3rd Battle of Song of Drums and Tomahawks Mar-3-15 Starts 1/2 down, page2

[Marine0846]

Played my first game the other day. I love the rules.
I decided to fight the first battle of the Beaver War campaign that Mike Demana is running.
The setup is a group of Miami Indians (1-chief, 8- warriors) are on the way home after trading a the fort.
A group of Ottawas (1-chief, 4-warriors, 8-youths) lay in wait to attack.
The battle field. The Miami will start in the middle of the table. The Ottawas set up 12 inches way from them.

The Miami on the trail. To help them carry the trade goods, they have two horses. One Indian lead each horse.

Four Youths (bows) and one Warrior(musket) man some fallen trees blocking the trail.

[Marine0846]

Some of the Ottawas manning the tree barricade. They don't do much in the battle. The Warrior fired his musket, then used up most the game reloading.
The Youths did not do much of anything as they did not roll the die rolls needed to move.

To the left, the chief, Gray Fox, with 4 Youths, move forward. With the Chief's morale roll they had much better luck.

The  Miami  Warriors fire their muskets at the Ottawas, causing no wounds. The little rocks show that they need to reload.

Here you see the Ottawas advancing against the Miami. All were Warriors, pretty easy to move and shoot. But not the best of luck getting hits.

[Marine0846]

Gray Fox move forward and attacks a Miami and knocks him down. Another Miami moves to protect his fellow brave.

Two Miami warriors move and attack an Ottawa warrior and youth. The Ottawa warrior is knocked down.

The Miami chief, Big Tree moves to attack Grey Fox. In the fight Big Tree is knocked down. Gray Fox figures he will finish the job the next turn. Little does he know.

In a stunning turn of events Big Tree is able to stand up and strike a blow knocking down Grey Fox. (Great die rolling by Big Tree, crappy by Gray Fox.) Gray Fox is wounded and out of the fight. All the other Ottawas take morale checks. Most of them head to the edges of the table.

[Marine0846]

Big Tree moved back to the head of his warriors, ready to advance off the table. He is well pleased. Three Ottawa scalps, including the chief's. Sad to say one Miami
was lost. Still a great victory. Happy will be those in his village.

Had a great time playing. The rules work very well. Took about 1 1/2 hours to play. I played the Ottawas.
Could not believe my die rolling in the Chief vs chief fight. Such is fate.

[mikedemana]

Awesome job in the first game -- glad you like the rules. I am SOOOO going to show this to my own Miami player who ran screaming like a little girl from the field without putting up a fight.  To be fair, he did admit later that he misjudged the situation, and should have taken the fight to the Ottawa who were trying to ambush him. Their high proportion of youths (Q5) -- and the fact they were deployed out of the leader's range to influence their movement -- meant they could easily become a non-factor in the game.

Glad to see your two sides fought it out like men...

Mind if I link your post on the company website?

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

[Marine0846]

Hi Mike,
Glad you liked the write up of the game.
Please feel free to use the write up any way you would like.
I agree with you about the youths.
As you read in the report, the 4 youths at the fallen trees did not do much.
So it made a more even fight.
The Miami player was wise to keep most of his warriors close to the chief,
as to use his Q-3 to move and shoot.
I used my chief to move 4 youths. I figured they could attack a Miami with 2 to1.
In the end the chief decided that his attack would do the most damage.
He almost pulled it off.
Very bad die rolling  did him in.

[Marine0846]

Hi Mike,
I was reading the rules about Tomahawks.
I understand the part about throwing.
I am not clear about using it in melee.
Are there any plus or minus for the figures in melee?
Thanks, Randy

[mikedemana]

Good question, Randy. There are no weapon type bonuses in these rules. I purposely did not use the "better weapon" mechanic in Song of Drums and Shakos. In woodland warfare, every weapon has a advantage and a drawback. Some think bayonets should get an advantage. But imagine if you're in the woods and surprised from behind...that bayonet is suddenly a disadvantage swinging it around and not getting it entangled in vegetation. Even a knife can become a better weapon when two men are in close melee and grappling. So, no +1s to anything...including tomahawks.

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

[richardpate]

really great, randy. rick

[mikedemana]

Hi Randy,

Got this thread linked on the Battle Reports page of our First Command Wargames site:
http://www.firstcommandwargames.com/battle-reports.html

Thanks again for the write-up!
Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

[Marine0846]

Mike,
Thanks for the reply about tomahawks.
I agree with you about weapon bonuses.
I think I read it in a report of one of the games that had been posted in the last few days.
A player had a figure use a tomahawk, in a melee, had a plus 1.
On the other hand I might have been dreaming.

PS- Any more reports on the Beaver War campaign?

[John Grant]

Having just read your report I have bought the rules and look forward to my first game sometime this week. Thanks for the inspiration!

[Marine0846]

John,
I think you will like them.
For games of 15 or so figures per side I love them.
I have already played another game.
Will try to post some thing this weekend.
Maybe Mike can tell us what he thinks is the limit of figures per side.
Of course being a war gamer I will probably try to see how many figures I can get in a game.

[nervisfr]

hey guys,

Very interesting battle report.

Which manufacturer do Grey Fox ?

I don't recognize some of your warriors : Looks like Old Glory   

Cheers
Frenchy Eric

[mikedemana]

Hi everyone,

John, thanks for your purchase! I hope you have fun with the rules. I recommend 7-12 figures per player, usually. Of course, you can go higher with whatever feels comfortable (plus, how much time you have on your hands). We do multiplayer games, as well. I highly recommend lowering the number of figures per player down to the smaller end of that scale in games with more than two. So, if you have a four player game, I'd shoot for around 7-9 figs per player. That means less of a wait time for your turn. Or if you want to try my "Ohio Frontier Aflame" approach, divide a long table into sections for separate, one-one-one scenarios. Link them together with some rules like I do for each side to decide which engagement gets their biggest force, which their next biggest, and so on. Finally, let reinforcements from one board move to the neighboring one, with an appropriate wait period, and you will get the look and feel of a large, multiplayer game. Players won't spend time waiting for their turn, though, as they will be constantly involved as their opponent shoots, melees, or moves towards them.

We are doing the next Beaver Wars turn Sunday, Feb. 22. So, look for a report shortly after that.

Glad you guys are enjoying the rules!

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com