This Very Ground - Advance The Colors Con 2012

I ran a FIW game at the HMGS Great Lakes Convention in 2012 using This Very Ground rules.  The scenario was a meeting engagement between a sizable force of French and Indians against the Anglo-Americans.  

The forces met at a homestead where a colonial militia had formed to repulse the vanguard of the French.  The French forces were composed of several units of Regulars, some Grenadiers, a cannon, a unit of Compagnie de la Marine and two units of Indians.  The Anglo-American forces included the militia, a unit of Provincials, several units of Regulars, a unit of Highlanders with a section of Highlander Grenadiers and some Light Infantry.  

As the following pictures depict, it was a bloody slug fest.  The French used the Marines and Indians to take the left flank where the homestead had most of the buildings and a stone fence to support the main body crossing the river at the bridge.  This worked fairly well until British reinforcements in the form of the Regulars and the Highlanders were able to push them back and pore fire into the French line of battle formed in front of the bridge.  The Indians were sent on a flank attack against the Highlander Grenadiers resulting in nearly both units being completely wiped out. 

With heavy losses on both sides, the Anglo-American players began a withdrawal once the Provincial unit was decimated by French volley fire.

Here are some select photos of the game...

The French column reaches the river

Their casualties begin to mount as they cross

The Militia get help loading from the colonists while the Provincials arrive

The French begin to form line beyond the bridge

The British Light Infantry set up to guard the right flank

The fight heats up

The Highlanders arrive after several game turns

Highlander Grenadiers

A canon is brought up to support the attack

View from the Anglo-American side of the battle

The Compagnie de la Marine and Indians work the flank

They pour on the fire and the Indians prepare a charge attack 

Getting over the bridge and into action proves challenging

Bloody fight at the field...

The results of the fight.  The Anglo-British forces began the withdrawal

The match lasted about 2 and a half hours and all of the players had a great time!

Pilot Game:  Muskets & Tomahawks

On November 23, 2013 I ran my first game of Muskets & Tomahawks with 28mm figures and terrain.  I have been using Iron Ivan's This Very Ground for some time and after reading reviews and AAR's from gamers using M&T, I decided that I would purchase them for a read through.  I got them on sale at Brigade for 30% was very pleased with the quality of the printing and the card deck.

Although its evident that authors aren't native speakers of English, I could look past slight translational issues because the rules are written in a very straight-forward manner and include good examples.  I was already familiar with the Studio Tomahawk Forum so that was also a good source of clarifications and additional house rules.  There are some typos and errors in the rules that are identified in the forum but I haven't seen an official errata document posted yet.

I made a few mistakes with the rules - in particular I allowed more fire from units inside buildings than should have been allowed. Overall, the game was great with good tactics being rewarded and bad tactics, well, you know...

The F&I forces were comprised of 2 units of French regulars, 1 unit of Compagnie de la Marines, 1 unit of Courier du Bois and 1 unit of Indians.  The British and Colonial forces were made up of 1 Provincial unit, 1 unit of British Light Infantry, I unit of Rangers and 1 unit of Colonial Militia.  The F&I players were given "Slaughter" as their objective while the Brits and Colonials received "Engagement" as theirs.  Once the units made contact, the French stopped their focus on their objective and began to slug it out with British and Colonials which ultimately led to their defeat.  Most importantly, everyone had fun...

You can see the entire set of pics in my Picasa Web album HERE.

The Homestead before the attack 

The French engage the Colonial Militia in the opening moves.

This wagon was moved for cover but the French never left it to complete the game objective.

The British Light Infantry moved up quickly and deployed into the stone-walled field.

The VA provincials move up to exchange volleys with the French.

The End-Game Photo.

Tom Bookwalter has a fantastic gaming room!!!!

Much of the terrain is handmade and I plan to post how-to's in the future in case anyone would like to make their own versions.

I am planning another game for early January and this will focus on a scenario that I'll be running at some conventions in the late Winter and early Spring.