Skirmish on the L'Adour - 15mm Napoleonic Muskets and Tomahawks

General Situation
By 1814 an allied army of British, Portuguese and Spanish troops was operating in southwestern France. The French army under Marshal Soult had retired east from Bayonne towards Orthez. followed by an Anglo-Portuguese Army under Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington leaving Bayonne under siege. The siege was described as "leisurely to the point of apathy" with French and British soldiers fraternizing and exchanging goods and letters

View from the south east corner - Shaun is in the river

The Scenario
This scenario is set in a small hamlet somewhere along the south bank of the River Adour between Bayonne and Orthez.

View from the south west corner

The hamlet of 4 houses is set hard against the river, just off table to the north. There is a road running east-west through the hamlet with a road running off to the south. The area to the south of the hamlet rises up through wood hills to a ridge.

The French
A supply column escorted by an infantry battalion and an artillery piece has left Bayonne aiming to join up with Soult's army. The objective is to get the 2 supply wagons off the eastern edge of the table

6 Officers Veteran, Scout
3 Fusilier Companies Average, Musket, Firing Line (8 bases each)
1 Fusilier Company Green, Musket, Firing Line (8 bases)
1 Grenadier Company Veteran, Musket, Firing Line, Scout (8 bases)
1 Voltigeur Company Veteran, Musket, Firing Line, Scout (8 bases)
1 Gun
2 Wagons

The French can deploy 3 companies in the hamlet, the remainder of the force enter on the western road on turn 1. The order of march must be set out beforehand as arrival will be at the mercy of the Activation cards

The British
A large reconnaissance force of 4 Companies, Kings German Legion has been tasked with capturing the supply column and locating and escorting 2 British spies back to friendly lines.

3 KGL Officers Veteran, Scout
2 Light Companies KGL Veteran, Rifle, Scout (8 bases)
2 Line Companies KGL Average, Musket, Firing Line (8 bases)

The British can deploy anywhere along the southern edge of the table

The Game
The French deployed 3 companies  in the buildings at eastern end of the hamlet. The column was set out  with 2 wagons, the gun and the remaining 3 companies.

The British deployed all of their troops in the southeastern area of the ridge and moved rapidly to form a loose north-south line across the eastern edge of the table. The riflemen then proceeded to shoot the French troops in the hamlet.

At the other end of the table the column became a traffic jam as the wagons blocked everything else from coming onto the table. Eventually the jam was sorted out and the 3 extra companies started forming a line to advance against the British

The British realised that if the French advanced them then they would be overwhelmed so they moved a rifle company back up onto the ridge to enfilade any approaching French. They caused severe casualties to the French as a result of this.

Back at the eastern end of the hamlet the rifles played havoc with the French troops picking them off slowly but surely. The French mistakenly decided to return fire rather than charge out and engage the British in close combat.

Inevitably the riflemen wore down their opponents who belated decided to charge out forcing the KGL Line companies to retire with losses

The artillery piece did not get into action and was over run by a rifle company swarming through the buildings searching for the spies. With barely a full company left the French quit the field leaving both wagons, the gun and the 2 spies to the British.

The End
An interesting game between a shooty force and a stompy force with the later playing into the hands of the former by going for the fire-fight rather than closing with the bayonet. The rifles were lethal in this game even though they take twice as long to reload. The artillery was almost useless so I might have a tweak with the rules for them. Otherwise I'm very pleased with this variant of Muskets and Tomahawks.

The Toys
The buildings are from 4Ground's La Haye Sainte range and work fine as standalone buildings
The figures are by Campaign Game Miniatures
The Muskets and Tomahawks variant can be found here

La Haye Sainte - Not Quite Muskets and Tomahawks

I wanted to do a game to commemorate the 200th Anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. When the lovely people at 4Ground asked me to put a game on at Salute 2015 I thought about La Haye Sainte (LHS) as they do an excellent model of it in 15mm.

The problem is that I don't game the Napoleonic Wars so I don't have any Napoleonic rules and I don't have any Napoleonic figures. Therefore I started looking round for both figures and rules.

I'd seen Jonathan Jones' blog and liked the look of Campaign Game Miniatures figures. The range has multiple poses for most troop types - for instance the French Fusiliers have Fusiliers Advancing Low Port, Fusiliers Advancing High Port, Fusiliers Skirmishing Pack 1 and Fusiliers Skirmishing Pack 2. Each pack has 8 figures in 4 poses giving a total of 16 different poses.

Not Quite Muskets and Tomahawks
I've been playing Muskets and Tomahawks (M&T) covering the French Indian Wars and the American War of Independence for a few years and put on participation games at various shows in the UK. FWI, AWI and Napoleonics = Horse & Musket so I started fiddling about with M&T to see if it would work.

Figure Ratio
M&T figure ratio is is 1 figure is 1 man. For LHS I had to represent 400 Germans and several thousand French so M&T wasn't going to work out straight out of the box. I wanted the basic unit to be a Company of roughly 80 men so I up'ed the scale so 1 figure became 5 men giving a company of 16 figures. 16 individually based figures was going to be a pain to move around. In M&T a regular unit has between 8 and 12 figures so I put 2 figures on a 20mm square base giving a company of 8 bases.

Ranges
I reduced the weapons so Muskets dropped to 12" and Rifles dropped to 24" with long range being over half the range and point blank dropping to 2"

Action Points
Activation Cards give regulars 2 action points per card which wouldn't give much variety as every one would be regular. Therefore I added a morale class of Green, Average or Veteran and replaced the Regular 2 AP card with 1 card with Green 1AP, Average 1 AP and Veteran 2 AP and 1 card with Green 1AP, Average 2 AP and Veteran 2 AP. This gives Green 2 AP per turn, Average 3 AP and Veteran 4 AP. Veterans get +1 in the Reaction Test whilst Green troops suffer a -1 penalty

Formations & Movement
M&T has 2 formations, Skirmish (the default) and Firing Line. I added a third formation Column and made Firing Line the default formation. With 3 formations I had to change the movement from being a Troop Type value to being a Formation value. So Skirmish and Officers move 6", Column 5" and Line 4". Columns get a +1 modifier as a Target, add half of the bases in the second rank in Melee and get a +1 for Reaction tests. Skirmishers now get a -1 modifier in the open. All troops can adopt any formation but troops not trained to skirmish suffer a -1 in the Reaction Test - do not put green troops into Skirmish order

Melee
M&T has a very brutal melee system which I felt wouldn't work in this game. Therefore I replaced Melee with a Charge/Fight Action. In order to charge the enemy a unit must pass a Reaction test unless they are already in hand to hand combat. If they pass the Reaction test then they move into contact and carry out 1 attack. The defender does not attack back. If the defender wishes to attack then they must spend an action point on a Charge/Fight Action. Bases in contact are not limited to the Charge/Fight Action, they can do any action they wish - move, fire, reload etc

Officers, Traits,Events & Side Plots
Officers can not shoot, they can be shot at as though they were skirmishers and get a -1 modifier to the To Kill roll. Troops trained to skirmish get the Scout trait. Everyone gets the Firing line trait. Many of the Events and Side plots can be used straight from the list. An event was added to represent the Kings German Legion running short of ammunition for their rifles which gave them a -1 to shooting for the remainder of the game

The Forces
LHS was defended by 6 companies of 2nd Light Battalion, the Kings German Legion (KGL) armed with rifles, 2 companies of  1st Light Battalion KGL  armed with rifles and 1 company of 5th Line Battalion KGL armed with muskets. Several companies of the 95th Rifles were stationed in the Sandpit

I scaled this down to 2 companies of 2nd Light Battalion and 1 company of 5th Line Battalion with a chance of reinforcement by 2 half companies of  Line troops as random events. The light troops were Veteran Scouts with rifles. The Line troops were Average with Muskets

The 95th Rifles were represented by  2 half companies that fired 1D3 shots per British Regular card. They would pull back off the table if approached by French troops but would return when the threat receded.

For the French I had a Line Battalion of 6 companies - 1 Grenadier (Veterans), 1 Voltigeur (Veteran Scouts) and 4 Fusilier (3 Average and 1 Green). All were armed with muskets.

I will add a company of Sappeurs and a company of Légère and possibly an artillery piece to the French forces to make it a bit more difficult for the defenders

The Building
LHS could be entered at several points
- the western entrance to the barn because the doors had been used as firewood (doh!)
- the Garden walls and hedges
- the Main gate by spending 6 Action Points to break it down
- the Pigery and south-east wall - only if not defended by troops

Deployment
The game starts with the 3 KGL companies deployed anywhere in the farm buildings or at the barricade on the road. The French start off-table.

The Game
As in the real battle most of the game action revolves around the Main Gate and the the western entrance to the barn with forays to the garden. As long as the KGL have ammunition they get a To Hit of 2 for French troops milling around these entrances - Base of 4 to hit plus Rifles +1 plus Point Blank +1 but once they start to lose officers and go low on ammunition things turn nasty as the French start to pour in and the numbers start to tell.

The Toys
The figures are all from Campaign Game Miniatures and were painted by Shaun
The buildings were very kindly donated by 4Ground
The cloth is by Gaveno Cavailia and is available on eBay

Conclusions

I am pleased with this variant of M&T. I really like being able to field companies of Voltigeurs and Grenadiers. I've had a few thoughts about getting a Russian Jaeger battalion or maybe some Prussians and a battalion of Young Guard to fight the Prussian advance on Waterloo.

For the variant I'm looking at including cavalry with their own Activation card to do actions between a French Dragoon regiment Russian Uhlans and Irregulars to allow for guerrillas in Spain

I put the game on at Plymouth and I will be doing it at WMMS, Salute and possibly Exeter.

The playsheet for this variant can be found here


More photos can be found on Photobucket

The Fort - A Muskets and Tomahawks Scenario - Trial run

I have always thought that Bernard Cornwell's The Fort, based on the Penobscot Expedition in 1779, was a good candidate for a M&T scenario. With the help of a few guinea pigs, Dave; Rodge & Shaun, I recently ran my first trial. I tried to keep a balance between the book, M&T playability and forces available to me.

I decided to go for a 3 player game, the British, the Massachusetts Militia and the Continental Marines. Splitting the American forces between two players allowed me to introduce friction between Commodore Dudley Saltonstall and General Solomon Lovell.

Instead of the standard M&T objectives I went for Victory points. As there was no end point other than the capture of the fort I also decided to recycle destroyed units.

The Terrain 

The game was played on a 4x4 foot table.

The fort, or part of it, was placed on a hill in the North-east corner of the table. I used gabions on top of the hill for the main fortification classed as heavy cover. The base of the hill had a trench with a staggered entrance - this required a full move to enter and a full move to exit. It provides no cover and is within point-blank range of the gabions.

Along the southern edge of the table from the eastern corner I placed 2 foot of sea, a large hill and then another foot of sea. The large hill, representing Dyce's Head, had 2 small woods. A cabin, the Beach House, was placed on the beach section of the 2 foot sea feature.

3 small hills, running lengthwise into the centre, were placed along the western edge.

The open edges between the fort and the sea and the fort and the western hills were filled in with impassable woods.

A ruined cabin was placed half-way between the fort and the the western hills and another was placed at the northern foot of Dyce's Head.

A big thanks to Eric the Shed for his tip about Homebase Tiles

The British

Forces
3 Regular Officers
3 Highlander units - 10 x Regulars with Muskets - Elite, Firing Line
2 Garrison units - 10 x Regulars with Muskets - Firing Line
2 Light guns - 4 x Regulars
1 Ship with 1 Light gun

Deployment & Special rules
The Ship deploys in the 2 foot stretch of sea and can only move to aim its Light gun
1 unit of Highlanders can start hidden in the woods on Dyce's Head
All other units start in the fort
The garrison and fort guns can never leave the fort
Highland units can, for 2 AP, deploy 12 inches out from the fort's trench line

Victory Points
1 VP per turn for holding the fort
1 VP per turn for holding the ruined cabin
1 VP per turn for holding the Beach house
1 VP per turn for holding Dyce's head
-1 VP per unit or officer killed or gun spiked
-1 VP to bring back a destroyed Highland unit - garrison, gun and officers can never be brought back

The Massachusetts Militia

Forces
2 Provincial Officers
3 Provincial Units - 12 x Provincials with Muskets - Firing Line
3 Light guns - 4 x Provincials
1 Indian unit - 5 Indians with muskets - Scouts & Natives

Deployment & Special rules
A tent is placed between the 2 northern-most hills on the western edge to represent the camp
Two guns are deployed on the 2 northern-most hills. Each is protected by earthworks - heavy cover
The infantry can be placed anywhere on the 2 northern-most hills
The 3rd gun plus earthworks is deployed on Dyce's Head when it is captured by the Militia
Recycled units appear at the tent

Victory Points
20 VP for capturing the fort
1 VP per turn for holding the ruined cabin
1 VP per turn for holding Dyce's head
-1 VP per unit or officer killed or gun spiked
-1 VP to bring back a destroyed Provincial unit - guns and officers can never be brought back

The Continental Marines

Forces
3 Regular Officers
3 Marine units - 12 x Regulars with Muskets - Scouts, Firing Line
3 Landing boats

Deployment & Special rules
The Marines always enter from the sea edge
If the British ship is in play they can not enter that sea area
Each landing boat can carry 1 unit plus 1 officer and moves at 6" per AP

Victory Points 

20 VP for capturing the fort
1 VP per turn for holding the Beach House
1 VP per turn for holding Dyce's head
-1 VP per unit or officer killed
-1 VP to bring back a destroyed Marine unit - officers can never be brought back
-1 VP per turn to attempt to remove the British Ship - roll 10+ on 2 D6 Points to remove

Other Rules

The Marines and the Militia both get VPs for Dyce's Head - only one force can claim the points.

If the Militia have deployed their 3rd gun on Dyce's Head then the Marines can never claim VPs for it 

Artillery can not shoot at other artillery - this stops the game from becoming a counter-battery battle

Artillery LOS is not blocked by cabins

The British ship can not elevate it's gun to fire on Dyce's Head

With the exception of the Indians and gun crews, a unit is immediately removed when it is reduced to 3 figures

The Game

A lot went on during the game as units were destroyed and recycled. Therefore I'll just mention high and low points

The British deployed a unit of Highlanders on Dyce's Head which the Marines immediately assaulted and captured after a hard fought struggle.

Probably because I hadn't made the VP rule clear the Marines then allowed the Militia to deploy their 3rd gun on Dyce's head giving the VP to the Militia

Using their special rule, ie 2AP to deploy 12" from the trench line, the British constantly deployed Highlanders towards the Beach house and the Ruined cabin

The Militia kept up heavy pressure on the Highlanders in the Ruined Cabin and caused quite a few casualties from musket and cannon. The Highlanders twigged that they were better off in close combat so they charged a Provincial unit, destroying it and then went on to spike one of the Militia guns.

At only one point the game did the Americans try to assault the fort when a Provincial unit boldly marched towards it only to disintegrate under a volley from the garrison.

Meanwhile on turn 3 the Marines successfully rolled to remove the British ship. This allowed them to capture the Beach house and assemble for an assault on the fort - sadly (pub closing) time caught up with us and we had to call it a day.

Conclusions

Overall I was pleased with how the scenario went although I think it needs some tweaks

My intention was have an open-ended game unless of course the Americans captured the fort which would be game over. Using the recycled unit mechanism allowed for this and made the players a bit more gung-ho about chucking units into the fray.

The friction between the American players needs looking at - probably by having more than one mutual VP object and maybe giving the Indian unit to the Marines player.

I'll change the Victory Points so that VPs are awarded for killing the enemy rather than being penalised for having troops destroyed

Force-wise I think the Marine player needs a unit or two of Militia Sailors just to up the card spread as they only had the American Regulars card to activate on.

Also the British garrison will be reduced from 2 down to 1 unit

Finally I'll add in some terrain features,ie cabins ,in the centre of the table to provide more VP objectives

The Toys

Most of the figures are from Peter Pig's 15mm AWI range with the exception of the British garrison units which are Essex SYW

The British ship was from a range brought out when Peter Pig started their Pirate range and is now OOP

Two of the Marine landing boats are 25mm Viking rowing boats from Shaun at Dreamholme Scenics

All of the buildings are by 4Ground