"Skirmish at Iron Forge - AAR Pics" Topic

Guys,

We play-tested Muskets & Tomahawks today using a pip ordering mechanism instead of the system's card pulling method for activations, and it work well for the "grand-tactical" tact I'm pursuing with these rules. Instead of scaling stands as individual troopers, I've mounted each base with two figures, and treat assembled units as battalions, with players running a Brigades-worth of units each.

The scenario was a British raid on an American supply depot defended by two Patriot militia battalions, and a rifle detachment, which were eventually reinforced by a Continental Brigade. The Americans were opposed by a Loyalist Brigade, and a Brigade of Regulars. The King's troops were able to force entry to the depot (Iron Forge, the center building area on the map) and set the building and its contents on fire. However, with the Continentals arrival, the British lingered perhaps a bit too long, and were forced to vacate the area after suffering casualties they needn't had endured……British success (depot destroyed), but casualties higher than warranted (Marginal Victory achieved).

Here's a few pics of the action (most troops are Polly Oliver 15s, with the American militia being Essex):

The magnetic pegs in the image below are used in the mod-rules to track the actions expended by a unit.

The Continentals arrived only to find the depot on fire and the militia dispersed, but are hot to burn the tails of the retreating Redcoats.

So what did you think of the rules?

Rallynow,

I like M&T very much as written, especially for doing FIW & AWI skirmish level games, and using the rule's card-pull method for activating units. Here's a pic of the magnetic panels I made up for the play-testing session above, to explore whether programming orders per brigade groupings of units might streamline the game for a more grand-tactical approach.

Although the pre-programming of the three game actions worked fine during the test, the opinion of the players was it felt gamey. We've decided that overall, the basics of this brigade-level ordering system tried works well, but instead of requiring pre-programming of each action type onto a panel before a turn progresses, that we'll allow each Brigadier-player to assign their actions (one at a time) as they choose them during the IGO-UGO phasing of the modified turn sequence. I'll also keep using the idea of having skilled or highly-skill commanders allowed an extra action or two, that they can interject during the turn in addition to the default number of "Brigade Actions" we're testing currently (which I've presently limited to six per turn). Things to try in the way-future, would be to try this with an ACW ruleset, and to consider allowing historically elite brigades to have an additional action or two beyond the default number.

Nice figures and setup. Good luck with the conversion.