Saturday 18 April 2015

FIW Skirmish - The Battle of Brodie Bridge 1758




 3 Rejects got together for a FIW skirmish at Posties the weekend before last.
We pulled sides outta the hat. Ian ans Surj got the French & Indians and I got the British and Provincials.
We used Posties own skirmish rules....


6th July 1758 somewhere in the Ohio Valley....


A small hamlet has grown around Farmer Brodies farm. 
The French and Indians task is to destroy the settlement, quite plane and simple!
The Brits have to survive!


The British has recently finished a small fort to garrison the area and protect the settlers. 
The 44th Foot have been tasked with protecting the area.


A small company of Virginia Provincial's patrol the roads.


While another company, guards the bridge, what a minute??
what was that noise???


Uh oh!!
A company of french regulars from the Guyunne regt, appear on the road.
And some Indians are also skulking in the woods.


I fired a warning shot, to alert the rest of my troops.


Who started off up the road towards the bridge.


 A small company of Rangers, were guarding the farm buildings.


Also altered by the shot were a 2nd company of Rangers, who stared to move up.


A very large force of Indians and the Montreal Militia moved through the woods, towards the
Rangers, who are now set up on the edge of the woods.


Its a long way up the table!!!


I moved my Provincials back over the bridge, there seems to be a lot of them????


The Indians give fire first


And I lose 4 men!!


Ian screams out of the woods!!


Its my turn to fire. I didn't hit a thing!!


I started to move the wagon up towards the bridge, Surj and Ian thought I was 
going to try and blow the bridge, so I just let them think so??


The Indians move up  and take the bridge.


And I laughed!!
Surj had forgotten to move one of his Indians, he'd left poor Lonsome Wolf
hiding behind a tree.


I took a pot-shot and Surj Indian chief I needed an 18+ on a D20.
Get in there I threw a 19. Surj was rather miffed!!!


Infact he was so miffed, he charged the poor settler who shot his leader, and killed him.
Then the Indians failed a morale check and retreated one move, much to my delight.


Things weren't going very well for the Rangers either??


I pulled my remaining front line Rangers back and made a 2nd line
with the 2nd company.


With the Indians out of the way, regt Guyanne moved to the bridge.


Meanwhile the 44th finally make it close to the bridge and form a line.


The Indians storm on through the woods.


von Postie posing!


My last two remaining Provincials give fire but fail there morale and disperse.


We both form a defensive line.


Fire!!!!


Ian moves over the fences to attack my settlers.
I attacked a French figure, who just happened to be the French commander with....
a women with a bucket!! (by the door of the building above)
I thought I'd won when Ian rolled snake eyes, but as you would expect a women with a bucket has a few minuses. We drew the first round then Ian broke the bucket over the poor ladies head!


We faced each other off....



All through the game, the Indians and French kept winning the initiative.
And killed my troops before they managed to fire back.


Things really started going their way. My settlers fail a morale check and move back for 3 turns!
Damn!


I kept being out-maneuvered, so I pulled back again.


I was gradually being reduced with nowhere to hide.


I had my best fire of the day and sent 4 Frenchmen to the devil.


Ian charged again with his Indians, killing more men.


Once again I had an excellent turn of fire, and battered the French.


But it was all too late, I may have won the Battle at the Bridge, but
everywhere else i was running.
So the towel was thrown in and the win goes to Surj and Ian!



69 comments:

  1. Wonderful stuff Ray. I was rooting for you throughout... but the writing did look to be on the wall with that large horde of Natives storming through the woods at your Rangers I'm afraid :-) A moral victory at the Bridge though surely, as all looked partially lost their for a while I thought. Great photos and splendid write-up. Thanks for posting.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Glad you enjoyed the write-up Blax, it was a fun game to play, but like you said I was up against it from the start!

      Delete
  2. Great looking game and a fun AAR :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Postie usually puts on a very good game and this is no exception. Shame you let Ian and Surj beat you but without the Irishman the loss is not as hard to swallow I suspect.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm sure Fran would revel in my defeat no matter what side he was on!!!

      Delete
  4. So close! You rolled so well at the bridge. And cool the battle was in the Ohio Valley. Been there.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Excellent report as always Ray!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Such a grand table. Nice to see F&I being played on that side of the pond.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Great report. I love the reject games they always look so good. Bad luck mate with the dice its sometimes just the way it goes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sometimes the dice gods desert you and they certainly did in this game.

      Delete
  8. What a great looking battle, love these beautiful pictures!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Excellent game - figures, terrain, period - all great! Nice to hear the use of "home-brew" rules too.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Say now that's a great looking table Ray!

    Christopher

    ReplyDelete
  11. Another exciting panoramic epic battle, sirs! Great job reporting, Ray.

    ReplyDelete
  12. Beautiful looking board and minis, Ray! Really nice set up with COBs and objectives too.
    You lost because you didn't take any of my cousins!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Your dice were probably broken too! ;)

      Delete
    2. No cousins and dodgy dice, I was robbed!!!

      Delete
  13. Where was Pathfinder when you need him? Great looking game and tense AAR I could feel your tension throughout. I was rooting for the woman with a bucket! What were you doing with that wagon by the way?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Pathfinder was there, although he didn't do a great deal. I was going to try and block the bridge with the wagon, but the rotters shot the poor women driving it!!!!!

      Delete
  14. A huge and fantastic looking table! Is there anything Postie can't do?

    ReplyDelete
  15. Great game photos, Ray! I do miss the in-game shenagins between you and Fran, though.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeh it isn't the same without the miserable ratbag!!!

      Delete
  16. Thats a Lovely looking game Ray!

    ReplyDelete
  17. Lovely looking game. I'll have to make notes so I know how I want my table to look when I've painted my FIW figures!

    ReplyDelete
  18. Pictures a plenty plus Battle Report,which is Splendid Stuff Ray.Thanks for placing a little of the action on the Benno`s Figure Forum too. Keep your powder dry,and flints a plenty in your pocket. Beano Boy

    ReplyDelete
  19. THX for the nice pictures and very interesting battle report...

    ReplyDelete
  20. Wow! Excellent all round; Mr Postie does make exceedingly good games! Lovely use of teddy bear fur as crops, too - inspired ;)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He's not bad at making cakes either Monty!

      Delete
  21. Great report! I love the elaborate tables you guys set up, even for "just" a skirmish. The "poor Lonesome Wolf" episode sounds pretty darned funny!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lonesome Wolf kept making me laugh, poor Surj didn't have a clue what he'd done!

      Delete
  22. Tough loss Ray, but an excellent looking game.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It was very close, but I still enjoyed the game even though I lost!

      Delete
  23. Great game and table! Thanks for sharing!

    Greetings
    Peter

    ReplyDelete
  24. Awesome! Reminds me of the games my friend used to put on for us! He was big on FIW too. R.I.P. Are those Skirmish rules available to download anywhere? --a link on the blog somewhere, perhaps?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Afraid they're not available, I keep trying to get Postie to publish some of his rules, but he's so computer illiterate its unbelievable!!

      Delete
  25. Thanks Ray! That was a great batrep. The table and figures look incredible, you are a very lucky man.

    ReplyDelete
  26. Great set up Posties, good rep Ray no long words or nuffin to make me scratch my head

    ReplyDelete
  27. Pictures look great, sorry about the four gone.

    ReplyDelete
  28. That's a great looking table Ray and another fine batrep.

    ReplyDelete