Now What?

Once upon a time......or 2 years ago to be precise, I set out to prepare a 1790's Caribbean wargame to take to Huzzah 2023. 

See "A Desperate Affair"

but somehow, by the time I got to Huzzah, it looked more like this:

Yup, here we are in Egypt.....some navigator......
No I'm not sure how these things happen but they do. 

Anyway, it was fun to put together but that campaign is officially over, the French and British troops have been shipped across the Atlantic to the Caribbean as originally intended and the Egyptian and Turkish troops are sitting around smoking their pipes and wondering what their future is. Me too (except for the smoking part). 

The only thing that comes in mind is to pit them across my 16thC Imperial forces, Landsknechts, etc but at that time, Turkish cavalry spurned firearms and, well, most of my Mamlukes have them and none have the bow that was a major weapon for Turkish cavalry. The infantry is fine, its just a bit ironic because my original homecast Turkish infantryman was sculpted 20 years ago for just such a setting. A project which never got off the ground then, and which I don't feel like tackling now. 

 

Took along time for these guys to get dressed and on the table but at least I didn't have to worry about the fragility of the too thin bows they were sculpted with.

Trying to sell them is a very tempting option, if I can find a buyer, as it would put an end to that temptation when I'm trying to reduce and finish what I have I've been working on for the last 20 years........... I think I'll put up a page with pictures and see if anyone is interested in this motley crew of some 40 odd Mamluke/Turkish conversions, mostly home cast with the cavalry being semi-flats.

I also hemmed and hawed about my French camel company but I decided that I like the troopers enough to take away their camels for some other use, and ship them to the West Indies as local volunteer light infantry.(at the moment, Prince Valiant's Persian enemy Satrap has claimed the camels to keep his elephant from getting lonely).  

My hastily improvised Chouan Royalists will also be disbanded, part to go back to their original role as Canadian 1837 Patriotes and rebels, part to go back to being ex-slave guerillas. (see below)

Royal Navy attacks an inconvenient French shore battery in the West Indies.

Yeah, this means I'll be going (virtually) to the West Indies in the heat of summer rather than going in winter. Oddly, the only times I got close to the Caribbean were also  in summer, (as a young Naval officer) a stop in Bermuda while on exercises and a stop at Cuba when I was an exchange officer on a US Destroyer in '76 and as a foreigner was not allowed on shore at Guantánamo Bay! Ah well, it was also summer when I watched icebergs go by off the coast of Baffin Island.  

Mayhem (now with captions)

This game could have been the basis of a good Prince ValierrrrMicheal story, but I was continually interrupted by 'other duties' and I was trying to design a new set of rules while I played. With all the confusion those situations usually cause, especially when combined, and the late hour, I've given up on a narrative. 

Note to self: I need to make a Bard figure to help with composing tales of high adventure.

The scenario was based on CS Grant's Wagon Train.

An alliance of 'Picts' (ie British tribes from North of the wall) and "Saxons"( ie Germanic raiders from over the sea" have joined up to seize a supply train headed for a "Romano-British" fort.

The garrison has a ballista or onager (I forget which one I used), some cavalry which can sortie, some archers, if anyone gets close enough, and some infantry whose role is to cheer loudly and hurl insults at the Barbarians. The "Barbarian Conspiracy" has a few archers, a few light cavalry, and a bunch of fierce but rarely armoured warriors. 

The column manages to hold off an ambush as they round the corner and start in on the home stretch, (Arrival time and place for the raiders is decided by dice, I think this lot shouldn't have lounged around the cook fires so long, dreaming about having a magical hot black potion that would perk them up.   

Blades and blood, well guys knocked over anyway, and the sheep are getting nervous.

End of the game, both armies are at their breaking point and both sides have some of the wagons, animals, etc and some are still in dispute. 

The Prince will return another day. 

Now The Hurley Burley's Done...

 .. I'm not quiet sure if either side lost or won!  Hmmm....

Carnage!

Everything was fine, if not yet decided, but by the end of the last turn both armies were on, or just over, their breakpoint and most of the wagons/herds had been pillaged, at least a little and in a hurry before fleeing. 

So, I'm going to call it a loss for both sides with a slight win for the garrison because a good portion of the goods can be salvaged.

NOTE: If anyone is looking for the last two posts, I've just learned how to accidentally delete posts irretrievably. Well, as Joni sang: "something's lost, but something's gained in living every day".

In the works, an illustrated battle report post and a post about plans and rules and what's going on,