Wednesday 9 August 2017

200pts Blood and Plunder Hold the Line Spanish Militia v English Buccaneers

Chris Carr and I upped our points level for the first time to 200, in
practice for the forthcoming Colours at Newbury ( www.nrwc.org.uk/colours-2017 ) next month and Nate's Sunderland event on 1st October

 https://www.facebook.com/events/1914709762116452/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A4%2C%22action_history%22%3A%22null%22%7D&source=4&action_history=null


I opted for my Spanish militia horde again, with the following:

Experienced Milita Captain 15pts
3 x 8 Inexperienced Milicianos (swapping drilled for elusive) 3 x 24pts
8 Marineros 32pts
8 Lanceros 40pts
8 Milicianos Indios 40p



Chris went for his more elite English Buccaneer force consisting of:

Robert Searle
2 x 6 Freebooters
1 x 6 Sea Dogs
1 x 6 Filibustiers
1 x 6 Forlorn Hope


We set out the board as below, and then rolled the scenario where we had 3 central objectives and would score strike points if by turn 2 we didn't control/contest two. Chris looks glum as I gain a strike point when losing 12 men, as against his 7...


The set up (corner deployment) with the skulls as objective markers. Chris won the roll to defend but couldn't be bothered moving so left me with the option of putting the Indios in the centre. In the interests of not being overly cheesy and making a game of it, I deployed them off to the left to protect my flank.


The Forlorn Hope vanguard move into the dense jungle (if it has a tree clump, cant see through it, only into)


I planned to send the Marineros and Lanceros for the centre, with 2 Milicianos (incl Captain) into the light jungle to put long range musketry into the English, while my 3rd Milicianos unit would move to secure the right objective...


The Indios activate first...


and kill a Freebooter giving them a point of fatigue.


The first turn saw the Filibustiers and 5 man freebooters go into the church (sacrilege by the heathens) while his second Freebooters and Forlorn Hope take shelter in the jungle and the sea dogs
move behind it. My force advanced as planned.


Oh, the early draws of events didn't do much...


Chris activated first and "pushed" the Filibustiers out the church to charge my Indios, who had lost a man in turn 1. I fluffed my defensive fire, and the vile Anglo-Frenchmen ran over my natives, who fled but were followed up and were in dire trouble.



While I hadn't really factored in Chris being so aggressive, Chris hadn't really factored in the need to at least contest the centre (as he isn't as competitive as me apparently)


End of turn 2 as below, I controlled two objectives and thus Chris took a strike point... The Sea Dogs advanced and both sides deployed for musketry


Turn 3 and the Indios were swiftly dispatched before falling back into cover...


The Sea dogs run to cover by the church, ready to assault their Spanish counterparts in turn 4 as the Forlorn Hope and Freeboters provided covering fire


At the end of turn 3, neither side had lost enough men to earn a s strike point but I had control of 2 objectives giving Chris another and he took and passed his Strike test. Then declared "No Quarter" which is normally what I claim first when I'm getting slapped

As expected, the Sea Dogs charged in with a push, and I took one down with a pistol on the way in. The English hit hard, but I passed my resolves and saves well and ended with us both on 5 men...


While the Milicianos faced off with long range volleys at the Freebooters and Filibustiers, the centre was where the real blood was being shed. My Lanceros went in on the Sea Dogs, and with righteous anger after the English desecrated the church (Chris broke the cross with his cack handedness when moving his sea dogs), the Lanceros with lances and being ruthless killed a mere 2...


The Marineros finished them off, but the Forlorn Hope advanced and took out some lanceros with musketry and a grenado... At the end of turn 4, had we been keeping track competitively (and I was) Chris would have failed his resolve at 1-4, but with No Quarter being asked and vastly outnumbering the English I was happy to ignore rules and fight to the last Englishman...


Having taken out two Forlorn Hope with muskets, my Lanceros charged in before they got charged. Forlorn Hopes pistols, having no time to reload their muskets...


The brave but reckless English then advanced up to finally contest the objective and try and grenade my remaining Marineros...


Oh, how I laughed when Chris's cack handedness rolled a 1... and inflicted a hit on his own unit!


Oh, how I cried when he saved on a 9, then promptly hit with all 3 remaining Forlorn pistoliers and killed all my guys...


Having been focussed in the centre, while the two Freebooter unit were largely unscathed, the Filibustiers had been hit by repeated long range Miliciano musket balls and were down on 2 men. My units were 8, 6 and 6 respectively. The Forlorn Hope have moved behind the large tree in the centre.


Chris advanced the Hope up to try and grenade my captain unit, so having learned nothing from my Lanceros and Marineros, my Inexperienced Milicianos charged the English with a push. They fired off their pistols again, hitting on 7's as below...



Unbelievably, I lost 3 men on the way in again having made a save, but failed all 4 resolve tests and auto-routed having 6 fatigue with 3 men.


Still, I know Chris isn't as lucky as I am, so in went the Captains men, Chris taking fatigue again to try and repeat his earlier successes...


4 men down on the way in...

Still, my resolve held and I did kill someone.


However, on the following turn, the valiant Spanish were undone losing two men  and the captain, alone, err, asked for quarter...


Think we'd be up to turn 7, by which time the Forlorn Hope had almost single handedly wiped out my force with their six shooters (or so it seemed) I had 8 men left from 49 and Strike points (if anyone cares) were 6 for me and 5 for Chris...


Have to say that was a pretty awesome game, I know Chris loved it and my stubbornness to accept the Forlorn Hope would continue to do so well (or Chris roll so well) was mirrored only by my stupidity to realise other people can be lucky with dice too...

Hope to get a 200pt ship battle played next in preparation for Colours...

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