Muskets and tomahawks - A game review

Hi,

yesterday was the first time after about one year and a half or so that I was able to play a game with a friend. And it was the first time for Walter and for me gaming "Muskets and tomahawks".

The game turned into a fantastic evening with a lot of fun and we both hope to be able to play further games as soon as possible.

We met at Walter´s house, there Walter already had prepared a very nice gaming table. After a short run through the rules, meaning that we both studied the rules at home and now recalled our knowledge of the rules, we decided that Walter would have to play the British and me to play the French.

The British Force  (198 pts):

1 Officer

12 Men of Regular Infantry

5 Indians

6 Torries (Provincials)

The French Force  (201 pts):

1 Officer

8 Men of Regular Infantry

5 Indians

7 Men of Canadian Militia

The scenery for the game.

We then rolled for the objectives. Walter´s British force had to slaughter the civilians hiding in the farmhouse. My objective was to scout all of the four sections on the table and leave with just one unit to report about the geography and the strength of the enemy. The given orders also meant that Walter was able to set up his whole force on the table while my units got on the table as soon as their activation card was dropped from the card deck.

We also decided to have side plots within the game. Walter side plot was "a hateful heart", meaning that he had to kill at least 6 enemies with his officer (enemies killed in melee counting double) without loosing this figure during the game - very suitable to his order to kill all of the civilians. My side plot was "negotiations", giving me a further civilian officer in base contact to my regular officer. In every round they didn´t move I had to check by rolling a D6 if the negotiations had been successful. The side plot would be fulfilled if the negotiations had been successful and the civilian officer survived the game. 

As if this wouldn´t be enough for a first game we also put an event card within the deck.

Walter´s Indians and Irregulars.

The British Regulars.

Walter placed his force on the table and the game started with my Regulars to be the first unit to be activated twice and also getting on the table. I decided to let them walk on the street. The next card from the deck was the same as the first one and gave me another two actions for my French Regulars. 
So another two movements and my Regulars immediately builded a firing line.

The French Regulars approaching.

The Indians of Walter and my Canadian Militia got closer and closer. This should turn into a fierce fire fight during the game.

The Indians from Walter had to be knocked out if I wanted to be able to scout the sector the Mohawks had occupied. 

The Canadians are coming.

The Canadian Militia and the British Mohawks getting closer.

The other difficulty was to keep the British force away from the settlers. But they came closer and so I decided to get my Indians as close to the building as possible waiting for a chance to take the British under fire.

The "Hummers" on their way to the farm.

The "Froggies" waiting for the enemy.

The Canadians trying to get into cover.

The first loss caused by the Mohawks taking the Canadians under fire.

The Provincials in the background firing at the French Regulars with no effect.

The Canadians in cover with one of them shooting at the Provincials without effect.

The Hurons trying to reach the farm.

The British Regulars preparing for a fire fight.

The British shooting causes one loss on the Hurons.

The French and the Civilian Officer negotiating.

The Hurons getting over the fences….

…getting in cover and close to the farm building.

The Canadians splitting their fire on the Mohawks and also on the Provincials.

Yes - the first casualty on the British force.

The reaction test causes the Mohawks to recoil.

Walter´s British and my French had a very fierce fire fight for about half an hour with small effects. Suddenly the Provincials got several activation cards from the deck and managed to bring at least two figures in the right position to shoot at the settler hiding in the building.

The Provincials reaching the building with the settlers.

The settlers had been saved by an activation of the French Regulars still being in firing line. So they got a bonus of +1 and knocked out three Provincials. 

But the French firing line became a sitting duck taken under fire by the British Regulars, the Mohawks and also by the Provincials. As the card deck only has two cards for Regulars they had to stay on the street without cover. 

As the rules say that a firing line can only be build up by 6 figures or more it was a question of time when the French would loose their bonus for a better shooting.

The French firing line killing three Provincials and saving the settlers from being slaughtered.

The Provincials retreating.

The British forming a firing line.

The Provincials are back shooting at the French Regulars. With no effect.

Lucky firing activity of the Hurons causing another casualty on the Provincials.

Another retreat of the Provincials.

The first loss on the French Regulars.

One activation card for the Officer per round is not much. Walter´s Officer tried to get closer to his force but was killed by a lucky shot from a Huron placed next to the building. So, no chance to fulfill the side plot "a hateful heart" for Walter.

Checking the line of sight from a Huron Warrior to the British Officer with a laser pointer.

The Indian bullet found its target and kills the British Officer - no chance to fulfill the British side plot anymore.

The Mohawks killing another Canadian in cover.

Now the fire fights got deadlier. Walter killed my Canadians one after the other and so the reaction tests got harder and harder. So "flights" often happened. This means that the unit has to move back one full movement with a facing away from the enemy. The unit also isn´t allowed to be activated during this round anymore and has to wait for a reshuffling of the card deck to be able to be activated again.

A Huron after entering the building to get into dense cover with the settlers wondering if the Indian is friend or foe.

The Mohawks cause another loss on the Canadians...

…and the British Regulars kill two French Regulars - so this is the end of the French firing line.

After we had two other events to cope with, the third time the event card had been dropped from the deck told us that "the old farmer" will now shoot at a random unit (friend or foe) within 6" of the building. This would happen in every turn as soon as the event card has to be played.

I had an Indian within the building and Walter´s Regulars had been near the building, too.
The roll of a D6 decided that the Regulars will be taken under fire by the farmer. And he caused the "Hummers" to retreat.

The event card and its result - "The old farmer" is activated and will shoot at a random unit near the building.

The old farmer causes the British Regulars to recoil.

The Canadians decimated by Indian shooting.

The game got better and better, the losses got more and more and my camera got out of energy. WTF.

So the end of the game will be reported without further pictures.

Walter´s Provincials got on the windows of the building and shot on the settlers - with no effect. 
My Hurons (three left on the table) got into melee with the Provincials and killed two of them, so there was only one Provincial left. The Provincial retreated giving the British Regulars line of sight to the Hurons. And the next activation card was for - yes, - the British Regulars. Their firing line killed two Hurons and there was also only one Huron left now.

My French Regulars had taken cover in a field, tried to cause casualties on the British Regulars and also knocked one out.

The first morale test for my force - the Canadians wanted to go home and also my Regulars said "Goodbye". So only the Regular Officer, the Civilian Officer and the Huron leader left.

Now the left three Mohawks entered the building and got into close combat with the farmers. We could not believe it. Their attack had no effect but the settlers killed two Indians.

A morale test on Walter´s force (caused by a dropped card) took the last Provincial and also the last Indian off the table. The only left unit were the British Regulars.

My Officers tried to reach the building but got under fire of the British firing line. Both officers lay dead on the ground. So my side plot cannot be fulfilled anymore, too.

As the card deck only had the cards for the left units and also the morale cards the turns of the game got very fast. Another morale check on my only left figure, a single Huron Warrior failed and the game ended for me.

But Walter had to fulfill his objective to slaughter the settlers. The next card activated the Regulars and they managed to enter the building. Another melee. And - again - the Regular´s attack was driven back by the settlers. Though the "Hummers" killed one settler, the brave farmers killed two Redcoats which had to retreat. 

The next card dropped was a morale test on the British. A last roll of a D6 - a thrown "1" and the Redcoats left the table.

So no winner as both of us could not manage to fulfill a side plot or our orders.

The "Oscar" goes to the settlers as they survived with only one casualty and also killed 4 enemies in melee and another two men by the event "the old farmer".

A very very funny game - Walter, let´s play it again as soon as possible.

Cheers

Mike