On saturday morning we met at 09.30am and prepared the miniatures for battle, Kalle served us a glass of sparkling wine and Bernhard explained the scenario.
To begin with the Continetals gathered two brigades at the very left shore. Led by rebellious officers they moved directly to Fort George hoping that the French siege artillery on the hill would damage the walls enough to create some breaches.
And those allies did their very best. They fired cannon ball after cannon ball and aimed at the gate which was supposed to be the weakest part of the fortification.
The French running up a 24 pounder and setting the fuze on fire.
But at the opposite end of the table the British and Hessian relief
forces rallied. We commanded six brigades in total and went after
overcoming the Continental defensive positions as quickly as possible.
Whistling "British Grenadiers" I drove my men forward against the American palisades.
Meanwhile some Hessian Jägers with amusettes guarded my flank and fought back a unit of bloodthirsty indian which federalised with the Continental rebels.
But even those fearless redskins weren't able to prevent the biggest surprise of the game. In a daring venture Heinz sent his three cavalry units to our flank at full speed. Luckily he rolled three actions in two subsequent turns and lead his dragoons strait to the back of the American emplacement.
So we crushed the insurgents between our redcoated forces.
But at Fort George things were changing for the worse. Although Klaus,
our commander there, did his very best to fight back the attackers,
Michael and Holger managed to advance closer and closer to the palisades
of the fort.
But when the French finally destroyed the front gate of Fort George the
end came near. Another group of savage indians rushed forwards and
overpowered the overstrained redcoats., The fighting within the fort
continued for some turns but finally the commander of Fort George
conceded an honourable defeat.
Unfortunately Axel was a bit unlucky with moving his ships. the wind seemed to have waned this morning and both ships approached very slowly carrying another brigade which was strongly needed at the wavering fort. But by the way they destroyed the French brigade which was guarding the artillery position by shattering them with their naval guns. A little success at least.
Anyway... Although the Americans had reached a partly victory with taking the fort, we decided to play on. The Kalle's and my Hessian and British forces proceeded fearlessly to the second line of American defence.
The rebels gathered behind chevaux-de-frise but those wouldn't hinder us for long.
The British on the left flank.
And the Hessians on the right.
Although the Continentals fought as brave as possible and their commander Robert acted very cool-headedly, finally they had to give in and their belt of obstacles broke.
The last Americans on our side of the table gathered in Schmied's farm and discussed how to surrender in honour.
But it was too late for us to reach Fort George in time. So at last the French high command watched the striped and stared banner waving on top of the fort's walls. Didier their commander in chief rubbed his hands with glee knowing that he thwarted the British plans once more.
But probably this wasn't the last time those enemies met...
After ten exciting turns we agreed to finish the game. Under the rules of the scenario the Americans made a major victory for conquering the fort while the British and Hessians scored a minor victory for breaking the American defensive cordon. On the one hand it seemed likely that we might be able to reconquer the fort with our superiority of troops but on the other hand there was a barbecue wating!
So we all accepted this fair result after a funny and exciting game.
If you are interested in having a closer view on this table, then visit us at Crisis Antwerp this November. Currently we're planning to show the table and the scenario there with only a few alignments. Look at the homepage of the Tinsoldiers of Antwerp for more info:
Here. If you'll make it there then drop me a line. I would be pleased to meet you personally.
