Maurice - Scenarios for Wargamers, Reinforcements in Defence

The game Maurice, written by the talented game designer Sam Mustafa, is a bit of a favourite among a few of us at club who have enjoyed the wonderful level of 'friction' this game generates through its combination of card play and die rolls that can combine to produce those moments when best laid plans can come unstuck and the commander on the spot has to come up with another plan to deal with the situation as it is rather than the one he wanted - just like the real thing!

Every wargamer should have a copy of Charles S. Grant's
Scenarios for Wargamers on the bookshelf as it has often provided
quick inspiration for throwing the table cloth down
and getting some figures on the table

So feeling in the need to scratch the itch, not having played the game for a few years, with other rules and genres taking precedence, Steve M dug his AWI Polly Oliver 15mm collection out, married with Scenario No. 15 from Charles Stewart Grant's 'Scenarios for Wargamers' and we sat down to play.

View from the American lines with Continental infantry ready to march in support of the forward line of militia and guns.

The scenario is as on the table, with American militia holding the forward ridge, with Continentals primed to march up and join them in the defence, but with a serious British assault force of line infantry supported by an array of elites, including guards, light infantry and grenadiers hoping to overcome the militia before their supports can come up to their assistance.

The British in march columns and guns limbered with American militia and guns on the wooded hill to their front and riflemen out on the American left flank in the little wood

I took command of His Majesty's army and arrayed my troops in march columns with the guns limbered in an attempt to get up to the defences as quickly as possible, hoping not to encounter any unfortunate terrain obstacle on the way, usually decided by the revealing of a card letting the unfortunate opposition commander know that that was what he had just stumbled into or as the regimental sergeant-major would declare 'Oh dear, how sad, never mind!'.

Grenadiers, Guards and Light Infantry support the 'Hatmen' to their left. I foolishly left another three of these units off table in reserve - 'Oh dear, how sad, never mind!'

In the game wash-up, my decision to limber my guns was a faulty one, as to attack with artillery is usually problematic, in that artillery moving, deploying and firing, takes time and cards to command and with limited amounts of both when attempting to manoeuvre infantry rapidly and press an attack, also requiring time and cards, the latter force takes precedence and I would have been better served simply deploying my guns and firing as and when the opportunity presented. I told you we hadn't played for a while!

The card play in Maurice determines the flow of play and can impact the outcome of actions such as firing, rallying and melee, and can be played for the events (bottom half of card) that can be directly advantageous to the player or disadvantageous to the opponent and activation points (number in pink box - top left) with points used to command units in groups, based on type and formation, and with more points required the further away they are from the commander. The Army Morale starts at a predetermined number on the dice and is reduced by the loss of units to indicate when an army has had enough.

This scenario is a classic to play with Maurice, bringing in that time pressure for the attackers and causing all sorts of challenges to overcome in that the usual pauses in an attack where the time is taken to redress the ranks and replenish a hand of cards burnt up simply manoeuvring forward and dealing with skirmishers thrown forward as the proverbial 'speed bump' is not a luxury to be had.

 

Militia and guns await the 'bloody-backs'.

Thus when the red-coat columns arrived before the militia hill-top line, having driven off a unit of riflemen in woods on their right flank but having incurred fatigue casualties on the way, the two forward battalions were compelled to charge into the American line through necessity to get on with it in the forlorn hope, as it turned out, of getting a quick win, with the Continentals already on the march in their support.

 

Forced to retire back down the slope, and looking to stretch the American defences whilst also weakening their Army Morale and will to resist, the British grenadier battalion supported by a light battalion carried on with their pursuit of the American riflemen, managing through a bit of fortunate card play, to prevent their falling back beyond a patch of rough terrain and pinning them with their backs to blocking rocky outcrops on the American left flank.

The British columns close in and have formed in depth to concentrate their attack on a specific point on the American line, hopefully leaving their other units somewhat redundant, and making up for my not having brought all my elites with me. Note the Grenadiers on the extreme right attempting to turn the riflemen out of their handy little wood.

With the repulse of the first British attack the battle went into a slight pause as the British attempted to rally off hits as did the militia, whilst bringing in other units to shoot to attempt to undo the rallying successes.

Steady! - Hold your fire until you can see the whites of their eyes. Someone get some fresh round-shot for those guns.

Try as they might neither side could gain much of an advantage in the rallying phases and so as the British commander I decided to cut my losses, so to speak, now that the Continentals were up in support of their militia who were still solidly ensconced on the hill and try to bring on a battle of attrition using my superior army morale to overcome that of the Americans.

A not unusual British tactic, but one that cost them dear in Pyrrhic victories, commanding the battlefield but only at the high cost in casualties.

So in went the redcoats along the front of my attack with the two lead battalions who had made the first attempt on the hill, still carrying fatigue charging up the hill with another two in support, whilst the Grenadiers closed in on the US riflemen.

The result was what I predicted with some success seeing the riflemen obliterated by the Hatmen volley fire and with them in the open with no cover giving me a bonus of two points knocked off the American morale from a poor die roll for the Americans of a '6' as they rolled for their Army Morale response.

Yankee Doodle Dandy on the march 

However the cost for this decision was the loss of my two line battalions, that left the militia teetering on dispersal but with me loosing points off my Army Morale and forcing the next stage of the attack that saw the fresh supports charge in on the next attack phase to capitalise on the damage inflicted before any further rally attempts could make things good.

'Why us Sarje? - Because we're ere laddie'

This time with a combination of timing and decisive card play to influence the combat the British attack was more successful taking out the two obdurate militia battalions and taking a whole die from the the three composing the American morale record card whilst unhinging the American defence on the hill.

The British press their attack

That was where we ended play, with lots to chat about in the pub afterwards and with me reflecting on some poor command decisions which ended up with half of my elite battalions off table because I chose to keep them there in reserve but with little opportunity to bring them forward as the cards in my hand to do so were in constant use doing other more important and pressing things.

That is where Maurice really captures the pressure of command that some other games don't quite match, giving the player commander a range of demands on his command capability to do things or not as the situation demands whilst adding the flavour of disposing of cards to enable activations that have on them additional event characteristics that would be very nice to keep in hand for when a certain situation inevitably arises.  

The American riflemen are driven off, not without a few casualties if the fatigue dice are an indicator.

Thank you to Steve M for reacquainting us with his AWI 15mm collection and to Vince, having returned to club after picking up some bargains at the Exeter Legionary Show Bring and Buy for donning his militia colonel's blue coat and commanding the rebels. 

God Save the King.

JJ