Jacobites using Rebels & Patriots.

[has.been]

Vodkafan & I raised some troops for the Jacobite rebellion.
Today we finally got to play with them.
Our rules of choice are Rebels & Patriots. We may well add
more rules to add flavour, but for today we added just a few tweaks.
1) Government line troops were allowed to start in close order.
2) The Jacobites drew a card (from a limited 'pack' of ace to 6)
    For possible ambush(es) Ace = None,  2, 3 = One, 3,4,5 =Two, 6=Three.
    No matter how many  ambushes they are entitled to, they get four markers.
     For today we used card rectangles numbered 1 to 4 underneath. The Jacobites
     had to note what was where.  Every move they had to test for any concealed
     units, or to keep the bluffing going, success meant that unit could stay hidden.
     Failure = position given away. Choose from advance/retreat/fire (if in range)
3) Clans were classed as Natives. It seemed to fit.

Players for today were:-
Vodkafan  (Jacobite centre & right wing)
Flatpack    (Jacobite left wing)
JC (John)   (Government left wing & centre)
Me             (Government flanking right wing).

I erroneously thought the Rebels would try & hold out in & amongst the woods & hills.
That we would have to go in after them. To give them a fighting chance (they were
heavily outnumbered 78pts V 47pts) I insisted that the Government forces start
off table & had to successfully activate to enter. This turned out to be a BAAAAD move.

Rather than stand on the defensive the Rebels attacked!!!!???!!! 

376 = Jacobite left advancing
377 = Clans in the centre do likewise
378 = Royal Escossaise in front of the long abandoned Barret's Tower,
          as the only named local feature it gave the battle its name.
          The Royal Escossaise, as well as being the costliest Jacobite unit,
           is a wonderful paint job by Vodkafan. (Maquis Joshua Johnstone)
379 & 380 shows the tiny Rebel army. How dare they attack!
381  = My flanking force waiting to enter the fray.
382 = The main Government line.  Pretty army those Redcoats.

[has.been]

Numbers may well have been on the Hanoverian side, but the Dice gods...
they spoke Gaelic, not German.
Move One & Royal Artillery Battery 'Mathew' (Threw double ones for activation)
This = bad news. They decided to retire rapidly & did not reappear all battle.
The Hon. Ronald Curtis, commander (John) fumed quietly at the loss of a quarter
of all our artillery, but moved on. 'Get the Infantry on the the field!' he ordered.
The 27th (Blakeney's) & 51st (Hammer's) both refused? What should have been
an unbroken wall of Red suddenly had large gaps in it.
To add to the Hon's bad start to the morning, the Jacobite's heaviest artillery, 'Ishbel'
tried to activate to fire. Despite being classed as 'Green' & therefore suffering a minus
to their dice throw, managed to fire. Massive casualties on their target, 20th (Peyton's).
Then one of their lighter cannons, 'Maggie' followed by the Lowland Strathboggy Battalion
fired on 6th (Guise's) The 'Thin Red Line' was getting a whole lot thinner!
Clan Sinclair, led by their Clan Chief, Ranolf Of Sinclair (Flatpack) surged forward, but this
took them ahead of the other clans.
The 'fighting' Sinclairs hit the Redcoats, & forced them back. By now they were disorganized,
so could not follow up & break them.
The 6th (Guise's) & 44th (Long's) in quick succession opened fire. Close range, first volley,
volley fire & some very nice dice throws cut down most of the Clan. Amongst the fallen
was the Chief himself. As others wavered he singlehandedly charged the enemy, killing
five before being overwhelmed. (The rules just said, 'Heroic death')

383 = The Irish unit , Blakeney's, refuse to advance. A gap in the line!!!!
384 = Cannon Maggie hits Guise's (6th) hard. The chickens are a marker for poor morale.
386 = The Clans close.
390 = 'Fighting' Sinclairs hit the Government line.
391 = And force it back!

[vodkafan]

Gosh this was quick getting up on LAF...I haven't even got my photos off my phone yet!

[has.been]

Gosh this was quick getting up on LAF...I haven't even got my photos off my phone yet!

Bear with me, more to come. Just need to reconcile my note, memories & pictures.

387 = The flank troops finally get moving.
The lead unit, 4th Dragoons at first refused to advance. Double embarrassment,
they then blocked every unit behind them, AND... I (2nd Lt. Galvin Balluny)
was leading them 
More problems were to follow. A series of double ones for activations,& morale tests,
resulted in the rest of the Dragoons (the 6th) turning about & galloping off the field.
They took two line units with them .

To add to my woes, Flatpack now revealed his only ambush. His own painted unit,
opened up on me & my unit. Thankfully they failed to cause any casualties.

[has.been]

Back at main battle.
388 = Government line manages to close the gaps.
389 = But their losses continue to mount.
392 = The line...HOLDS 

 393 =Near the ruined tower, the Jacobite right is anchored upon the Royal Escossaise.
They advance & engage Barrell's (4th) in a fire fight. This they continued for the
remainder of the battle, only falling back under heavy fire. They successfully
rallied an eventually withdrew in good order.

[has.been]

At this stage the battle still hung in the balance.
394 = In an attempt to reform the line The Honorable
          Ronald Curtis (John)  threw in Peyton's (20th) against The Sinclairs.
          who, led by their Clan Chief, Ranulf of Sinclair (Flatpack), opt to
          counterattack.
396 = Clan Buchanan, a small but pugnacious group of hairy bothered Scots,
          decide to join the fighting Sinclairs. 'Save some Redcoats fer us!' they cry.
           They smash into the unlucky 51st (Hammer's) & BREAK THEM!!!!
397 = Unfortunately it is too late for the Sinclairs, they too break. The Chief
          fell, surrounded with dead & wounded Red-coats, uttering Gaelic curses.
          (the rules just say 'Heroic death')

 395 = Now came that moment when the balance of war, between sweet victory & bitter defeat,
tilts one way or the other. The Hon. (John) decides to do something that was either very
brave or very stupid. He leads his unit, the King's (8th) ,In column, right under the
musket's of Clan Kerr & the barrel of the rebels' heaviest cannon, Ishbel.

Both of their activations were...double ones!!!!  No firing AND low ammo for the remainder
of the battle. 

[has.been]

We now come to what turned out to be the last action of the day.
398 & 399  = The 4th Dragoons, led by 2nd lt. Galvin Balluny (Me) having crossed
                    the stream, charged toward Clan MacBean. They skirmished & inflicted
                    a casualty. In the following melee he takes no hits, while I take FOUR!
                    (Although this is just one figure loss, it means:- I loose the melee &
                     I have to dice for risk to leader. Hang on, that is ME !!!!)
                     No worries. I get to through two D6s, only deduct one from the score
                     and end up with more than TWO, then I'm safe. I can't be bothered
                     working out the bell curve of probability, but I am fairly confident the
                     bullet does not have my name on it. THEN...
400 & 401     Double ones! Yet again. I fall. The Dragoons retire.
                     I end up captured while trying to escape disguised as a camp follower.
                     (The rules say, 'Captured while hiding in some honour-draining manner')

402 & 403      To draw a veil over my capture, two pictures of the Old Barret's Tower
               

[flatpack]

I commanded the Jacobite left flank.
I could see enemy red coats entering the field of battle slowly in front of me.
Due to their dice rolls, they were coming on in dribs and drabs.
I decided to advance on the enemy, and attack as soon as I could.
“Scotland the brave” was our battle cry.

Here go my first two units, at the pitiful British redcoats.


My first unit hits the redcoats hard, led by myself at the front of the clansmen.


Fierce hand to hand fighting ensues.
“You’ll not take my land”.


My second smaller unit hits another redcoat unit.


It’s going well. Scottish troops advance across the battlefield.
The redcoats have nowhere to hide.


Finally the British dragons advance across the river, and charge my troops, but it’s far too late for the British to win, and the brave Scots carry the day.


Very enjoyable game with great company.
I think the bank holiday dice gods were with me today 

[Romark]

Game looked epic,really enjoyed the Aar too!

[has.been]

Game looked epic,really enjoyed the Aar too!

Thanks Romark. We enjoyed the day, & that is enough for me.
Well it has to be, what with:-
Half my Horse running away before even seeing a Jacobite!
Our much vaunted Royal Artillery doing bugger all.
Mass refusal to follow orders, and the least said about
my capture, the better.

[Romark]

Thanks Romark. We enjoyed the day, & that is enough for me.
Well it has to be, what with:-
Half my Horse running away before even seeing a Jacobite!
Our much vaunted Royal Artillery doing bugger all.
Mass refusal to follow orders, and the least said about
my capture, the better.

Sounds like a memorable game indeed and lots of fun for you and your mates I'm sure,that's what it's all about

[has.been]

Sounds like a memorable game indeed and lots of fun for you and your mates I'm sure,that's what it's all about

It is for us.

[jambo1]

Great looking game, cracking looking armies and best of all sounded like loads of fun.

[Golgotha]

Nice game, nice miniatures, nice river - what more does one want - except maybe a Jacobite defeat...

[vodkafan]

 Sorry, I am late with my pics! I commanded the Jacobite Right Flank. Most of pics of the game didn't turn out, the ones I have left aren't enough to show a sequential narrative so I will just write a few comments to add to Peter's and Bob's...
Here are my Royal Ecossais. According to the stats the best, steadiest troops on the table; I didn't want to waste them getting into a melee so I initially deployed them off to the side with their backs to an old Scottish ruin. At right angles to the main battle, my plan was their superior shooting would enfilade the British Line as they advanced.


The rest of my troops initial deployment. Medium artillery piece Bithel fires over the heads of my two Highland clans, Clan Chisolm and Clan Kerr; To their left, (and forming the centre of the Jacobite Army between mine and Flatpack's Highlanders) the Strathbogie Regiment of Lowland Scots organised as Line.  They are rated as Green and poor shots so I placed my commander the Maquis with them and gave them a light artillery piece as support.


The British didn't come on as expected  but appeared piecemeal. Flatpack's Highlanders were already advancing forward fearlessly to meet them on his side. On my side a lone regiment of redcoats appeared advancing in close order up the road.


I changed plan and wheeled the Royal Ecossais to face them. I unhurriedly shot holes in the red coated line but the Government morale held firm.


Meanwhile two more regiments of Government Line took the field to my front and a large artillery piece. Surprisingly this last did not deploy straight away and was moving at a very slow pace.


The Jacobite regiment in the centre levelled their muskets and fired a crashing first volley that tore one of the Redcoat regiments to shreds and then my two artillery pieces hit the same regiment with cannon balls. As you can see in the pic it has lost a base. 
My two Highland Clans march purposefully forward to meet the other.


I don't have any pics of it, but amazing things were happening on Flatpack's side of the battlefield.  Despite taking a few casualties from musket fire two of his three Highland Clans had charged straight into three regiments of Redcoats. One Government unit was destroyed by a clan half it's own size while the Sinclair Clan took on two- after pushing one straight off the table they turned on the last which lost a third of its strength and was pushed across the table into the unit I had just pounded. Highlanders were running amok right to the Government table edge, a glorious sight.

Even further left across the river, has.been's sizable force of Grenadiers, Cavalry and two artillery pieces could make no headway. Peter's low dice rolls are a legend to anyone who knows him but on this occasion he outdid himself. Ones, double ones followed by more ones and twos were the object of much hilarity to the Jacobite side. Our sides were aching from laughing so much. His leading Dragoons were then ambushed by a small unit of Bob's Highlanders who were hiding in some woods.

To be continued.