I've been steadily working through my backlog of models and terrain over the last few weeks, and I'm not buying any more models until the New Year sales. To get around this, and to celebrate the successful conclusion of my first month in the new job, I bought Studio Tomahawk's Muskets and Tomahawks – and very nice it is too. Of course, having played it at the White Hart a few months ago, I already knew that.
Not
having any French or Indians to fight the French & Indian Wars
with, I decided to trial the rules with my Rising of '45 models. I
totted up the points for the English and the Jacobites, rolled to
determine the scenario and side-plots, and set to - the English
outnumbered 3:4. For those with a copy of the rulebook, Castagne's
side-plot was Madness,
and MacDonail and McCruil had Emotive
and Truce
respectively. In a lovely bit of narrative irony, Frost and Dunmore rolled Friendship and A Hateful Heart.
Angered by his perceived humiliation at the hands of the gallant Captain Campbell at Caleduin,
Castagne has decided to burn this hamlet to the ground himself. The
rage that has burnt in him since Lochlann's Tower is starting to take its mental toll, so his underlings watch him very carefully. Sergeant Frost
is particularly paranoid of his superior's attentions due to the
admiration he harbours towards the tough old laird they hunt. In grim difference, Lieutenant Dunmore of the independent companies is simply
determined to prove his loyalty to King George in the blood of his
fellow Scots.
Recovered
from his sickbed, the Laird MacDonail has risen to avenge his
firstborn's death at Caleduin. Now irrevocably allied to Father
McCruil's cause, he looks to kill the fat king's slaves, though he is
loathe to bleed his clan any further. Little does he know that Father
McCruil has received secret orders from King James to trick the
English into thinking that the Westermen are loathe to fight...
The
Game
Opening positions. |
As the action opened, Father McCruil ordered the highlanders on the Jacobite right forward through the woods. They moved quickly between the trees, planning to take up firing positions in the treeline. Only after the lowlanders under the Laird's direct control swept into the fallow fields did the Royalist infantry notice the enemy's advance.
Mindful
of their comrades' example at Caleduin, the independent companies on
the Hanoverian left moved forward through the cornfields. The King's
Own Royal Borderers, wary in Castagne's presence, marched through the
muddy fields, eyeing up the lowland militia opposing them. As the
highlanders edged on toward the hamlet, crowding the edges of the
woodland, the central group of company men seized the closest
building and set about smashing out windows and wattle for firing
ports.
A card into Turn Two. |
Unwilling to waste his men's powder at long range for the chancy
virtues of firing first, Castagne whipped his men on towards the
increasingly uncertain-looking lowlanders. Luckily for the Borderers,
their advance to the hedges was unimpeded by treacherous fire, and
their first volley tore a bloody hole in the enemy centre. One flank
fell back and the other fled back toward the hedge they had just
merrily climbed.
The KORB's fire pushes back the survivors. |
Realising
that they could do no good from inside the house, the independents
set the place ablaze and fell back. On the other flank, the bloodthirsty
Dunmore led a second group of his men in a gallant charge against the
closest highlanders. Though Dunmore's adversary thwarted his charge,
his men did sterling service and pushed the enemy back for a small
loss.
Dunmore takes the woods' edge... |
But the highlanders push back! |
Dunmore's men resisted the first rush, but numbers began to tell. In
a steel flash, Dunmore was alone among the trees. With a quick
one-two he was past his opponent's defence, the long-haired rebel
dead at his feet, but as he crowed another man stepped up with his
pistol and fired a crooked ball through his eye, leaving him slumped
over his success like a bloody doll.
Furious at the cruel vandalism shown by the independent companies,
the rest of McCruil's highlanders were flooding around the burning
building to exact revenge. This show of Scottish spirit seemed to
rally the Laird's men, and though the initial effect of their fire
was negligible, the number of balls flying began to tell on the
Borderers they faced.
It was as well they did not see the rest; dragged into open ground by
their rage, the leading highlanders found themselves in a deadly crossfire
between the fields and the house burners, losing half their number in
one swift volley. The second cast the survivors down like scarecrows
in the storm.
The next group launched themselves over their comrades' corpses,
hacking at the independents with that passion reserved wholly for
traitors and home-burners. But fury is no aid when skill is needed,
and the independents held, starting a swirling melee beneath the
roaring flames.
Scotsman versus Scotsman. |
Not only did the independents hold, but they avenged themselves
wholly of Lieutenant Dunmore's death, cutting down all but the
weakest highlander, who fled in terror before death's reach.
Start of turn three. |
A small party of independent company men began stalking the woods for
any trace of surviving enemy, and Father McCruil fled before them. The rest rushed to burn the second
house, leaving their muskets unloaded in their haste.
On the other side of the hedges, the Borderers maintained the upper
hand, delivering relentless volleys that smashed Scotsmen and Scots
discipline apart like so many glass baubles. Despairing of this
exchange of fire, the Laird's men charged the hedges, hoping to sell
their lives more dearly than those who now lay broken on the farrowed
earth.
The
men in grey leapt onto the Borderers, fighting like men
possessed. Though outnumbered, they fought on grimly, until their
dead and the Borderers' surrounded a single redclad survivor. Their
fellows in tan caused fewer casualties, but managed to drive the
redcoats away from the hedgeline with their eerie highland chants.
Once over, they fired a single hurried volley and charged again, but
this time their bravery ended more ignominiously.
Only
Father McCruil and the old Laird now remained hale in King James' service, and as the second homestead went up in flames they beat
hasty and separate retreats to consider what their next moves against
the German pretender should be.
Butcher's
Bill
Jacobite:
24 Highlanders, 16 Lowland Infantry
Hanoverians:
12 Borderers, 6 Independent Company men, Lieutenant Dunmore
Victory
Conditions
Hanoverian: Destroy
all buildings Success
Lt.
Dunmore: Kill 6 enemy/3 in melee Failure
Sgt.
Frost: MacDonail survives Success
Cpt.
Castagne: Keep on living crazy Success
Jacobite: Kill
2/3rds of the enemy Success
MacDonail: Don't
play the Morale card Failure
McCruil: Enemy
shoots/melees first Success
Overall
Victory: DRAW!!!
Overview
That was tremendous fun, and shows
you really can get an inspirational bit of skirmish on a 2x2.
Dunmore's desperate failure in his sideplot – the eight rounds of
combat fought in a single determined turn by the greycoats – the
village being burnt by the Scots in the Hanoverian contingent... The
whole game seemed very evocative of the period.
Apart from Dunmore, none of the
officers really got involved, due to their only having activation
each turn... unless I misread? I let Dunmore move because he was part
of a unit, but I tried to keep Frost and Castagne back a bit, and boy
did that teach me to be careful what I wished for! The same thing
happened with McCruil and the Laird, though I'm glad the old fox
survived.
EDIT: I now know I did misread, so thanks to all those who told me so.
EDIT: I now know I did misread, so thanks to all those who told me so.
Man of the Match goes to the lone
greyclad lowlander who fought half the above fight himself, and
personally killed three of the seven casualties his unit caused!
N.B. At the time of the '45, the lochaber had been relegated to
the constabulary, and was considered the police baton of the day.
Thank goodness things have calmed down a bit since then!
I like how you write your battle reports, like a short story. Very nice!
ReplyDeleteThank you, that's the aim!
DeleteTo your comments, Officers activate on the card for their type plus on the forward boys card. So, they should have more activations than other units. Hope this helps.
ReplyDeleteIt does, thanks. I'll make sure to bear that in mind next time.
Delete