AWI Tory and Indian Raid Sharp Practice AAR

Before moving on to new games for a bit we decided on one last Sharp Practice for a few weeks before something new to break things up, little did we know it would be the last game before lockdown. It was also Marks first game back since work went mad in November so a nice one to ease back in.

I took the Torys and Indians as I was yet to play with Indians, Mark took the rebels. We were playing on a 4 x 4 foot table so we got to grips quicker.

The objective for me is to capture or burn the farm.

I had :

A level 3 force commander
A formation of 24 veteran Militia with a level 2 leader
2 units of 6 Jaegers each with level 2 leader
A unit of 6 militia skirmishers with a level 1 leader
A unit of 12 Indians with level 2 leader and move-able deployment point

52 figures

Mark had:

A level 3 Force commander
2 Units of 6 Militia skirmishers on table with level 1 leaders
A formation of 16 militia level 1 leader
A formation of 16 Veteran Militia level 2 leader
2 Groups of 6 Rifle Skirmishers level 2 leaders

56 Figures

So I was attacking with slightly less figures but slightly better quality overall.

The stream in front of my deployment point took a full turn of 2 actions to cross, so I had to be careful, also as soon as I deployed from my fixed deployment point I would be visible and in range of the Rebel militia skirmishers.

Marks first unit of Skirmishers came out first so was wasted with no target, next was my Jaegers who deployed and fired killing one of the Skirmishers straight off.

My Veteran Militia and militia skirmishers follow but I keep the first volley of my militia until we are over the stream, once over I have been able to kill two more of them but Mark has sniped off one of my Veterans with his second unit of Militia and the rest of his force is deploying on behind the farm in support of his militia skirmishers.

Finally on the third turn of cards I get the moveable deployment point forwards and can deploy my Indians into the woods on the flank of the farm, Mark has already anticipated this and pushed one of his rifle skirmisher units towards the woods to block me.

These big trees that Steve has scratch made are fantastic, they really do look like ancient forest.

My Veterans now push forward closing with the Militia Skirmishers who put up a very determined resistance and I am starting to take significant casualties.

My Indians also press forward and Marks rifles come over the crest of the hill and pour two consecutive volleys into them as he pulls 4 flag cards out and plays them to re-activate a unit. I am lucky to get away with just one dead and 4 shock.

In response I charge the rifles with the Indians, we kill two and push the rest back with multiple shock, although I did only manage to get 5 of the 10 figures in on the mellee.

Mark has now moved his formed militia up to the back fence line ready to take on my militia, his second unit of rifles are now lining the fence to the rear of the farm  and protecting that flank. A good volley from my veteran militia destroys one unit of Militia skirmishers and knocks the other one down to one remaining figure and wounds the leader. But these guys have held us up whilst the rest of the rebel force gets organised.

My last unit now comes on table behind the Indians and they have some support in the shape of 6 Jaegers. My other Jaegers and the militia skirmishers push forward taking a small number of casualties and shock off the rebel militia and slowly pushing out to the flanks. Meanwhile my veterans are starting to take serious casualties themselves.

The Indians push over the hill and fire into the rifles, Marks dice are awful and two of the hits become kills, the amount of shock is more than double the two survivors and the unit is removed. To add insult to injury he rolls a 6 on the bad things happen table and loses two morale points. He has already lost 3 morale points for the loss of his skirmish screens and now loses one of his blue flag cards too.

I push my militia skirmishers out right where Mark cant fire at them and he concentrates his fire on the veteran militia, the commander being next to them though keeps the shock levels under control.

We press forward on both flanks and Mark has to split one of his militia formations to stop me flanking him, he is now able to fire into my skirmishers and quickly takes two casualties off.

In the centre casualties are mounting, however the Jaegers on the extreme left have been hit twice by the rebel rifles and are in serious trouble so I start to move my commander over to help with the removal of shock. The last remaining rebel skirmisher drags his wounded leader into the cabin and then snipes another one of my Jaegers off.

The Jaegers start to retreat in disorder so I concentrate on removing shock from my veterans whilst the Indians close with the Marks rifles and get lucky with the draw of cards firing into them twice without response and forcing them to retreat in considerable disorder.

My other Jaegers volley the cabin killing the last skirmisher and then occupy the building themselves. The Indians form on the fence line flanking the rear of the militia and my last 3 skirmishers continue to push around the right flank. Two good volleys into the militia and a bunch of sixes from Mark for saving (not good, these are all kills) sees the rebel militia in some difficulty. I have only captured half of the farm but the force morale of the rebels is nearly spent and I have three skirmish screens on the flanks almost surrounding the rebels and making their position untenable.

At this point we call it a night, a thoroughly enjoyable game, both Mark and I enjoyed it a lot. A close run thing with both sides gaining and losing the initiative throughout the game which seems to be a feature of most of the games we have played and ensures both sides get a really good game.

This was the last game before lockdown kicked in and so the last I may be able to share for a while, hope you enjoyed it.