Ambush at Lone Pine Creek

Ambush at Lone Pine Creek

This was our first attempt of colonial fighting, using the rules "The sword and the Flame". However due to the fact I had begun rebasing my Indian and Cavalry figures onto single bases to play the solo rules "Pony wars". I thought I would use these figures and a variation of the rules called the "The Tomahawk and the Flame" by Hans Van Stockhausen.
The scenario was that the U.S player had an company of infantry under Lt Fetterman and a scout, that we named Chisum . Their orders were to escort Mrs Carrington, the Colonels wife back to Fort Phil Kearny after she had been to Fort Reno on a shopping trip. The Colonel had also sent out a company of Cavalry to bring them in safely. The cavalry may appear sometime during the game.
On the Indian side, Red Cloud had set up an ambush with 4 war parties of 20 Indians each.



Turn one, the convoy enters the table , Lt Fetterman asks Chisum to check the woods for any pesky indians.


Chisum discovers two war parties, one straight in front and one to his left. He shoots at the charging Indians killing one. This acts as a warning signal for the infantry who quickly form a line.



The Infantry fire a volley and kill two and wound three more. The rest of the Warparty turn around and run back into the woods.


Just as they think they have everything under control, another war party arrives in their rear. Lt Fetterman has to send back half his company to act as the rearguard.


The war party on the left comes sweeping in around the woods, killing Chisum before he could get back to his comrades.

The rear guard fire a volley and halt an Indian charge who then retreat to reorganize.

The rearguard faces another charge, this time the Indians charge home and kill or wound most of the infantry, apart from plucky soldier who kills three Indians before retreating to the rear.



With the rearguard collapsing and the front about to receive another attack. Lt Fetterman urges Mrs Carrington to escape.



Mrs Carrington escapes through the woods and into the clearing. Behind her she can hear the last desperate struggle as the indians close in on the three surviving infantrymen.


Lt Fettermen and his men make a final last stand, just as they hear the bugle call of the cavalry.

The Cavalry arrive at last on the table, but is it too late.

An Indian war party comes out of the woods to meet them.

The Indians manage to capture Mrs Carrington and lead her off the table.

The Cavalry are blocked from rescuing Mrs Carrington by a new war party arriving from their right. They decide to retreat and report to Colonel Carrington of the bad news of his wife.

Conclusions

We enjoyed playing these new rules, although I felt we made a few mistakes. We had kept the measurments the same as 25mm, but found on our smaller table , the units were moving far to fast. Next game we are going to halve all measurments apart from firing.
We also felt the rules for wounded were a bit boring as they could do very little, if anything. Next time we will probably having the wounded be able to move 1D6 on their own and fire or fight with a penalty modifier. The next game in a months time will probably be the sequel with Colonel Carrington sending his troops out to attack the Indian villages and rescue his wife.