Tangiers - 1680

In 1660 Charles II was given the Moroccan port of Tangiers as part of his dowry by the Portuguese crown. Seeing the chance to expand British influence into North Africa he invested in the garrison.  Between 1664 and 1684 the British rebuilt the city and fought of a series of attacks by the local Moorish princes, before finally giving up the adventure and leaving. 

Our battle combines several of the engagements fought in that 20 year period. The British must sally forth and destroy 2 forts the Moors are rebuilding on a hill overlooking the town before getting back to Tangiers with at least half their force. The battle was a strategic trap and various Moorish forces will appear to ambush the British. The Moors are played by Ottomans for our game.  

British sally force

The British lined-up in columns with infatry in the centre and advanced cautiously at the waiting Ottoman infatry on the hills.

Forts defenders are ready

After some inconclusive musketry the British finally attacked, routing the centre Ottoman units. Those in the forts proved more resilient and saw-off the initial attacks.   

By this time the Ottoman reinforcements started to arrive and the British left was under pressure with its cavalry being pushed back.   

Ottoman reinforcements arrive and deploy

British Horse are trapped

Centrally further attacks were made on the forts but they still held out.   

Hill is partly captured but the forts fight on 

Eventually the Brits were able to attack from multiple directions and finally take the forts, allowing them to try and with draw. Luckily for them the bulk of the Ottoman reinforcements arrived on the British left, meaning the troops right had limited opposition. 

Forts finally fall

The Brits just managed to get half their units back and claim a victory.

   

Lutzen 1813 - part 2, a Lasselle battle

The second of our 1813 games follows on from the previous Lutzen battle. In this part the French Guards counter attack and try to regain the ground taken earlier in the day. 

The Allies opted to deploy most of their units well forward to deny the French manoeuvre options.  

French Hussars

Austrian Hussars

The French massed to attack mostly the Austrians near Rahna in the east whilst screening the Russians in the west. Things started fairly poorly for the French with them losing their Hussars and so slowing down the attack on that flank.  

They continued to press on the Austrians but were soon under pressure from the advancing Russians.  

French attack Rahna

Reinforced by the Guard they renewed the attack but lost 1/3 of their troops overall and so automatically handed the win to the Allies. The game continued but the Guard were unable to break through and take any territory.   

The Guard arrives

So after 8 turns an Allied Win.  

After 8 turns the French are hemmed in

Game 2 - Breakout

On table 2 we fought a game from Scenarios for Wargamers - the bridgehead breakout. The French had to capture the heights and expand their bridgehead. Both sides started with their cavalry off table.   

 

The French attacked through the centre and against the Germans right flank. 

French central attack

The central attack was repulsed with some losses but the flank attack was more successful and managed to push back the defenders. The game ended with a marginal French win as the Germans were close to losing 1/3 and had been out flanked.      

French take the flank

  

5 - Parsecs; they have a cave troll...

 

Game 1 - Invasion!

In the ninth game of the campaign the Hermes crew found themselves on the jungle world of Amarion when there was a full blown invasion by The Abductors, the aggressive race I met in Game 8. The aim was very simple - survive for 6 turns against 2-1 odds. So the crew holed-up in the research station to await the attack.     

Abductors ready to attack 

Depleted crew awaits the attack

A volley of fire took down 3 of the Abductors as they emerged from the jungle, causing several others to make a run for it. Sadly though the ships resident botanist (Vael) was killed marking the first loss for the crew, but at least they escaped the invasion   

Game 2 - Eliminate

Having fled the invasion the crew were back on the mining worlds of Ivoris and quickly found a job trying to eliminate a group on anarchist who had set fire to an ore processing plant causing a plume of toxic smoke. The twist was they had brought cave troll Hulker with them for support

Anarchists

Half the crew take up position

The toxic smoke worked in my favour here as it meant that all Stuns would instead make the target a casualty. As the Hulker very Tough this was an unexpected boost for me.  

The anarchists made it to melee range but I was able to stun the Hulker before we could inflict much damage and this caused the rest of the group to flee. 

Anarchists get to melee but the crew holds them off

5 Parsecs - tough times

This weekend I managed to squeeze in a couple of games of the continuing adventures of The Hermes crew. 

Game 1 - escort

The first game saw the crew hired by a Patron to escort him to a terminal outside the main bank where  he could upload some plans for a new refinery processing unit. 

Down-town near the bank

The Patron advances

The crew got bounced my some Mercs hired by a rival mining corporation. These guys are pretty tough a certainly a match for my crew.   

Mercs move the intercept

The mission was a success in that the plans got uploaded by the withdrawal I took three losses, which turned into two wounded crew of the next game. As in the previous battle with the Mercs I didn't rout them but we did a deal for them to withdraw.  

Plans safely uploaded

Game 2 - Jungle quest

With the numbers of Rivals rising I blasted off for a neighbouring plant as part of an ongoing Quest to find a sample of the rare, and valuable, Trillium-D mineral. This involved searching a jungle research station.

The jungle station

Abductors mass to attack

Arriving on site I found that a group of aggressive Abductor aliens had arrived as part of an advanced guard for an invasion. I was forced to fend them off while searching 4 locations for the mineral. 

I was able to beat of the attack but the clues proved a dead-end and the quest for the Trillium-D continues.  In the next game I must survive the invasion and blast-off in my ship for a safer world. 

The attack is beaten off