Muskets & Tomahawks --- big time

I've not blogged in a while because duties have pulled me away from this activity. Funerals and meetings are things that take time and are things I must do.

     In any event, a few weeks ago, in early February, Andy and Ralph wanted to try out the game they hope to host at Hot Lead, a gaming convention in the area. (A good one, too, in my opinion.) It was a large field-action game using the Musket & Tomahawks set of rules for the French & Indian Wars in North America. This set of rules - by the French firm, Studio Tomahawk, is usually for skirmish games in the wooded areas of the north-eastern US and southern Canada, specifically Ontario and Quebec. This time, however, larger units of line troops and artillery were used. No Native tribes or rangers were to be found. I'm glad to say that the rules worked just as well for the formed troops in more open ground as they would for the more guerrilla tactics of a skirmish game.

   The French force was two good-sized battalions of Fusiliers with three cannon. The British fielded two battalions of 'hatmen' of a similar size to the French, a smaller grenadier battalion, and only two guns. Movement is card driven in the game and the proximity to "officers" is very important.

     The two sides squared off on either side of a picturesque village, a place I might enjoy retiring to if it weren't for all the fighting. No militia, rangers, Coureur du Bois, Provincials, or Native warriors were in evidence. The Grenadiers were rated as elite which gave them a few advantages, but nothing so much as to unbalance a game. (All the figures are from Andy's collection. I think Martin, Andy, and I took the photos.)

Bear and Matt discuss the advance of the Lobsterbacks.

French infantry, cannon, and supernumerary colour party.

British line infantry, cannon, colour party with grenadiers to the rear.

Les drapeaux

Some of Andy's Hatmen -- mostly Old Glory 25's

Some British units "give fire." The cotton clouds show that the muskets need to be reloaded.
Since regulars get two actions when their card turns up, loading/firing/moving in some combination
is assured.

Later in the game, the units were sustaining losses.

The French "give fire" and do some maneuvering in the back.

More shooting.

All sides took casualties. Each movement stand held 12 figures to begin with.

An early game photo. The cannon fired and the bath of the ball was traced by the smoke clouds.
We actually played two games. In the second one, the cannons were reduced to a smaller bore,
which were quicker to reload and easier to handle.

There were a lot of close quarters firefights and very few hand-to-hand moments.

One of the French gun crews

The grenadiers finally got to the front after much moving around and hesitating.

The business end of a French cannon

The fighting was up-close but none too personal. As I said, melees were just about non-existent.
It was all powder-and-ball.

A close-up of the British grenadiers as they advanced into the town.

Another over view of the entire board.

The French pulled this one out and gained a victory. Their firing/dice rolling was better and they out-lasted the British in a bloody thing. It worked well for a game and I think it'll work well at the con.

Andy's new ground cover looks like straw or dead grass. I thought it looked good. The only thing is... it caught the edges of the stands, often snagging and making lifting figures a small problem. Not really a big deal. I'm looking forward to seeing this game at the Con in a few weeks.

Muskets & Tomahawks & Heroes -- Such is the life of a toy soldier

Most of the Hamilton Road Games Group's gathering on Saturday was dedicated to a game of Studio Tomahawk's Muskets & Tomahawks, a French & Indian War skirmish game. The mechanics of the game are rather simple; what makes the difference is the card-driven sequence of play. The deck of cards controls when certain classes of unit can move. (i.e. regulars, irregulars, provincials, Indians, civilians, militia, etc.) Ralph, Steven, and Mark ran the French, Habitants, and Indians, while Andy, Bear, and I ran the British and British Colonial forces. On another table, Kevin and Martin play-tested a Naval Thunder game (early to mid-20th Century naval rules) they intend to use at an upcoming convention.

(All photos courtesy of Andy, Ralph, and my own camera.)

Big table with the game already in progress.
Bear to the left, Andy on the far end, Martin, Ralph, Steven, and Mark's hands to the right.

Mark's Canadian irregulars* face my American Rangers.
He had already dispatched a second small group of rangers and was whittling this group down.
(* Compagnie Franche de Marine)

Andy's British irregulars/light infantry on the other end of the table.
They were opposed by Ralph's Huron war-party.

Two sections of British regulars under my command.
The light green is open country, the darker green is light woods, and the real dark stuff under the trees is dense woods.
All of those effect spotting, movement, and musketry.

There was no need to randomly decide who would move first; the shuffled deck of unit cards saw to that. Both sides moved to toward the centre of the table with the regulars on both sides moving up to a fence line and exchanging fire. My rangers attempted a flank move through the deep woods. I had fielded them in to 6-man sections with a ranger officer in charge, while Mark ran his irregulars was one 12-man patrol with an attached officer. My dice were ice-cold and I lost the first section of rangers in short order. The second section exchanged fire with the Compagnie Franche troops and were destroyed without causing a casualty after a brief fire fight.the regulars on both sides exchanged fore until my two squads had to "recoil" and fall back a move from the fence line. They came back soon and did better (oddly enough after we had all eaten lunch. We either brought our own bag lunches or as some did, go over to the laundromat across the street for hot sandwiches. Yes, the laundromat has a sandwich kitchen in the back! And it's good! Not quite as good, in my opinion, as the Polish deli that used to be next door and is now closed. Now, THAT was a dynamite place to get a sandwich!)

Andy and Ralph chased each other through the woods on the far end of the table while Mark crushed my rangers. Bear and I kept up the fire against Mark and Steven, but with Mark's irregulars beginning to turn my right flank, I decided to withdraw. Bear manfully stood against the Hurons that came against his left flank and refused to leave. My ranger officer sniped at Mark's Compagnie Franche and cause a casualty - actually causing more damage than my two sections of rangers! Mark and I shook hands on that one.

Because of a random events card that came up, Andy's light infantry officer was declared a "Hero" with semi-god-like abilities or with a targeting laser or with fiery breath. I don't remember exactly what but it was a good thing... until a Huron sniper under Ralph's command did him in. The game ended in a resounding French victory. Steven's regulars suffered a number of hits from Bear's musketry but he captured the farm houses and the cattle.

Ralph's Hurons skirt the pond as they move to flank the British regulars.

They seem to be milling aimlessly, but there is method to their madness.

Mark's' French regulars move to take up a position at the fence line on the photo's left.
These are from Andy's extensive collection of F&I figures.

 

Half of my ranger section fire on the French irregulars.
All these figures are from my own collection.

Steven' s regulars, which he kept in a more open formation. They didn't get the extra punch of the closed "firing line" but they didn't suffer from being a "large target" which is what a firing line is considered to be.

Préparez-vous! Présent! Feu!

The Hurons move through the woods.

"Wit' one hand tied behind me back!"
My ranger officer makes a futile attempt to hold back the flanking maneuvre of the Compagnie Franche.
*Sigh*    Such is the life of a toy soldier!

They keep coming on!

The French irregulars eventually took of a position at the rail fence to fire into the flank of the British regulars.
Despite the flanking fire and casualties, my regulars held firm. My dice had warmed up a bit after lunch.
My officer charged the French officer (at Andy's urging) and was killed handily.

The centre of the table as the French advanced.

Another view of Steven's infantry

My ill-fated rangers put up a brave front before the French irregulars.

Andy's British light infantry attempt to hold back the Huron advance. Lots of musket smoke!

Bear's regulars hammer the French with musketry.

Mark's troops are almost in place at the fence.

At the end of the game, one of Steven's squads turned the corner to fire across the field at the light infantry.

Meanwhile, Mark's regulars hopped the fence to move toward my redcoats.

Early in the game, Bear's regulars move into harm's way.

Action in the deep woods.

Again, early in the game, the light infantry take on the Huron.

Most of the figures and all of the terrain were from Andy's collection. I was able to command my own figures. When the game was over, we discussed certain house rules and update variants that caused some confusion in the game at times, and we hammered them out to what appears to be everyone's satisfaction. Once again, my dice were cold for a long time. I'm going to have to immerse them in salsa or something like that for a while.

Next, Martin and I intend to have a game of Pike & Shotte using his French and my Swedes, opponents who should be used to each other my now. In two weeks, we've invited another informal games group to the library for a big ACW games. Big. I mean really big... like the Hail Caesar! game we had last week. (See the previous blog entry.)

Muskets & Tomahawks... again.

You can probably tell that I'll sold on this game. Because of the lateness of my writing, you can probably also tell that I've been busy. I also had a short bout with some odd illness... which doesn't come into this story.

Anyway... A few weeks ago, we played Muskets & Tomahawks for the second time. I am finding more to recommend this game. I've been enjoying playing it. This game was played across a large clearing where every other part of the table was considered woods. Andy took the French and Derek and I took the British, since I wanted to use my freshly painted Highlanders, just received from RAFM Miniatures in Cambridge, ON.

American Provincials advancing

Highland officer... who later took on a vendetta, risking life, limb, fortune, and reputation.

French regulars.

French light infantry who count as "irregulars" for game purposes.

The British over-all commander

An irregular unit advances through the woods with some Native warrior auxiliaries to their right.

The Huron advance toward the American Rangers.

These French regulars have come out of the woods.

The Huron warriors fire on the rangers and Provincials while the Highlanders take a guess at the range.
(Measuring is permitted at any time in the game.)

More firing.

Meanwhile on the other flank, the Iroquois are delayed for some reason.
To designate that, we added a turtle to their ranks. The turtle wandered off in a turn.
An "Event" card was turned and the warriors speed was halved.

A lessened number of Highlanders return fire.
The white piece of felt in front of the troops was a hidden swamp they just discovered.

The colonial militia gives fire.

From Andy's viewpoint... Highlanders advancing

... and Rangers advancing.

The Highlanders (RAFM and Old Glory) have taken losses.

The French light infantry face the Iroquois,

Lots of musketry. The flow of the game is controlled by the cards.

The major oversees the fire of the rangers and the Provincials.

The signal success of th game for me: Andy's light infantry on his left flank was thrown back a few time
by my native warriors.

At a point about mid-way through the game, my one officer was charged (by a random event card) with the task of fulfilling a vendetta against Andy's native sachem or leader. They were both required to move toward each other and duel. Well, MacTavish lost the duel to Kicking Deer, but he died gloriously, if there is such a thing. The game ended with my troops withdrawing, covered by Derek's provincials. Only the provincials and the native warriors on my side had any sort of success. Maybe I left the woods too early. Well, we'll see how it all turns out the next time we play.

Down for the count!

From another viewpoint

A final view of His Majesty's Woodland Native Allies... plus their turtle.