Its The End Of The Year & The Battle Has Been Lost and Won!

Now, where were we? Ah yes, an illustrated report of a British convoy being ambushed in the jungles of (the fictional) Belmont Island in the West Indies in the 1790's. 

Not all the self freed slaves had firearms but they were eager to use whatever deadly tools and weapons that they could get their hands on. Then it was a matter of timing. With great patience, they waited the order to charge. 

Scenario. The  scenario was just an adhoc one which started with  a vague situation, then troop levels and terrain, adjusting the terrain and units as I dug about to see what I had, then arranging the defenders in random possible ambush positions. (poker chips were used, 1/2 representing units, marked as French or ex-slaves, 1/2 being dummies) then the off table supply column, and finally, a relief column coming from the far end of the table with a random arrival turn (ie 1d6 needing roll the turn number or less to arrive (they rolled a 1...sigh)).

AMBUSHED!!

Forces: The size of the forces were a mix of play balance and what I had available and ready to go. I ended up with 4 forces, each of 4 units. The convoy consisted of 4 pack animals under the control of 6 armed sailors acting as drovers.

Most of the figures were converted Prince August or Meisterzinn homecasts, or my own sculpts home cast, but some of the rebels were converted Historifigs Scruby colonial figures as well as a couple of adapted Perry Spanish guerrillas.

When a message arrived that the convoy was on its way, the commander of the main army had ordered a column to march to meet them at the bridge and escort them the rest of the way. The Redcoats were barely on table when they were fired on by French soldiers. 

Game length: The game had a 15 turn length. Why? Habit from the One Hour Wargames book and it works with my movement distances etc..

The French had a bit of trouble activating some of their hidden units with no near enemy but the unit in the stone house managed to block the road for a long time despite their lousy shooting. 

Victory: The British would win if over 1/2 the pack animals got off the far end of the road or had a clear way to it,  if 1/2 the pack animals got through it would be a tie while anything else was a victory for the French and rebels. (Note: The French & rebels were separate forces with their own commanders, and only a temporary agreement to not fight each other until the redcoats were driven off.) 

By mid-game, things were looking a bit sticky for the British. The rear of the convoy was wide open with the escort taking heavy casualties and was no longer strong enough to defend all four sides of the convoy properly. The Black Fox waved his hat to the hidden company of exslaves, armed with noting but machetes and other tools, but nothing happened, again and again!
(They had lousy dice allllll game long! )  

At last, the Fox, muttering a curse or three, rode across and called his men to come and kill the enemy! They burst out of the jungle and ran screaming at the enemy. Only a few sailors and a couple of marines managed to fallback to try to save the supply train.

The Fox rallied at least some of his machete lads but he could see the remnants of his men heading for the hills  and the French across the river doing the same. There was nothing to do now but try to gather as many of his men as possible and plan his next move.

As for the British, casualties had been light, the convoy was intact and the road to camp was open!

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I wish a great and safe 2025 to all of you who take the time to drop in and read my posts now and then and an even better year for those who add an occasional comment every now and then. 

May your dice favour you all!

At Last! The Hurley Burley Is Done!

 "Now the battle is lost and won!" 
(from MacBeth)

Full report before the end of the year.

(ie tomorrow.)

Now, Where Were We....

Ahh yes, in the middle of an ambush in the West Indies in the 1790s.

While I was busy with family and Christmas, the troops seem to have rearranged themselves a tiny bit to match the organization and rules for the Faraway & Oberhilse (Not the War of 1812) games. Handy that.  

To be continued........

A Very Merry Yuletide To All!

Christmas Eve in the Low Countries in 1793.

Hopefully, something like "regular service" will resume shortly after Christmas!

Meanwhile, Back In the West Indies....

"Major!  Move those riflemen forward, further away from the convoy!  There's a plantation ahead, just over that pathetic excuse for a bridge and this area is full of rebel slaves, not to mention the French!

To be continued......

NEXT!!!!

This weekend is looking to be a bit nasty weather wise, with rain and snow. A quick look over my active collections indicated that its time for a return to the West Indies. Good timing!

See : Caribbean Posts

Now to come up with a scenario.......

Sail In Sight! To Arms!

 At last the training was over and the crew of the Albion set sail in search of Saxon raiders.

Straight at those Saxons Captain! Lets see what your ship can do.

As the ships closed, the winds shifted slightly and the Saxon ship had to tack but the wind then shifted back and the Britons were able to come along side, grapples in hand.

As the ships closed, arrows and battlecries began to fly, soon to followed by the clash of steel. 

The British took advantage of their initial shock and several warriors jumped down onto the Saxon deck and tried to push forward with little success. Prince Micheal dared not lose the initiative so he jumped on the railing and challenged King Helgin to a duel.

The lesser warriors fell back and watched the two leaders go at each other, hammer and tong, youthful exuberance against an old warrior's cunning.

Suddenly it was over. Exalting over his victory, Michael bid the Saxons to take their chieftain home to be tended and to stay out of his uncle's territories whether they came by land or sea,  

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The rules, esp on the sailing side, are still new and need work but they're promising for a quick play game.
For the curious, the one page rules draft can be found here (click): 

I Can Sea Clearly Now

 This solution seems better, if somewhat dangerous.

I might get in a little trouble if a certain someone discovers that her camping tarpaulin is suddenly involved in a fierce sea battle, or worse, is damaged during said battle but "faint heart never played a wargame".

Battle Stations!

There's just too much work to be done before Winter sets in to allow more than a bit of hobby time so I decided to just focus on two opposing ships.   I had a wee bit of trouble getting the paint to stick to some of the plastic despite my bag of tricks but I got there eventually (so far at least).

(ps: The dark ship is actually dark brown, not black.)

I started in on a set of rules for  maneuvering the ships etc and soon finding myself getting too focused on the weather, winds, and seamanship when all I really want is an action packed game which can be turned into a blog story. So the sailing bits are now minimized and my current Prince Valiant rules will do the rest.

Oh yes, there is one more obstacle, I used to have a blue cloth big enough to cover my table. I wonder where the rest of it is? 

 

 

Cog Inspiration

 Here's a few of the online Cog photos that I selected as inspiration. They were taken from www.tallship-fan.de.  Since my ships, like my Elastolin figures, are meant to be toys rather than accurate models, any resemblance to the real thing is vague at best.

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A few details to be added, as well as 4 more ships to be finished.