To Louisville!

[has.been]

The Drums of the Algonquin have spoken.
Le François must be driven from this land.
A Blood raid is heading for the village the French call Louisville.

There is a militia unit there, but it is of poor quality.

The local Military Commander has sent a relief force out.
It comprises three line units escorted by an experienced Voltiger unit,
The leader of this force has two roads that lead to Louisville.
Short but liable to ambush, or long (i.e. slow). Does he split his forces,
or put all his eggs in one basket?

The game will be played out today.
Players Flatpack (Bob), Westbury (Ian) & Killer Cunningham (John,aka JC)
Who plays what, and what happens is yet to be decided.
Tune in later to find out.

[has.been]

Time to name the guilty.
Ian played Chief Scarlet Coat (Given to him by the British)
John, Lt. Ponse De Guarde,  was in charge of the French with
Bob, Sgt. Le Penn controlling the Voltigers (& the town's Militia).

Lt. Ponse De Guarde decided to take the main force up the 'short' road,
and sent Le Penn, with his faster troops, the long way round.

Scarlet Coat quietly noted where his various groups of warriors were to conceal themselves.

918 = Louisville viewed from the West
919 =     "            "         "      "   North (the 'short' road)
920 =     "            "         "      "   East   (the 'long' road)
921 = There's a Moose loose aboot the hoose! (A kind gift from Vodkafan which I managed
                                                                   to get painted in time to make an appearance.
922 = The Town's Militia form up. Ready to fight (& die?) for their Town.

[CapnJim]

921 = There's a Moose loose aboot the hoose!

Must be in Canada, with diction like that.  If so, you forgot the "eh?" at the end.   

But in Kentucky, Louisville is pronounced "LEW-uh-vul".

In any event, looking forward to dispatches from the commanders in question...

[has.been]

Thanks Capt. I was thinking about this,

https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrkOMIF_7Rmfd84f6d3Bwx.;_ylu=Y29sbwMEcG9zAzEEdnRpZAMEc2VjA3Ny/RV=2/RE=1723166597/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.youtube.com%2fwatch%3fv%3dzzBU56riS68/RK=2/RS=7ZqmW_BFmKUTNGWoFC4i3ON7RAk-

I did try loading another part to my overview, but the internet disappeared &
the report with it. 
Ah well, try again.

926 = No sooner had the French line entered the table, than Scarlet Coat
          unleashed an ambush.
          Ponse Le Gaurde ordered a pursuit. 
          Line troops in difficult terrain manage 3" a move.
          Natives can move 8", they can even fire & still move 4"
927 = With the line troops busy & the Voltigers taking the long route,
          Scarlet Coat personally led the attack on the village with his biggest unit.
          Poor quality Militia against Veteran Warriors. 
928 = Under Rebels & Patriots (the rules we were using today) a throw of double one,
          while trying to activate a unit, results in something BAD happening.
          An isolated group of Warriors threw snake's eyes! The result was 'Friendly Fire'
          Normally they would fire at the nearest friendly unit, but as there were none
          we decided they had been spooked by the Moose.
          'It's OK lads, roast Moose for dinner tonight'
929 = Belatedly Ponse decided to send a unit up the short road towards the town.
          Sneaky Scarlet Coat had men waiting. In an attempt to reply, with a volley,
          Ponse also threw double one! 
          This time the penalty was, 'Retreat' (two moves) which put the unit right back
          where it started.
930 = Panic was spreading in Louisville. The view was one of, 'If the Army won't
          come to us, we'll go to the Army!'
931 = Meanwhile the Militia were reforming in the town square, preparing to make
          a stand.

I will leave it to the players to add their insights & pictures.
I only want to add that nice figures were moved, dice were thrown, rubbish was
discussed, cake was eaten & drinks (tea & coffee) flowed.
A good time was had, & I can ask for no more. 
         
         

[flatpack]

Call out the militia!! Indians !


What’s that ?

Is it loose ? 

My French light boys are ambushed on the way to town.


We return fire on our ambushers.


The towns people try to hold off the Indians.


The Indians break into the town.
They are everywhere.


The Indians take the town, then put it to the torch.


The main French relief force never did arrive at the town.
They chased off a few Indians but became preoccupied with them, and seemed to forget they were supposed to relive the town.


Great fun game, loads of laughs, just lacking a lemon cake that I missed out on 
Cheers Pete.

[vodkafan]

I thinks it's Les Francais not Le Francois but never mind  .
The important thing is - did the Moose survive?

[flatpack]

Yep, a bulletproof moose. Could be a new movie ?

[CapnJim]

flatpack had this to say:
"The main French relief force never did arrive at the town.
They chased off a few Indians but became preoccupied with them, and seemed to forget they were supposed to relive the town."

Ah yes - the bane of wargamers everywhere - mission amnesia...

As for the moose, they are very large critters, especially a bull moose.  Musket ball schmusket ball...

Lovely pics and reporting thus far.  Too bad about the town....

As for that video, has.been, hadn't heard of that one.  I understand the reference now...

[flatpack]

I don’t want to name names, but I do think the Indian player was taking the Mickey.
He defeated our shambles of a French force, easily, whilst forgetting to bring all of his units onto the table. I ask you…..

[FifteensAway]

"Pretty" game - and a moose, too.   

[has.been]

Thanks Bob for your comments & pictures.
Vodkafan, panic not, the Moose is due another appearance in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.
Thanks too to Capt & 15s for the nice comments.

Just waiting for Scarlet Coat to gloat, sorry give us his views.

[Harry Faversham]

Almost every game we have reminds me of this shambles. Brilliant stratagems on both sides, till the first shot's fired, then the little people come alive, take over and chaos reigns for two hours!


 

[has.been]

Too true Harry.

[Harry Faversham]

Good, innit?
 

[Westbury]

"Scarlet Coat took many scalps and made many widows and orphans, Les Francais will think again before disturbing our lands".

As the player I couldn't believe how well the plan worked out even when I forgot to deploy one unit 
The main column were easy to distract and when two units chased after one Indian band I thought Christmas had come early 
The voltigeurs were a bit more of a handful and Bob skirmished effectively but was unable to come to the aid of the town militia who were never going to be a match for a big veteran unit led by a leader.

Historical is what I'd rather play and this was certainly historical or is that hysterical