Chris and I put on a demonstration game at the Naval Wargaming Weekend at the Fleet Air Arm Museum in Yeovilton the weekend of 5th/6th October. We have already done a few participation games this year, and felt with all the new troops Chris ahs been painting, let's have a big game for aesthetics instead.
We decided to up our game size and have our first Army scale battle, where cards are used to activate "companies" rather than units. With both sides weighing in at roughly 700pts each, we kept the company sizes to between 150pts and 250 pts. Now I'm naturally cynical and set in my ways and having played one card to one unit, I thought this may not be to my liking, but, well, I was very pleasantly surprised at how smooth the game ran when activating the companies and will definitely be doing more larger battles...
We started the weekend by popping into 4ground in Warminster, where we got a look at some of their new Spanish buildings and other projects from "Things From The Basement". Chris picked up a few of the Spanish buildings and is working to get them built as he keeps raiding "English" towns with his English (as the 4ground buildings we use are predominantly Timber framed from their Age of Blackpowder) in addition to the Aztec ruins...
One of the items soon allowed out of Things From The Basement, a cracking little waterfront jetty set and crane
One of the proto-type Spanish buildings, newly released.
https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/new-releases
And another...
A two-storey Spanish building...
https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/new-releases
The three kits from above have just been released
https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/new-releases
Also seen these newly released Korean buildings (for my Bolt Action playing friends branching into the Warlord Korean Theatre)
https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/new-releases/rural-korean-village
And this is awesome... Pavlov's House, for Eastern front WW2 shenanigans.
https://www.4groundpublishing.co.uk/new-releases/tftb-pavlovs-house-destroyed-end-block-bundle
Future building (think 40k). They have all sorts of buildings, and newly released defence lines and fortifications
So that set us up well for a fun weekend, with new kits for Chris to build to add more variety to our boards and plenty of forthcoming new kits planned...
Chris has been hard at work over the summer painting up his Fluyt and Native Caribs, so unsurprisingly wanted to use them both. So the scenario was as follows:
Following the capture of an English town, and driving the local indigenous folk away from their sacred ruins, the Spanish had spent over a year stripping the gold of the area, hoarding it in the main central hall under a sizeable guard of Tercios. A galleon, the "Leon de Oro" had arrived to transport it back to Spain but the English had caught wind of this. Captain Joseph Alexander, a "privateer" sought to enlist the local tribal chief, King Golden Cap (whose hatred of the Spanish was well known) to drive the Spaniards out. With a sizeable garrison, the Spanish were too much for the English to shift on their own, and his Fluyt "The Lady Karolyn" would struggle to overcome a treasure galleon on the High Sea. However, at anchor, the Galleon was no threat, so the English would launch a seaborne attack against the town while the Dacian Natives would attack overland aided by a few units of French and English mercenaries.
English Forces
Joseph Alexander.Seasoned English Buccaneer Captain
2 x 6 Sea Dogs (1 with Master Gunner)
4 x 6 Freebooters
1 x 7 Forlorn Hope with Sharpshooter
The Lady Karolyn, Fluyt with 12 Light cannons
King Golden Caps Golden Islanders
King Golden Cap
3 x 8 Warriors with Bows, thrown weapons (losing Heavy Melee Weapons)
1 x 8 Filibustiers
Dacian Tribesmen
Seasoned Southern Island Leader
3 x 8 Warriors with bows and thrown weapons (No heavy melee weapons)
Spanish Tercios Forces
Experienced Tercios Commander
1 x 6 Caballerias with Officer
1 x 6 Soldados
1 x 10 Soldados
1 x 5 Milicianos Artillerios with Medium Field gun (trained)
2 x 6 Soldados (on board "Leon de Oro")
Experienced Tercios Commaner
2 x 10 Milicianos
1 x 11 Lanceros (with Holy Man)
1 x 8 Milcianos Indios
1 x 6 Soldados
Spanish Guard Costas Force
Experienced Commander
2 x 10 Marineros
1 x 8 Marineros (trained) with sharpshooter
"Sirena" Sloop with 6 Light cannons
While Chris has spent summer painting tribesmen and the Fluyt, I managed a few dolphins...
The board: In order to win, the attackers (English and Island Tribes) would have to secure the large hall (centre of village) and the Galleon. The defender (Spanish) simply had to stop this happening
START
I deployed both Tercios forces around the village, with Milicianos manning the barricades and the other forces around the village. The field gun was set up covering seaward... The Dacians set up east of the river, Golden Cap and his islanders to the west.
On the ruined watchtower, as dawn approaches, King Golden Cap, surveys his forces
As the sun creeps over the horizon, the large native forces drive the local apes out of cover, where they peer over the native warning idols. The Spanish rarely go beyond them, for fear of a lingering death.
As the sun rises, King Golden Cap urges his men on...
Chris and I got there early and were ready to go before others had even set up...
The English Fluyt "Lady Karloyn" sweeps into the bay, which the "Sirena" moves to intercept...
TURN 1
The Allied forces got the first draw and the Dacian company attacking from the south and east of the river
From the monkey mount, the Filibustiers advance up and break the silence...
The first casualty, one of the Spanish Caballerias who were mounting up for an early patrol
At sea, the Sirena fired a long range salvo at the Lady Karolyn...
TURN 2
From above, Golden Caps men had a small rise but light cover to overcome under the fire of the Milicianos on the barricades. The Spanish, move to their defensive positions as the tribesmen use cover to advance slowly.
The "Lady Karolyn" broadsides the "Sirena" at long range, to little effect
TURN 3
As the English reload their guns with aplomb, the Spanish sloop moves to protect the "Leon de Oro"
If collision was avoided, the close range gunnery could be nasty...
The Dacians close in on the bridge, the Caballerias having retreated around the cover of the stables, leaving the Indios to cover the approach, heavily in cover behind the well.
As Golden Caps forces advance on the hill, many feign injury (as they couldn't balance on the hill) as the Freebooters and one unit swing a left flank hook around the defences. The smaller Milicianos unit is driven back from their defences by arrows from the hill and across the river.
TURN 4
The Spanish got first activation, and the "Sirena" valiantly interjects herself between the Galleon and the Fluyt, firing as she bears and inflicting heavy damage to the bow and the Freebooters at the fore of the ship.
It was a good effort, but the English still had the upper hand...
The Dacian tribes rush the defences, crossing the bridge and the river while keeping the defenders heads down with a hail of arrows...
Having already lost a few men, the smaller unit of Milicianos that had re-taken their position on the barricades covering the bridge, were cut down to a man as the Dacians bowfire proved devastating (and my save rolls weren't very good)
Captain Joseph Alexander timed his broadside to perfection, swinging his unfired port guns around to obliterate the "Sirena"...
The devastation wrought wiped out the Milicianos on the aft deck, reducing one of the Marineros units to below half (thought their resolve remained unaffected) while the second unit of Marineros was amazingly unscathed, allowing the Guarda Costas commander to join them from the wheel... However, there was a lucky hit and critical hit, that caused a leak. But with zero hull points left, the Sirena was on borrowed time...
Leaking and drifting, the Sirena collided with the Leon de Oro, allowing the Guarda Coasta Marineros to climb aboard...
As the Sirena sank beneath the waves...
As the Dacians advanced from the East, Golden Caps force s charged the defences, driving the Milicanos away from the barricade and took it themselves
The tribesmen on the far west of town dropped a few Lanceros...
The Milicanos were fleeing towards the town hall...
Or taking refuge where they could
Almost the entire front line of defence had collapsed with only the Milicianos Indios still in their defensive position
There were 3 small units of Soldados on the Galleon, along with the remaining unit of Marineros saved from the Sirena...
The Milicianos Indios had taken casualties, but were still in the fight (albeit heavily outnumbered)
The Soldados and Lanceros would be a tougher opposition than the Inexperienced Milicianos, and there was less cover in the town...
We had played throughout Saturday, and had a good number of people view the battle (the valiant and futile efforts of the Sirena being the first days highlight for me, my abysmal dice being Chris's I think, as I usually roll well) so brought the day to a close with the Spanish under severe pressure.
TURN 5
Sunday saw the English start the proceedings, pounding the Galleon at point blank range...
9 hits, including a fire...
An ominous start to the day as smoke rises from the Spanish ship...
Just in case you missed it...
The dark pall of smoke cast a gloom over the Spanish as the Marineros were forced off ship, and the Soldados on the rear top deck hit the deck and stayed there....
Still, the wind cleared the smoke pall a bit but the English were jubilant and were preparing to drop anchor...
(Chris was in charge of the camera in case you hadn't guessed)
South of the town, there was no let up of pressure on the defenders as Golden Cap closed in...
More awful defence saves wiped out another unit of Milicianos...
With even the brave Indios falling to a storm of bowfire...
Another doubloon was spent to allow the Tercio commander to survive, just like his Costa Guarda counterpart had done earlier...
With the Indios and Milicianos all being driven back towards the central hall, at least I felt I could now concentrate my defence...
Though I still had to carefully gather my remnants of units...
However, with the bridge now undefended, it was now or never to drive the Dacians back... The Caballeria rode out to charge the van of the natives ( and my dice rolling finally found some form)
With the Officer leading them, they forced a retreat then successfully ran down the whole unit on the bridge...
But the horses were spent, and the French Filibustiers were awaiting in cover on the hills slopes near the bridge, and gleefully took the opportunity to pounce. The Caballerias were wiped out to a man...
As the Dacians advanced through the river and finished of the Indios...
My Soldados had to battle the fire on ship rather than exchange musketry, while the English reloaded their cannons...
The Soldados guarding the hall advanced out in formation to assist the Lanceros but were now vastly outnumbered...
The town was wholly surrounded and the forces of the English and Golden Cap smelled victory...
You may be forgiven for forgetting the Medium Field gun was there, as it had not hit all game...
TURN 6
Inspired by the Priest, the Lanceros made a last desperate charge towards the easily identified King Golden Cap and his retinue. However, they were repulsed by arrow fire...
As more Milicianos mustered from the townsfolk, they were proving to be as hopeless as those already dead or dying...
As more arrows rained down on the Lanceros, they did manage to shrug them off...
A good view of the street fighting, with the Spanish getting in each others way...
With the Lanceros blocking their line of fire to Golden Cap, the Tercios Commander got his men to take better cover from the Dacians by the bridge, who were out of effective musket range...
The Lanceros rallied, as the newly arrived Milicianos fled...
Althought the Dacians were out of effective musket range to my eye, Chris obviously had his eye on the prize. Pushing his men from the bridge, they did manage to get into melee, against a prone unit. Major misjudgment on my part, and sealed the fate of my gold, my men and any semblance of an excuse...
Driven back, an additional command point attack wiped the Soldados out...
My day 2 highlight was the 3 remaining Milicianos charging a full unit of natives, losing one man on the way in to defensive arrows, but their fury forcing them to fight like devils, driving them back with 5 fatigue... Too little, too late, although the Lanceros and priest did drive away the unit that had wiped out the Soldados but only away, not with any serious damage...
TURN 7
As more natives charged over the bridge, the Lanceros were overwhelmed, the few Milicianos were over run and the Spanish died...
There were no Spanish left to protect the hall...
With the English Fluyt at anchor and pounding the Galleon, the Marineros and Guarda Costa captain took to a long boat and fled...
The Soldados aboard ship put out the flames and Captain Joseph Alexander agreed to their surrender, the Spaniards wisely using the gold to ensure the English took them captive rather than Golden Cap
In a final act of defiance, the cannon turned round to face the teeming streets...
King Golden Cap leads his men through the streets... He had achieved a great victory!!!
The English were content to let King Golden Cap reap the laurels of the victory. He had some gold from the hall, had did the bulk of the fighting but they had the bulk of the gold, and to boot, it was in the hold of a captured Galleon.
The town was also Spanish no longer...
The Native Inslanders only lost one unit, while my force was annihilated...
CONCLUSION
Well, the result was fairly conclusive. The Spanish forces that survived either surrendered to the English to avoid a fate at the hands of Golden Cap, or rowed to sea. The hail of arrows put into the defenders was concentrated, whereas my musket response was disjointed and ineffectual. Chris's dice were good and mine weren't. Chris's tactics were good and mine weren't and Chris's plan was bsound and, well, I'm not really sure I had a plan. My defence was all over the place and was taken apart piecemeal. Only the Sloop "Sirena" really gave a good account even thought she was heavily outgunned and outnumbered. She went down fighting, unlike the bulk of my Tercios who went down with arrows in the back...
What was great was how smoothly the large battle played out, with card activations by the company. Almost 700pts apiece and it played through as quickly as a 200-300pt game with cards for each unit. We had plenty of time to view the other games, (even playing Saga at Sea), tour the Fleet Air Arm Museum, chat with visitors and play at a very leisurely pace. Overall, a great weekend gaming!!1
