Little Wars Wargaming Convention, Canberra 8 November.

Last Sunday was the 'Little Wars' Wargaming Convention in Canberra, following similar cons in Melbourne and Adelaide, demonstrating our hobby to the wider community and raising money for 'Soldier On'. Unfortunately our largest gaming con - Cancon - no longer allow demonstration games, a very short-sighted decision in my opinion. The intention of 'Little Wars', the brainchild of several of our Lanyon group, was to showcase the hobby. How are you supposed to do that without demonstration games? The Lanyon Wargaming Group put on about ten separate games covering everything from ancients to modern fantasy/sci fi, with a strong historical showing. For our part we put on a 'Muskets & Tomahawks' French & Indian Wars game - action on the wild North American frontier!

The French Fort with its very useful gun was never really threatened by the British assault 

The con attracted a fair crowd in the salubrious surrounds of the Lanyon Vikings Sports Club (who also promoted the con too) - even a few local MLA's (they're our local political representatives for all my non-Australian blog readers) who even made a good impression of being fascinated about the tabletop action of our FIW game!

French Indian allies made the laborious journey to the woods in front of the town.

The Indian chief and his one surviving warrior continue to blaze away at the British irregulars assaulting the village.

French Cour de Bois irregulars attempt to shore up the French right.

French Indian allies infesting the woods kept the British colonials at bay for most of the game.

Rangers on the hill opposite kept a lively fire on those pesky Indians in the woods while the provincials closed in.

Provincials and Scots eventually take the Indian village after driving the Cour de Bois off for the umpteenth time (the latter did as much running - then rallying - as shooting!)

The British regulars gamely traded fire with the French regulars (who couldn't hit a thing for the most part) French irregs kept failing their morale , then rallying, then running away again.

The British Indian allies take'em heap scalps of French colonials - in front of the others who terrified, promptly fled the town.

Cour de Bois finish off the last of the courageous Scots who routed the French regulars with their Claymores, taking even more Frenchmen with 'em as they go down!

End of game - a draw - but the French regulars were still running!

Provincials finally man up and take the pressure of the dwindling British regulars

Meanwhile, back at the fort the gun runs out of targets - made more Brits run than any other unit on the table! Note burning  settler's cabin in town, courtesy of the trusty gun. One very effective means of getting rid of bloodthirsty scalping Indians ( who WERE inside the cabin having a scalp-fest!) Note also the two surviving French civilians leaving town, running hard in the opposite direction!

The FIW game ebbed back and forth with the French gun and officer getting the command cards at just the right time to order the gun to shoot, running French irregulars to rally or belatedly, sending the regulars out to protect the town. Despite destroying or driving off most of the French and all the Indians, the British could not take the fort and most of the town was still in French hands so it was declared a draw. We had more than half a dozen different players cycle through together with the four regulars playing - with everyone having a ball as usual.

There were also a number of really good looking games that I managed to see a bit of including an interesting 15mm ACW, 54mm ECW skirmish, another 15mm ancients (Rome versus Carthage I think) which won 'best of the day' (we were runners up - well done Andrew). Two in particular caught my attention: a 28mm Bolt Action commando raid on a U-boat in drydock and a huge 54mm figure Napoleonic game (Prussians v French & Allies) of which I took the following photos.

British commandos arrive at the sea wall by rubber dingy, trying not to wake up the snoozing Germans. I think it turned out the Germans were light sleepers!

Despite its size , the U-boat is about half its actual size at 1/56 or 28mm scale - they were huge!

The spectacular 54mm game - Prussians form square

Looks like Mamelukes with Saxon? infantry behind them.

Prussians attack

Some colourful Berg Lancers next to the French Carabiniers

View of the French lines with Tirailleurs closest and Regt Etrangeur (Irlandais?) next along.  The table was also huge - at least twenty foot long.

There were also traders there including War and Peace, Dean from Olympian Games and Nick from Eureka who did a roaring trade. I think it bodes well for the future. As well as raising a few hundred dollars for 'Soldier On' for our returned Diggers, it successfully showcased the hobby and attracted quite a bit of attention and importantly, our generous hosts the Lanyon Vikings Club provided an excellent venue that was well patronised by the crowds attending as well as the wargamers.  A fine day's gaming was had by one and all and we will certainly plan to do it again next year!  Tough luck CGS - Cancon's loss is definitely our gain, from what I could see.  Congratulations must also go to Greg, Ian and Leigh who put so much time and effort into setting up and running a great convention in our first 'Little Wars' Canberra.

Muskets and Tomahawks Along the Ohio: French & Indian Wars action on Day 2 at Cancon

Day 2 at Cancon saw the final battle to take the French outpost, the last scenario of 'Muskets and Tomahawks Along the Ohio'. I was joined by John and Cameron to help command the French while Doug had another four guest British commanders. The French had narrowly lost the first encounter which saw the village of their Indian allies destroyed and over three quarters of the Huron wiped out.  The second battle involved the British force going overland through the only road across the Ohio wilderness and the French and their remaining Huron allies trying to stop them.  Although they inflicted heavy losses, particularly on the Rangers and the Mohawk British Indian allies, the French were heavily defeated and the remaining Huron wiped out. For the final scenario the French (regulars - Marines, Ligne and irregular Correurs de Bois) had to defend their outpost on the Ohio river (complete with fort and docks) from a two-pronged British attack, one force coming overland down the wilderness road and a riverine force led by Her Majesty's Brig 'The Walsh'.

Doug's riverine force towed by his brig packed to the gunnels with guns! The American colonial militia and Rangers get to walk. [Photo Andrew]

The French outpost on the Ohio, with Andrew's magnificent scenery of fort and docks. And there's some old fart in the background messing about with his camera! [Photo Andrew]

British Commander Doug chortles with glee at the prospect of many dead French (he's already killed off all the Indians) and a nice cuppa before actions commences.  [Photo Andrew]

Against what appears to be an overwhelming force, the French had six units left to defend, one of them the surviving Correurs from the 2nd scenario but they also have three very large guns in the fort to back them up.

Packed full of men and guns, the Walsh slips into dock under heavy fire.

                                  

The Americans militia, Rangers and Indians advance cautiously down the road. That large column of smoke is the first shot from the French big guns in the fort. The first two shots missed which was a bugger as each gun takes two activations to load! (The artillery only get three per Turn) 

View from the French left: the nervous French (Merde! zat iz a lot of Anglais!) await the over-cautious British - to be fair one of the fort's guns was sited down that road!

Packed full of men and guns, the Walsh slips into dock under heavy fire (note the plume of smoke in her stern)

There were several determining factors in the final scenario, most of which involved the artillery of both sides.  For the French the fort's guns, although very slow to reload they provided crucial support for the hard-pressed infantry when they needed it. One hit in particular had a major affect on the British attack on the town. On the British side their brig had no less than six guns of which she could bring three to bear at any one time PLUS the artillery battery which included two howitzers. The British tried to bombard the fort and take out the French guns but apart from silencing one for a few turns by killing half the crew, they were unsuccessful. They did, however, manage to fire on and destroy half the town - hitting every building but the one that hid the best French troops!

In this they also did the French a service as inexplicably the fort's guns were masked by the town from firing on vessels approaching the docks. A major oversight on the part of the outpost's military planners, only rectified by the British burning half the town down! 

The first success with the guns went to the French who managed a hit on one of the troop boats towed by the brig, just as they began to row for shore.  One of the fort's guns (32 pdr?) hit one boat full a midships sending timber and tartans skyward in a giant geyser of water. Now here's another controversial bit. Once a hit is made (on a D5-6) you dice for every figure in the strike zone measured from the gun's muzzle see if they are killed (D4,5 or 6) - in this case 10 dice for the entire boat-load of ten men. Four were killed outright and the rest ended in the water. A second boat stopped to pick up survivors (so far, so good) - dicing to see how many (three I think) - but the rest were deemed to have swam to the shore!  What a complete load of bollocks. In an era not known for producing many swimmers and with fully laden Scottish Light Infantry in heavy kilts I argued that any NOT picked up by the second boat should be considered drowned.  Not unreasonable I thought but as the rules did not cater for this situation and common sense clearly was not going to prevail, we enjoyed the unedifying spectacle of several Scots Light Infantry not only swimming ashore but magically retaining their weapons, drying their powder and eventually advancing and firing on the French defending the town. Amazing!

This load of codswallop was fortunately balanced out by the next big success for the French guns. As the British Grenadiers disembarked from the ship and stormed down the dock with the militia right behind them, the only French gun with a bead on the dock fired and hit on a D6.  The trajectory of the cannonball as measured from the mouth of the French gun travelling down the length of the dense column of men. Six grenadiers and four militia disappeared in a red mist as the heavy cannonball ploughed through the column. The remaining militia jumped in the river!  

It was easily the most deadly and effective artillery strike of the entire campaign and for a while stopped the riverside invasion in its tracks. John's Correurs de Bois, masked by the buildings in the town not burned down by British artillery fire, then emerged in the dead ground next to the docks and opened up a telling fire on the British artillery and troops disembarked from the brig.  But Doug and his British commanders were a long way from finished and he had got enough men ashore from the boats to really press his attack on the town.  

The French regulars closest to the town had the problem of beating off the men from the boats in one direction while the other part of the British force closed in on their flank and rear from the wilderness road.  The one fort gun sighted on that road could only do so much - it got off about half a dozen shots in the course of the game but only two hits of which only one did any real damage.  It helped slow but couldn't stop the British move gradually enveloping the French left.  Again with numbers in their favour, the British gradually whittled down the French defenders.

It was more of a desultory affair on the French left with the British having plenty of units but a great reluctance to come out of the woods and offer them as targets for the French who were worn down by incessant musketry.  This was particularly noticeable on the defences adjacent to the road where they were caught in three directions. Even though sheltered by dense woods such was the strength of fire the Correur de Bois were the first to go.  Those pesky Mohawks also got into the action again, wiping out the other Correur unit - well done (again) to young Alex their commander!  

Despite the British success on the flank John cleverly defended the town, repulsing attack after attack from British regulars. His shooting on the troops on the dock also played havoc with British plans but inevitably his Correurs and Marines were whittled down to nothing (although not entirely destroyed).  By lunch it was clear the British were not going to be able to attack and take the fort, let alone the half of the town that remained.  The surviving French were preparing to withdraw to the fort for the final battle when the umpire Andrew called the game in their favour, deeming the British assault to have failed.  Had the British destroyed a few more French units they would have likely have taken or destroyed the town (one of the objectives) and forced a draw or maybe a final 'assault the fort' scenario.  After their licking on Day 1 it was nice to finally secure a win. More importantly those participating said they had a ball and would love to play again, which was our overall objective!

The final game after the break for lunch was a straight out stoush spectacular - an encounter battle 'take the town crossroads' - with all the figures on the table.  All the commands were given over to guest gamers and it was standing room only around the table as half a dozen on each side duked it out.

The French began their assault on the town with hordes of Huron.  What the American colonial militia thought of it was not recorded but they were most reluctant to join the fight!  The French stormed into the town and repulsed British attempts to force them out.

But things didn't quite go the French way on either side of the town with the regulars and Marines caught in the open by Rangers and Provincials. When they weren't masking their guns the French artillery did quite well with some huge hits but not enough to discourage the British who infiltrated the woods in front and shot down French obligingly lined up in the open.  The Marines on the other side of the town also copped horrendous shooting from the colonial Provincials but being regulars they refused to run away and supported by the Correurs, once more pressed their attack.

The British commanders tried every means to get the French out of the town but it was young Alex who finally made the difference and providing one of the highlights of the game.  Given command of the artillery battery he opened up first on the Indians and burned them out then on the Correurs in the town's only two story building. The howitzer shell plunged through the roof and the first floor before exploding and bringing the house down, French and all! The remaining Correurs wisely decided to abandon what was left of the blazing town.

The last turn of the game saw another frenzied attack by a single Huron chief (what is it with these guys - bloodthirsty or what?) with three Provincials cut down in hand-to-hand and the unit driven off in panic. The last round of combat once again saw the Huron finally cut down but it fatally stalled British attempts to retake the town so the game was called narrowly in favour of the French. 

The last game was a spectacular affair involving at one point or another a dozen players and many more dozens of onlookers.  It crowned what was a very successful Cancon for us historical gamers and showcased the hobby for dozens of gamers, attracting everyone from the under 12s to well, grey haired pensioners like meself!

Had a great time and my sincere thanks go to Andrew - figures, scenario design and scenery (fort and docks) umpire; Doug - figures, scenery (the unsinkable HMS Walsh!) rules guru and British commander and John who managed to command successfully on both sides for both days!

Muskets and Tomahawks along the Ohio - the French and Indian War games at Cancon 2014

The French & Indian Wars skirmish game 'Muskets & Tomahawks Along the Ohio' was one of the most successful demonstration games at the biggest wargaming convention in the southern hemisphere, Cancon.  A big call but in my opinion this was right up there with demo (public participation) games like the 100 Days in Peking (Boxer Rebellion), the Alamo, Isandalawana and Froeschwiller (Franco-Prussian War of 1870) from previous Cancons.  The games also showcased Doug and Andrew's superb F&IW figures and Andrew's sublime scenery making skills with his incredible Indian village, French outpost fort, town and docks.

The demo games are staged to showcase the hobby and attract people who may have not experienced historical wargaming before. Its quite a challenge with the hordes of fantasy and competition gamers at Cancon but we always manage to get a high percentage of 'newbies' to our games - half of them have little gaming experience.  Many of them are youngsters who have never played an historical wargame before.  Over the two days we had at least half a dozen 12 and under who took a command and rattled some dice one of whom, young Alex, proved a determined British commander, fighting his Mohawks and later the British artillery to great effect throughout.

I commanded the French for the two days and Doug the British, with Andrew as Umpire and John as a British co-commander on Day 1, French on Day 2. There were approximately four guest commanders per side for each game until the 'big bash' last game on the final day.  This was a spectacular encounter battle with all the figures on the table for which we commanders stepped back and gave the game over to eight enthusiastic guest British and French generals who fought it out to a draw - perhaps narrowly in favour of the surviving French who held most of what was left of the town.

Yours Truly capturing the set up with Andrew's terrific scenery of fort and docks for Day Two, Scenario Three [Andrew's photo]

The games were devised by Andrew using the great Muskets and Tomahawks skirmish rules and consisted of three scenarios involving British attempts to rid the Colonial American frontier along the Ohio river valley of the threat from the dastardly French, who had been conducting incessant raids on American settlements and wresting control of the strategically vital valley. The British forces consisting of the Highlanders (regular Grenadiers and irregular light infantry) and the Virginian Provincials under no less a personage than Captain George Washington and also included other colonial militia and of course the famous Rangers as well as Britain's Mohawk Indian allies. The French consisted of their Compagnes Frances de la Marine regulars and their own tough frontiersmen irregulars the Coureurs de Bois as well as hordes of their Huron, Delaware and Shawnee Indian allies. The first scenario was the British attack on the French Indian village, the staging post for their merciless raids. The British objective was to capture and destroy the village and wipe out as many of the Indians as possible.

The British raid was like kicking over an ant's nest - swarms of angry Indians emerged. [Photo courtesy of Ian]

On the right the British pressed home their attack, wiping out the Indian bands sent out to stop them...  

 ...but then running into the tough Coureurs de Bois who mowed down the Scottish light infantry

While initially successful on their right, the British were in some trouble on the left. Two thirds of the entire Indian force attacked the Rangers and allied Mohawk Indians. The Rangers did a very un-Ranger-like thing and ran away after copping some shooting casualties and their Indian allies were left to valiantly take the fight to the savage Huron by themselves. Outnumbered over 2 to 1 they were wiped out in the ensuing hand-to-hand.  The French were on the verge of victory but as frequently happens in 'Muskets and Tomahawks', in one turn the situation changed.

Under the direction of their Paramount Chief (figure in blue at top) the victorious Huron having wiped out the Mohawks and forced the Rangers into retreat, they only have to roll up the British flank... what could possibly go wrong?

The Rangers rallied and poured fire into the swarming Huron who were caught out in the open. The Mowhawks had sold their lives dearly, destroying nearly half of the attacking Huron before succuming themselves which fatally weakened the Huron who simply could not absorb the shooting casualties inflicted on them by the vengeful Rangers. Even the Paramount Chief who had personally killed four (three by shooting and one in hand-to-hand) fell victim to accurate Ranger shooting.  It was too much for the surviving Indians who withdrew back to the relative safety of the woods.

Its Indian versus Indian as the valiant Mohawks attempted to stop the Huron swarm in the woods on the left.

Indians doing what Indians do - the Huron run away after being shot, only to return the next time to shoot back (while hiding behind a tree of course)! Very pesky them Injuns.

On the right the British suffered heavy casualties but were finally able to break into the village and wipe out the remaining Coureurs de Bois. This left the remaining Indians isolated on the right so the French called it quits and retreated off the board.  A costly but rather complete victory to the British.

'I'll do YOU Jimmeh!'  A crazed Hairy MacTavish in amongst the French who eventually clubbed him to death but didn't like it up 'em and ran away. 

Highlights of the action included the French colonial militia (armed civilians) taking one look at the British in Turn One and running away - perhaps it was all those hairy men in kilts?  The Scottish Light Infantry got wiped out in a frontal assault on the village across open ground - all save one man who launched an attack on his own on the Coureurs, hacking down several before going under a welter of French tomahawks and musket butts. Followed by more accurate shooting from Washington's Provincials it was too much for the Coureurs who finally broke and fell back to their longhouse barracks in the village, where they were eventually destroyed.

Doug, John and the British commanders contemplate a long march up a long road through the forest and what indeed is waiting for them in them thar woods! Their Ranger scouts peer into the gloom and sniff the air - is that a faint whiff of garlic they can detect?

In the second scenario the French (with their much reduced Indian allies) attempted to stop the British from marching through the only road in the Ohio wilderness to reinforce their attack on the French outpost. Again it was a close battle up until the final two turns but again the French were defeated.  Another enjoyable product of these rules is that they can produce some amazing feats of daring.  In this scenario, despite eventually losing, it was the French who produced some remarkable unit and individual results. 

French general Greg, faced with overwhelming numbers, cleverly leapfrogged his Coureurs from one patch of forest to the next - fine as long as the cards favour you but bad when your opponent's card allows him to get the jump on you. Fortune is fickle in 'Muskets & Tomahawks'!

Washington urges his cautious Provincials up the road while long lines of regulars, Indians and Rangers advance through the woods on either flank

The Rangers and Marines start the firefight on the French left with young Alex's Mohawks about to attempt to outflank the French in the woods. The French militia are top right hidden in a dip in the road. Quelle surprise pour les Anglais!

Cop that Anglais!  The French militia pop out of their little hollow in the road and let loose.

The highlights included the French militia who, after their shameful performance in the first battle everyone (including the French commanders) expected to run away at the first whiff of musketry.  We couldn't have been more wrong.  To give them more of a chance the militia hid in a dip in the road but I fully expected them to drop their muskets and flee at first contact with the British regulars coming down the road.  They popped out of their hollow and let off a volley at the regulars that stopped the latter in their tracks, then received a volley in return. For a moment it looked like that was it it but no, they copped casualties and hid in their hollow before popping up again and firing twice more, inflicting more casualties on the startled British before the latter gathered their wits and saw them off with a volley of massed musketry.  The militia proved redoubtable, half the unit destroyed before they finally broke and ran for home.

Despite not often getting the cards he needed French Coureur commander Greg's clever tactics paid off against superior British numbers as he prevented them from breaking through on that side of the road.  On the other side I was not as successful and saw my command of regulars, surviving Huron, militia and Marines gradually wiped out. 

The Huron chief shows how its done - he's the guy in the middle facing the Mohawks in the woods, he's thrown his tomahawk, taken out the first guy and is about to go 'chop chop chop' on the remainder with his war axe. All but the Mohawk chief ran away.

But it was my Huron and marines who provided two of the most spectacular feats of combat.  My Huron warband (all that was left from the first game) tried to outflank the British through the woods but were thwarted once again by young Alex's Mohawks. The move fell short as the British got a run of activation cards that enabled them to bring up all their Rangers and Indians and blaze away at my French regulars.  Stalled in the open I was able to activate my Huron chief 'Magua' who decided to show his hesitating warriors how it was done.  Charging ahead of his two warbands he started hacking into Mohawks and Rangers opposite.  He hacked down three Indians and two Rangers in hand-to-hand, driving off two warbands and a section of Rangers before finally being killed himself by the Mohawk chief who he had attacked from behind and hit on a D6. I then rolled a 1 and died. Oh the injustice of it all!  But in spite of my whining as Andrew pointed out, that's the way the rules work - and I rolled too low when I needed to roll higher than the other guy.

The last act of heroism came from my surviving Marine. After his entire unit (save the officer, above) was destroyed by Rangers in musketry and two rounds of melee, he was attacked again by no less than three opponents in the final round. The bodies of his previous victims still on the ground in front of him he killed a third, then a fourth and the others simply gave up and ran.  The second and third units of Rangers, gazing in horror at the mound of dead Rangers in front of the crazed Frenchman, simply emptied their muskets into him.  No less than seven hits left him a very brave but now very dead bullet-ridden corpse. Ca la Guerre.

My brave Froggie Marine, last heard yelling 'I fart in your general direction!' before he disappeared in a hail of musket balls

The final acts of Scenario Two involved the destruction of my remaining units on that side of the table. Despite Greg still holding the right with his remaining Coureurs de Bois, young Alex's surviving Mohawks now effectively swept around the now non-existent French left flank onto the undefended road, cutting off the remaining French and winning the game for the British.  

That was just Day One of the Muskets & Tomahawks action at Cancon. 

Day Two and the all-out British assault on the now beleaguered French outpost and fort promised to be a cracker of a game and with Doug's riverine fleet and Andrew's scenery, quite a spectacle.  But that my fellow bloggers, I will post separately as with all the pics, this post is becoming unmanageable for Blogger. More action and tales of derring-do tomorrow!