Eden Valley, Vandalia Colony, 1759
31st October 2014, 0 Comments
The French & Indian War, Muskets & Tomahawks, 28mm
This week the usual Orkney suspects were joined by Tim Watson from the SESWC, who was up in Orkney on holiday. Autumn is a strange time to visit, but he and his wife were reasonably lucky with the weather. Anyway, in honour of his visit we decided to unfurl the full 12×6 table for this week’s game – a clash set in the French & Indian Wars. the game was based around a French attack on the nascent British settlement of Eden, in Vandalia Colony. You’ll look hard for both settlement and colony on the map, but just imagine they were there in 1759, somewhere a few miles where Monongahela, PA stands today. Our table was dominated by a curve of the Monongahela River, which in our fictitious word was fordable, and the smaller Pigeon Creek, which crossed the table to the east of the river. Also to the east of the bend in the Monongahela stood the small hamlet of Eden – just an inn, a church and a handful of houses. It served the rest of the Eden valley, represented here by three more isolated farmsteads. The valley was defended by the Eden County Militia, led by the local Judge John Dredd, supported by a unit of rangers and a half-native scout called Owl-eye, accompanied by his three faithful Mohican chums.
The evil French and their Indian allies decided to disturb the peace of this idyllic little valley by launching a three-pronged raid on the place. Three columns approached the valley from different roads – one mostly French regulars and Marines, another mainly Canadian Militia, and the third one largely consisting of Iroquois warriors. The British also had two patrols in the area, and as the French appeared one was approaching the valley from the south-west, the other from the north-east. So, the scene was set for a free-for-all, fought out amid the fields and farmsteads of Eden Valley.
In theory this was a six player game, with three on each side, but one of our number wimped out, claiming the stress of a six hour car drive with three kids in the back seat. Lightweight. Anyway, the two British players Tim and Alan shared Gyles’ command between them. This of course wasn’t easy, as all the players had troops coming on in different places. Alan ran the Eden County militia, based in the village, supported by the Mohicans and a unit of Rangers. Tim’s British regulars marched on from the north-east corner, beyond the church in the top picture. The shared command of Rangers, Provincials and a unit of British Grenadiers appeared in the south-west – the bottom right up above. The French appeared – looking in the picture above – in the bottom left, on the road on the right-hand table edge, and in the far right, beyond the bend in the river. Everyone therefore had their own little battle to fight. The French objective was to burn at least half of the buildings in the valley, while the British had to stop them. Simple, right?
The first clash was between Alan’s Huron war party and the militia, defending the southern edge of the village. The indians flitted through a peach orchard (they count light cover as heavy cover, making them good at this sort of thing), and then launched an all-out attack. The first unit hurdled the fence, and piled into a group of three women, who managed to take one Iroquois brave with them before they were cut down. The militia beside them were forced to retire, and they and their neighbours soon fled around the back of the buildings, leaving several of militiamen lying dead in the grass. While some Iroquois paused to set the buildings on fire the rest gave chase. The two sides clashed again in the street in front of the Eden Inn, where the rest of the militiamen were hatcheted to death. Apart from setting the in non fire that’s pretty much all Alan’s war party did during the game. A unit of Coureurs de Bois took pot shots at the approaching British, and the Hurons got into a firefight with Alan’s Rangers, but that was pretty much it for the game.
Up in the east, along the banks of the Monongahela the British regulars took ages to get into action. Muskets & Tomahawks is card-driven, and each troop type performs “actions” (move, fire or reload) when their card comes up. The thing is, we also put three Event cards in the pack. The first two leads to things happening, but when the third on is drawn the card stack is reshuffled, and we start again. The aim is to put a little uncertainty into the game, but for poor Tim it meant he spent the first three turns twiddling his thumbs, waiting to come onto the table! In the meantime my own Algonquin Indians burned a farmstead, and when the British did appear my Canadian militia harassed them with a steady fire from across the river. Tim moved his highlanders and light infantry across the Monongahela to deal with my militia, leaving a unit of British foot to relieve the town. In the end we didn’t really achieve much, apart from delaying the British advance.
Over to the west the French and the British both appeared on either side of Pigeon Creek – the French to the north, the British to the south. Sean sent his own Algonquins across the creek to harass the BRitish, while his Companies de la Marine found itself being sniped at by militiamen, supported by Owl-eye and his Mohicans. Neither side caused many casualties at first, but the firing was pretty intense. Eventually, Sean brought up a company of French regulars, who formed a firing line, let loose a volley, and pretty much much obliterated what remained of the Mohican race. After that the surviving militia lost heart, and faded back into the trees.
Incidentally, while all this was going on little packets of civilians had been running around the table, trying to reach cover. Several were shot in the crossfire, but remarkably the guy pulling his cow (below) survived, and eventually reached the safety of a safe table edge. The final British column though, was now really coming into action. The New York provincials had seen off the Algonquins with a couple of well-placed volleys, while the grenadiers formed their own firing line, and began firing at the French on the far side of the creek. By then though, the French had won the game. Having razed more than half the buildings in the valley, they slipped back into the forests, leaving the British to their burning valley.
One of the nice things about the game is the Side Plots. Each player had an officer, who had a “side plot” of some kind. These included protecting your mistress, rescuing a prisoner, and even getting one of your own units wiped out. This added a little extra fun to the game, particularly Alan’s one, which was the guarding of a barrel stuffed with valuables. The Huron captured it early in the game, but had no idea what it was until the end of the evening. So, an emphatic French victory, but a well-fought and highly-enjoyable game. I really enjoy our Muskets & Tomahawks games, and I’ll certainly give the figures another airing soon.