Muskets & Tomahawks II - Rules Review

For a relatively long time, Tomahawk Studio's (the company behind the successful Saga rule and supplements) set of rules for the French & Indian War, Muskets & Tomahawks, were out of print. They were a great set of rules that captured the sense of le petite guerre in North American during the mid to late 18th century.

With card activations and plenty of period flavor, they were a favorite set of rules to play FIW games with and the question of a reprint could be found pretty frequently online.

In late 2019, it was announced that a new version of the rules was going to be "Nickstarted" (basically a crowdfunding pre-order service through North Star Military Figures) and was going to be expanded beyond the original French & Indian War and American War of Independence focus. The pre-order went up at the very end of January 2020, and was a rousing success.

Three months later, backers have the books in hand. And that includes me!

To start, the main rules are wonderfully produced, full color, 80-page hardcover book. The rules are nicely laid out, but there's a few full or double page images that feel like padding to make the book a little big larger.

While there's no index, the contents pages are detailed enough that navigating the rules during play shouldn't be that much of a problem.

For the most part, the basics of the rules haven't changed. Players use cards to activate certain troop types (Regulars, Militia, Indians, etc), move, spot, shoot, and fight in hand-to-hand combat much like they did in the first edition. However, there have been some very important fundamental changes to these basics.

For example, instead of a single card being drawn from the deck, each player has a hand of three cards, made up of cards from both sides, or the neutral Clock cards that determine the end of the turn. A player can choose to play a card from their own side, or play a card that activates an opponent's troops. In compensation, a player that does so gains a Command Point, one of the new features of this edition. Command Points can be spent on a few special actions, like putting a unit on Vigilance (18th century Overwatch) or putting a card in your hand in reserve for latter, effectively giving you a four card hand.

Another big change is the move from d6s to d10s, which gives a wider variance in unit stat lines and table results like Morale and Random Events. It's important to note that the values of the die go from 0-9, not 1-10!

There's a section for additional rules like Hidden Movement and Weather that don't fit in elsewhere, and so have been collected. These are generic rules that may be modified in the various period specific supplements that will be released later.

Since the forces have moved to the supplements, it's a very small section of the main rules. Introduced, however, are the idea of Format Variables, which are values that change depending on the size of the game being played.

Scenarios have also been cut down to just three, as the bulk will come from the supplements. There's Morning Meeting, Ambush, and Breakthrough.

Side Plots have been renamed as Intrigues, which act as secondary objectives that must be completed to win a scenario. To offset this, any Commander taking an Intrigue also receives a free, randomly determined Gift that can be used once during the game.

The book is rounded off by a comprehensive reference sheet and a page of tokens.

While I haven't had a chance to play the rules yet, I do like what I see. There are no drastic departures from the first version of the game that old players will have to adjust for, and the additions, like the expanded hand of cards and command points, makes the game more interactive for both sides. Players will have to look at the battlefield and ask if it's worth allowing the enemy to make a move first, if it means getting the resources to make a crushing blow later in the turn - if the clock cards don't end it first!

My only real concern is that expanding the rules away from the original FIW and AWI periods to cover Napoleonics or the American Civil War, will either make flatten the flavor of the original periods, or make playing the expanded periods feel strange.

Keep an eye on the blog, as I expect to play more M&T II in the future.

I'll also be reviewing the first supplement, Redcoats & Tomahawks, soon. If you have any questions, feel free to leave a comment below.

Painting Update - Samurai, MESBG, Battletech, ACW

Since everything has been shut down due to the ongoing pandemic (from the SJGA monthly meetups to the local shops daily gaming), I haven't had much to do hobby-wise apart from painting. It's actually a nice change of pace; I felt like I was approaching some hobby burnout before the shutdown, so the pandemic is a good excuse to take a break from gaming.

Apart from painting updates, I may post some solo game reports or even try to write some reviews.

I received a couple promo models when I bought into the second edition of Test of Honour. I finally got around the painting them. One model is an armored samurai, and the other is an unarmored wandering samurai that will fit in well with my previous bandits warband.

When Games Workshop announced that they were releasing a collected pack of the Mordor Uruks for the Middle Earth Strategy Battle Game, I decided to pick them up. Six models for the same price that Ebay sellers wanted for just three? Why not! And so the horde of the dark lord grows.

I also painted up and did a little conversion work on a Hunchback HBK-7R to make it a HBK-6S model. This really just involved a little drilling to make an SRM6 launcher in the left torso. I also added a flag, since what self-respecting Solaris pilot isn't going to add a little bling to his mech?

Since my 10mm ACW kickstarter pledge arrived from Lancer Miniatures, I decided to start with the Union. I painted up two brigade commanders and six artillery stands, representing 10-pounder Parrott rifled guns (although I may just use them for any artillery type, with various labels from Regimental Fire and Fury). I've got six regiments of infantry to complete, which these guns and commanders will be split between. 

Without Much Results - Et Sans Resultats! AAR

My second game of the convention was a demo game of "Et Sans Resultats!", a grand tactical set of rules by The Wargaming Company. 

I had heard a lot about ESR from various websites, blogs and podcasts, and had been looking to get a game of it myself. Luckily, the Wargaming Company offers plenty of demo games during conventions. 

This scenario was a generic battle set during the War of the Sixth Coalition in 1813. Two French divisions were set against an allied force of Prussians and Russians, each with a division of their own. There was a good mix of infantry, artillery, and cavalry. I took control of the Russians.

It should be pretty obvious that, whatever I may think of the rules themselves, ESR makes for a fantastic looking game, especially in 10mm. It really did feel like I was commanding an army, especially since a good chunk of the game was spent maneuvering my brigades into position.

While I had seen from other reviews that ESR had something of a novel approach to army command, I didn't have an appreciation for it until I had a chance to play the game myself.

Instead of just moving units around the table, I had to choose an objective for my overall command (it ended up being the crossroads at the bottom of the above picture. My Prussian counterpart choose the crossroads at the top). From here, my formations (brigades) could be given orders on how to interact with the objective - Move to it, Attack towards it, Defend it, Support it, etc. This made for an... interesting interaction with the game itself.

For example, my infantry brigades had been ordered to move towards the crossroads. However, they could not then advance beyond the crossroads to attack the French moving in front of them. I had to sit still, unless I wanted to change my overall command's objective, which would then affect how each of the other formations in my army would have to move.

I did have to keep in mind that, at the scale the game was using, each inch on the tabletop represented 150 yards. So the French troops that were "only" 6-7 inches away were actually 900-1050 yards distant!

Also interesting was the difference between "ployed" and "deployed" units. Ployed units can be seen in column, moving towards the objective at a faster rate. Deployed units have fallen out of column and move slower. Each turn, a commander can usually move 2-5 units from Ployed to Deployed. And it's important to make sure this transition happens before contacting with the enemy, as Ployed units aren't counted when comparing against a units overall Fatigue. A brigade with only two or three Deployed units is extremely like to break and run if they get into combat.

Over on the other side of the table, the Prussians were quickly being swarmed by two columns of French troops.

Both sides were quickly deploying as many of their units as they could. The Prussian cavalry moved in to attack (there's a whole thing in the rules were certain units can change their Order status under certain conditions), but were beaten back by the French infantry.

I should note that each of these stands of infantry, cavalry or artillery represent a brigade, squadron, or battery, respectively. ESR operates at a level where units don't have to worry about whether their troops are in line, square or column, although being attack in the rear edge of the stand is still problematic.

With one of my infantry brigades on defense, I ordered my second brigade to do the same as I deployed as many infantry battalions as possibly. My army commander looked on from the hilltop as my cavalry brigade readied itself.

The French pushed in, driving back my cavalry and moving against both my infantry brigades.

Over on the left, the French and Prussians were fully engaged, with waves of infantry impacting.

At the 150 yard scale, combat from 0" to 6" is considering skirmishing and artillery fire, and its not until units come into combat that "combat" occurs (which is what most other, smaller scope games would fight out in full).

For my Russians, it wasn't looking good. The French had a better overall Combat Rating for most of their battalions, my cavalry was in full retreat, leaving a massive gape in my center, and the French had set up their artillery to pound my left flank.

It also didn't seem to be going well for the Prussians, who had been caught off-guard with the speed of the French advanced on their positions.

By then I had to leave for the drive back home, so I thanked the guys running the game and packed up.

Overall, my experience with ESR was mixed. I should admit that it probably wasn't enhanced by the migraine I had, much like the game of Chain of Command I had played at a previous HMGS convention. But at the same time, there were certain things about ESR that just felt off.

For example, compare the command and movement of troops to skirmishing, artillery, and combat. There are plenty of modifiers and well laid out charts to work out combats between units. Moving troops, on the other hands, feels far too... soft, I suppose. I wasn't sure if it was because I was a first time player, but it seemed odd that I had to pick a single geographic point to order my troops toward, while it seemed like the French moving against me had far freer movement to pick and choose where they wanted to go. Whether or not this was a misunderstanding on my part or something that wasn't fully explained, I didn't think to clear up.

I did end up getting the rulebook, so at the very least I can add that to my reference collection

Kicked In the Mule - By Company Into Line AAR

Last weekend I went back up to Pennsylvania to attend Cough Wars... Cold Sores... er, Cold Wars. I was hoping to attend both Friday and Saturday, but with COVID-19 reaching pandemic levels, I wasn't feeling it and decided to skip out after just going Friday and hitting the dealer hall (where you could tell just how down attendance was by the lack of people). 

I did manage to get into both games I had signed up for on Friday, however. My first game was a 28mm American Civil War scenario, run by John McConnell using his convention rules, "By Company Into Line."

The scenario saw the Union launching an attack against the Muleshoe Salient during the Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, during the early hours of May 12th, 1864. 

The table looked fantastic, with plenty of additive terrain that didn't affect game-play but did wonders for the eye.

The goal for the Union was to get over the defensive perimeter and capture three objectives, evenly spaced in the Confederate territory - the ammo dump, supplies depot, and headquarters camp. They would also score victory points for holding sections of the perimeter and moving units off the opposite table edge.

The Confederates needed to keep the objectives mentioned about, along with the trenches, but also scored Victory points for each Union unit that was fully removed.

The attacking union force consisted of eight units (I'll call these regiments) made up of three to four stands (companies) of ten models each.

I took control of the three Zouave regiments.

The other two Union commanders took the rest of the infantry split into a three regiment command, and a two regiment command.

We decided to commit all of our forces to the Union's left flank, with the Zouave regiments on one side of the fence and the rest of the Union infantry on the other in the fields.  The plan was to move forward as aggressively as possible to get up and over the trenches. If we couldn't make a breach in the defenses by turn five, the game would end as a decisive Confederate victory.

Not knowing where the Union attack would come from, the Confederate defenders had spread their companies across the trenches.

This also meant that the Confederates had to activate their units according to the card draws (each card was of a certain color - blue, red, green, white - that matched a company's color in each regiment). The Union units, as long as they stayed in contact, could move together on any card drawn as long as that stand's color was in the unit. Command stands, marked in yellow, could activate on any color as long as it matched a stand in the unit.

One daring Confederate general, seeing his sector of the line was completely open, decided to move his men out of the defenses in a flanking maneuver.

As the closest units to the Confederate trenches, my Zouaves were the first to make it up and over the trenches.

With the weight of fire and a bloody counter attack the Union was forced back out of the trenches, which the Confederates happily re-manned.

My infantry were further punished by the flanking maneuver, which devastated the already bloodied Zouave regiment that had breached the trenches.

I was able to give some of that back with the arrival of a fresh Union regiment. The scattered Confederate companies out in the open made for inviting targets.

My troops were also able to make another hole in the Confederate lines, but it was a tenuous position and unlikely to last long.

While my men were pushing at the Confederate center, the brunt of the Union attack was finally coming to bear against the Confederate right. However, the numbers that helped the Union along also hindered their advance, slowing the Union's progress.

While the card draws allowed the Confederates to move first, a failed charge and a strategic retreat saw half of the Confederates beyond their defenses back behind them. My fresh regiment of troops fired and wiped out a full company of rebels, along with their command stand.

While it seemed like a decent trade at the time, I came to realize that this meant the Confederates would be difficult to remove, even with my superior numbers.

The Confederate right was drowning in blue as the Union came on, and another breach in the rebel defenses was opened.

With so many Union troops coming on, the Confederates were forced to bring their reinforcements on directly into the fight. While the Union was capturing trenches and moving units off the table, the Confederates were able to anchor their flank on the headquarters camp objective and keep the fight going.

As the attack continued, the Union lines finally swung right and began advancing towards the headquarters camp objective.

With my Zouaves all but exhausted, my attacking force was reduced to two regiments. The Confederates were quickly moving any available companies over to intercept the new threat.

But when the time came to throw my men against the line, my dice went cold and I barely managed to do any damage. One of my two regiments cracked and were forced back, while the other was unable to move far enough to off any support.

The tattered remains of my Zouaves watched on as the scenario reached its time limit and the Union attack faltered.

After counting up the victory points for both sides, the final scored ended up being 29 points for the Confederates and 10 points for the Union - a stunning Confederate victory. It would have been closer had my attack been more effective, as the Union would have gotten control of a long stretch of trenches. But it was the failure to capture any of the objectives that ultimately doomed the attack to failure. Not putting so much of the Union's forces in one flank might have helped as well.

I enjoyed the rules and the scenario. The GMs were fantastic, and I would happily return for more action using By Company Into Line.

Black and Blue and Green All Over - Mordheim AAR

I've been taking part in a Mordheim campaign at a local shop, using my Orcs & Goblins. They're an... interesting warband. I decided to lean heavily into the goblins and squigs, which may have been a mistake. But by this point I'm relatively behind the rest of the group since I can't make the regular meetup nights, so I should just start throwing the greenskins into the fray and just deal with the consequences at the other end.

One recent game was against Les and his Reiklanders in a modified version of Wyrdstone Hunt, with six wyrdstone counters on the table.

While I had managed to grab three of the six, enough of my squigs, goblins and orcs went down and I decided to retreat rather than continue to be shot full of arrows. Unfortunately, my leader got captured. Les was kind enough not to just slit the orc's throat, but he did take his armor and Lucky Charm.

I also played against Christan and his Possessed in a normal version of Wyrdstone Hunt. I knew his warband was pretty far along in their progression, so I was looking to just feed my goblins and squigs to the twisted freaks and get away.

The strategy worked, but I lost enough of the henchmen that I had to spend most of my gold to get them back, and the advances I got weren't especially useful.

I'll probably continue to muddle through in the campaign, but I probably wouldn't try this version of the warband again.