Muskets and Tomahawks Game

[werekake]

This was my first game, so I'm not entirely sure what the points were for both sides. We drew the missions cards and subplots. The British were to burn a settlement to the ground, cads that they were. The French were sent to defend the settlement.

The British officer was seeking revenge on the commanding French officer, and was to seek him out in the battle and kill him by his own hand. On the French side, a young allied Indian chief was seeking to show his prowess in battle to his older counterpart - he would do this by rushing into battle and placing himself within plain sight of his enemies, where he would scream his defiance at them.

Colonel Gordon orders his regulars forward - he has a settlement full of resistance-fighters to burn to the ground! (cue music from The Patriot)


The french and some locals rush to protect the settlement


Local tribes offer their aid by rushing to hold a flanking group of british-allied indians. Leading them is the young chief


In the meantime some of the scouts make their way into the forest


The french are successful in fighting off the british, but not before losing one of the buildings to a fire!


Outcomes - the British lose more than half of their force, while the French lose only a handful. A pitiful attack from the British. They did, however, manage to burn one of the buildings to the ground. Colonel Gordon did sneak in behind the building, while his men were burning it, and attack the French officer who was standing on the porch. It was Colonel Gordon, however, who ended up getting the wrong end of a sharp sword.

Having firing lines behind stone walls was a distinct advantage for the french regulars, while the native contingents on both sides held each other to a stalemate on the other flank.

[Truscott Trotter]

Nice looking game. Yes if you were giving th French hard cover for being behind high stone walls then it is a big advantage in the game.
We stick to wooded fences - they are powerful enough

[werekake]

Cheers. Yeah, trying to shoot at the french behind cover while approaching the farmstead was an exercise in futility. As one of the british players, it wasn't much fun. Neverthless, we marched into the hail of fire with stoicism and at least burned down one of their buildings.

I was kind of looking to adapt these rules to use in Maori wars... I might keep looking for something else...

[Argonor]

Cheers. Yeah, trying to shoot at the french behind cover while approaching the farmstead was an exercise in futility. As one of the british players, it wasn't much fun. Neverthless, we marched into the hail of fire with stoicism and at least burned down one of their buildings.

I was kind of looking to adapt these rules to use in Maori wars... I might keep looking for something else...

If one side is given the advantage of defending a position with cover, the other side should always have more troops for a somewhat balanced game.

I think military doctrine says that you should never attack a prepared position with less than 3/1 in your favour.

[werekake]

Being the newbie I wasn't particularly sure what was happening re:our scenario. I think the defenders were only allowed to play with two thirds of their force, one third had to remain off-table until each unit randomly rolled to come onto the table after the first turn. Additionally, the defenders had to set up first. As it was, the reinforcements weren't even needed - the british were well-and-truly routed by the time reinforcements arrived on the scene.

To be fair to the french players, they declared that the houses weren't to be occupied - this would give them too much of an advantage in the game.

[Truscott Trotter]

Nah I love ity when my oppoinents occupy the houses as my Indians sneak round to a side with no windows and set fire to it while my Canadians wait to shoot them down as they emerge 

[werekake]

Ha - love it!

I love it when you get to build these little narratives into the game. My friends assured me M&T plays like this - i.e cinematic in its flow and action. Maybe I'll try some more games later on.