Muskets and Tomahawks (CelestiCon 2012)

This past weekend I attended CelestiCon 2012 in Fremont, California.  I spent Friday afternoon through late Sunday evening at the event and managed to get in a decent sized game of Black Powder Napoleonic's and six games of Muskets and Tomahawks. 

I have to say that I greatly enjoyed CelestiCon - they're extremely accomodating and it was both affordable and full of great people just wanting to hang out and game.

I've spent the last two months creating all new terrain to use for my French and Indian stuff and this convention was the objective --- my first six games of Muskets and Tomahawks (most of which were 600pt games - go big or stay home) ... and I have to say that the rules are just outstanding.  Each game was unique and a ton of fun.  I still need to finish painting the bases and properly paint/attach the banner tops (was down to the wire on this one) ... but enough of that ... let's see some pictures!

Note:  All miniatures pictured here are from Conquest Miniatures.

Muskets and Tomahawks

Studio Tomahawk Forum

British force based around the 48th regiment of foot:

1 x British Officier

12 x British Regulars

12 x British Regulars

12 x British Regulars

12 x British Grenadiers

8 x Colonial Rangers

8 x Colonial Rangers

6 x Colonial Militia

5 x Civilians

French force based around the Royal Rousillon regiment:

1 x French Officer

12 x French Regulars

12 x French Regulars

12 x French Regulars

11 x Compagnie Franches de la Marine

11 x Compagnie Franches de la Marine

1 x Indian Chief

6 x Indians

6 x Indians

We played a mix of scenarios.  The French won a game in which they had to slaughter all the civilians in order to discourage future settlement of the area ... in which they succeeded ultimately --- but it was a close run thing.  It came down to a random event in which the last remaining civilian ran away from her protectors and got a face full a lead as a result.  That's it for now --- more to come while I recover from a long weekend that was full of gaming at CelestiCon 2012.

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I'll attempt to cover the highlights from two of the larger games we played.

Game 1: Scenario = Raid

Played on a 4'x8' table. The French come on strong but the British are able to get into the middle of town first. There are 7 buildings (size 2) on the table --- so we need put forth that the French would win if they could burn at least 1/2 of the buildings (4). To light a building on fire we needed to get 4 smoke markers ... with the building collapsing when the smoke markers got to 8. The The French regulars put forth a hard fight against the British regulars but one of the random events (all units must take a reaction test if you've lost at least 1/3 of your models) cause some of the regular units to recoil ... so they welcomed a second wave of British volleys when they got back into position (behind stone walls ... but the British rolled very well). The Compagnie Franches de la Marine managed to lite one building on fire while the Indian allies and their leader got another one cooking I took the remanents of 2 French regular units and put a 3rd building on fire on a single card (2 actions each, 2 regular units = flamethrower ). Unfortunately at this point the Colonial Rangers and remaining British regulars had the main road through town ranged in like a WWI trench line ... my few remaining French units and their indian allies just could not get across the road - at least long enough to get a building set on fire - so in the end the British pulled it out by holding off the burning of a 4th building - a minor British victory. We both rolled the same result for our side plots ... which was to make the other fail their objectives.

Game 2: Scenario = Slaughter

This was perhaps the best game of the weekend as it was a narrow run thing throughout each turn. The pictures onthe blog show the table ... with the British having to make a mad dash for the town while the French forded the main river. Two groups of civilians ... one of 3 models ... the other with 2 models (used the LotM characters). Side plots --- British got the "my precious" one ... with some barrels of ale going down wihtin 8" of the officier ... they managed to keep any grubby French or Indian hands off of the ale throughout the game so the British met that objective. The French officer was an imposter! He could not get closer than 4" to any friendly unit or be recognized as a poser.

A French regular unit managed to riddle Hawkeye, Uncas and Chingachgook with enough lead to mean a movie sequel is off the table ... with Alice and Cora Munroe making it to a unit of Rangers who had run through a corn field to surround them. An Indian unit and their leader managed to get a few models into melee with the Rangers and Cora Munroe ... they lost 3 indians with 1 ranger and Cora Munroe meeting a gruesome death by tomahawk. With only Alice Munroe left (and thank god no cliffs around for her to toss herself off of) the British regulars finally made it to town ... creating a wedge that would protect the withdrawl of Cora Munroe from the field of battle. The British regulars paid dearly for their screening of the withdrawl ... primarily because we drew a random event --- and just as I was telling someone that "there is one that makes all civilians panic" ... we rolled exaclty that event. So off went Cora in flight ... wilst she milled about by a building many British regulars paid the ultimate price. Once she decided to move again we got her behind a house with her escort of rangers and a small unit of regulars. We then ended up pulled the next random event and she decided that being by soliders was unwise and took off running into a field at just that moment the British regular unit screening that withdrawl route got recoiled and opened up a shot for a large unit of Compagnies Franches de la Marine .. who promptly delivered a lead transfusion. Win for the French.