The Longest Game

 Its been one of those months......... "Winter is Coming!" as a Stark might say, but I have been preparing for winter for some weeks. More precisely, I've been working while muttering ...."I'm a lumberjack, I'm OK" (Monty Python fans will understand the context). In other words, I've been sawing storm damaged trees, and a couple of standing trees to provide fuel for our wood stove which helps keep the house warm in winter, especially when the occasional winter storm knocks out our electricity for several days. 

So,........I played this game a turn or two, now and then when I had time and energy, esp when we had some of this year's scarce rain events. Anyway, here's a very short "Illustrated Battle Report".
(Some repeat images may be included to make a brief "Illustrated Report".)

The third wave of British infantry has landed. Both the generals and the Admiral are annoyed that there were not as many landing boats as they had requested.

The last wave lands as the second assault on the ladders wins a foothold on the ramparts and the party of sailors with axes are making headway on busting open the fortress gate.

    

The fight at the gate is ferocious but the Highlanders have now climbed the wall and forced back the French.

At last the main gate has been broken open, while the walls on the left have been swept clean.

"Surrender!!  Your flag is down and our troops are approaching your rear!"

______

Another week or two should see something more like usual.

Gotta Make Time

My main focus these days is to increase our store of firewood for the cold days to come. However, I have to find a bit of downtime now and then.

So, the game must go on! .........(Even if it's a couple of turns a day ...)

Oh. And yes, the Brits are landing in waves.

Pull Boys Pull

This is likely going to play out slowly since I'm spending so much time turning some of our fallen trees into stacks of firewood.

But it has finally begun!

To be continued......

Aux Armes!

On a fall morning on Belmont Island, the mists began to clear.   An alert sentinel spotted a flotilla of boats rowing hard towards the shore

. The sight of red coats made him sound the alarm!

 To be continued.........

Re-use, Re-hat, Re-paint

Some time around 2006,  Sash & Sabre released a range of 40mm Alamo figures. At the time, I was starting a collection of 40mm figures for the mid 19thC Sikh Wars and I couldn't resist at least 1 set of the Mexican ladder set in their broad shakos (like the 1840 British shakos).

https://redbookplayed.blogspot.com
Scenario 15

Well, the British Army was well started, but without Sepoys, and the Indian force was barely started, when I got distracted by other collections to face various friends' armies. As years went by, and friends moved away, etc etc and I started accepting that there were not enough years to complete both armies for two score projects.

The 1830/40's 40mm collections had a start on the Sikh Wars, the Patriot Rebellion in Lower Canada (Quebec), the Upper Canadian rebellions, and the Mexican/American War. Some how, they all got started, but none were ever finished. 

The result is that the ladder lads almost never got into action beyond that one game. So, since there were plenty of assaults on defended cities and forts in the West Indies during the French Revolution Wars, and my Revolutionary armies are getting use and still expanding, I decided to convert my storming troops to fit in.

Now to build a walled city to storm......

War Resumes on Belmont Island

After another British victory which allowed supplies and reinforcements to make it through, (see Ambush) the fighting on Belmont Isle was limited to small raids and skirmishes when patrols collided. As another New Year's came and went, the French Governor ordered an attack on the British possessions. After a series of meetings with a leader of ex-slaves, and a supply of muskets and powder, a joint operation was arranged.

The British had fortified a road block but had not considered a flank attack from the wooded hills to the east of the British outpost. Patrols spotted the French column and a messenger was quickly dispatched requesting reinforcements.

The forces gather.

Soon the fighting was wide spread while reinforcements on both sides marched on. On the hills behind the British flank, the freed slaves hesitated for a while but then decided to engage. 

Supported by skirmishers and the artillery, the 1st battalion charged the redoubt but was repulsed. With the English preoccupied, the freed slaves came storming down from the hills and a long firefight began.

After a brief pointblank musketry duel, the first battalion broke and ran. The 2nd battalion formed a storming column and assaulted the gate across the road while the 3rd battalion deployed and began a prolonged  short range firefight with the French having 2:1 numbers but the British soldiers being in cover.

A prolonged fight but eventually, numbers counted.

An attack on the main gate was repulsed  but the French skirmishers manage to silence the British gun and they took the wooden barricade for themselves until the gun could be brought up.

At last the British casualties in the redoubt weakened the post and General St. Lambert ordered another assault on the redoubt and one on the gates. On the other flank, two companies of Marines (not yet royal), made an attempt to drive the French from the gun position but the French skirmishers were determined to hold their position and poured such a deadly hail of bullets that the Marines broke and headed back for safety.

The situation was hopeless and the order was given to retreat with the Hussars and the first two companies of marines were ordered to form a rearguard to hold the enemy at bay. 
Behind them, they could hear the cheers and the sound of  La Marseillaise being sung.

At Last

 The battle has finally been fought!

If all goes well, the battle report should appear sometime on Friday. 

STAND TO!!!!

It had been quiet day on Belmont Isle until the long roll called the small garrison to form up. Amid the noise and bustle, officers, ncos, and the other ranks speculated on why they had been called to fall in. Was it a drill or a real alarm? Then, as the garrison was formed up and quiet, they could hear the approaching sound of drums and voices singing:

"Aux armes, citoyens, formez vos bataillons, marchons, marchons...."

To be continued....

It's Winter, Time To Go To The Caribbean

 Well, not me! Just the little lads.

Base behaviour.

To my surprise, the last West Indies game was posted on 31 December 2024. So, I've decided that the West Indies are due to reappear. However, the 3rd party (ex-slaves) were still waiting to be put on regulation 18C bases. 

So, I'm doing that now, and then will come up with a scenario, probably with French and ex-slaves vs British, and set the table. I might even get to play it today if I'm fast!  

The Sea Just Got Bigger

While giving my wife a hand, I stumbled on the rest of the roll of blue corduroy fabric. She said she had no more use for it and I could have it. It wasn't quite as wide as my table but with the hills in the background, I decided to put the old piece on the inshore and laid the bigger piece overlapping it, like a breaker rolling in from the sea to the shore.

(Mind you, from a few feet away the overlap isn't very noticeable, not like the back drop. It seems all my naval actions will have to happen near to land.)  

Chasing Pirates!
(Apparently the RN is a little short of sloops, let alone brigs, but you gotta use what you can get!) 

Right, time to clear the table again and prepare an ambush. But what century and what setting? 

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!

_____________________________________

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........

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.......

How Went The Day?

My style of seesaw battle with a cliffhanger finish.

(PS click once on the pictures to see a larger version, twice for the close up view)
PPS  Somehow one of the pictures disappeared. My belated attempt to remove the blank photo while keeping the text,  completely f***ed up this post and I've had to go into the clumsy html to fix it but the intense fight between me and the computer, which tried to fix my fixes,  have made more of a hash. Oh well! 18 Mar 25  )

The Marines, unable to hit the side of a battalion at long range, advanced with bayonets fixed.

Once More! The Hussars are on the edge but the French skirmishers have been driven back, taking some of the pressure from the Highlanders.

(Lost photo)

The sun is sinking! This needs to be settled, for who knows what the darkness will bring?
The Marines managed to force the French infantry back, but had to halt, hold fire and wheel one flank to counter the approach of the French cavalry. The Hussars were on the edge of breaking if the French skirmishers could get one more hit, but with the Highlanders starting to tear down the barricade and the French Dragoons moving (slowly!) to threaten the already tattered Marines, it was all or nothing now.
"Bugler! Sound Charge!!"

Long Live The King!!

The Black Watch rallied well, the artillery and riflemen worked on the small garrison and reinforcements on both side moved forward.

At last I have managed to take the 2 sets of rules that I started writing 30 years ago, merge and adjust them in light of my experiences and current preferences, skipping over the explanations, and have a shared Quick Reference sheet with minimal serious changes AND have finished a solo game which went very well with a close ending. The QRS is available here: With MacDuff To The Frontier QRS 2024. 
(A full set with explanations, etc, might follow if I live long enough.)

"Once more unto the Bridge!"
A 2nd charge by the Highlanders swept the French off the bridge but faced with a barricade to remove and fresh French troops deploying, the Highlanders hunkered down on their side of the bridge while the rest of the army started crossing over the Ford while the Marines guarded the other side. The opposing cavalry clashed sabres with indecisive result and then rallied back out of the vulgar musket crossfire that broke out.  

Now, back in the day when I first wrote these rules, we used them with 25mm Colonials, Brits in Afghanistan, Zululand and the Sudan, but I was soon experimenting with a F&IW/AWi/War of 1812 small actions version, initially for 54mm, then for 40mm once Rob Dean got me hooked on homecast 40mm's. The games were played on 6'x8-10' tables, usually lasting 4-6 hours, with anywhere from 2-6 players. Later, convention games with up to 8 players and a strict time limit added their own complications, but with two active GM's, they worked. It wasn't really my intent to have 2 different versions of the rules, or to submit them for publication. It was back in the day of dial up modems, monochrome screens, and e-bulletin boards, and as part of a discussion on writing your own rules I posted a copy of the F&IW version I was working on as an example. I was surprised to get a message from Dick Bryant asking if he could publish them in the Courier but didn't object and sent him the more developed Colonial version.  Well, he published both and here we are! 

If At First

The first assault on the bridge was blown back by canister. The 2nd assault, made by A Company of the Black Watch, was shot apart while trying to cross the barricades.

But the day isn't over yet!

To be continued........   

Meanwhile.......

 .....

Did anyone but the French not see this coming?

To be continued....

Enemy In Sight!

It's been one of those days, but everything's ready.

One of the guerrilla bands of freed slaves has agreed to act as scouts for the French outpost.

"Look!  Enemy in sight!"

There's the French Sir!

To be continued.....

Coming Soon To A Virtual Island Near You!

The troops appear happy to be back on their own feet (ok washer/base). I'm going to need more jungle-ish terrain, even over and above the excess plastic plants which are stored away ...somewhere....   And trees, I bought more palm trees of a similar height, but their fronds are about 1/4 of the size, I guess they are farther away.......or...??,  Well, I have enough vegetation to get started with a small encounter with a half dozen units a side, or maybe more. 

Hold the bridge!

To be continued........

Having organized and rebased (a total of  over 100 figures to go the close to 100 old period figures still mounted on washers. 

I also had to adjust the rules, including some old ideas which had been rolled in virtual cobwebs and put away in case I ever wanted to go back to this level and approach, as I do. 

Hopefully the guns will open fire tomorrow.

More vegetation, villages, mountains, etc to follow.