Ambushed on Briggs Rd

Still tinkering with Rifles Forward.  ( It doesn't help that I still haven't found my osprey collection.)  After a discussion on TMP and remembering my Ospreys I have decided to go with a half company (or platoon as it was called) as my base unit.  This will give me about 30-40 troops.  Of course the rules will play fine with a whole company but that would be an awfully lot more figures to paint!  I have decided to take the half without the company commander so in America Lt Fish will be leading.  If you need to read what happened to theses guys it is only 2 posts down.

It seemed like a simple assignment; collect 3 carts of food and escort them back to camp along Briggs road. Lt Fish figured around 15 troops would do along with Sgt Turner.  There had been reports of increased Tory activity in the area and one group was well trained and led by the former British governor's son.

Lt Fish  Cheery posiiton  Lvl II [D10 ]
Sgt Turner  Alcohol/ pragmatic  LvL 0 [ d8}
16 men (drilled)

Arch enemy  Lt Foster   Haughty/ government  LvL II  [ D10]
Roll up enemy troops but first group will be lead by Lt Foster and be drilled.

The platoon plods down Briggs road.  The markers are british blinds.  Also note my new swamp and cornfields from Wargamer's terrain.  I was so pleased with my roads and rivers that I bought these.  The corn is the best I have ever seen!

Back of the column.  Doesn't that corn look ready to eat?

Lt Foster's men fire at the front half of the column achieving surprise.  Lt Fish and two other men go down.  Within a minute Lt Fish is up waving a bible with torn pages that stopped the bullet.  " Good thing I already read it!" he says.  [ Recovered from an unconscious result ]

Lt Fisher forms a firering line but the Tory's are in deep woods and at short range the revolutionaries quickly draw the short stick.

Meanwhile a couple of musket shots at the rear of the column was enough to have Sgt Turner and men in disarray.  [ note celtic cross marker and wagons trying to retreat ]  Lt Fish comes over to rally the men in the barn.

During the events above Lt Foster [ stylish green jacket] and several Tory's manage to capture a cart.  As they are trying to steal a little food and set fire to the rest...

With renewed enthusiasm Lt Fisher's men burst from the barn to take the Tory's down.  Sgt Turner actually confronts Lt Foster but Foster manages to parry the blows.  Both sides lose two men.  Lt Foster realizes that to stay risks the rest of his small force and ...

escapes through the cornfields.  [ Don't they look great! ]

I declare it a victory as none of the carts were destroyed but 11 of the 16 rebels are hurt.  Fortunately 5 are lightly wounded and return.  With a lucky die roll the other 6 will be replaced by next battle.  Sgt Turner performed terribly and earns a "hesitant" card.  Capt Madison is impressed with Fish and Madison's attitude towards the platoon increases by 1.
It was a great game and really showed the leadership rules off.  Both officers kept things moving and Turner could not.

For those of you that want to play Foster had 9 drilled men with him.  [ they only took 3 casualties ]

Cheers

Joe

The villiage of Ty Phoon

Have managed to play a couple of games while I enjoy my last weeks of retirement.  Opened my rice paddies from Battlefront that I got during their 40% off sale a while ago.   They weren't "fully painted" as describe as I had to flock them but they look pretty good.  With my Rice paddies ready it was time to try out Middle of NoWhere again.  For those of you just joining the platoon SSgt Davis is not fond of Sgr Lawrence.  No one (including his squad) was found of Sgt Colton.  Fortunatly Sgt Colton was WIA last battle and the platoon has fought hard not to get him back.  In his place came Sgt Douglas and at least the morale of 3 squad rose to normal.  Lt McSwain tries to keep everyone moving in the same direction and does a pretty good job.  On the battlfield SSgt Davis is the leader as he is a pre war NCO.

Capt Jaroze talked to Lt Mcswain," Bob, there is a small hamlet called Ty Phoon (4) and intel thinks the NVA is using it as a base.  I would like to you sweep there tomorrow."

Lt McSwain    Gr I
SSgt Davis    Gr II  1st squad and Brilliant leader
Sgt Lawrence Gr I  2nd squad
Sgt Douglas Gr O  3rd squad

Aerial view of Ty Phoon

The 4 black markers are the buildings that have to be searched.  The grey markers are possible VC/NVA.

Lt McSwain decides to split the platoon up.  He will have his two best squads approach from the south east and south west.  3rd squad will enter from the north and act a a block.  He has 2 M60s; one goes to SSgt Davis and the other to Sgt Douglas in the blocking force.  He will start with Sgt Douglas who in an unknown quanity.

Hamlet view from the Southeast.

Blocking force advances across my new paddies.
Sgt Lawrence is slow to start (could not draw his card) and SSgt Davis mutters " It figures; what a screw up."  Sgt Lawrence does take some fire as he comes up the road causing 1 KIA and a WIA.  He becomes pinned down.  Also a sniper fires at the blocking force.

3 men from 2nd squad prepare to enter a shed. 
Wait for it.... a villager in hiding.  As the rest of the squad comes up they are attack from the village.

The 1st squad having a bad day!

The americans forget the villager who slips away and try to return fire but they are caught in the open and quickly become disorganized with 2 KIA.  Their M60 in the woods pins the VC enough for Davis to pull the squad back into another hooch and rally them.
Lt McSwain, hearing the firefight, comes to see what is happening but SSgt Davis has it under control.  2nd squad starts going hooch to hooch.

They flush the hidden sniper who is cut down by the pig.
They come across an old lady who of course doesn't know anything.

Then, from the northwest...

A NVA 1.5 squads appears with LMG and move towards the village.  Fortunately 3rd squad spots them and blocks their advance with the LMG.   (Lt McSwain did have to rush back their to unpin the men who were all hiding behind freshly flocked rice paddies.)

This allowed SSgt Davis to rout the VC in the village and search a third building before time ran out.  It contained an opening to a tunnel complex!  With their tunnels discovered the NVA faded back into the jungle.

Post game we had 3 KIA, 2 RTD and we get one replacement.  ( Am using a derivative of Rifles Forward for this part.)  In addition Lt McSwain meets a local missionary, Father Larry.  He is a jolly fellow who runs a parish 7 clicks from base.  Who knows where that will lead?

Really am happy with the Village Sweep scenario.  It was tense and gives you several things to consider.  Do I ignore the scattered fire and get to the caches before the VC can move them?  What if there is a boobytrap?  How hard to I press this villager for information?

For those of you that want to try this the VC ended up with 1 squad (no LMG) in the village with a Gr 0 leader plus a sniper.  On the 4th turn of the reinforcement card 1 and a half squads of NVA appeared with a Gr II and a Gr 0 leader.

Cheers

Joe

 



 

I'm Back!!!!

Well I have (more or less) successfully moved from England back to the USA.   We are in the house and the computer is set up.  Did spend a month touring Europe first.  During our train rides and the plane rides I managed to write a rough draft of "Rifles Forward".  It has some new stuff in it which I am pretty excited about.  It has expanded the backgrounds, added "arch enemies" and now you see how many replacements you get after each mission. 

Have been dying to try it out and finally got my chance yesterday.  So without further ado

The cannon on the Schuylkill

Rolled up a raid scenario on a cannon.  So...

Col Rose spoke to Capt Madison.  "There are several cannon overlooking the ferries.  We need to keep wearing the British down.  A raid to destroy one of those cannon accomplishes both"  With those words a dawn strike was planned for Capt Madison's company on a lone cannon towards the end of the ferry.  

Capt Hank Madison-- Pharmacist from a town in New Hampshire.  Very pragmatic with an eye towards wealth.  Even tempered and a poor swordsman.  A good leader of troops though.  ( Lvl 2)

Lt Elisha Fish-- Son of a banker who bought his commission.  Liked by the men because he is always cheery and a good leader on the battlefield. (Lvl 2)  He is even tempered and yearns to advance through the ranks with glory.  

Company Sergeant Johnathon Towers--- Was a barkeep before the revolution.  Has a haughty attitude to those below him and loves his position.  Thus he is disliked by the company but it a good man to have around in battle (Lvl 1)  He has a reckless temperament.  

Sgt James Turner---Was a animal rustler before he joined.  (The town was glad to be rid of him)  He is pragmatic and has found his way in the army because he is cautious when sober.  His leadership skills are mediocre. (LvL 0 )

The above was made with the charts found in Rifles Forward.  

The Battlefield

Rebels come in from the forest at bottom.  6 blinds are placed along the hill and at the edge of the village. 

Visability starts at 80 yards

Capt Madison's plan is to take Sgt Turner and 14 men to attack the hill directly to disable the cannon.  Sgt Towers [ I haven't painted up Lt Fish yet] will move to the buildings and neutralize/block an enemy there.

                                                                       Capt Madision

                                              The British battery soon to be relieved for the day.

 The British ended up with 13 men on the hill and a LvL 1 Sgt. The 6 men on the left side of the hill were decimated by gunfire but held their ground.  The British Sgt kept 7 men back to guard the cannon.  [ Had a leadership check and he remained in place!]

                                                      Sgt Turner charges up the hill at 2 redcoats!

Meanwhile on the left flank 2 of the three markers were dummies.  The British would not move for 3 turns and Towers beat them to the punch by entering the house.

                                                                       Honey I'm home!

Sgt Towers had stumbled onto 6 marines that guarded the cannon during the day.  The problem here was twofold; they were elite troops and their officer had a sword.  Sgt Towers went down unconscious and 4 other rebels died at the cost of 2 marines. The two rebels left standing did not bother to save Sgt Towers during their flight from the house.  Later one would say, " Served the bastard right."

Meanwhile Capt Madison's troops carried the hill.  

                                                     The final charge!

With the cannon disabled Capt Madison left back into the woods.  The marines fired parting shots.

Post game we had 3 light wounded, 3 Invalided home, 2 dead and 1 POW [ Sgt Towers]    We will get 3 replacements.   Capt Madison also met an artillery officer and despite the fact that Capt Waters is also a pharmacist, his New England ways must have rubbed the Virginian gentleman the wrong way.  Capt Madison is going to promote Sgt Clark (lvl 1) to company Sgt over Turner.  Clark was a dockworker in Baltimore before the war. 

It was a blast to play and hopefully I can get it out to you guys next year!

Joe