We're in Dutch!

We had a good time playing at Meeples Games in West Seattle on Saturday. Kevin Smyth and I were testing the scenario (more or less) for the Song of Drums and Tomahawks game we'll be running at the Fix Bayonet! game day in September at Historic Ft. Steilacoom.

There were six of us playing: The Daves (me, Dave Demick, and Dave Schueler), Kevin, Bob Mackler come up from Sumner, and Bill Stewart from literally around the corner in West Seattle.

The Hurons: Dave, Dave, Kevin

The scenario has a mixed force of Dutch and Iroquois on the wild outskirts of New Netherland ca. 1640 trying to make it off the board lengthwise against an equal number of Hurons trying to stop them.

Bob, Bill, and I were the Dutch/Iroquois. Kevin, and the other two Daves were the Hurons. We set up in three successive files marching Indian-style and the Hurons came in from off board to attack us. Bill was out front with 8 Iroquois, I was in the center with 6 Dutch musketeers and two officers, Bob had the rear guard.

Marching on

We ended up engaging pretty soon. As far as advancing down the table goes, we hit our high-water mark pretty much after the first move. The Hurons all came in on one side—probably more to do with where they were sitting than with actual strategy.

See how Bill hastens to his death

Kevin swooped in on Bill's group in the lead. The dice favored Bill not, yet smiled benignly on Kevin. After a few turns of fighting, Bill was getting pasted and Kevin hadn't lost a man. Bill had to make morale checks for losing his leader and then for losing half his force. This was probably for the best because his skedaddling men managed to get away from the maelstrom.

One, however, stayed put as the Huron tide washed over him. Beset to his front, but not overwhelmed, he fought on as the exultant Hurons washed past him in a flood.

Bill's brave musketeer fights on

In a head-to-head fight with Dave Demick's masked chief (Dave had rushed about half his force to help Kevin against Bill), Bill's heroic musket-armed Iroquois managed to inflict a killing blow against him and run back to saftey.

Kicked butt, changed position, reloading...

While Bill was suffering at the head of the line, Bob and I were engaging Dave Schueler's and the other half of Dave Demick's groups. I turned off the marching path early and started taking shots with my musketeers as soon as the Hurons came in close range.

Sucking them into .85 calibre range!

The fight around the middle of our line turned out to be the hottest. Dave Schueler called it the Plain of Skulls because of all the Litko skull tokens we used to mark where a figure had fallen.

Bob and I were engaged mostly with Dave Schueler's group and some of Dave Demick's. I managed a few effective musket shots right off the bat. In our first game of Song of Drums and Tomahawks, we'd (or I'd) forgotten about the leadership bonus until late in the game. Trying to reload, which takes two actions, or to get an aimed shot, also two actions, was pretty dicey with Q4 troops. This game, I was able to keep my troops close to my leader, Lt. Groot, and found that reloading and aiming was easier to accomplish—although I had many, many (it seems) activations where I missed the two required to reload. I eventually started using my musketeers for melee since it was easier to get into contact than to reload/shoot.

Firing line: bows and muskets

Muskets are pretty effective. There were many bow-shots in the game, but I can't recall any shot putting a figure out of action. Muskets were dropping figures all over. In this regard the Dutch had an advantage with having 6 musket-armed figures. The Indian groups had no more than 2 each.

I started out with Lt. Groot in the forefront of the action, flanked by 2 musketeers. My hero, Cpl. Van Buskirk, was off doing his own thing, mostly in reserve as I fought the urge to pitch him in the midst of the fight. Both leaders were armored and had the Primitive Weapon trait for their quasi-Medieval pole weapons, but I only gave them C2. Their big advantage was having a better chance to beat defeat or death and the possibility of an instant kill when they won on a natural 6 die roll.

Groot's first stand

For Lt. Groot these advantages weren't enough. Surround by 3 Hurons, he fought bravely but was felled by a blow from a big war club, which counted as a Primitive Weapon. In the ensuing morale checks everybody but my hero (who was immune to checking) fled back a bit.

Groot's last stand

Bob was nibbling away at Dave Schueler's force, but taking losses himself. He lost his leader and went down to half strength.

Chief Mackler (pre-mortem)

Bob's hero, however, survived the fight with tales to tell. With his wooden armor and a big war club, he could pretty much take on anyone and live.

Don't mess with Smashing Bear

As our position on Bill's front deteriorated, Kevin rushed in with his still intact group and smacked into the flank of my beleaguered Dutchmen. It was dicey going. At one point, Cpl. Van Buskirk endured five bow/musket shots against him in one turn. Thank goodness for steel cuirasses!

Kevin's Hurons come on

I was soon surrounded and taking losses. Apart from Lt. Groot, I'd only lost 1 musketeer up till now. But Kevin's and Dave Demick's groups coming up on my flank changed all that. I quickly lost another 2 musketeers and was looking for an opportunity to fall back.

Kevin's hero taking out Musketeer Van Dyke

Kevin's reign as the intact player ended, however. Bill lost half his force—including his leader and his hero—but he was still a potent enemy and sending shots into Kevin's warriors as they moved into our center.

Bill still in the fight

After a few turns of intense fighting, Kevin wound up losing both his leader and his hero. In the morale check after losing his leader, every one of his figures scampered back 2 or three moves.

Kevin's leader fatally takes on Bill's remnants

We called it soon after that. Kevin's group was the least molested of all. He had 6 figures out of 8 remaining, but his two losses were his leader and hero. Dave Schueler had 2 figures remaining, both in contact with Dutch musketeers with the issue in doubt. Dave Demick had, I think, just one figure remaining. Bill had three. I had four. Bob had four.

The Dutch/Iroquois patrol would make it through, but much diminished.

The Plain of Skulls

The game was fun and Meeples is always a nice venue for occasional games, although the tables are generally small. The food and beer is good.

Song of Drums and Tomahawks is part of a great system from Ganesha Games. The engine is pretty useful and I've played several of the Song of... variants for everything from the Bronze Age to the ECW. We talked up using Flying Lead for gaming WW2. I have several Copplestone Back of Beyond Chinese warlord minis that I can get paiting on, plus a couple FT-17s. Bill has a vast amount of single-mounted WW2. I see something happening with that later this year.