Ambush on the river

The sun glistened off the water as the Iroquois canoes glided along the river laden with furs from another successful expedition. All looked well as they clear the narrows by the bend in the river. They had two more narrows to navigate before they entered the lake and would be safe in their own territory.

The appearance of two young Hurons on the east bank caused more annoyance than alarm as the Iroquois paddlers moved along.

Everything changed with the whizzing of arrows from both banks as more of the Huron warparty disclosed their positions and found their marks in the canoes. The paddlers dug into the water with renewed vigor to escape the torrent.

As the Iroquois approach the second narrows Moon Belly and his warriors attack the canoe with a long pole and after several attempts are able to upset the canoe and wound all it's occupants save a young stripling. 

From the west bank Pieskaret leads his band along the banks hoping to catch the fleeing Hurons. Much to his surprise the Hurons paddle to the riverbank and taunt the fast moving Hurons. Both warbands enter into a furious melee.

The battle is quick and bloody with most all the Iroquois taking wounds. They realize that today is for the Hurons and attempt to escape but are hotly pursued along the rivers edge. In the end a few make their way back to their village but all the furs are lost and two warriors will honor the tribe by singing their death songs as the Hurons torture them.

It's been awhile since we played Flint & Feather but as always it produces a good game with lots of action. I think the introduction of canoes into the scenarios has added to the atomosphere of the game. There has been extensive play testing of the rules and a campaign system has been added. I'm looking forward to the release of the book.

Foraging in the Hudson Valley

We played the 18th century variant for AGW last night but rather than using Howard's charming flats Matt pulled out his collection of 28mm figures. He had just finished a  unit of Tarleton's dragoons and wanted to use them. The scenario was of a combined British and Hessian force advancing through the valley and a hastily formed group of Militia and Continentals come out to oppose them.

Howard played the Americans, Matt the Hessians and I the British. Matt and I divided the cards by suit he being diamonds and me hearts. This caused us to have some challenges in cycling through our units but reflected the disjointed command.

The Rebels occupied a stone wall section in the center and pushed out their riflemen on the left and secured the right with a gun and continental regiment. The Hessians pushed up through the center whilst the British came in on the American left.

The Jagers attached to the British quickly came into contact and a brisk fire fight occurred. This lasted most of the game as the German fire was not accurate enough to dislodge the Americans from the flank. Tarleton and the Queens Rangers milled around wondering how to attack the Militia behind the wall. 

The Heassians had no such dilemma. They steadily advanced and assaulted the Rebels the first regiment being pushed back but the second group of Hessians were able to destroy the artillery and push back the first line of militia.

The third regiment of Germans moved to flank the Americans and engaged in a bloody fight in the woods pushing back the Continentals. Back in the center the second line of Militia went toe to toe with the Hessians and pushed them back. 

The hour was late and all commanders decided to fall back and regroup. The game was a success and although I had felt that much of my enjoyment of these rules was that the figures we used had so much character using the current standard of well painted and accurate miniatures still provided a great game with plausible results. Yes I'm a fanboy.