The Death of Bonnie Carroll--a game of Gloire

[PeteMurray]

Oh do ye pluck the thistle now
My bonnie Johnnie Carroll?
Oh do ye see the red-clad tide
Of Billy's captains three?
For the drum beats loud
And the skies a-cloud
For James shall march to London town!
Oh come my Bonnie Carroll come
And give your hand to me.

"Bonnie Carroll"--Jacobite marching song dating to the Dundee Rising

Yesterday was the Columbus Day holiday, so I called up two friends who, like me, benefit from this random day, and we had a game of Gloire.

With the Dundee Rising swelling, Bonnie Carroll played host to an advance guard of Louis XIV's French army, there in the margins of Scotland to scout out the terrain for a possible invasion. Opposing him were the Lord Templeton and Colonel Sir John Sampson.

Opening disposition of the board is here:


English troops under Col. Sampson approach from the bottom right of the picture, while Templeton and his nephew Parkening have infiltrated the ruined chapel.

Bonnie Carroll is caught red-handed, colluding with the Frenchies!


Templeton and Parkening go to apprehend the perfidious Jacobite and his bodyguard, now assisted by a French Sergeant:


Templeton drives back the sergeant and bodyguard with a flurry of steel.


Meanwhile, a swirling melee of French and English armies occurs. The chronology is confusing and forgotten--the two English fusiliers die early deaths after a couple of desultory rounds of shooting, and the surviving sergeant and Col. Sampson close with the French commander.

To give you an idea about how fluid the game can be, here is the close combat before:

And after combat outcomes are determined:


The French fusiliers are driven off, and the French officer takes a nasty lump on the head (he later gets a couple more, and ends up unconscious.)

Meanwhile, Parkening finds out that the portly Carroll is no shabby hand with a sword:


Here is the board on the start of the last turn. The board is littered with the dead, the dying, the running away, and Bonnie Carroll and Templeton.


Cue dramatic music! Both men wounded, both loyal unto death to their king, bitter enemies to the end. They pause long enough to salute each other in the ruins of the chapel…

…Before their swords meet.


The game ended before any real resolution could be had--we were on a tight timeline and it was fun to end on a cliffhanger.

For extra bonus, here's a wiggle picture of Mortimer Parkening running away from Bonnie Carroll.

[Prof.Witchheimer]

Love the wiggle pic  ::

great report, thanks, Pete!

[Driscoles]

great Report, awesome gameboard. Super figures !
I wanna have Gloire too.

Björn

[fatgoblin]

what they said!  Thats a really gorgeous table you've got

[PeteMurray]

Thank you all. The game board is recycled from a convention game I ran this summer (Waylaid Messenger) with the addition of my new stands of pine trees. The figures are mostly Old Glory and some Foundry, and I am not a brilliant painter. The good lighting and small pictures makes them look much nicer than they are in real life.

I will share with you a trick that I picked up from someone else. I have a mini tripod for the camera. I set up the camera to capture the scene, then set the timer. Because I'm not pushing down on the button and jiggling the camera when the picture is taken, the shots come out much clearer!

[Grimm]

Yes that´s!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it very cool  :love:

[Phil Robinson]

A damn fine report Sir!

Love the pics. Nearly bought some figs off Redoubt the weekend, but taken too much with Lon's new range,  so will wait a while.

[W.B.Kurgan]

Very nice report!

(I laughted when I saw the sign post: love The Princess Bride! :: )

[Mo]

I will share with you a trick that I picked up from someone else. I have a mini tripod for the camera. I set up the camera to capture the scene, then set the timer. Because I'm not pushing down on the button and jiggling the camera when the picture is taken, the shots come out much clearer!

I got myself one of those little tripods. I always forget to try it. Your pictures came out great.  I'm really looking forward to trying the system.

Eagerly waiting Nov. 1  

Marc

[Pappa Midnight]

Excellent Stuff! That's what I love about skirmish games: you can have a lot going on without the need for 100's of minis and an enormous games table!
That last picture is doing exactly what my camera does when I try to take a close-up shot ::
I'll have to get one of those tripod thingies.
PM