Slaughter at Fort McKerrow

Last night I held an impromtu game in the shed with copiuous amounts of redwine and Pizza.. read on

Order of Battle:

Attention of Sir Alan Worbury

Dawn is approaching, sleep has been hard to find as you mull over of desperate position. Here you are, you and your small force of regulars, rangers and local militia defending the strategic site known as Fort McKerrow. Your thoughts turn back to yesterday afternoon when your pickets alerted the garrison to the approach of the large Huron war party. As the afternoon wore on these marauders grew in number and encamped just outside the range of your best marksmen.  

Runners with requests for relief have been sent to General Taylor at Fort Catherine no more than 10 miles away, but still no response has been received.  You are not even sure if the runners were able to slip past the native cordon. Hopefully relief will arrive before the end of the day.

Fortunately the attacks from the Huron have been sporadic with little or no coordination. A few native braves tried to force the gate in the dark hours but were driven back by determined musketry.  Maybe the attack will come soon, you are sure however that the next will have more purpose as your sentries heard French voices singing in the enemy camp as dusk fell. Please god let us hope they brought no cannon.

With a stiff upper lip there is only one thing you can do, hold out, either until relief arrives or make your King, Country and Family proud.

If things could get no worse, earlier this morning your quartermaster brought you some dire news, the powder stored in the armoury is damp and your men are down to their last few horns of powder. Whether there is sufficient to hold out against the next attack you don’t know, you must trust in god for your salvation.

 The forces at your disposal

	Move	Shoot	Aggression	Defence	Weapons
Sir Alan Worbury	4	4	4	4	Pistol & Sword
Captain James Martin	4	5	4	4	Pistol & Sword
Regulars Infantry 2 units (each 8 men)	4	5	4	4	Muskets
Lieutenant Frederick Westhalen	6	4	4	4	Rifles
Rangers (two units 6 men)	6	4	4	4	Rifles
Militia (2 units each six men)	4	5	5	5	Muskets

Total number of men: 43inc officers

Map of Battlefield

Morale:

Units inside the fort have realised the desperate position they are in, they recognise that there is no- where to retreat and as such rolls will have to be managed accordingly.

All units will get +2 to their die rolls whilst they have powder, they lose this benefit when they can no longer shoot.

Units in recoil/flight will move towards the centre of the fort. Units routed are assumed to have either faced the music, died or hidden . They will no longer fight in the battle.

The British Morale card will still be acted on if forces suffer 50% casualties.

Powder Issues:

For the first three card decks every British unit has sufficient ammunition so blaze away. From the fourth card deck each time you fire if the number of ones rolled exceeds the number of sixes rolled then that unit is out of ammunition. Units may not forage from the enemy/friendly casualties.

Defence:

The Fort walls afford hard cover, units scaling the walls take two actions to get over the top. The second action would be counted as the assault. Tomahawks may be used in this assault.  Defending the walls will give the defenders +1 on their defence roll, attackers will be at -1.

Units may not form firing lines along the ramparts

Relief Force

You are not aware of any relief force approaching the fort. You must keep your fingers crossed that a runner reached General Taylor. If the runners reached Fort Catherine late last night then a force must surely arrive this morning, any reinforcements would come from the south either by river or road.

Victory: Hold the Fort until the besiegers retire or you are relieved

Attention of Colonel Didier

Last night you and your Canadian Coureurs arrived at the encampment of chief Broken Wolf. Following a heated exchange in which you demanded to understand why Fort McKerrow was not in their hands you have now taken overall command of the siege.

Your superiors saw fit not to send any ordnance to destroy the fort however you are in the possession of sufficient powder that your Coureurs have now used to create two mines. These will in your humble opinion be more than sufficient to force the gates open or to create a breach in the walls. Getting mines to the gate, under fire will be fraught with danger. This is not a job you can trust to your native allies.

You have learned from Broken Wolf that he has captured several runners trying to escape from the fort. These men were obviously trying to reach the British garrison at Fort Catherine. It is your belief that no relief is on its way but to be sure you have placed some of Broken Wolfs men along the road south.

Despite this positive news Broken Wolf appears to have little control over his renegade band. When you joined his encampment last night there was a sizeable presence, this morning this appears to have shrunk. Your ally assures you that his braves will return once battle is joined.

The forces at your disposal

	Move	Shoot	Aggression	Defence	Weapons
Colonel Didier	6	4	4	4	Musket
Coureurs (3 units x 6 men)	6	4	4	4	Musket
Broken Wolf (officer)	6	4	3	4	Muskets
Warbands (6 strong) 4 units on table at start (min 2 on road south)	6	4	3	4	Muskets
Warbands 6 units off table – each deck of cards roll d6 this is the number of warbands that return – maximum of 8 in total

Total Number of Men: 80

  

Placement:

The Coureurs Units start 18 inches away from the Main gates of the fort.

Two units of Indians lie waiting on the southern road ready to ambush any relief column. These units are placed out of site one either side of the road. They may join the assault on the fort.

The remaining six on table warbands will start 18 inches away from the walls. Each unit is rolled randomly to see which wall he is facing. No Indians  may face the wall next to the river.

Reinforcement Indians arrive from the North/East. – Random spawn point 24inches from fort walls.

Defence:

The Fort walls afford hard cover, units scaling the walls take two actions to get over the top. The second action would be counted as the assault. Tomahawks may be used in this assault.  Defending the walls will give the defenders +1 on their defence roll, attackers will be at -1

The Mines

Only your Coureurs can set the mines. A mine is placed next to a wall or gate in one action, priming and lighting is another action. Roll d3 this is when mine goes off. The unit must retreat a minimum of 6”. The mine explodes on a gate is destroyed on a 3+ (two mines auto destroy), a wall section is destroyed on a 5+. Any unit within 6” of mine when explodes takes a hit with lethality of 4+ (if inside walls or gate lethality 5+). Units may attempt to put out fuse – success on a 3+

Victory: Capture the Fort

So what happened ?

Well it was a bloody slaughter. The game started under the cover of darkness, with dawn about to break.

Under the M&T rules darkness creates a -3 to hit, this certainly worked in the Indians favour.

The Sentries on the Southern wall peered into the darkness to see the advancing savages

The southern attack, driven off by volleys of musket fire. Sir Alan was confidfent his troops could hold

Rangers on the North wall wait patiently as....

breaking cover from the woods advance several Indian Warbands...whooping and hollering.

The defenders muskets failing to hit their targets in the dawning light...

Pumped up by their advance the Native Indians ran for the walls...

Recognising the unguarded Western stretch one band circled round and scaled the timber stockade

A fierce melle ensued on the parapets. With their blood up the Indians tore apart the defending Rangers giving no mercy

With the Northern wall cleared of rifled greencoats the Indians swept over the barricades

Meanwhile The Gate house styrongly fortified with Rangers and Redcoats watched the Canadians advance carrying large barrels. A desultory volley inflicted one casualty.

This was not good !Sir Alans drilled men were missing every shot !

Colonel Didiers men advanced a nd placed their barrels of powder, the charges were set and they reterearted a safe distance. Only then did they iopen fire dropping three redvoats behind the stockade wall.

Boom - the mine exploded sending shattering splinters across the defenders ranks. More red and green jackets hit the dirt. With the gate now open the Canadians let rip and charged the breach.

Indians poured over the Northern wall slaughtering and maining the militia defenders

Further warbands joined the fray

Sir Alan's position was untenable and as the last man to die he cried for King, for God please forrgive my sins...

So in two card decks the Indians and Coureurs wiped out the defenders. The Indian luck held, so few of the British muskets found their mark in the early morning darkness.

A great game. albeit short was had by all

Setting Sail for Pirate Island

A little bit more progress over the weekend...

The Cerberus sails into view of Pirate Island

Sailes furled the crew haul up in front of the coastal port

Action stations...

 The Port is calm before the storm...

Broadside....

The Fort Garrison

Pirate Town (mOre work still to be done)

Another Broadside

With Long John Silver directing events

Come back soon....

Pirate Ships - A question of scale

As mentioned in earlier posts I have been looking to build my pirate fleet and a number of like minded souls have mentioned that toy ships are the way to go...

so off to Ebay and £10 later I have ordered the Black Pearl Pirate playset...

imagine to my surprise when this big beastie turned up....

it is somewhat bigger than the the Ainsty Man o War. So sadly this will not be used...however the sails and other bits can be...

However I did manage to source another little Pirate ship which with a bit of conversion might be ideal for a small sloop.

More to come soon....

Skirmish at Parson's Creek

Last night saw the first table top action in the Shed for 2013 and boy did we have a great game. The table was set for a fictitious engagement in the French Indian wars. We used the excellent Muskets & Tomahawks rules.

Figures are a mix of Redoubt, Perry, and Galloping Major. The buildings are from Pegasus Hobbies and the rest of the terrain is scratchbuilt. It was the first time all of the trees came into play. The table itself is 5ft x 10ft.

The Protagonists:

The French forces commanded by Captain Dhillon consisted of.

3 Units of French regular Infantry (1 x 10 units & 2 X 8 units)

3 units of French Coureurs du Bois plus a local officer (4 x 6 stands)

4 units of Native Indians (4 x 6 figures) + native office

Total number of troops – 68 + 3 officers

All units were standard classes and were all musket armed.

The French objectives were simple advance and capture the small jetty/port at the village of Parsons Creek.

The British Forces

The British forces were  commanded by Major Andrews and consisted of

3 units of British Regular Infantry  (1 X 10 unit, 2 x 8 unit)

2 units of Rangers (2 x 8 units)

1 unit of friendly natives (1 x 6 unit)

2 units of Provincials (2 x 6 unit)

1 light artillery piece plus 3 gunners

Total number of troops – 63 + 2 officers + 1 light cannon

All the British troops were musket armed bar the rangers who were armed with rifles

The British objectives – stop the French from seizing the small port.

You will note that there are no points values assigned to the units – I didn’t have time to work this out but I suspect the British Forces albeit outnumbered had a higher points score.

We also dropped the secondary objectives for the officers, this was a mistake but I completely forgot to roll for these at the beginning of the game.

Deployment:

The British provincials & artillery started on table around the village and jetty. The Rangers would arrive on the ‘wrong side’ of the port, the British Indians would travel up from the Southern Road and the British Regulars would arrive from the western road. The starting positions were diced for so loud groans were heard when it was discovered that the bulk of the British force would need to traverse the length of the table to get to the port.

The French force deployment were much more straightforward. The large contingent of Indians would make their entry from the northern side of the river near the waterfall. The French regular forces would arrive on the Northern road with their western flank guarded by the French woodsmen.

The cards were shuffled and turn one commenced.

Turn One:

The French Indians advanced to the river with the force splitting, two units were going to cross whilst the others advanced up the western bank, the French woodsmen advanced, skirting the village, aiming to head off the ranks of British regulars marching along the western road. Meanwhile the French regulars hemmed in by the tree cover either side of the Northern road took  the direct route and headed in towards the village. Meanwhile the British rangers reached to the eastern side of the port and planned to cross the river as quick as possible.

The local provincial troops took cover in the blockhouse and the buildings around the jetty, and the units of redcoats marched in along the western road.

Turn Two.

Half the French Indians crossed the river using the canoes carefully positioned on the Northern bank, the others advanced through the dense woods towards the port.

 

The Provincial artillery opened fire on the marching French column.

This was the first time a cannon had been fired in anger in our games and the results were devastating. A round shot careered through the ranks killing 4 men and sending the remaining troops into flight. First strike to the British.

 

Meanwhile a unit of French Coureurs had spotted the British line, a volley of shots were fired drawing disdain from the waiting ranks. With a disciplined manoeuvre the British line turned and let rip with a hail of lead. One Frenchie hit the dust forcing the others to recoil in panic. Mean while the rangers started to cross the river.  

Turn Three

The French forces continued to press home their advance. By now the two other units of Coureurs had encamped in the stone walled field and went onto vigilance waiting for the British redcoats. Sporadic fire from the blockhouse provincials kept their heads down but no casualties were drawn. The French Infantry realising that route one was not so sensible left the road and marched through the small gardens behind the village towards the jetty.  

The Indians started to pour sporadic fire into the rangers disembarking from the boats.

 

With the British line now emerging on the road a fusillade of fire erupted from the French woodsmen. Deadly telling fire dropped half a redcoat unit forcing the remainder to take cover in the woods. Meanwhile the Indian fire was beginning to tell on the rangers with a couple of men dying in the ensuing fire fight. With their blood up the savages charged felling a further two rangers with tomahawks

 

The timing was not quite right and not all the Indians could be brought into melee. The Rangers counter charged and when you have fourteen against six there will always be one result. A unit of Indians were wiped from the field and the Rangers returned to their defensive positions around the port.

 

We had one event card drawn this turn – Wild Animals. Unfortunately one French Indian was savaged by a nameless beast.

 

Turn Four

The French Infantry continued to march forward but their progress was hampered by the difficult terrain. The units that had suffered so badly from the cannon crept forward and took cover in one of the buildings. Another first, the cannon fired into the building – the die roll suggested that it had been damaged (+1 on next roll) but the defenders were safe enough.

Meanwhile the Indians who had crossed the river were now engaged in a long range duel with the Rangers on the other bank. In time the superiority of the Rangers rifles would tell but sporadic fire caused casualties on both sides.

Things were becoming desperate for the British with half the forces still out of action and stuck along the western road could the French push home their advantage and seize the port. The French line moved forwards letting rip with a volley into the defending rangers, more men went down. The British commander at this point sent forward his provincials to fire a volley into the flank of the French Infantry at point blank range. Would the cards be kind and show up a chance to fire before this manoeuvre could be counter acted?

 

Until now the British Indians had been in-effective and this continued, a blast of fire from the most advanced French line reduced the unit to two men causing the remainder to flee.

 

The British line pushed forward and two firing lines targeted the concealed Coureurs, they opened fire, with lead crashing against the stonewalls and a couple of men down, this Coureurs unit broke and fled. The second, recognising that their six muskets against twenty was always going to end in tears retreated into the village.

Turn Five,

We started with a random event: Friendly Fire unfortunately the French Indians again were the target an another man succumbed to the vagaries of randomness.

With the cannon reloaded  another round slammed into the building holding the remnants of the first French platoon, the building was still standing just but for how long? With the road free the British regulars marched forward hoping to relieve the beleaguered rangers.

 

Recalling the provincials move to the flank of the French regulars a cry of despair could be heard as the regulars action arrived first. Wheeling to face these flanking troops a volley at close range ended the threat sending the Provincials into a headlong flight. The last remaining Coureurs unit seeing an opportunity to silence the cannon crew charged only to be defeated. Two cards later they charged again silencing the gun for the remainder of the battle. But was it too late?

 

The Rangers continued to offer stiff resistance, driving one unit of Indians off from the far bank the second unit targeted the French lines moving forward. The fight was becoming fast and furious with the French now hitting the 50% casualty mark.

Turn Six

Finally the British regulars platoon fire could be brought to bear on the French infantry, with a deafening sound the French line crumbled in the face of such ferocity. The remaining rangers both now down to a few men each continued to provide stout resistance. The attack had failed and the British forces could count their blessings that they had emerged victorious from this bloody fight.

In summary

Once again the rules delivered a fast furious and very exciting game. Right through to turn five the French could have still won, but with the cards favouring the guys ion red and some fantastic die rolling on both sides it was a another game that was too close to call.

The introduction of artillery added another dimension and the shooting at buildings is great fun.  Perhaps we had too much dense cover as the  forced both regular forces to take the most direct routes on the roads, but it did reinforce the advantages of the light troops.  Once again the rifles came into their own for long range shooting but once it gets close and dirty they do become a liability.

As a group we are considering the size of the Indian units, they do tend to be very fragile, so next time we’ll bump the unit size up to eight to see if they work better.

until next time....

Cerberus - The Pirate Ship part 2

Its been a few days since my last post  - work and domestic arrangements seem to have got in the way of the various builds and I have yet to roll the dice in anger this year. Hopefully by the time I post this I will have played another M&T game in the shed – this will get posted shortly.

I have however nearly finished painting the pirate ship Cerberus – still need to mount the masts, sails and rigging but it is starting to take shape.

I also finally finished painting the Pirate horde from Foundry. I have ordered a few more figures to complement the crews and these should arrive in the post soon. By the time I am finished around 100 pirates will be mustered to fight the battles.

The last big task is to source some more ships – I will be ordering the merchantman from Ainsty Castings, and I am waiting on a Pirates of the Caribbean toy ship recently sourced from Ebay – based on some pictures seen elsewhere on the web I should be able to make the necessary conversion.

Catch up soon