Dumfries October 2017 - part 2

Previously on Khaki Drab...

In the first game at the League of Augsburg Dumfries October 2017 weekender, a motley group of Pirates, Natives and Huguenots attacked and destroyed the rum production facility on the Honey River.

But this was a feint and the main attack took place a few months later.

Except it really wasn't really an attack more of a Tarantino-esque saga  of double dealing, betrayal and mild violence that if filmed would no doubt be entitled "Kill Kirke".



The initial set up, Mr Barry Hilton organiser extraordinaire in the background

The protagonists were:
Attackers:

• An expeditionary force of noble Huguenots exiled from their homeland and searching for a new home and a peaceful life(I typed that with a straight font),
• perfidious English supporters of the pretender James (the Huguenot allies);

Huguenots advance!

• pirates with their own agenda which had something to do with picks and shovels;
• natives who were tired of the Bourbon yoke and dreamed of nothing more than their own rum soaked republic in the sun.

Natives defend a mill

Defenders:

• The colonial forces of the treacherous Bourbon king Louis led by a former Huguenot.

Unknown:

• Mysterious British force whose commander had revenge in mind.

The game started and that's where the complexity kicked in. I'll try and summarise though obviously my viewpoint is through Huguenot tainted glasses.

• The Huguenots not trusting Kirk's English forces posted Huguenot officers with their trusted English allies;
• Various accidents then occurred with both English and Huguenot officers falling down cliffs, bathing with crocodiles etc.
• The French and Huguenot's came to an arrangement not to attack each other;

A lot of marching... not a lot of shooting

• After taking a fort from the French the natives joined this entente cordiale;
• Unfortunately, the natives had lost all the forces attacking the fort which the Huguenots then sauntered into and refused to give back;

One fort, fully supplied with excellent views of the sea

• The natives took exception to this and started sniping at the Huguenots;
• Percy Kirke appeared on the field and this galvanised all the other players;

That's a familiar standard

• Despite the best efforts of at least three of the players (my Huguenots were strangely ambivalent) Kirke escapes to betray another day;

Kirke's last stand?

• The other protagonists decide to set up a joint venture with their target Jamaica... but that's another story.

Will Kirke return to fight again?
Will the new Caribbean Republic flourish?
Will the Huguenots actually discharge their muskets or will the new hobby of Peace-gaming catch on?

To be continued (if the organisers choose to do so) at the next League of Augsburg weekend.

Dumfries October 2017 - part 1

This was a continuation of the 1692/3 campaign that had been played out at the previous two  League of Augsburg campaigns.

The valiant Huguenots  were still in the Caribbean enjoying the sun, sea and yellow fever. For this weekend they had teamed up with the infamous Percy Kirke , some pirates and locals to have a go at wresting parts of Haiti away from the French.

First up was a raid on some sugary refineries and a rum factory.

The rum factory on the Honey River

As well as setting fire to the sugar refineries and rum repository there were a number of carts to get off table

The Colonel's company awaits the French

The French approach

Carts start to make their way off table

A final stand off

The raid was successful and the Huguenot's and their piratical allies made off with half the carts and left a trail of destruction behind them.

There are a lot more photos and information on the League of Augsburg blog.

Dumfries March 2017 - Part 2

With the next weekender coming up, I realised that I hadn't posted all my photos from the last one! I'd like to come up with an excuse other than work and the twinnage but, alas, I'm not that imaginative.

So here's a few shots of the Caribbean expedition. Watch out for photographic evidence of the first BLB unit ever to be routed by the local fauna (my die rolling as ever knew no shame).

 

 

 



And meanwhile back in not so Merry England...

Dumfries March 2017 Part 1

 

Another weekend of mayhem, musketry and in my case catastrophic die rolling. This time  Barry and Bob of the League of Augsburg had a little vacation in mind for my Huguenots. It was time to pack the sun screen and get those yellow fever shots - Jamaica was the destination.

The first game was a short affair that didn't go very well for the Huguenot's or their Dutch West Indies Company allies. Against them were some Jacobite forces lead by the infamous Kirke.



Time for a nice walk in the jungle

The Governor's forces await the Williamite onslaught

The long and winding road

The Dutch West Indies Company encounter some hungry locals

Not all the fauna were quite as interactive

There was only one cavalry detachment on the board and although of dubious quality proved highly effective

The Huguenots fail to take their objective and are reduced to trading volleys

This was just the warm-up engagement, there was more to come with heroism, treachery and Haitian pygmy death cults...

Dumfries 2016 - The Main Battles

The second part of the weekend was split into two large battles, the first set at Ripon in northern England where MacKay, Hamilton and Ruvigny faced the Jacobite forces led by St Ruhe, Waunchope and Dundee.

Jacobite start point at Ripon

 

Some mean clansmen!

My Huguenots had a great view of this one. In fact they spent nearly the entire engagement sat on a hill watching the Irish and Scots massacre each other over a small piece of England.

St Ruhe played by Les Rumble was following the same strategy as the Huguenot's watching his Irish allies martyr themselves on the resilient Williamite lines.

The French seemed reluctant to get involved

As ever with war games some amusing results came up, the most incongruous being when the elite clansmen of Lochaber were seen off by the military equivalent of three shepherdesses and a goat herder.

The brave lads of Shropshire

The cunning machinations of Mr Bill Robertson (MacKay) saw first the troops of Bonnie Dundee (Jim Wallace wearing that particular bonnet) agree to no longer engage the Williamites (through the time honoured ancient communication method of SMS) but also for the Jacobite right flank to retire by simply pointing out that they potentially faced encirclement.

The French finally engage



A picture says a thousand words, Dundee and St Ruhe

A victory then to the noble forces of William.

Proof (if blurry) that the Huguenots did come part way down the hill

On the other table things did not go so well for the Williamites, which is good old fashioned understatement for they were absolutely mollicated at what has become known as the battle of Badon Hill. Big political machinations in this one with betrayal by the perfidious Kirk leading to a complete collapse of the Willliamite cause.

Jacobite lines at Badon

The Williamite lines

Williamite cannon

Things get complicated

And messy...

This is a rushed dispatch, I say rushed but what I mean is since these battles were fought another weekender has taken place. Unlike other events the April 2017 one was a direct follow on to this one with many of the same shady characters resuming their roles as even shadier characters. More of which later...

Dumfries 2016 - Opening Skirmish

Dumfries 2016 saw some major updates to the Beneath the Lily Banners rules set. In order to get all participants into the swing of these the first engagements were a set of small encounters (small for a League of Augsburg weekend that is, still big to me).



A regiment of Highlanders advances

The battle I participated in was set on the Scottish border (appropriately given the hotel location) where a contingent of Scottish Jacobites led by that bonniest of Bonnie Dundees (newly resurrected from Killikrankie) Jim Wallace, aided by French units led by Les Rumble playing the part of the Marquis de St Ruhe, another 'newly raised' member of the aristocracy.

The Jacobites and French prepare to advance

If this hadn't been an historical game I might have accused the Jacobites of employing some dark magicks.

The WIlliamites were led by General MacKay in the form of his alter ego Bill Robertson. Bill was to prove over the course of the weekender to be (to quote Blackadder), "more cunning than a fox who has just been made Professor of Cunning at Oxford University".

More of which in a later post.

I was in the role of the Marquis de Ruvigny who had assumed command of the Huguenot regiments.

Huguenot cavalry ready for the fight - they didn't get one!

The scenario was simple; the Williamite forces held two redoubts and a star fort, the Jacobites had to get past them.

The fort blocking the Jacobite advance

For my Huguenots it would very much prove to be a game of two halves.

The highlanders rapidly advanced on the redoubt on the Williamite right flank held by Belcastel's regiment under the personal command of their Brigadier. Sportingly the umpire allowed two Jacobite units to charge poor Belcastel's regiment. Highlanders against All Musket foot, it got messy very quickly if you were a Huguenot.

The moment before the Highland tsunami smashed into the left redoubt

Naturally, me being me, my first test for a Brigadier casualty of the weekend resulted in another one being entered in the roll of honour. His regiment was subsequently chopped into fine haggis by the claymores' of the clansmen. There were no survivors.

Buoyed by their overwhelming success at the redoubt, Bonnie Dundee's troops swarmed forward but were held by other elements of MacKay's division.

The Williamite right flank was a more salubrious affair mostly due to Les' die rolling for orders; I'd advise against that visit to Vegas anytime soon.

A Williamite cannon patiently waits for a French target to meander by

When the French finally reached the second redoubt it became obvious where the dice luck had gone. Needing 6+ on D10s Du Cambons regiment managed an 80% strike rate on their first volley putting one regiment to flight in a single round.

The Huguenot version of Rorke's Drift

They then proceeded to wipe out some pesky dragons whilst the French musketry and artillery pinged away with little or no effect under the new hard cover rules (aided once more by Les' die rolling).

Lunchtime approached, the smoke cleared and the umpires declared a draw.