FoGR in 1695 in Oxford in 2013
Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Anglo-Dutch
Game 3 Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 4 Buccaneer vs Later Polish
Sunday morning saw our band O'Hearties facing the nemesis of almost all who play this cursed game - Alasdair "the Horse" Harley, alongside his trusty sidekick (indeed, some would say "familiar") Mad Jack Hairy McPaddy. This would be a test indeed for the Pirate theory of surviving mounted impact through rear support and judicious placement of generals, however before the combat e'en started much would depend on the fall of the terrain, and whether there was a prospect of our brave lads narrowing the table at all.
See the Pirate Ship being painted here!
The lists for the Buccaneer and Louis XIV French from this game, as well as all the other lists from the games at Oxford can be seen here in the FoGR Wiki.
The Louis XIV have in less skilled hands been seen as an army of sub-Swedish-quality attacking infantry, but here it was transformed into a wall of horseflesh, supported by copious amounts of dragoons and an artillery park to make Napoleon tremble. It would be an interesting opportunity to watch the tactic du jour in action, and try and reverse engineer from the display of our opponents the magic in the seeming madness of combining such disparate troop types to possible good effect
Thar she blows! The terrain had not fallen kindly at all for our Band O'Hearties - a field on the left, a small mangrove plantation on the right and naught but a vast pale expanse of sand betwixt them both (in the shape of a battle mat that Games Workshop used to sell over a decade ago - arguably one of the few good value things they have ever let sneak out of the doors of their retail emporia)
What's a-hoistin' the Jolly Roger here then?
The Pirates are trying their best to fill the rather terrain-free table, whilst the Louis XIV French have stacked their left flank (on the Pirate right), and this is also where the two batteries of heavy artillery are positioned. The Pirates flank is in theory defended by some terrain on this side, but the French have a lot of dragoons on table as well, so are well equipped to contest it
Our Band O'Hearties were stacked deep to try and maximise their rear support as the enemy mounted thundered towards them - but, Son of a biscuit eater! As soon as the starting gun was fired the first casualties were being removed by the accurate gunnery of the Frenchmen. Units of 6 average Pirates would struggle to take too much of this..
Splice the mainbrace! The 2 solitary (eh?) French Foote units and their gunnes had deployed to the right of me Band O'Hearties advance, and so, knowing that this was a fixed anchor in their line, and that the horse would just skitter away me Band O'Hearties staged a furious charge across the open beach towards the enemy, with their Great Commmander standing as tall as only a 28mm figure from Redoubt can do when surrounded by 15-18mm figures from manufacturers as diverse as Peter Pig, Grumpy's, Blue Moon and a newly raised unit from a US manufacturer who sells Napoleonic Naval crew including a pack of Barbary Pirates, called Thoroughbred Models.
Vic Reeves explains The Barbary Pirates
Dead men tell no tales, but alive Light Foote still can spin a yarn or two, and so swiftly withdrew the near-useless bombers behind the lines as the enemy advanced upon them with light horse and dragoons text
What's rattlin' me cutlasses here then?
The Pirates advance on a broad front, and in response the French generally sit back, probing with dragoons on both flanks. Their only aggressive move is to push forward two units of Horse on the Pirate right, and as the French artillery continue to pound the oncoming Pirates these two units of French Horse are zeroing in on the point in the Pirate line which is suffering most from Artillery fire.
As our band O'Hearties charged onwards, the French artillery ranged in on them again and again - soon the fall of cannon balls was joined by some rather unlikely Superior carbine armed horse, who, in combination with one of the 5 units of enemy dragoons were able to zero in and pick on an already weakened Pirate units, hurling an unsurvivable 3+3+4=10 dice at the rather shellshocked (and by now resigned to their fate) 6-strong Pirate unit, sending it down to DISR and a base off autobreak in short order. A hole was already appearing in the Pirate right..
The rougher the seas, the smoother we sail. Ahoy! On the far left the lack of dense terrain on the flanks was again proving problematic, and a unit of French Dragoons had snuck past the 4' long Pirate lines and were considering making a dash for the Pirate camp. This prompted our band O'Hearties to turn about one of their units to counter the threat - but at the risk of depriving the front line of rear support which would surely be needed in the coming battle were they to survive an inevitable mounted onslaught
How does a pirate know what he is going to do today?
He checks his itinerARRRRRY!
Splice the mainbrace! Our band O'Hearties left flank was where the French had largely denuded their forces already, and the support-lite Pirate army was advancing into a big open space. All the French strike troops had already started the march across to their own left, better to exploit the opportunities created by their own gunnes
What's floatin' me rowboat here then?
The French artillery has already knocked some holes in the Pirate units advancing towards it on the right flank, and the French Horse are quick to take advantage of the dissaray in the Pirate ranks - they charge home against the already reeling Pirate units. In the centre the French continue to play their waiting game, as on the other flank the threat of some of the French dragoons sneaking round the back of the Pirate army has forced the Pirates to denude their rear support of a unit, who are despatched to deal with the dragoons
These men a being scallywaggin' like a mutinous giant squid, and as they wriggled as if on a hook, those opportunities were fast becoming real, as the inevitable was bowed to and the first Pirate unit, unable to stand up to the weight of incoming fire, broke and fled. The outcome was not unexpected, and fortunately only one of the lowest-value Pirate units was broken (Average Musket Sword in a 6-pack) but still it was a problem our band O'Hearties would have preferred not to have to face if the terrain had been kinder to them.. and the writing was on the wall as far as their ability to advance all the way to the enemy artillery park was concerned.
Our band O'Hearties started to return fire with some aplomb, and as the Carbine armed French horse charged forwards, they too suffered base losses - but even at this early stage the continued combination of Dragoons, Carbines and 4 artillery was skittling out one Pirate unit after another - as soon as they lost cohesion each Pirate unit found itself the target of an enemy charge, or the attentions of a cloud of sniping dragoons.
The next unit to go was the unit made up of men from that American company I mentioned earlier - the Barbary Pirates were going back to Barbaria in a real hurry.
Vic Reeves explains The Barbary Pirates a bit more
Arrr! But - a glimmer of hope - as the French had charged down and pursued the Barbary Pirate unit, they had left their flank exposed. One band of brave hearties decided that, with a gaping flank and 2 units down already, that the time had come to try and take any points that might be on offer in this game, and launched a charge - taking on another French mounted unit frontally, but, crucially, clipping the already half-dead Carabiniers in the flank!
The Carabiniers were swiftly routed, and e'en the proper Horse were a base down and DISR - but by now our band O'Hearties were also deeply eroded, down to 4 bases and carrying a DISR marker, so this fight would not last long either way. And when, not if, our band O'Hearties broke their army would be 3 units down and with naught but thin air on this whole flank
However, the crumbs of advantage were still being picked up by the jack sparrows of opportunity by the Pirate Captain - the debacle on the flank had at least bought some time and allowed his men to make fast progress towards the enemy infantry and centre, where French Horse waited patiently. There was still time for a brave and heroic charge - and possibly a few more units - before the loss of the flank was felt in the form of marauding French horsemen rolling it up
What can I spie through me spyglass here then?
The French Horse on the Pirate right, following up on the opportunity created by their artillery park have smashed a big hole in the Pirate flank, and although one French unit has been broken the other now has almost free reigh behind the Pirate lines. The Pirates are also several units down before their main attack hits - or is hit by - the French centre
The Pirate charge went in - with their biggest units and their Superior quality Old Pirates both engaged, all led by Generals and cheered on by both the Great Commander and ample rear support, nothing could be better prepared for our band O'Hearties to do their dastardly worst to the waiting Frenchmen. This was the big chance to turn the tables….
Vic Reeves on Pirates
And the end result was an absolute shambles. Each Pirate unit lost the combat by a huge margin, each lost bases, and each one dropped cohesion - the Superior General-led, supported unit even managing to double drop and go straight to FRAGGED. The game now was up…
Who is a pirate's favorite actor?
Peter Sarrrrrrsgaarrrrrrd!!
Likewise on the right flank, as the last Pirate unit, seeing its colleagues and crewmates humbled in the centre, gave up the unequal fight and broke and fled under a hail of swordstrokes from the French Horse
In the centre things were going from really, really bad to much, much worse - the Old Pirates had broken, and burst through their rear support - the French Horse ploughed forward, catching the disorganised Pirates in the open and riding them down at will
That combat lasted mere seconds as the 8-stroing unit itself double-dropped and broke - they were now no longer providing any meaningful opposition to the French, and were only competing with the Superior Pirates to see who could rout the furthest and fastest…
The same pattern was being repeated across the field of battle, as on the left wing French Horse waded in and rode over another Pirate formation, seemingly unable to roll anything like the cohesion dice needed to even make this much of a contest.
What can I spie through me spyglass here then?
The Pirate assault on the French centre has imploded spectacularly, and the army is now at the point of total collapse. Only a handful of units remain intact against the more lightly held French right flank.
Amongst the darkness of a swiftly falling tropical sundown the Prates desperately looked for shafts of sunlight - a measure of their despair was the loss of a unit of French Dragoons being greeted like a victory in its own right, as for once the Pirate Dragoons actually achieved something on their own.
But not for long - shot by opposing dragoons they dropped to Fragged, to play no more meaningful role in the battle other than to represent the last AP which brought the Pirate army to it's knees and defeat. The Result is a crushing defeat
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition, or 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
Oh, my timbers are still shivvering like jellyfish on an electric plate in the middle of a tropical hurricane after that humbling humillllllliation. How on earth could my poor men do any more I wonder to myself, as with terrain not falling where we wished, the unfeasibly accurate shooting of the F-f-f-f-rench artillery park, and then the horriffic dice as we did all we could to survive the initial cavalry charge... it seemed as if everything was conspiring to allow us to have a very early Sunday lunchtime and an opportunity to read all of that day's papers in the very nice local hostelry down the road. Hmmm - bacon !
In the face of shuch opposition, and such ill fortune I am at a loss to see what else there was to do here - the support was in place, the generals were in combat, but nothing can take away the role of the bones once they were rolled - and then we too were rolled over. It was at least enlightening to see how the combination of gunnnes, sniping from maneuverable Dragoons units, and sometimes the much maligned Carbine horse can combine to shatter e'en the most well prepared foes and when allied with a rapidly redeploying mounted formation to punch a hole through what is our rather small army.
The only upside I can see from the dolloping dolphins involved in this defeat is that we did manage to keep our skirmishers out of harms way, and to make sure once we did get to the decisive combat we had all our ducks in a duck-shaped row, although having rowed ashore on many a beach I cannot remember many less welcoming sets of natives, although to be fair there was one rather hairy chap who showed me something rather unexpected underneath a palm tree on a dark and stormy night on the north coast of Jamaica once... however I digress..
At least we have put this game, and this opponent behind us now and perhaps we can look for'ard in at least the next game to getting the dammned ship onto the table. That will at least make me a happy sailor ....
Hannibal's Post Match Analysis
Yarrr, give me yer cackle fruit lest I rob yer buggerin' teeth for the shame you have heaped upon all of the Spanish Main for this farrago of a disaster of a shambles masquerading as a battle plan.
Curse ye, and curse ye dice as well - there is no battle plan that depends upon good dice that is ever going to stand up in court once you are hauled to face yer crew - and once they have heard that yer plan was naught but good perparation and good dice I feel they will all be a'cryin "Plank that buggerin' dagger-brain!".
If I see any more battles where you fail to properly defend your flanks, put your weakest units in the place where the enemy is going to be attacking most strongly and then fail to support them with your artilllery I'll be cuttin' off yer teeth an' feedin' it to me maggot.
There is one game left for you to salvage your reputation, but for me the choice is positively Sharesperian in whether you should be allowed to command in it - T' shark-chum or not t' shark-chum: tis th' question!
I hope that Sunday lunch has filled yer' belly and put some more brains in yer pants, as another repeat performance will throw away all the points earned on Saturday, and if that swift fall from grace takes plaice then they surely be a keelhaulin' on yer powder chest like a malmsey-nosed shark in yer next battle !
Click here for the report of the next game in this competition
You can also comment, "like" or give feedback on these reports on either the Madaxeman.com Facebook Page or the Madaxeman.com Blogger Site.
Game 2 Buccaneer vs Anglo-Dutch
Game 3 Buccaneer vs Louis XIV French
Game 4 Buccaneer vs Later Polish
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