The Ambush at Cooper's Wood.

 

The country placed and the table is set.

 

 

 

 

"The night air was cool, and the moonlight glistened off the surface of the Silver River as we moved silently through the thick underbrush.

 My name is Sergeant Tomas Harrow, and tonight, my squad and I were far from the safety of our encampment in Cardinalia. Our mission was clear yet heavy with danger: to uncover the rumoured location of a Berylian cache of Lunarite, a substance that has altered the fate of both nations."

 

 

This game will be played using the "Close Wars" rules from Donald Featherstone.

 

This beginning skirmish was a solo adventure. I wanted to see if the recon forces of Cardinalia would fall prey to the Berylian trap. The game progressed over four rounds. Let's follow along.

 Army Red deployed within 9 inches of the table edge, their mission was to find and secure the precious cargo of Lunarite. Army Blue were allowed to deploy up to half of the table's edge and in cover. 

 

Army Red's forces included regular riflemen from the 1st Cardinalian Regiment of Foot, led by Captain George Fairchild. 

(You can read the history on this prestigous unit and Captain in previous blog posts)

Captain Fairchild and his men advance towards the small hill.

Two privates ready their rifles and proceed towards the rocks.

Army Blue was led by Squad Leader Corporal Vance Taryn, of the Iron Squad. He sequestered a group of mercenaries, The Riverclaw Brotherhood, woodsmen and excellent shots to help him set up this ambush. 

 

 

 

The Riverclaw Brotherhood are excellent marksmen.

"Wait to fire until I give the command."

While Army Blue readies it's ambush, Army Red moves forwards and begins to head towards the cache of Lunarite. Rounding the top of the hill, the Army Red Riflemen hear a twig snap, and spin to see the ambushers! 

They quickly leveled their rifles towards the enemy and fired! 

Sixes hit!

In the opening shots of the skirmish, Army Red suceeded in felling the enemy officer and a member of the mercenary band in a brutal close quarters round of shooting.  

(I really did roll two sixes. I know that the rolls could have been flubbed, but the universe wanted Army Red to do well I think) 

The beginning of the second turn saw the mercenaries ready and fire, springing the ambush properly. They were still getting paid, officer or no.

One hit and one miss!

One of the riflemen fall to mercenary fire.

Captain Fairchild leads his men up the hill. They clear the top to the sound of gunfire!

An ambush, sir! 

Army Blue has repositioned and will commence to fire next turn. Meanwhile, Army Red is mopping up the mercenaries on the hillside.

"Give em lead, boys!"

Army Blue is now positioned to fire effectively, and they do so. Their hope is to kill the Captain and rout the rest of the Army Red troops.

Army Blue mercenaries fire to little effect. 

Army Red charges downhill, bayonets fixed if it comes to that. The Captain bravely charges forward with his sabre, aiming for the hardiest looking Riverclaw mercenary.

The final volley from Army Red sorts out the mercenaries amongst the rocks.

The dice are thrown, and quick as silver the mercenary is run through.

"Secure the cache, men. See to the fallen, doubletime."

"The smoke cleared, and the cache of Lunarite was picked up from amongst the fallen mercenaries. Captain Fairchild unlatched the strongbox and gazed at the Lunarite. All of this blood spilt for some stones."

 The game went quickly, and I did my best to play solo with little bias. The rules are simple, and perfect for this kind of engagement. I wanted to get the ball rolling before I move forward with a "big battle" game. I will be using "A Gentleman's War" rules from here on outward, the link to them is below:

A Gentleman's War

I feel that the Riverclaw Brotherhood lost face in this battle, getting shot to hell by the Cardinalians. Captain Fairchild performed wonderfully (albeit a bit slow to get his horse up the slope) and will doubtlessly be commended with a fine glass of brandy back at camp.

Thank you for following along, I hope you enjoyed the photos and the narrative. The next post will be soon, with history on the artillery units of both countries.