For this months Rebels and Patriots scenario, I opted to go back to the French and Indian War. I picked the Enemy’s Enemy scenario from the rule book for the next encounter. The game involves two equal sized forces. In the center of the table is a native village with a unit of natives occupying it. Both players are trying to get the natives to join their force (a roll on a table, when a friendly unit gets within six inches).
I set up the table on a six by four table with a village in-between some hills. The area had broken up with forests and fields. The scenario gave me the opportunity to finally use my long houses that I painted up some time ago (win for me!). I also through down some scatter terrain to break things up.
I had five players, so I had to break out the forces for the game to work with equal sides. I assigned two players to the French side. They would have two commands. The first would be eighteen points of Cortes des Bouis. The second force was multiple units of Mohawks. I build the units as small units of six to give enough troops. Each force had a commander.
The British force included three forces of about twelve points each. The first force was of three units of provincial infantry and a commander. The second was of two units of militia light infantry and a commander. The third force was composes of elite skirmishing ranger units. The rangers would fall under the militia commander.
We rolled off and the British were deemed the attackers and set up first in the upper corner. The French were the defender and set up second in the lower corner. The British would have the first turn.
The British plan was to send their militia up the middle at full speed to try to get to the village and have the Indians join them. They would use the provincials to follow up and back up the movement. The rangers were deployed on the flanks to protect them from enveloping attacks.
The French saw that moving second would mean the British would get to the town first, so their plan was to send the Indians forward to envelope the town and destroy any forward units, while the Cortes des Bouis would sweep around the left and envelope any British forces trying to reinforce.
Both sides played to their plan early on, with the British militia getting forward and convincing the villagers to join them. Unfortunately for the British, the Provinicals seemed to have issues and were slow in their advance (they rolled poorly on their command rolls). The rangers swept wide and covered the town.
The Mohawks were the first into the fray. They attempted to gang up on the Rangers on the right flank and wipe them out. This proved impossible, as the rangers rifle range and accuracy was too great to close. However, the rangers did decide to fall back behind the village just in case. This gave the Mohawks the chance to sweep forward and take out the turncoat natives and then two sweep into the exposed militia.
The Mohawks cleared out the rest of the village and charged headlong into the exposed military and their company commander. The fight was one sided and the remaining militia tried to get away, but the Mohawks pursued them and wiped them out to the man.
At this point, the provisionals made it into the fight and took care of the now exposed charging Mohawks, leaving the rest to hunker down in the village and await the slow moving attack. The provincials continued to be dogged by poor command rolls, which left them not moving on many turns.
On the north side of the table, the Cortes des Bouis deliberately swung around the village and tried to engage the rest of the militia and rangers. The ranger’s shooting advantage took its toll not he advancing Canadians. However, not without cost, as the remaining militia unit ended up leaving the field.
We were now late in the game and the French players realized their only hope for a victory was to maintain their force. So they changed their plans and started a tactical withdrawal. The British did not realize this unit it was too late, so were slow in pushing their counter attack. The French managed to slip away with both of their forces only a figure or two away from giving victory to the Brits!
Another successful scenario! We managed to finish the game in a little over two and half hours using 36 point forces (the game standardizes at 24 for one on one games). The large amount of small six sized units strains things a bit and I would be better off with twelve man units. However, I need to ensure I have enough for each player to push on the tabletop and I only have so many figures! I guess its time for me to add some highlanders to my collection!
- Manteuffel