Sugar Islands - An Encounter with The Maroons

On Guadeloupe the British and French patrols have bumped into each other and between them lies a Maroon village.  As each side advances to engage the enemy, the question is what will the Maroons do?

The British. 

The French.

The Maroons.

The British moved off quickest, with the Highlanders leading the way. Two units moved to to the right, to flank the village. The French Marines and the Swiss of Rgt Hallwyl advanced directly whilst the militia moved round the village to engage the flanking British. 

However it was the Highlanders who got to the Maroons first. Quite what a man from Assynt, Skye or even Ulster thousands of miles away, with had little or no English, had to say to the man from West Africa equally far off  and equally linguistically challenged is sadly lost, but whatever was discussed the Maroons decided the British were more friendly and joined them opening up on the Swiss and Marines as they moved up. 

Not everything went the British way though. The seasoned men of the 38th didn't like the odds and recoiled, their wheezy Officer needing a tot of rum before he ordered his men forward. The Scots too seemed reluctant to move off and several turns were wasted before they were able to engage.  However the volleys of the British, supplemented by the sniping Maroons began to slow the French down. First the militia on the flank were halted and took heavy casualties from the 38th and 63rd.  Then the marines were also hit hard and had to retire. 

Hallwyl was now on the outskirts of the Maroon village and the latter decided the enough was enough, fleeing through the scrub, back through British lines. The Redcoats let them pass, they sensed victory was at hand. 

Another crashing volley on the flank scattered the worn militia and the Highlanders began skirmishing with the Swiss in the village. The Marines were now down to half numbers and the 64th were fresh and advancing with bayonets fixed. It was time to head back to Fort St Pierre.

This was a great game to play solo. I diced to see who got to move first and after a few fits and starts it was the Brits who got to the Maroons first. After dicing to see their reaction the joined them, but it could have gone the other way or they could had made a fighting retreat for the opposite corner of the table. This Highlanders didn't do much, the 38th nearly ran off the table when I rolled a double 1, and the militia advanced and then as quickly recoiled and broke. The effect of the Maroons was to take a couple of casualties off one militia unit and the marines and to hold up the Swiss. But the small skirmishing Maroon unit's quickly wore down and fled. All in all I was quite pleased with how it worked out and equally pleased it fitted on the kitchen table and as a solo game.....handy given the circumstances where most Wargamers are away from big tables at the moment. 

I will proof read the scenario and make it available to download or mail out on Monday. Get in touch if you want a copy using the contact box at the top right of the Blog.

Before Mysunde - 1864

Tuesday was club night and I put together a game based on the skirmishes before the battle of Mysunde which took place on a snowy February day as part of the 2nd Schleswig Holstein War. Somewhat apt given the weather recently!

My Prussians took on Mike's Danes using Rebels and Patriots. At my suggestion we modified the firing mechanisms for the Prussians Dreyse rifle, cutting the range to 12" but allowing them to reroll misses. Danes musketry was unchanged at 18".

This led to the Prussians starting to suffer casualties as they approached the Danish position but when the Danes came forward to engage they suffered heavily from the needlegun.




What undid the Prussian advance however was not the fire from the Danish infantry but rather carbine fire from their dragoons. I hadn't thought to modify this so we played as per the rules, and not only did my Uhlans get chewed up but an infantry unit was halted by their fire too. Although cavalry was equipped with firearms their use was not like that of their counterparts on the other side of the Atlantic and I think this needs a wee house mod to manage this.




That aside the game was a good one and the figures and scenery looked the part. More 1864 games are on the cards.

Tonight I watched a YouTube demo of the Lorenz vs the Needlegun. The former much slower but effective to over 300yds and still hitting at 500. The latter much much faster but only really effective at up to 200yds. So....I wasn't too far off the mark with my mods.