Blood & Plunder Battle Report - Natives vs Buccaneers

Time for an after-action report from my latest battle (alternative spoilery title: why you shouldn't bring a bow to a gunfight). Pictures are somewhat spotty because, as usual, I got distracted by trying to win (or at least eke out some consolation) and forgot to take pictures

I fielded my natives, using the Caribbean Tribes list:

Experienced Commander
6 Warrior Archers with Poisoned Arrows
2 x 4 Young Warriors
4 Warrior Musketeers with a Sharpshooter

Against them was English Buccaneers:

Experienced Commander
7 Freebooters
4 Forlorn Hope
5 English Militia

The scenario is Search and Recover, wiht 6 tokens spread evenly over the table.

Turn 1, most things move up, with some tendency to form lines.

The english battleline is standing steady

The natives are not so steady, especially after the Musketeers move a bit too close and wind up so that the Freebooters can move to within 12" and shoot. Only a single hit, but the save is failed, as is two of the three resolve tests (grumbling about The Sound of Thunder can begin now).

The english militia, so far a long way from any fighting.

Turn 2, Forlorn Hope moves up and fires as the Young Warriors. Two saves are failed, fortune rerolls and the dice come up 1, 2, 2... I manage to succeed at three out of five resolve tests, but two fatigue is enough for the last youngling to bugger off (more grumling about The Sound of Thunder).

The Musketeers are rallied by the chief, only to then be reduced to a single man with two fatigue in a similar way to the Youn Warriors. In Turn 3, the Warrior Archers and the Chief scamper off sideways, to hopefully not be as exposed to gunfire, and try to get some strike points back, because the natives are now up to two strike points, with only a few english having fallen to arrows.

The best option to get at the english is the militia, which are currently standing unloaded after some not too effective fire against the other unit of Young Warriors. They will soon get reduced by Warrior Archers charging through the forest, getting a valuable strike point back.

The english line turns, and the Freebooters gets a charge off against the Warrior Archers, who are only saved by Evade (and then promptly charge back in at the Militia, wiping them). Meanwhile, Young Warriors, after suffering two casualties from the Forlorn Hope, do a death-defying charge into them... only to be wiped out. The natives are now back at two strike points more than the english, and finally their resolve fails. The survivors scarper off, hoping for revenge another day.

In the end, the objectives didn't matter, the natives looked at two of them (neither of which was the wanted one), while the english ignored them in favor of charging forward and killing stuff.

All in all, two lessons can be learned here. 1, I shouldn't roll dice (failing 6 out of 7 saves and way too many resolve tests in the first two turns was... harsh.) and 2, we need more line of sight-blocking terrain. Ideally houses, but until then, we'll have to make do with hills and rocky outcrops.


/Fool Out