Friday, September 7, 2012

NNW Patrol, part 4

When last we left things the outpost was being overrun by bands of mounted and foot hillmen, and the patrol from the main fort was starting to arrive.

Turn 7
Captain Whillikers, Lt. Flanagan, and the remaining mounted hillmen continue their struggle. Lt. Flanagan is cut down, leaving Captain Whillikers the only member of the outpost left alive on that front.
On the other side of the outpost 2 Psmithshires and Captain Spaulding fight band 3, killing 2 of them. The other 2 Psmithshires and Lt. Hyde-Psmith fight band 2 and kill 1 of them.
Meanwhile, the Hussars spur forward towards the mounted band still struggling with Captain Whillikers. The Highlanders and Woostershires advance towards the outpost as well.
The lone survivor of band 3 runs away from the outpost towards the woods to the northwest.
Band 2 attacks the Psmithshires, scoring 5 hits! Lt. Hyde-Psmith makes his save, but Sgt. Psmythe succumbs to the attack. At the end of this turn the only members of the outpost left alive are Captain Whillikers, Captain Spaulding, and Lt. Hyde-Psmith.

Turn 8

The Highlanders move forward and reach the outpost wall. 
The mounted band turns to face the Hussars, killing Sgt. McLachlan, 2 troopers and the Dragoon who had accompanied them. The remaining Hussar and Captain Cholmonderleigh fight back but score no hits.
Captain Whillikers also fights the mounted hllimen, killing 1.
Lt. Hyde-Psmith and Captain Spaulding fight band 2. The lieutenant hits the leader, but the leader makes his save. Captain Spaulding kills 1 extra.
Band 2 fights back, scoring 1 hit on Lt. Hyde-Psmith but he makes his save.
The lone hillman who had fled to the woods takes potshots, but hits no one.

Turn 9

The Highlanders attack the mounted band and kill 1 extra. The mounted band fights back and kills 2 Highlanders. Captain Whillikers, the Hussar and Captain Cholmonderleigh also fight the mounted band, but only hit Yusuf, who saves.
The Woostershires make it inside the walls of the outpost, just as band 2 downs Lt. Hyde-Psmith and Captain Spaulding. While the lone sniper in the woods manages to hit 1 of the Woostershires.

Turn 10

The Hussar, Captain Cholmonderleigh and the Highlanders continue their melee with the mounted hillmen. The result is the Captain kills the last extra, Abu kills 1 Highlander, Yusuf kills the Hussar, and the Highlanders kill Abu and Yusuf, thus wiping out all of the mounted hillmen. 
Over on the other side of the outpost the Woostershires and Captain Flynn fire at band 2, killing 1 extra and the leader, Omar. The remaining hillmen in band 2 charge the Woostershires, killing 1 extra and Lt. Bertie.

Turn 11

The Highlanders get inside the outpost wall.
The Woostershires and Captain Flynn attack band 2, scoring 2 hits.
Captain Whillikers and Captain Colmonderleigh move around the outpost towards band 2.
Band 2 fights the Woostershires, killing 1 extra and Captain Flynn.

Turn 12

Captain Whillikers attacks band 2, killing 1. The Highlanders move in on band 2. Band 2 fails morale and runs away.

Well, that was a bloody affair!

Final tally of survivors in the outpost:
Captain Whillikers, sole survivor of the original garrison
Captain Cholmonderleigh
Lt. MacCaber
Sgt. Basset
Sgt. MacGowan
1 Woostershire
4 Highlanders

Looks like the outpost will need reinforcing, and a punitive expedition may be in order to quell the uprising of hillmen. Time to send the Malamar Field Force?

4 comments:

Bluebear Jeff said...

One very bloody hard fight indeed.


-- Jeff

abdul666 said...

Another experimental demonstration that enjoyable games / exciting actions don't always require hordes of minis!

An an excellent 'advert' for the "play colonial warfare with Lace Wars minis" idea: cheers!

Ross Mac rmacfa@gmail.com said...

Send 'em in!

(That was bloody, lots of lucky morale passes or few tests?)

Fitz-Badger said...

According to the Gaslight rules, when a unit is down to 1 figure you're supposed to remove it from the game. I was ignoring that (because I forgot and because I was using units with fewer figures than standard). Also, even with failed morale tests you don't always run away. Sometimes you fire, sometimes you charge, etc., randomly. And characters don't roll for morale.
I think my house rule should be losses should be rolled for after the battle to see who isn't actually dead, maybe they were wounded, knocked out, or otherwise out of action.
Also, maybe not related to the bloodiness, with the small number of figures maybe 2 characters (with save rolls) per unit is too much. But then, the 2 characters per unit kept both sides going so it probably didn't add much to the bloodiness, just to the duration. Still, I might try just 1 character per unit, with the second "character" demoted to an extra, and see how that goes. At the very least it should speed up the game a bit.