Virginia Provincial Regiment.

Months ago Galloping Major Miniatures were doing a deal on their new FIW range- so I went ahead and bought some of their very nice figures - 'but its easier to buy figures than it is to paint them !' and it has taken till now to get them done. 

I've painted them as the Virginia Regiment - which was commanded by George Washington during the French Indian War . I will be using these with the 'Tomahawks and Muskets' rules .

The command figures , Galloping Major do a very nice range of figures - rather 'chunky' maybe but they match well with most of the other ranges out there.

New Houses For Settlers.

 

One of the purchases from my weekend visit to the Warfare show at Reading this last weekend where two new laser cut buildings for my French Indian Wars .

 

 

These are to replace my rather old and sad resin log cabins . They are by http://www.4ground.co.uk/ .

 

 

They come ready painted and all you have to do is assemble and glue them together.This takes some doing ! as they only go together in one way and you have to follow the sequence of construction accurately ! - if you don't this leads to mistakes and blaspheming !

 

 

They come with interior details , even a fireplace ! A very Des Res !

 

 

Ready for the next Muskets and Tomahawks game !

 

 

 

 

Muskets and Tomahawks 400pt Game (Part2)

The second move started with event card 1 , this triggers a dice roll on the event charts . This meant that there was a friendly fire casualty on the unit of Rangers , who took a moral test and recoiled. The British Lt I nfantry reached the buildings but took casualties getting there.

They were shot at by flanking enemy units and because they did not have cover took heavy casualties and recoiled , the Officer was left behind and was shot at by the Canadian Militia , oh dear ! things were not going well for the British.

The right flank unit of Rangers charged and destroyed the French unit of Coure De Bois, but the Lt Inf. in the centre took further casualties.

The Ranger moved across to boost the morale of the suffering Lt Inf. just as the Rangers he left were charged by Indians, diced abysmaly and were destroyed.

The Ranger Officer managed to get the Lt Inf. to move forward again but was shot by a unit of Indians flushed by massacaring the Rangers .

The isolated Lt Inf. took casualties from another Indian unit to their rear flank and suffered 3 casualties - and routed ! . The French had won ! having caused 2/3rds casualties on the British.

The men of the match ! , this unit caused major casualties on the British centre . The British lost the battle because they tried to attack the buildings before clearing the flanks and were constantly caught in the open - hence the heavy losses . The French were lucky with the run of cards at times and with their dice throwing . A great game , the system plays solo very well , the card draw adds uncertainty to the game and the shooting , moral and melee rules are simple to remember.

The French celebrate their victory !

Muskets and Tomahawks 400pt Game.(Part 1)

I have been planning to try out a 400pt M&T game on a 6'x4' table and after several 200pts games think I have got the hang of the rules now.

The French/Indian force comprised of 2x6 Canadian Milita 1x6 Canadian Militia (Couer de Bois) and 4x6 Indians (count as Auxilary) 1 French Officer and 1 Indian Sachem.

The British force comprised of 12x Light Infantry and 2 x7 Rangers (Elite) .They were commanded by a Ranger officer and a Light Infantry Officer.

The British force got 'Raid' as their objective (burn the French trading post) and the French also got 'Raid' which was changed to 'Engagement' (only one side can have 'Raid' objective) and had to drive the British off with 2/3rds casualties. The side plots were , for the French 'Truce' (not to open fire first) and for the British 'Rivalry' (British Lt Inf Officer to cause more casualties than the French Officer).

The Fench trading post - the British Objective.

The British plan was to attack the settlement and burn it down with the Lt Infantry whilst the Rangers covered the flanks , above Rangers engage with the French Coure De Bois and Indians on the left flank.

The British Lt Infantry move forward to engage the French Militia in the trading post . The French units had a run of cards which enabled them to get into position to occupy the buildings and woods covering the flanks . The French lost their side plot by opening fire first - the Lt infantry in the open was to good a target to miss ! . The first move ended with the sides evenly matched ...... Too be continued. 

Settlers .

To match the Indian civilians I painted for Muskets & Tomahawks  I re based some European settlers and womenfolk to provide scenario fodder for Indian raids . I am planning to do a 400pt game next which uses a 6'x4' table and about twice as many figures.(figures are by Redoubt)

Woodland Folk.

In wargaming there is nothing better than getting around to using something you bought years ago . I've been painting more figures for 'Muskets & Tomahawks' and came across these Eastern Indian Lodges I got off a bring and buy at least 5 years ago - though they were a bargain but never had a reason to use them - till now !.

In 'M&T' buildings are needed as objectives for scenarios , I have several cabins but these will give the Indians somewhere to live. I think they are 'Grand Manner' buildings and as the posts that hold the porch roof up had snapped off I drilled holes in the bases and glued in some bamboo skewers .

I think they may also have had canoes on the logs next to them but I don't have these now ( not sure if I every had them ! ) and I have painted some Indian 'civilian' figures to go with them ( Redoubt figs)

More Muskets and Tomahawk.

Inspired by several successful games of 'Muskets and Tomahawks' I have painted up the above personality figures from  

http://www.gallopingmajorwargames.com/index.htm They are from left to right- Ranger painted as British Officer in campaign dress , two Ranger Officers and a French Officer in Campaign dress. I've also made up two stats sheets for the various combatants.

The British and Indians.

The French.

These rules are very simple to use but very clever with there use of scenarios and the subtle differences in troop types.

Muskets & Tomahawks - The Game.

The Indians set up - they have to burn the log cabins to win.

The Indian Chief - Bluejacket (guess why ?)

The Rangers set up - they have to move into each table quarter and the exit the board to win.

The British leader Captain Sharpe.

The opposing forces move forward .

The Rangers spot the Indians across the open ground .

The Indians sneak up through the woods - their moral is better in cover and they are harder to hit.

They make a dash for the cabins.

A fire fight breaks out- rather inconclusive due to range and cover.

The forces clash and the Rangers are slaughters- rolled VERY  poor dice ! and the Indians start to try and set fire to the buildings.

Captain Sharpe is killed .

The Indian leader Bluejacket is sniped !.

Having set fire to the cabins the Indians are driven back by musket fire.

However at the crucial moment the British morale card turns up and they fail it and recoil off the table - the Indians win !. At times a close game but the Rangers losing the melee and their officer was the beginning of the end - having taken 50% casualties the British morale card is added to the deck and when drawn the remaining groups have to take a morale test at a minus . Luckily the Indians managed to set fire to the buildings and complete their mission before their mounting casualties caused a problem. I enjoyed the game and learnt a lot - be more careful with the Rangers , they are good but they are not many of them so you have to be cautious with them . The Indians were lucky in this game and their moral is easily broken with casualties and in the open . Going to play another  game using sub plots which will add another twist to the game.

  

Muskets & Tomahawks .

One of my purchases from Salute this year was 'Muskets & Tomahawks'  written by the people that brought you 'Saga' Dark Age skirmish rules. I have been trying out various FIW  rules over the years having painted up quite a few Redoubt 28mm figures but none of them grabbed my imagination . These are a card driven set , which I like as they are easy to play solo and stop mid-game and pick up and start again later. They use D6 and seem quite easy to learn , one of the interesting thing I like is a scenario generator ( I'm rubbish at thinking up scenarios) which gives objectives for both side and you can add sub-plots and random events to further spice up the game.

This is my sample 200 points British force which is made up of 3 groups of 5 Rangers plus a Officer . They count as Irregulars and are Elite .

The Indian opponents 4 groups of 6 plus a Leader , they are classed as - no surprise- Indian and are savage  (figures are mostly Redoubt)

The battlefield for 200 points per side - the smallest game - is a 2'x2' table . The small black cat is optional . The scenario was diced for , the Rangers got 'scout' so they have to cross into each table quarter and back off the table . The Indians got 'raid' , they have to burn the settlement down . As this was my first game I decided not to have sub-plots . The card deck is made up for this game of 4 Indian cards , 4 Irregular (Ranger) cards and 2 'forward boys' cards (these give officers extra moves) Having got this all sorted - and the cat removed the game can start. (Sheba the cat has a nasty habit of trying to chew the tops of model conifer trees so has to be closely supervised in the gaming room)    Too be continued....... 

French-Indian Wars figures

These are some photos of the FIW figures that I am painting up . They are Redoubt figures which are a bit chunky but paint up easily .

They are Rogers Rangers , British Light Infantry - 55th Foot and French Coureurs De Bois . I am not sure which rules to use with these figures - there are plenty out there . Have just got a copy of Charles Wesencrafts 'Practical Wargaming' which have a set of SYW  rules , these where use in a FIW scenario in the latest 'Classic Wargames Journal' and look interesting - they use groups of 6-8 figures , so when I get enough figures painted I will give them a try . Click on photos to enlarge - and I have been messing with Photo Shop hence the gun smoke !.