Tuesday, April 05, 2016

Muskets and Tomahawks at the Shed





My first visit to the Shed this year and a very enjoyable game of Muskets and Tomahawks; a set of rules which, on my second game (I played the first at the Shed about 18 months ago), I have decided I really enjoy.  French and Indian wars. of course.with the Legatus on the British side this time.  Eric had set up one of his splendid boards as a British colonial settlement being attacked by Indians and dastardly French Canadians (and I've known a few of those - although I have known some lovely ones too, I should add, hastily).




I had two units of regulars plus some fairly useless militia and some irregular rangers.  Altogether, we had two units of regulars and four each of militia and rangers plus some officers, who assist on morale and provide useful extra orders. We were up against what looked like hordes of Indians (or First Nations Aboriginals as my Canadian friends would advise me to call them - Canada is the most politically correct nation on earth).




The Indians (sorry FNA) had to burn every house in the village to win and the British had to stop them, despite having around one hundred points less of troops.  We hid most of our units in the cabins and waited for the FNA to attack.




I placed my regulars in and next to the blockhouse, although this was a tactical error as the regulars inside couldn't take advantage of their volley fire capability.  I should have put the rangers in there, instead, with their long range rifles




I did control one unit of rangers and they did well at keeping back several units of attacking FNA and Canadians although eventually, outflanked, they were seen off.  The FNA were doing a good job or burning houses as the militia melted in the face of frenzied tomahawk throwing attacks.




My biggest unit of regulars did sterling service in the centre, holding off multiple attacks although they were attacked from three directions.  Fortunately, in these rules, you can turn 180 degrees to face a new enemy without penalty.




For the last few turns it was a very close thing indeed with the British just edging it by saving just one house.  By this time, my main unit of regulars had lost 7 out of 10 men but they had done their job.   Another very balanced scenario by Eric the Shed giving a close game which went right down to the last turn.  Eric has done an excellent write up of the game here.




Somewhere, I have a bunch of Galloping Major FIW figures under way.  I must dig them out!  I also have a lot of the Conquest Miniatures figures and I even painted one (above) but sadly they are not compatible with the GM ones size wise.  It's still a conflict I want to paint some units for, however.


7 comments:

  1. The games at the shed always look superb!

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  2. Great to you you getting a game under your belt. Game layout is terrific, by the way. Your brushwork on the singleton FNA is outstanding.

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  3. It sounds and looks as though you had an enjoyable game :)

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  4. No one puts on a game quite like Eric, impressive stuff.

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  5. Glad you had a great time...as always if you want to push your own lead around the table you are more than welcome. See you soon...

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  6. Great looking game.
    Now that looks like fun.
    Cheers
    Stu

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  7. In my opinion the Conquest Miniatures FNA are really great, I'm sorry you don't feel you can use them with GM figures. Glad you are enjoying FIW.
    Chris G

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