Welcome!

Welcome to the Blog of a Skirmish wargamer! I hope you enjoy reading it!



All my rule sets are freely downloadable from our club website's Downloads page





If you need to contact me my E-Mail address is richardbradley5@gmail.com







Saturday 22 October 2016

Take that gun!

Today's game was a French and Indian war scenario.
We were a Ranger force going deep into enemy territory to destroy, or, if possible capture a French gun which was blocking traffic along a river...

Phil provided us with some of Capt. Hezekiah Dunn's Company of Rangers, a force raised in New Jersey.




The settlement and the river the French were holding...
...we were to arrive on the bottom left in this picture. 
 The Gun was placed facing the bend in the river, we assumed it to be loaded with canister, so as to engage canoe and lighter traffic. 

I started off with a party of Phil's lovely Indians.
Phil, in charge again, took the centre, to my left. 
Lawrence took the left. 
I started by pushing up the right to protect Phil's flank. 
 Phil had his scouts forward, looking for enemy units.
Lawrence protected his left, he also had scouts out. 
I cleared a copse - one of my parties was out of command and raced ahead, so I had to follow! 
Phil probed through the woods to his front. 
Lawrence began to extend to the left, led by his scouts.  
 Phil had as yet, found no opposition...!
 I finally got my men under command...
...but could see nothing either. Where were the French? 
Lawrence had disappeared into the woods on our left... 
 ...his scouts leading.
 Phil passed through his wood uneventfully. 
His scouts suddenly stopped! What had they seen? 
A Huron scouting force, so far unaware of our presence! 
 Phil's men opened fire...
 ...several of the Hurons fell.
One of my parties arrived, as Phil's men reloaded.
They fired into the hapless archers too!
...and wounded 2 of them.
The Hurons had had enough, and fled through the wood to safety.
 Lawrence had also met some Hurons... 
... when one of his scouts was shot dead!
 The scouts withdrew backwards into the wood, the Hurons were, however, rather wary, and did not pursue!
 My wayward band decided to advance on its own again...
 I had to follow again, and try to get them back under control.
 Lawrence's men fell back from the large warband he had encountered. 
The Hurons were, however, seemingly content to let them go. They were probably leery of falling into an ambush? 
 The Rangers were soon safe, and moved behind Phil's advancing men.
One of the Hurons saw they had been duped, and the whole body broke cover to pursue. 
 Meanwhile, the French gunners relaid their gun to fire in the direction of the sounds of fighting they heard.
I was still meeting no opposition, and my men began to turn to move up the riverbank.
The Hurons following Lawrence began tracking him through the woods. 
 Lawrence had formed up on a wood edge, hoping to catch the pursuing Hurons.
 Phil was now reaching another wood, once again devoid of French!
The Hurons spotted them and launched a full assault. 
2 of the Hurons fell, and more were wounded by the Rangers fire... 
 ...they fell back to the cover of the woods!
 The Rangers had lost a man, and had 2 wounded.
They withdrew back into the wood to reload. 
Phil's men were now engaging the Indians at range, and more Hurons were wounded.
 They fell back into the woods.
My men were filtering up the riverbank towards the gun, expecting to meet heavy French opposition at any moment. 
 Phil, having lost sight of the Hurons, Phil now returned to his advance on the French gun position.
 The Hurons were happy with what they had done so far, and went home!
 My Indians filtered through the woods...
 ...and cautiously approached the log building.
 It, too, seemed deserted!
 Suddenly, from the left, again, a warcry rang out, and a party of French emerged from cover.
 They halted to open fire...
 ...on Lawrence's advancing Rangers.
The French spotted Phil's men and formed up to attack them too!
Phil now turned his men to support Lawrence.
The French took some loss!
Lawrence had formed his men too and got an enfilading volley in too.
The French, seeing the Rangers had fired, broke and attacked Lawrence.
Taking casualties from the French, his Rangers counter charged the French.
Soon, the greater numbers of French began to tell...
Lawrence's remaining men broke off, and Phil fired into the rear of the French.
The French broke and ran.
Back with my Indians...my scouts spotted some French! 
The French commander, beside the gun! 
Unseen, I massed my men and launched an uphill charge, hoping to surprise the French.
 The French WERE surprised!
My fire killed one of the guards, and wounded the other, together with the senior French commander. 
 The French fled, abandoning the gun crew to its fate!
 The brave gunners struggled to turn their piece... 
 ...Too late, the Indians were upon them!
 A few minutes later, the Indians were wheeling the gun back to the rear, with their Ranger allies, sporting a few more scalps..... 
(Sorry, couldn't kill the gun crew, they are based on the gun base!!!)

Yay, a great victory! and a fun game!

The majority of the possible French force was off somewhere else, as they had been randomly removed from the mix of position counters on table to make the force an unpredictable size and mix for the solo system to run.

2 comments:

  1. Great looking Game Richard very nice looking Figures

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Brian, Phil's figures look gorgeous!

      Delete