The time had finally come! Time for me to actually bring and set up a game for the group. I decided to do a little Rebels and Patriots set in the French and Indian War. I had recently rebased a whole Buch of troops I had bought from another collector and wanted to test out my new basing, to make sure it worked out on the tabletop, as I thought it would!
I only had a couple of players, so decided to go with a smaller board than usual. Small for us, but closer to the scenario sized tables… I folded my cloth and it was five by three. I started to pull out my terrain and realized that I had forgotten my roads. Disaster! Fortunately, my FLGS had some, so no worries.
The road was down the middle from corner to corner. There was a farm at one end ad the rest of the board was wooded with some rolling terrain. The road and the area from three inches from the edge of the road would be clear. Everything else would be light open cover. Maximum visibility in the woods would be twelve inches (including into or out of).
The French would start in the farm area (having just finished their lunch) and would need to march back to Fort Detroit (Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit). They were a scouting force, just coming back from raid with local tribes. The French force was 24 points.
The British got word of the road march and using their local guides, got into position for an ambush. The British force was 18 points and would have to split between a forward and rear detachment.
The game was twelve turns with a variable end. The French would get points for exiting the opposite board edge and causing casualties. The British would get points for causing casualties (double). Both sides would also get a bonus for elimination of the enemy commander.
Both sides set up their troops and we got into it. The British played it aggressive and got into musket range and got into close order to maximize their musket fire. At first, the French started to move forward, but then they decided to try to get into a firefight while in open order and push up the road in stages.
The British fire was on target and the French started to fall and run off. This caused the French to try to maximize fire and not move. This allowed the rest of the British to close and add to the firefight. The French gave up the march and tried to get the upper hand, but they were on the loosing end and took disproportionate losses and failed one leadership test after another.
The game ended with the French not getting off the table and loosing five units to the British two. A clear British victory and successful ambush! A the best news was the new basing was a success! I guess I have a bit of work to do on my armies!
- Manteuffel