28mm MUSKETS AND TOMAHAWKS: FIW ATTACK ON PEACEHAVEN

I followed up my multiple Battles of New Bern this week with a French Indian War game using Muskets and Tomahawks.  The figures and terrain all came from my collection.  I I partly staged the game to get my new blockhouse and some new French units onto the table.

The game was a French attack on the fictional peaceful riverside settlement of Peacehaven an important link on the fur trade from the Midwest.  The initial French forces were 3 Indian warbands commanded by Tim Watson and 2 units of Coureur du Bois and a unit of Canadian militia commanded by Donald Adamson.  They had extra bands of Indians which could come onto the table by canoe as events.

Dave O’Brien commanded the initial British forces which were 3 units of militia and 4 families of settlers.  I acted as umpire and commanded the British relief force of up to 6 units of Light infantry and rangers.

The mighty blockhouse covering the approaches from the forest

The wharf and trading post at Peacehaven

The initial French advance by Tim’s Indian bands was shot up after they crossed the stream onto the cleared terrain covered by the blockhouse.  Tim then moved his units back into the cover of the woods and they moved to their left to skirmish with some of the British lights which had appeared on that side of the settlement.

Donald moved his French units around the right side of the blockhouse and then attacked the cabins at that end of the village.  He was supported by an Indian band which arrived by canoe.  After a hard struggle they burned 3 of the cabins and routed a unit of militia.  The British reinforcements who arrived to support the militia were  worn down in a long firefight and fell back to retire of the table.  The settlers who survived Donald's massacre at the cabins fled toward the boats at the wharf to escape but sadly ran into another warband who got their first by fast canoe!

It was certainly a clear Franco-Indian victory.  An enjoyable game proving you do not need masses of figures for a great game.

Tim has written a detailed account of the action on his blog at
https://moth107.blogspot.co.uk/2018/04/the-man-with-no-shame.html?spref=fb

Settlers flee covered by the militia

First settlers get to the wharf  then the Injuns appeared!  Horror!

British lights engage the French and their allies

The French who outshot the British - what by gad sir!

28MM FIW SIEGE OF FORT WILLIAM

I was at the SESWC last Thursday for a FIW game using Muskets and Tomahawks.  The game was the siege of Fort William as I provided the fort.  Angus Konstam and Jack Glanville provided all the figures.  On the British side Michael was defending the fort whilst I commanded the relief column of British regulars, provincials and rangers.  Derek commanded the French troops besieging the fort whilst Jack commanded an Indian force facing the relief column and also engaging the fort.  Angus acted as the umpire.

My relief column got no more than 15" onto the table in fact the elite grenadiers and provincials both retired almost of the table.  The French and their Indian allies had just broken into the fort when night fell (special event).  The darkness forced my relief column to fall back into a defensive position.  It was a clear French victory.

As I forgot my camera the photos come from Campbell Hardie's phone.

Fort William - did the defenders remember to close the gate?

Overview of the table - relief column came on via the track on the right

Indians engaging the column with their captive old mother Simpkins who I had to rescue as a subplot.

French infantry engaging the fort

Michael and Angus have put more detailed accounts on their blogs - links below

http://meneken.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/the-capture-of-fort-williams-1758.html

http://www.edinburghwargames.com/the-siege-of-fort-william-1756/

28MM Muskets and Tomahawks Weekend

This weekend I was away at Kirriemuir for a meeting of the League of Gentlemen Wargamers. I organised the French Indian War games which used Muskets and Tomahawks.

On the first day we had 6 2 player games setup and on the second day a single 6 player a side game on a 24 ft long table.  Overall it proved to be a French victory.

The games identified that we lacked certain troop types and that has given me another project for the coming year.  It was all very enjoyable - here are some photos.

View of the escape scenario game

Settlers must die scenario

West end of the big game - Kevin and Charles Snr

View over the big table - Steve Rimmer surveying the position

Peter Henderson's superb scratch built French fort

My British fort - by Stronghold

Outer defences of the British fort

French Indian amphibious assault on the outer defences of the British fort

Angus Konstam has written a fuller report on his blog at
http://www.edinburghwargames.com/Journal%20116.htm

28MM MUSKETS AND TOMAHAWKS FRENCH INDIAN WAR GAME

Some photos from our Muskets and Tomahawks FIW game at Falkirk and District Wargames club last night. I was testing out a scenario for an upcoming M&T weekend this March.  It was adapted from a scenario posted on the Scotia Albion blog.  The British had to rescue their captain who was being held in a settlement by the French and their Huron allies.  It proved a blood bath but a British victory as they rescued their captured captain.

French Indian Chief leads 2 warbands to support the Canadian militia

British Rangers engage the settlement at long range from the forest line

British Indian allies make a run for the cabin the captain is held in.

Another view of the French Indians crossing the swollen stream

The forces were fairly balanced the British had 2 ranger units and 2 Mohawk ally units versus the French Canadian militia with 3 Huron ally units.

28mm MUSKETS & TOMAHAWKS: FRENCH INDIAN WAR

Over 2 week day nights last month I organised a big French and Indian Wars game at Hugh Wilson’s who again provided the excellent terrain.  This time Hugh had produced lots of new mountain cliff sections.  We used Muskets and Tomahawks with some minor changes to the rules for shooting hits requiring more than a 6.

View over the table

Large ship in the British harbour

The objectives of each side in the mountainous terrain was to destroy the settlements of the other side.  Over the 2 nights neither side managed to destroy a single enemy settlement!  Despite this it proved to be an enjoyable game which kept 9 and then 7 players amused each commanding a force of 2 to 3 units.



French allied Indians finally cross the deadly bridge



French allied Indians scaling the cliffs to get to the Rangers

Here is the OB for the game

 

FRENCH FORCE 1

INDIAN CHIEF
6 INDIANS
6 INDIANS
6 INDIANS

FRENCH FORCE 2

INDIAN CHIEF
6 INDIANS
6 INDIANS
6 INDIANS

FRENCH FORCE 3

INDIAN CHIEF
6 INDIANS
6 INDIANS
6 INDIANS

FRENCH FORCE 4

IRR OFFICER
12 MARINES (IRR)
6 COUREURS DES BOIS

BRITISH FORCE 1

REGULAR OFFICER
8 REGULARS
8 REGULARS

BRITISH FORCE 2

MILITIA OFFICER
6 MILITIA RIFLES
6 MILITIA
6 MILITIA

BRITISH FORCE 3

6 RANGERS
6 RANGERS
6 LIGHT INFANTRY

BRITISH FORCE 4

MILITIA OFFICER
6 MILITIA
6 MILITIA
6 MILITIA

Indians coming down a mountain track



28MM MUSKETS AND TOMAHAWKS: FRENCH INDIAN WAR - BIG GAME 2

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for our big game which was originally going to be an AWI M&T game as a follow up to our FIW game.   Having looked at the figures in our AWI collections I decided that they are to formally based for M&T and the terrain setup so we  played a slightly revised FIW game.

French allied Indians attack a storehouse

Hugh had revised the terrain reducing the amount of river and adding some more settlements and replaced the log fort with a Vauban fort.  The figures came from the collections of Angus Konstam and Colin Jack neither of whom were present.   Hugh supplied all the terrain except for the indian village and the Vauban fort which Colin Jack and I supplied.  The table is 15ft long and 6ft wide.

View from the east cliff

Bart Zynda, Tim Watson, and Ray Neal commanded the French forces – 2 regular units, 3 irregular units, 7 allied Indians and 6 savage Indians.  Campbell Hardie, Dave O’Brien and Hugh Wilson commanded the British forces - 3 regular units, 3 ranger units, 6 militia units, 3 savage Indians, 3 allied Indians plus 5 civilians in each settlement.  All the players had changed sides since our previous game.  I umpired and commanded some of the civilians.

The fortress and it's militia garrison - protecting the vital rum rations

The French objective was to destroy the settlements, fortress, and once again generally instil terror into their enemy.  The British were all deployed on the table and the French entered from the north side.  The British players concentrated the rangers on their right flank, with 3 companies of militia holding the fort.   Their Indians, regulars and the other militia were scattered along their front.

Highlanders defending a settlement - sadly later suffered heavy casualties fording the river

On their left the French regulars under Ray and the Irregulars under Tim both supported by 3 bands of Indians engaged the Rangers under Dave and  some of Campbell’s Indians supported  eventually by a firing line of Elite British Grenadiers under Hugh who formed up on the open ground in front of the fortress.  In the British centre it seemed mainly to be a battle of indian versus indian in svage close combats between Bart,  Hugh and Campbell.  Bart and Hugh both had an Indian chief killed in hand to hand combat.  Whenever Campbell’s militia got into action they were quickly swept away by Bart’s indian warriors.

Rangers engage the French from their cliff top eyrie

By the end of the game the French had lost 1 less unit than the British and also destroyed 4 settlements so we declared the game a French victory again.  As before it proved to be a very enjoyable game. 

For more photos see flickr at

https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157644640692558/

Next objective is to come up with a game in which we can make use of all the Vauban fortifications that we have.

28mm MUSKETS & TOMAHAWKS: 3 GAME WEEK

This has been a week of French Indian War Muskets and Tomahawk games as I was trying out the rules again before a big game I had planned for Thursday.  Most of the figures in the games come from the collection of Angus Konstam which he kindly lent me whilst he is staying in Orkney.

On Sunday Dave Paterson, Dougie Kirby and I played a game on a 6ft by 6ft area of my table.  Dave and I were commanding a force of French Irregulars and Indians attacking a British settlement held by British Regulars, Rangers with a column of Militia marching on in support.  It proved to be a British victory as the Franco-Indian morale broke.

French allied Indians snipe at the British defenders

On Monday at Falkirk and District Wargames Club Dave Paterson, Dougie Kirby, Kevan Bowman  and I played a game on a 6ft by 4ft.  It was a variant of the Sunday game in which I replaced the Militia with more Rangers.  Dave and I commanded the British defenders and Kevan and Dougie the French Irregulars and Indians.  My Rangers engaged Kevan’s Irregulars in a long range duel in the woods whilst sadly Dave’s Regulars were shot to pieces by Dougie’s Indians and Kevan’s Coureurs des Bois.  The morale of the British force broke after less than 90 minutes play!

British regulars start to wilt under the Indian fire - keep the firing line men!

On Thursday I went to Hugh Wilson’s for our big game.  Hugh had converted his Vietnam river terrain into a FIW wonderland with a British fort (mine), a port with a sailing ship, 5 settlements and an Indian village (Colin Jacks) and lots of canoes and boats.

Tim and Donald defending the British central settlements and the vital port - smiling at this point.

Bart Zynda, Donald Adamson,  Tim Watson, and Ray Neal commanded the British and Colonial forces – 3 Regular units, 3 Ranger units, 6 Militia units plus 5 civilians in each settlement.  Colin Jack, Campbell Hardie, Dave O’Brien and Hugh Wilson commanded the French forces – 2 Regular units, 3 Irregular units, 3 allied Indians and 3 savage Indians.   I umpired.   For this game Colin supplied the Indians and the Civilians.  The French objective was to destroy the settlements, fort, port and generally instil terror into the countryside.  The British were all deployed on the table and the French entered from the north side.

On their left the French Irregulars under Campbell  engaged Ray’s militia in a firefight covering their Coureurs Des Bois as they  swam  the river and scaled the mighty cliff to rout a unit of militia before burning the nearby settlement.  Ray tried to bring his other 2 militia into action to retake the settlement but one of them suffered 5 out of 6 as casualties to the Irregulars and broke and fled.  His other unit withdrew towards the fort.

Coureurs des Bois scale the mighty cliff - defending militia having recoiled from the covering fire

Bart held 2 of his British units back at the fort and only had his Highlanders forward who engaged Colin’s French regulars across the river at long range but their supporting fire could not save the settlement that the civilised French Europeans burnt to the ground.  Bart has now written a report on this game at his blog:
http://asienieboje.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/muskets-tomahawks-big-game.html

British regulars including the elite grenadiers massed at the fort

In the French centre and left Hugh and Dave’s Indians simply ran amuck destroying a settlement and the Indian village on their side of the river and 2 units of Tim’s supporting militia.  Using their canoes they crossed the river and drove of Donald’s Ranger riflemen defending the sailing ship which they then set alight.  Hugh’s savage Indians pressed on and destroyed Tim’s last militia unit and yet another settlement.  Some British friendly Indians arrived to avenge their burning village but Tim had no luck with them either and the savage Indians drove them of the table.  The game ended at that point.  It was clearly a French and Indian Allies victory – they destroyed 4 settlements, the Indian village and burnt the sailing ship to the waterline and inflicted much heavier losses on their opponents than they suffered.

Hugh and Dave's Indians storm the sailing ship held by a unit of  Donald's Ranger riflemen



Burning friendly Indian camp - in distance the sailing ship burns down and explodes!

We plan to adapt the terrain slightly for a follow up AWI M&T game in 2 weeks probably  using a higher proportion of more formal units.

All the photos from the big game with descriptions at
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bill26048/sets/72157644411484489/

28MM BLACK POWDER - FRENCH INDIAN WARS ACKIA 1736

On Monday I went to Falkirk and District Wargames Club.  Dave Paterson, Dougie Kirby and I played a modified version of the Ackia scenario from The Last Argument of Kings, the first Black Powder Supplement.  This is a very different French Indian War scenario as the French are fighting the Indians who also have defences.   The game is set in 1736 when the governor of Louisiana led a punitive expedition to attack the fortified Chickasaw Nation settlement of Ackia.    

All the French and their Choctaw allies come from the FIW collection of Angus Konstam while the Chickasaws were from my AWI collection.  My thanks to Angus for loaning me his figures whilst he is away in Orkney.

The French regulars

Orders of Battle

 

French CinC  SR 8

French brigadier SR 7

Veteran infantry
Regular infantry
Militia infantry

Choctaw Leader  SR 7

4 bands of Choctaw skirmishers

Chickasaw Forces

Chickasaw CinC SR 7

Chickasaw Leader SR 7

4 bands of Chickasaw skirmishers

Chickasaw Leader SR 7

4 bands of Chickasaw skirmishers

Terrain/Rules

We used the 66% scale version of the rules.  The entire table was assumed to be forest.   We used the following rules to deal with the issues of forest fighting:
French infantry move at half speed in the forest.  The native skirmishers move at full speed. 
The French infantry gain no cover advantages in the forest – they are still a clear target and get no extra saving modifier. 
No unit gets a cover modifier from the forest in hand to hand combat.  
All units get cover modifiers for the ramparts.
Units on the French side cannot charge the ramparts from beyond musket range.

French infantry close up on the Chickasaw defences

Deployment

As we don’t have a native village we assumed that the Chickasaw village the objective of the French force was of table behind their baseline.   LAOK suggests using hidden deployment for the Chickasaws.  As an alternative we used the following approach:
I deployed the 4 sets of outlying ramparts/earthworks on the Chickasaw side of the table with a unit of skirmishers behind each.    The French then deployed their 2 brigades.  The other 4 units of Chickasaw skirmishers were deployed in reserve behind their baseline.

French regulars about to charge and take  the forward rampart

How it Played

I commanded the Chickasaw defenders, Dave the French infantry and Dougie the Choctaws.  Initially everything went well for the French.  On their left flank Dougie’s Choctaw units drove back my units helped by my appalling dice rolling.  Eventually all the units in my right flank brigade fled the field.  However I had inflicted enough casualties that Dougie’s Choctaws became a broken brigade and they had to withdraw to recover.    On the other flank the French infantry advanced steadily and the regulars managed to storm the most forward rampart.  However a change in my luck allowed my skirmisher fire to break the militia and shake the other 2 French units which made them a broken brigade.   As both the brigades in the French army were now broken they had to retire from the field.  A Chickasaw victory – a historical result!

More gaming this week - Thursday Vietnam War game , Saturday Carronade 2013 at Falkirk, Sunday Wartime Experience at Scottish National Museum of Flight.  More info here
http://www.falkirkwargamesclub.org.uk/Carronade%202014/Carronade_Home.html
http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum_of_flight/whats_on/wartime_experience.aspx