Going The Way of The Warriors in Leighton Buzzard 2016
Buccaneer vs More Pirates
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Eastern Forest Indians
Game 3 Buccaneer vs More Pirates
The final game, and with two victories under our pirate belts the stage was set for more Pirate action!
The lists for the Buccaneer and More Pirates from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Leighton Buzzard can be seen here in the FoG:R Wiki.
There are only a few ways to make up a Pirate army, assuming that the 12 Superior Pirates are as good as compulsary anyway. The choices revolve around whether to take a Great Commander (probably always, and definately if you have paid for a ship as it gives an advantage in trying to get a Waterway) and then its sort of whether you have 2-3 Dragoons or the unit of bombers
I care not for a slimy deckhand. Just be givin' me th' flintlock! The last game of the day would be a straight Pirate on Pirate fest, with me band o'hearties against another band of hopefully less hearty hearties. This did mean that two ships would be on table, my Old Glory resin beastie and a plastic Revell Pirate ship - although unfortunately not the iRevell internally lit Ghost Ship
!
Piratey Music to listen to as you read
Land Ahoy ! With both ships agreeing to shoot on their own sides of the table, a defensive terrain layout meant that the opposition Pirates were lining up for a stout defence, leaving my brave boys to rush across the remarkably verdant greenery of the tabletop and bring them to battle close to their baggage - again opening up the possibility of a glorious victory built on loot and plunder
Weigh anchor and hoist the mizzen! With a more cramped frontage due to the terrain, the standard "drag and drop" tactic was a little harder to pull off, and so the Mad Pirates were generally sent ahead to do their worst whilst the rest of the laggards lagged behind
But, with the opposition simply waiting, there was ample time to redress the piratey lines before both sets of scallywags got into musket range, and soon a skill-free battle plan was forming up everywhere.
Well, almost everywhere. The enemy had gone for the rather risky pseudo-mounted unit of dragoons and LF on the far flank, and this incredibly unusual one of the two possible ways you can put together this list at 800AP meant that an irritating and potentially dangerous hail of desultory fire was soon falling on the pirate units on my right - and with only 3 Generals on table, my own local indian mercenaries decided that turning tail and retreating was much better once they received their first cohesion marker of the day
Heave Ho! No such subtleties in the middle though - two lines of Pirates and everyone was ready to go.
The retreat of the Indians had exposed the boring Pirate 6-pack extending my line to some additional fire, and they soon realised that this was not something they were happy about at all, losing bases and cohesion as they came under prolonged shelling. But, the dragoons were inherently vulnerable as just a 2-pack, so all hope was a long way from being lost, especially with more Pirates arriving together with one of the small handful of Generals on my side to bolster morale.
This was a game of luck, and it was being shared equally on both sides - the retreating Indians had been forced to stand and take it as they were pursued by their compatriots - and at long range, their disruption counted for naught (1 side per 3 bases, lose one in 3 dice = 2 dice) and now the enemy Indians were also DISR. The tide had turned and the mainsail had been hoisted!
Pirate Jokes
Regaining cohesion and forming a neat firing line my Pirate lads stepped forward smartly and unleashed barrages of musketry against the less numerous enemy forces on this flank.
FoGR hint - dragoons can't charge steady infantry .
Old Pirates fought Old Pirates hand to hand in the forest as the newly ere-energized Boring Pirates started to mass their fire and carve cutlass-width holes through the enemy 6-pack they were facing off against, whilst their Dragoons looked impotently on
But, in the centre, both sides were causing each other horrific casualties through the exchange of musketry - they would be lucky if anyone was left on either side by the time it came to cutlass-blows!
With the tide of fire swinging against my forces on the right it seemed an ideal time to trust to luck and charge home !
Having blown away the enemy 6-pack and dragoons suddenly my band o'hearties were also enjoying a large slice of advantage pie on the far right as well, and multiple units converged on the rather battered enemy holding onto the edge of the woodlands, threatening to sweep them away and roll up the whole enemy flank!
In the centre, the tactic of charging home and trusting to luck had paid off admirably, with a spectacular double-drop on the enemy in impact ! The leadership of my Great Commander (not committed to combat, but there anyway) had borne great big juicy fruit and now the enemy had a potential catastrophic hull breach on their line! Thar she blows!
Pirate-Tea
But, it was not to be, and as the battle swing like a hammock below decks in a tropical storm, the enemy forces re-girded their loins and fought back, breaking my presumed-triumphant Pirates and smashing most my right central force
Things were also looking dicey on the left, as some of the Old Pirates came to blows and my men came off much worse, picking up 2 cohesion markers before their friends could join the fray
They held on.. and rallied !
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Ahoy, me Hearties! This was clearly the trend of the moment! The CinC inspired his routing Old Pirates on the right flank to reconsider their decision to rout and flee, and they rallied up to Fragmented from Routing under his spyglass gaze!
As one Old Pirate unit steadied, another turned and fled
This flank was teetering for both sides, as fresh units from my reserve line stormed into combat against the larger, but more battered enemy Mad Pirates tipping them over the edge to defeat!
With the Old Pirates then rallied back to DISR, the sheer weight of attrition on both sides had racked up to a point at which my army had just avoided breaking, but the Pirates on the other side of the table had run out of men and morale, and a famous victory had been the result!
The Result is a win for my band o'hearties!
Read on for the post match summaries from the Generals involved, as well as another episode of legendary expert analysis from Hannibal
Post Match Summary from the Buccaneer Commander
Well, jumping jellyfish, it's a third victory for Pirate-ey goodness, and jolly well deserved too I must say, even if in doing so I actually say so myself. It was almost as if we had learnt from the previous games and remembered what to do as well. When you have fielded the army before in a number of games, it meant that me and my happy bunch of ragamuffin scoundrels that pass themselves off as an army knew exactly what we were doing here...
I think that clarity of thought and execution was in stark contrast to that of the enemy Pirates and their cowardly and lazy approach. Admittedly we did end up in two identical lines facing off against each other and left the result to the dice, but it would have been far braver to do so in the middle of the table than on one side of it. Pirates need to be inspired with a shot o'rum rather than kept calm and static, and this showed that our blood was up and so was our dander
At least this was a victory for taking the initiative, seizing the day, grabbing the cabin boy by the capstan and hauling him up.... oh, erm, well.. never mind about that, we won fair and square by attacking with vigor, which must always be better than waiting for it to happen to you.
Although, come to think of it, that does remind me of a rather special night I spent in a rum house with the crew of a Swedish merchantman on a small island off the coats of Antigua once.. but that is a different story, for a different time and a different website no doubt too.
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
By the foul bowels of Davy Jones, ye reef monkey! Did ye shank me sea monkey in trying to seek credit for yersen' in this victory? Ye was fortunate in a way that no-one has been fortunate since Lucky Jim tripped over a gold bar in the street outside the Jamaica Inn and fell nose first down a manhole cover into the middle of "All you can tup for Free (Ladies and Cabin Boy's included) Wednesday" at Wild Mary's Underground Brothel!
Yer enemy was spendin' most of this game waitin', but the unimaginative advance of your one-dimensional excuse for a balanced force across the table was not that brave - you take no honour or credit fer this me heartie, none at all.
In truth you dithered somewhat on the right and almost allowed yourself to be outflanked and rolled up by an identical army. You also left your force allocation somewhat dangerously weakened on the left - and ye failed to win with both of yer Superior units too, so quite how you can see yer'sen runinng away and down the local hostelry to celebrate winning this event is rather beyond me - and for that alone whence I be done keelhaulin' yer men, I'm going t' plank yer myself wi'a monkey's paw.
I suppose I should however pay a grudging respect for achieving a final podium placing, but to do so is not in my nature as you so well know, and I fear that Damnation would seize my soul if I gave you quarters, or take any from you - so onwards to another more usual performance next competition we sail!
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Game 2 Buccaneer vs Eastern Forest Indians
Game 3 Buccaneer vs More Pirates
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