War of Jenkin's Ear - A project for another

Defenders of Cartagena

My son has taken an interest in doing some historical gaming, no that is not a tear I have bad allergies.   He also decided he should paint up a few figures as well.  

With my collection of French and Indian War and Seven Years' War figures he wants to paint up something as well.   In discussion I directed him, and his interest in the Caribbean, to the War of Jenkin's Ear, 1739 to 1742, before it consumed into the wider War of Austrian Succession. 

He has ideas of epic proportions, no clue where that came from, when it comes to his project.   He could paint thousands of figures...  He has never painted a single figure in his life he has no idea what he is in for.  After more discussion I focused him on the conflict between English Georgia and Spanish Florida and the various incursions between the two during the period.   Oh and the figures are good up through the American War of Independence.   So he should get some use out of the figures.

To begin with he will be working on two units for Brother Against Brother d6 variant we have been playing.

Reenacters at the Battle of Fort Mose

The first unit he is going to paint is 14 figures of the Spanish Marines Company which was stationed at Castillo de San Marcos, in Saint Augustine Florida.   This is a Command Stand and two squads of Six Figures. 

Once this unit is completed he will be moving onto a unit of 14 Mocama (Timucua Chiefdom) Native America Indians.  The Mocama lived in the region near St. Augustine and generally were allied with the Spanish.

If he gets that complete he can move on to some Georgian and South Carolina forces.    There are two Highland Units, some Rangers, a unit in typical British Uniform, and other options.   It could be very interesting force indeed.

French Raid on Croghan's Trading Post - North Western Ohio - 1748

Croghan's Trading Post

George Croghan, a British Colonial fur trader in the Ohio Valley, built a series of fortified trading posts throughout the Ohio Valley region.  Many of these locations have become major metropolises in later years, including Cincinnati, Cleveland, Columbus, Pittsburgh, and Sandusky.  He built two additional trading posts one in Pickanwillany and the other is believed to be in Akron, Ohio.    

The furthest fortified trading post was located in what is now Sandusky Ohio.   In the late fall of 1748 a combine forced of French Colonial Marines and Canadian Militia out of Fort Detroit and Native Americans Indians from the Ottawa and Ojibwa tribes in Michigan and Lower Canada raided the Fort, killing all of the inhabitants and destroying the fort,   The next spring when the agents from George Croghan arrived they found the burned out shell of the trading out post.

Using a modified version of Brother vs. Brother we loosely played out the raid as the first game in a French and Indian War Campaign.

French Order of Battle
* French Colonial Marines (6 Figures)
* Canadian Militia (6 Figures)
* Coureur de bois (6 Figures)

Settlers Farmstead

* Coureur de bois (6 Figures)
* Coureur de bois (6 Figures)
* Ojibwa Braves (6 Figures)
* Ottawa Warriors (6 Figures)
* Ottawa Braves (6 Figures)

British Order of Battle
* Local Militia (6 Figures)
* Local Militia (6 Figures)
* Settlers (6 Figures)
* Settlers (6 Figures)
* "Ohio Rangers" (6 Figures)
* "Ohio Rangers" (6 Figures)
* Miami Warriors (6 Figures)
* Miami Warriors (6 Figures)
* Miami Braves (6 Figures)
* Miami Braves (6 Figures)

The British had one more command of two squads however their troops were of slightly less quality overall for the average unit.

The Ohio Rangers were tasked with escorting a Conestoga wagon from the Miami Indian Village on one end of the table to the Fort Sandoske on the other end of the table.   The Settlers were tasked with defending their Farmstead and the local Milita (IE the Independent Company hired to protect the fort) had to protect the fort.  The Indians allied with British were given the task to collect scalps from the French.

The Ohio Rangers defending the wagon

The French and their Indian Allies were tasked with attack and destroying the Miami Indian Village and the Settlers farmstead before turning their attention to the Fort.

As a Scenario Designer I made the mistake of not being clear enough with the British Players telling them the first Indian group was to protect the Village and collect their scalps there.   Both commands of Miami Indians were a couple of turns away from their village.

In the first turn two squads of French Coureur de Bois sprung from the edge of the board to attack the Miami Village loosely protected by the "Ohio Rangers".  Two squads of Miami Indians moved quickly back in support of the "Ohio Rangers".  The first round of fire was bloody for both sides.

Settlers defending the Farmstead

The French Colonial Marines and the Canadian Militia attempted to move against the rear of the farmstead while the Ojibwa and a squad of Coureur de Bois came from front side and the Ottawa the other. The settlers quickly moved to defend a fence line and a long drawn out fire fight erupted between the them and the first squad of Ottawa Indians while the second squad of Ottawa moved to take the flaking position.

The Ottawa take the Fence Line

As the Ottawa engaged the settlers two squads of Miami Indians erupted out the cornfield and began the slow process of turning the flank of the Ottawa Indians.   The deliberate firefight lasted forever.

After watching the Coureur de Bois charge the "Ohio Rangers" near the Miami village the two squads of Miami Indians prepared to charge into battle.   A funny thing happened and the first unit of Miami Indians retired to a more defensible position behind a ridge line.   The Coureur de Bois "routed" the "Ohio Rangers" leaving the fully loaded conestoga wagon sitting idly nearby.

Near the farmstead the Coureur de Bois launch a charge into what they expected to be an unprotected of the settles to discover a squad of Miami Indians standing there ready to take the charge.

The center turned into a brawl as six seperate squads attempted to enforce their will.   Slowly the Miami Indians asserted themselves and pushed first the Coureur de Bois than the Ottawa Indians back.

Almost undetected the Ojibwa Indians made it to the Miami village and fired the first long-house before moving on to the second long-house.

The Ojibwa and the remainder of the Colonial Marines and Candian Militia made a desperate attempt to destroy the farmstead.   The were repulsed by the local militia from the Fort and Miami Indians.   A squad of local militia made it all the way to the Miami Village to recover the Conestoga Wagon and begin escorting it back to the fort.

A few more pictures from the game.   

The Ojibwa fire the first of the Miami long-houses

The Scrum in the Center after it was over.

The Miami Indians look for another raider.

The fur traders gather the Conestoga Wagon from the Miami Village.

The Ojibwa fire the second Long-house

Lessons Learned

This was our first Brother against Brother game in quite some time.  We had tried about five other skirmish games including Songs of Drums and Tomahawks, Smooth and Rifled, and Muskets and Tomahawks since our last game and it was near universal acclaim that Brother against Brother was the best game.  The reasoning that several players voiced was the simplicity of the system allowed players to make reasonable choices and their choices had meaning.  

We had two extremes when it came to resolving fire.   On the western edge of the board, the Ohio Rangers engaged some Coureur de Bois in a firefight.  It was short and brutal, 9 casualties between the four squads in one round.  Mathmatically that should have resulted in only 6 casualties, so the dice were hot in that corner.   In the middle near the farmstead the fire fight between the Settlers and the Ottawa Indians was a virtual snooze fest, 1 casualty in two turns of firing between the three squads involved.    What was the difference, a wooden rail fence.   Mathematically it turns out to be a drop in the probability of a successful hit by 11%, but still with 35/36 rounds fired it should have resulted in 6 casualties.   Cold dice on the part of both players?

There was some discussion on adjusting the number of figures in each group, with groups having between 5 and 7 figures.  Another suggestion was to not count the squad leader.

There are some pros and cons to those type of suggestions that will need to be further evaluated.  

For a skirmish game, my trees need to be updated.

Finally it was an unanticipated result.  I honestly didn't consider the British could win a dragged out game.  It caught me off guard to say the least.  I figured they could win quick or the French in a slog.  So I was like this is wow.