roll that saw the regular infantry rout. In any case, I didn’t recall it until the game was in the books. C’est la vie. I must apologize to Andrew for importing a couple rules from another game.

Edit: Line Infantry and Shock Infantry do get a bonus for first fire. I just had trouble finding it in the rules at that time. I need to make some cherry counters up.

We played 9 turns in 90 minutes. Rebel losses were 20 figures, British 23. I had 3 points for more turns in control of the objective. Andrew had 1 for causing 33% losses to me and 2 for not losing 33%, a tie. This is the mirror image of what we did two weeks ago, each playing the other side. It was a fun game, errors and all.

One thing of note: Andrew rolled boxcars 4 times for activations, the first time we have taken note of this rule. Snake eyes is very bad, boxcars very good for the activating player. Twice he got off-table forces to shoot at Archibald’s unit, hitting both times and twice he was able to bestow a discipline bonus on activating units, functionally turning them into veterans for the rest of the game. I rolled boxcars once; the unit rallied and then charged in the same turn, right into disaster against the Rebel Light Infantry.

I must say, ordinary skirmishers on an open field are not the best thing. It would be better to rate one of the other units as veterans. Although it would make your force smaller. It is difficult keeping track of who is in close order when using figures mounted in groups. Perhaps I need some sort of marker. Edit: I have magnetic sabot bases. Figures in close order will be mounted on those. 

2^nd Lt. Jeremiah Varnum now has the Honour score of 18, very close to being promoted to 1^st Lt. and acquiring another trait. The grass-green Archibald Smithersby has a score of 13. That will be it for quite a while, as a sojourn in Maine beckons.