This was a playtest of the scenario presented in the previous Post, but only of the right hand side of the table. As described in the previous Post, I will have two games going side by side at the Enfilade Convention in May. The ungrateful rebellious colonists have made a raid deep into enemy territory and have made off with a wagon full of ammunition and weapons needed to supply the Militia. They need to get the wagon over the bridge and exit off the North side of the other table.
The British have a DP at the cross roads and get to deploy one Unit using that DP. They also get a barricade as a Support Option. The rest of the British come on at the South Road on the turn after the Rebels have deployed all of their Units.
The Rebels get a Deployment Point which they can deploy 2D6 +6" from the South Road entrance. They also get one MDP which can be deployed as per the rules.
(Note: Added Scenario rule. Rebels cannot hold up deployment to delay British entry at the South Road entrance. If a Rebel Leaders card comes up, he must deploy with his Command. This is to prevent the Rebel player from holding up the British pursuit Force by keeping one Group off the table.)
Below is the map showing the position of troops after a couple of moves. The British deployed the Fusiliers(their best troops) just South of the Cross Road with one Group behind the barricade and the other behind the rail fence.
The Rebels got some decent first moves and were able to get up to the farmhouse area, the Continentals going down the road, Militia in the woods and Skirmishers in the hog pen to hold up the British pursuit.
The pursuing British sent the skirmishers to harass the Militia and the Regulars to try to cut off the escape of the wagon.
Picture that pretty much matches the map above. The Continentals were looking and got some early shots in that took out a few of the Fusiliers.
The Continentals take some fire from the Fusiliers and the British Skirmishers from behind, ending up with quite a bit of Shock. The British Regulars put some shots into the Rebel Skirmishers knocking their Leader, Capt. Upton O. Goode unconscious. A subsequent End of Turn draw with the Tiffin and he is back in action. The Wagon Master, Walter Sobchak get a good move and wheels the wagon out of the line of fire.
British Regular Commander, Capt. Warren Peace, wants to charge the skirmishers, but doesn't get the Command Flags to do a Thin Red Line maneuver. He was plagued the whole game by missing activations. The Reverend Hal E. Looya has a couple of good rolls on 1D6 (a 4 and a 5) to enable him to remove nine Shock from the Continentals allowing them to slowly move up. Meanwhile, Walter Slobchak gets the wagon closer to the exit point. The Militia turn and fire at the British Skirmishers taking half of them out and forcing them to retire. They were ineffectual for pretty much the rest of the game.
I added another Scenario rules regarding the wagon. Since it was carrying gun powder along with the weapons, there was a chance any stay shots might set off the gunpowder destroying the whole wagon. As the British wanted to recover the wagon so they could supply their own Militia forces, there is incentive for both sides to not shoot at it. If within four inches of a Group taking fire, it would be subject to hits just like another Unit.
If hit, roll 1D6, A 6 hits the Wagon Master(roll for effect just like any other leader), a 5 hits the Horses(-1 pip per movement die for each hit) and a 1 thru5 hits the wagon with a 50% of blowing up. Roll for Hits in Open for every figure within six inches of the wagon with any Shock doubled.
A view from the other side of the table. We had a Random Event in the Pig pen with the pigs stampeding, but they narrowly missed running into the Rebel Skirmishers. The Luck seemed to be with the Rebels, no doubt due to the intervention of the Reverend Looya.
The Reverend had a significant effect on the game. He was a Support Option for the Rebels and came with a Relic ( Cross of Saint Whatever) that enabled him roll 1D6 twice to remove Shock. His first roll got a four and the second one on his next turn was a five. This resulted in the removal of all the Shock on the Continentals allowing them to continue to move.
As with the Wagon Master, I gave him his own card. In the event of the loss of leaders, I would allow him to use Command Flags to be able to command Units, but that was not needed in this game.
British Regulars can never seem to be able to get enough movement. Either the Regulars were tired from the pursuit or Captain Peace was a malingerer.
The Continentals manage to charge the barricade. Although outnumbered in melee dice, they inflict three more kills than received on the Fusiliers, driving them back and breaking their Formation. Captain Cheeper moves to within hailing distance of Walter Sobchak and tells him to get his ass in gear and move the wagon. The British Regulars manage to wipe out the Rebel skirmishers except for their Leader, but the wagon is too far away to catch.
Ending dispositions. The Militia were largely untouched, illustrating the fallacy of putting six man skirmisher Groups up against twenty figure Militia units
With British Force Morale at "1" and the Rebels at "8" we called the game as there was nothing to prevent the wagon from exiting the table.
Although this was a small game, it was very enjoyable and had couple of Dramatic moments, the Shock removal by the Reverend and the epic charge by the Continentals. I really like the way the narrative plays out in Sharp Practice games and can only hope the Convention game goes as well.
Have a few tweaks to work out in the scenario and I should be ready for Enfilade 2019. In this game we found we had to move the farm house and the pig enclosure over to allow room for the forces to deploy in line. If you look at the last post Map, you can see the difference. I will also add another skirmish unit to each side so each player will have one Formation of two Groups and one skirmish Group to command.With two players per side, that will ensure each player will have enough to keep him busy. Will probably move the British set up on table B back just a bit to give both sides more room to deploy. British player on Table B will start with one Unit on the table North of the road junction and the other unit coming on at the Eastern road entrance.
Any comments welcome and if you use this Scenario, please send me some feedback. Thanks for looking
