This weekend I had the pleasure of joining Mike C., Bob, Si, John, Alex and Paul for game of Muskets & Tomahawks version II, set in the wilderness of North American during the American War of Independence with a straight forward attack and defence scenario, that had the American Patriots or Rebels depending on what side of the War of Independence or Revolution you get your history from and like wise the poor-old Redcoats, simply following orders and policing the colonies against tax avoiders, or those damnable lobsters doing the bidding of their tyrant king, you can take your pick.
As you will see the American line looked rather formidable with a river to its front with sections of rapids restricting the areas to be forded, overlooked by plenty of cover provided by woodland, flanking a ridgeline on which several emplacements had been constructed and defended by American Continental regulars, with their riflemen and allied Indians operating mainly out on the flanks.
The British had a significant force of regulars that included light infantry and grenadiers, backed up by loyalist units including the Queen's Rangers and several warbands of Iroquois Indians.
The position looked like the one General Howe would have definitely flanked, looking to minimise casualties by turning the rebels out of their nicely constructed positions rather than an attack directly to the front; but it seems we must have had 'Old Tom' Gage running matters because a classic Bunker Hill manoeuvre was the order of the day and so the British force was split into three divisions, as seen above with the intent to demonstrate in the centre and look to turn the flanks, with the centre supporting and reinforcing success as it hopefully presented.
To support this 'order of the day' the British would be able to recycle destroyed units and bring them back to the table from the jump of points on their table edge as required.
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| My Light Bobs deploy on the left flank preceded by a screen of Iroquois warriors as the advance begins. |
I hadn't played M&T for quite a while, and most of us were getting reacquainted with the rules and sequence of play as we went, with the interesting decision points the rules throw up for the respective players, whether to play an enemy turn card or not and thus take command points for a later activation, whilst trying to set up a sequence of play to discomfort the enemy in so doing.
As my light bobs and Indians walked into a maelstrom of American long rifle fire, effectively the artillery in this skirmish game, with my Indians purposefully out ahead screening the lights and being the bullet magnet I thought they might prove to be, the regulars came on behind in open order, looking to close up to the river as unmolested as they could ready to threaten the positions on the other side.
The Indians did their task manfully as they made best use of the limited cover on the British bank and returned some sporadic musketry that managed to knock over the occasional militiaman or rifleman that showed himself.
In the meantime the the light-bobs, who had done what I had hoped by drawing American units out on to the American left flank to contest their approach, used their quicker march rate to quickly change direction and join the regulars nearer the centre in readiness to join the crossing, accompanied by the battered Indians.
The battle was also 'hotting-up' on the British right as John pushed the Queens Rangers and Loyalist Provincials across the river with his regulars in close support, managing to drive off the American Indian and militia, not though without casualties as the Provincials fell back in rout, to rally back behind the redcoats advancing past them.
Si managing things in the centre, swung his recoats to the right in support of John's success and helped to draw off fire from the main push that was backed up with the British assault unit of Grenadiers looking to take the fight up on to the American ridge.
With a six turn game the battle was very much in the balance at the halfway stage, with the British assault starting to make their way over the river but suffering ever increasing casualties as they did so.
The first British regulars across rapidly formed close order line from the open order they had used in the approach march and started to issue the first crashing volley fire that was the trade mark of British infantry from this era, with the first volleys starting to thin the ranks of Continentals lining the ridge.
As if to join in the fun my battered Indians seemed to take heart from the turn of events and charged into the woods on the American right flank wiping out a unit of riflemen with tomahawks in close assault as the light-bobs drove the Americans out of another nearby wood, making good use of the bayonet and thus allowing my two units of regulars to get across and join in the musketry to clear the forward ridge of defenders.
However our American opponents were certainly not done and attack was followed by counterattack with my Indians and light-bobs dispersed in the fighting as the remains of these battered units finally succumbed to the casualties they had accrued on the approach.
As the afternoon drew to a close, our battle reached a crescendo of action as redcoats battled along the length of the forward slopes to dislodge the American defenders and were rewarded for their casualty count with the dispersal of several American units manning the log emplacements.
The final 'hurrah' saw the bearskin clad grenadiers launch themselves on to the American left flank ridge position driving off the defenders with their bayonets but going down gloriously, to quote out senior commander, in the process.
The game was declared a British win, but only just, and the table bearing the British casualties bore testament to the bill paid for such a victory, and with many more victories such as this the war was most certainly lost.
Thank you to Mike for putting on a very fun game, with lots of drama and narrative, and of course to Bob, Si, Paul Ian and John for their company and play.
JJ
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