So, I dusted off my trusty Wyoming Massacre scenario for Saturday night's club game.
We had last played it about 2 or 3 years ago, and it's a local thing. Every bump on the table is argued over, as to whether it's the Burger King or a beer store. I just say it uses the Flames of War logarithmic telescoping ground scale blah blah blah.
The last two times I ran it, the settlers got caught early. The Indians had better movement dice, better hand to hand rolls, Johnson's Royal Greens had bayonets, etc.
Only a few stragglers made it back to Forty Fort, and those few had heroic escapes.
Not this time.
Most of the settlers fled real good. The token platoon of the 24th Connecticut in particular. So, the best firing unit on the Settler side did nothing but run away. Oddly, it seemed to accrete random strays and stragglers from unluckier units. I allowed this, the scenario being what it was. How many wargaming units have you ever seen that were 20% STRONGER at the end of the battle? Precious few, I would think.
Not only did the Settlers have more sense than to stick around and fight this time, but the Indians seemed to be out for a stroll more than a massacre.
They were particularly bedeviled by a scenario rule that required a Major Morale die roll to NOT stop and scalp the wounded they encountered along the way. They lost their high die roll if they stopped to scalp.
Green's Royal Johnsons, excuse me, Johnson's Royal Greens had perhaps the lousiest movement rolls of anyone. So, they formed an impressive parade column and marched to the fifes and drums, musick playing, all the way down US11, or Wyoming Avenue. They even had a nice flag. (This is where the genius of Hinchliffe figures come in. One pose per catalog number march much more prettily than shabby random posed Old Glory! 
)
Jim's settlers made it into the fort, but cowered. Tim's 24th Connecticut smartly marched into Forty Fort, and closed the gates, ignoring the 3 or 4 Settler units who had not quite made it to the clearing. His other unit was surrounded on a grassy knoll, charged fore and aft, made their morale check to react, turned about smartly and fired two devastating volleys. (He rolled a lot of 3s and 4s on D20…)
For this, Tim got the Pusillanimous Popinjay Award.
The moral of the story is that you can run a good scenario several times and get some very different results.
The only difference this time was that I drew cards to determine the CinC at the beginning of each turn. This really brought out the "It's all about me!" factor in a game in which that was very much the point. High card each turn decided who moved first and fired first.
