Managed to get a game of Muskets and Tomahawks in last night against Thorsteinn, a blue on blue game of my British Rangers versus his British mixture of Regulars and Irregulars, 400 points each, and what a battle it was. This game really raged back and forth, at times I thought I was going to win, at other times I thought all was lost. We played with 3 event cards in the deck, and they really managed to change the battle at times. We also played with a subplot each, but each of us failed to achieve ours – stupidly in my case.
The table at the outset of the battle.
My force was a very basic one, in that it was my 200 point list effectively doubled. It’s a small, elite force that means I can play with just my painted figures (while I get my Indian allies painted up). It consists of:
Officer: Elite & Marksman, Ranger, Rifle: 32 pts
Officer: Elite & Marksman, Ranger, Rifle: 32 pts
1st unit: 6 Rangers, Marksman, Rifle, Elite: 84 pts
2nd unit: 6 Rangers, Marksman, Rifle, Elite: 84 pts
3rd unit: 6 Rangers, Marksman, Rifle, Elite: 84 pts
4th unit: 6 Rangers, Marksman, Rifle, Elite: 84 pts.
Total of 400 points.
Thorsteinn’s force consisted of two leaders, one a regular officer on horseback, the other an irregular officer on foot. He had some traits and talents, which I can’t remember for them, except that his cavalry officer had backstabber. My subplot was that the foot officer was a friend of our force, and should be kept alive, something I forgot in the very first turn when I shot and killed him. Thorsteinn’s other units were a mix of a couple of large (12 man) regulars, some light infantry and some provincial militia.
When rolling for objectives, Thorsteinn rolled Defence, which meant he had a large group of civilians (hiding in those buildings in the centre of the table) to protect, while I rolled Scouting, which meant I had to get a unit in each of the 6 2′ by 2′ squares of the table at the end of a turn, then get some of my force off the table to report back. The buildings are mostly Thorsteinn’s 4Ground ones by the way, which look excellent, along with one Blue Moon building of my own.
Thorsteinn’s initial set up, lots of units in the buildings
The game got off to a great start for me, I advanced on both sides of the river with two units and an officer on each side, hidden by the forests and hills.
Using the hill as cover to sneak up
Thorsteinn sent some of his troops to intercept me over the ford in the river – this unit and the civvies just behind them must have gone back and forth over that river half a dozen times at least, at a snail’s pace each time too.
Crossing the river, part one of thirty or so
Meanwhile, Thorsteinn got his regulars moving in the village heading towards my position in the woods.
They’re coming right for us!
Unluckily for me, Thorsteinn then picked up his other regulars card, which meant they moved forward again and then fired a volley at me. Luckily for me, because of the thick forest, they all managed to miss.
Uh-oh, incoming volley fire
That’s when it all went rather wrong for Thorsteinn. My card came up next, so both of my units and their officer opened fire in reply, and managed to get 5 kills – Thorsteinn’s entire front line were killed. Then it went even more wrong for him. He had to roll morale since he’d lost casualties to shooting, and since he had taken 3+ casualties, he was rolling at a penalty – +1 for being in firing line, but -2 for the 3+ casualties. He rolled a 1, which meant that the rest of the unit routed.
At this point I was feeling rather pleased with my chances
Things were going pretty well for me on the other side of the river too, I lost a couple of rangers to fire from the village defenders, but I was doing a good job of taking them out too (thanks rifles and your +1 to hit). This is when I lost all reason and decided to shoot the foot officer who I was supposed to keep alive for my subplot. Yay me.
Well there goes my subplot
The event cards were coming thick and fast too – and whenever we got a “pick a unit” one, it invariably affected my units when it was bad, and the one time it was a good result, it affected one of Thorsteinn’s units. Having said that, there were a couple of events which affected the civilians, which meant they went fleeing from the safety of their cabins into the open fields. Suckers.
“Flee the safety of hard cover!”
At one point we managed to get the event which forced all sorts of crap to happen, meaning we had to roll for extra events after every activation card. We had a whole shitload of stuff happen then, including one which really changed the game.
Bugger.
One of the events is a reinforcements arrive affair. One unit which has been destroyed can return. Remember that huge unit of regulars that I’d destroyed in the first turn? Yeah. Right on my flank. With an activation card following directly that allowed them to move then fire at me in the open, at short range.
I say again, BUGGER.
So that entire unit of Rangers went up in smoke. Things were no longer looking great for me. I still had the central square to scout, which meant getting a unit up around those buildings (which had fortified enemy units in them) while that huge unit of regulars was heading towards the small unit I had left (of around 3 or 4 figures) on that side of the river.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the river…
That other large unit of regulars appears
Things were going a little wobbly for me there too, as Thorsteinn’s OTHER huge regular unit in firing line came on the table at last an started heading my way. Luckily due to the eventathon, we saw night fall, so under cover of darkness I scooted around and away from the new unit.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em
Because of the greater movement of my rangers, I managed to sneak across the river and then ran as fast as I could for the shelter of a building that had been abandoned. That put me mere inches away from the final sector of the table I needed to scout.
It also put me in a good position to open fire on that reintroduced huge unit of regulars, which were out in the open.
Fie at thee a second time!
I managed to cause a few casualties to them over a couple of rounds of fire, which I needed to do, since they were ominously close to me.
The other unit of regulars were making their way across the river too. I was about to be sandwiched.
Just what I need, two huge units heading my way
Luckily for me though, by chipping away at that large unit in the open, and managing to kill off a few civilians, Thorsteinn was now below half strength, and his morale card came up. Remember when I shot that large unit in the first turn and they rolled a 1 for their morale reaction test? And when they came back again due to that event? Guess what they did again when they had to make another morale test!
With the end of the turn, I had managed to get what was left of one of my units (a single man) and an officer in the final square. Now I had to get men off the table to report back.
Run! Run like the wind!
Now it was all down to timing. I had superior speed compared to his regulars, but there was that mounted officer with backstabbing that could catch me. I’d need a couple of cards to come up for me before Thorsteinn’s card came up.
So close!
And then it happened. I turned the card, and it was En Avant. Because I’d taken elite for all my troops, it meant they could take an action when that card came up. And so…
And we’re gone!
That was the game. Incredibly close, right down to the end, and I really thought I had no chance half way through when the huge unit of regulars re-appeared and blasted an entire unit away in one turn. The event cards really made a difference, both helping and hindering each side in turn. I was incredibly lucky that Thorsteinn rolled 1s for his reaction tests for the same huge unit each time too, otherwise they’d have stuck around a lot longer each time, and would have cost me the game.
This was an epic game, and I’m looking forward to the next one. The entire game took around 2 hours or so, both of us thoroughly enjoyed it, and I must work on my Indians to get them on the table next time too.
EDIT: I was reminded by Thorsteinn that in the last throes of the game, my own morale card came up in play, and I lost about half my remaining force – yet another dicey moment for me when on the cusp of victory I almost lost everything. This game really did come down to the wire.
