Attack on Johnson's Farm: A Songs of Drums and Tomahawks AAR

[Rob_bresnen]

I find myself in the rare position of being 'on trend' and so I have posted a 'battle' report of a game of Songs of Drums and Tomahawks we played last week on my blog. I never thought of myself as fashionable.

Anyway. I hope you like it.

http://fourcoloursupers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/02/french-indian-wars-raid-on-johnsons-farm.html

[Marine0846]

Nice little action.
Rifles can be deadly out to 2x long range,
especially if you can use two actions for an Aimed shot.
If you figure has a trait of Marksman, you get another plus 1.
All those plus 1s start to add up.

[mikedemana]

Nice report, Rob! Glad your two players enjoyed it. Hope you get to play soon, too...

I like that Song of Drums and Tomahawks is "trending"...

Can I link you report from our Battle Reports page?

Thanks for the nice description of the game and the kind words...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

[Rob_bresnen]

Certainly can. I am going to post another one in a few days too.

[Rob_bresnen]

I have added the second report to the blog.

http://fourcoloursupers.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/french-indian-wars-ambush-in-forest.html

[sespe]

Another great review!  I like the setup, could you explain more about the British restriction "until a flank was secure"?  How open was your board?  I'd like to see an overview shot of the board at the start. 

That Sergeant Skinner is a man who knows what he is about...

[mikedemana]

Nice scenario...I like the special rules and use of Traits to reflect the tactical roles. Skinner was a brave man chagrin goggle into melee while his troops stayed behind and fired. A bad combination of rolls in his fight and the game could easily have gone the other way, I imagine...!

I'll be linking your blog reports from our company site as soon as schoolwork and preparing for Cold Wars gives me a chance...thanks!

Your board looks great, too, Rob!

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

[Marine0846]

Really excellent battle report.
Sergeant Skinner a brave and lucky man.
But maybe not the smartest.

[Rob_bresnen]

Thank you for your comments. It was a great game and we really enjoyed it. It was much closer that the results would suggest.

Really excellent battle report.
Sergeant Skinner a brave and lucky man.
But maybe not the smartest.

That is certainly true.

Another great review!  I like the setup, could you explain more about the British restriction "until a flank was secure"?  How open was your board?  I'd like to see an overview shot of the board at the start. 

The board was set up by the French player as they had selected the ambush position carefully. It consisted of fairly dense woodland along both sides of the road. The English were on the road and unaware of the ambush at the start of the game because the French were using hidden set up. Normally militia can't use hidden set up but for this scenario they could.
'Until the flank was secure' meant until their were no French left on one side of the road. As the French player had 12 men he split them into three groups of four. there were four on one side of the road and eight on the other. The trees provided lots of cover but restricted movement to 'short', meaning the French player found his attempts to redeploy were hampered by the terrain, which offset the advantage of cover.

[Malamute]

Great stuff, enjoying your reports having just purchased the rules and a bunch of figures.

[mikedemana]

Great stuff, enjoying your reports having just purchased the rules and a bunch of figures.

Thanks for your purchase! What figs did you go with? Look forward to seeing your brush work on whatever you chose...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

[sespe]

Thank you for your comments. It was a great game and we really enjoyed it. It was much closer that the results would suggest.

That is certainly true.

The board was set up by the French player as they had selected the ambush position carefully. It consisted of fairly dense woodland along both sides of the road. The English were on the road and unaware of the ambush at the start of the game because the French were using hidden set up. Normally militia can't use hidden set up but for this scenario they could.
'Until the flank was secure' meant until their were no French left on one side of the road. As the French player had 12 men he split them into three groups of four. there were four on one side of the road and eight on the other. The trees provided lots of cover but restricted movement to 'short', meaning the French player found his attempts to redeploy were hampered by the terrain, which offset the advantage of cover.

I like it!  But since I don't have any Couriers I'll have to try it with natives...

[Rob_bresnen]

I think it will work fine with Natives. For the Johnson's farm scenario I balanced the points about 400 for the attackers to 325 for the defenders. The defenders set up first, but could set up anywhere on the board. They had been pre-warned by Two Rivers of the impending attack.
For the Ambush scenario I swooped that around, so that the Defenders had 400 to the attackers 325, but allowed the attacker to set the terrain up however he wished, as he has selected the ambush point. I also allowed the the attacker to set up using hidden markers. This seemed to balance out well and everyone was happy with the way it played out.

[Malamute]

Thanks for your purchase! What figs did you go with? Look forward to seeing your brush work on whatever you chose...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com

Galloping Major. Bought mostly everything he has. .

 I am planning to do smaller actions with your rules and larger engagements with Muskets and Tomahawks or Sharp Practice.

[mikedemana]

Galloping Major. Bought mostly everything he has. .
 I am planning to do smaller actions with your rules and larger engagements with Muskets and Tomahawks or Sharp Practice.

I DO have to get some Galloping Major figs to go with my collection. I love his new Settlers and Colonials...that may be the direction I go. I'm not so happy with my Old Glory Brits...

Hope you enjoy the rules! I think they will compliment each other nicely...

Mike Demana
www.firstcommandwargames.com