the field of battle, so peaceful right now,
when viewed this way north is to the top of the picture, the capital is to the right
As it turned out Trunkmonkey was the lone gamer available so I took over the task of running the Proper Meal Faction (a bad choice as I am terrible with cavalry and the rescue force was entirely mounted!).
The forces involved were generated in a semi-random manner; essentially I drew up four likely looking forces for each side and then diced to see which one was going to be present for the game. Each force commander will have some limited options to change the composition on the day of the game but they will consist of simple swaps for similar troop types. The Small-Platers force can be seen below; three Commanded Shot and one each of Trotters, Shot and Pike. Their mission is to destroy the nascent enemy earthworks (and hopefully the gun and the supporting troops in the bargain as well). They are laid out on the table but have available the flank-marching options listed in the scenario as described earlier.
The game was played using Pikeman's Lament rules, the attacker had 18 points worth of troops, the defender 24 points. We had adopted the rule that a missed Command Roll only caused the unit concerned not to move rather than it ending the player's turn.
The Proper-Mealer Faction has some troops stationed on the field standing guard over the work detail who are busily constructing the "Sconce". They consist of a unit of Commanded Shot, a unit of Shot, a Light Gun and a work detail that will function as a unit of Clubmen. Their task will to hang on until the cavalry arrive (quite literally!)
The Proper-Mealer Relief force will be activated per the scenario guidelines and shall rush forth resolutely to heroically restore the situation (at least that is the plan!). They consist of one unit of Gallopers and two units of Dragoons.
Trunkmonkey opened with some "blunt-force trauma"tactics,
bringing all of his troops on from the eastern edge of the table as a solid mass
I responded by firing the warning rocket and advancing my Commanded Shot
to snipe at the approaching Small Platers (this proved to be a less-than-brilliant move)
in response to the alarm rocket most of my "cavalry coming to the rescue" failed to
activate and stayed off board, a lone unit of dragoons made the activation roll!
the Small-Platers continued to advance, only the light blue Commanded Shot failing to move
in response my rapid response force finally made it onto the table
(all from the same road of course which caused a traffic jam)
first blood went to my Commanded Shot as the Grays opened fire on their opposite numbers
and claimed two casualties (my best rolling of the day)
the enemy replied and dropped one of my Commanded Shot,
the Blues moved to the north to support the Trotters that were crossing the bridge
in my turn I fired at the Trotters, scoring exactly two hits,
this was a bad move because.....
....it angered the Trotters who then charged (and I failed my Evade roll)
and slaughtered my troops to a man
elsewhere the rest of the Small-Plater force marched steadily ahead
the southern Commanded Shot occupied one of the cottages
this so befuddled my Shot unit that when I ordered them to Shoot they instead decided to charge
out of cover and stand about in the middle of the road!
at the same time another missed Command roll left the bridge blocked by a Dragoon unit
forcing the Gallopers to veer off and take a movement penalty crossing the ditch
the Proper Meal cannon made a proper mess of the Trotters,
small vengeance for the loss of an entire unit
of course the lone remaining Trotter passed his Morale test!
I was beginning to feel the pressure of my poor Command dice rolls, two thirds of
my force was on the wrong side of the battlefield and not responding to orders!!!
as the Small-Plater Pike began crossing the bridge the lone surviving Trotter boldly advanced against the flank of the cannon that had killed his comrades, the Commanded Shot followed his lead, in a rare bit of bad dice-rolling Trunkmonkey fail his Shoot orders with both the Commanded Shot in the cottage and the Shot unit by the canal
having gotten their feet wet crossing the canal the Gallopers decided to take a turn off and let the Dragoons advance, the Shot unit scampered back into cover and the cannon took aim at the approaching Pike unit and unleashed a mighty blast....
....of nothing! The Small-Plater Pikemen laughed loudly and made rude gestures
the lurking Commanded Shot took advantage of my slow-moving Dragoons
to open fire and empty a saddle
to the north the rest of the Small-Plater force advanced rapidly toward the objective
while the Shot unit collected themselves and got over their Wavering
my Shot unit took aim and fired on the enemy Shot unit
and managed to generate one casualty, causing them to Waver
in the Small-Platers turn the lone Trotter, enraged at the loss of so many
of his fellows that owed him money, charged the offending artillery piece
the artillerymen, safe behind the one wall that had been finished , made short work of him
but the sniping from the approaching Commanded Shot units
claimed one of their number while the Pike unit ground steadily forward
the cottage enclosed Commanded Shot showed the Dragoons the dangers of
waiting around in the middle of the road and dropped two more of their number
in an attempt to escape the skirmish fire the Dragoons charged the Shot unit
while the Gallopers took it upon themselves the rest again
the Dragoons managed to kill two Shot, but received a casualty in return
spotting the pile of corpses in the roadway the second dragoon unit chose the take
the movement penalty and move through the field behind the Shot unit
at this moment the Cannon chose to fail its Command roll and declined to fire at the Pike
the Pike, on the other hand, did NOT decline to charge
into the cannon and stick them rudely with the pointy part of their pikes!
in an absurdly lucky die roll the Artillerymen managed to rebuff the advances of
the Pike by scoring two hits, this left the melee a tie and the Pike retired to rally
I managed to squander this opportunity failing ALL BUT ONE Command roll,
the entire Proper Meal side stood still aside from the Gallopers who advanced
Trunkmonkey did not fail to take advantage of this; the Commanded Shot on the hill fired into the gunners and the the Pike returned to the assault with renewed vigor, routing the gunners and taking the cannon, the Cottage Commanded Shot dropped one of my Gallopers and the Shot unit rallied form their defeat at the hands of the Dragoons
having lost the objective to the enemy I was forced to press on with the Dragoons and Gallopers to try to force the Pike away from the gun, I moved the Shot unit to rake the field with fire and encouraged the Clubmen to assault the pike (to no avail!)
in the meanwhile my depleted Dragoons fired at, but did no damage to, the enemy Shot
Trunkmoney brought his Commanded Shot down off the hill
as his Pike set about lighting the fort and building supplies afire
in my turn the Dragoons fired at the Pike killing one,
this minor success was followed by the Clubmen attacking the Pike,
a brave but foolish move that saw them flee after suffering horrendous casualties
my Gallopers were to far away to charge the Commanded Shot so were forced to advance instead
the price for advancing into shooting range of the Commanded Shot was another dead cavalryman
as the Shot dropped another Dragoon by the canal
and the Commanded Shot broke cover to take my troops from behind
during my next turn both the Dragoons and Shot fired at the Pike, causing casualties and inflicting a Waver on them, while my long-tormented Gallopers charged the Commanded Shot at the foot of the hill and wiped them out, in his turn Trunkmonkey moved the red Commanded shot into the enclosure with the Pike, to the south the Shot finished off the Dragoons and the other Commanded shot moved into firing position behind my troops
desperate to reclaim the gun and the gun I advanced the Gallopers to the edge of the enclosure and moved the Shot unit into position to assault the Pike, the Dragoons provided ineffectual fire
in support of his rapidly dwindling Pike Trunkmoney fired at my Dragoons
with both the Shot unit and a Commanded Shot unit ....
.....killing two more of the Dragoons,
to my surprise they passed their Morale check
inside the enclosure the Pike sent my Shot packing
in my turn the Gallopers eliminated the Commanded Shot as the my Shot rallied from losing the melee, the Dragoons fired at the Pike in hopes of inflicting a casualty
in his turn Trunkmonkey tried to charge my Gallopers with the Pike but they refused,
fire from his Shot and Commanded Shot finished off my Dragons
my Shot fired, killing one Pikeman (of course they passed their Morale check)
leaving it for my Galloper to finish him off
the Small-Platers fired at my Shot, killing one
as I moved my Shot unit into the enclosure the lone remaining Galloper charged the Small Plater Commanded Shot, they passed their test to evade and skirmished away
the last hero died just an inch from contact
thus began an unequal firefight
until there was just an officer and the Master General of Advanced Workes left
in the next volley both of them fell
wounded in both body and pride Sir Juan is marched off into captivity
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