Horse and Musket Tuesday time had come and I am back from my various traveling. Now that my basement repairs a finally done, I can finally get back to my collection and run some games! I was in the mood after coming home from Fall-in, but did not have much time to plan. Therefore, I decided it would be a scratch game of Rebels and Patriots F&I!
So, I sent out the note to the gang and grabbed some terrain and minis and went to my FLGS to set up the game. I was expecting six players, but had a lot of no shows. Fortunately, I had some others who were surprise attendees. This did result in the game starting later than planned…. However, with these rules, you can always get a game in, there just would not be two!
As I was pulling out the terrain and realized I grabbed the wrong building box… I only had some older style thatch roof structures with me. So, the scenario would now be fighting over a Huguenot farm in Ohio! I set everything up and organized the sides.
I decided to do the Enemy’s Enemy scenario with a twist. Instead of both sides trying to recruit some natives, they would instead were there to recruit a Huguenots farm to their respective causes. I set up some random civilians round the farm. Once one side got within six inches of the family patriarch (located in the center by the well), the player would roll on the table.
I also added a couple of markers for supplies. Each would be worth one victory point to the side that held it at the end of the game. This was to spread out the fighting a bit and make both forces close the range (in theory).
We set up the colonials with some British regulars, Pennsylvania provincials and a few rangers. The French had some units of regulars, Coureur des bois and some Natives. We rolled off for sides and first player.
The Colonials set up their forces across the table to prepare to form into line and just shoot their way forward. The French went with more of an irregular deployment with a plan to skirmish the flanks.
Both sides moved forward in the initial turns, minimizing their shooting. The colonials made contact with the patriarch and rolled well and had the Huguenots join them. All the women and children ran into the homes for cover, while all the men armed themselves and lined up against the French. The French started their skirmishing movement and fire, plinking here and there. They were able to grab a supply marker in the process.
Once the colonials got forward, they formed in close order and started their fusillades against the French. The colonials had the range advantage, while the French were better close. However, the heavy fire was just too intimidating and the French started to fall back to get out of range, while sending their natives to the flank to turn the flank.
The flank move achieved its objective, with the colonials turning to deal with them. Unfortunately, the main units of the French had been shot up at this point and the were hesitant to re-engage. The colonials grabbed the other supplies, as the French faded back as the game turns ended.
This ended up being a really low casualty game, as neither side charged into melee. That with the amount of cover helped defend against a lot of hits. I would say there were a disproportional number of no move rolls on both sides and an uncanny number of passes on morale checks. In the end, it was a seven to four victory to the colonials!
- Manteuffel