We have met the enemy!
To Captain Ellsworth. After action report. 3rd
squad of 1st platoon encountered overwhelming resistance to patrol
activities this 14 August. 3 casualties. 2 units of Hill Martians were
annhilated. 1 unit of Royal Guard was encountered. 3 other units of
Hill martians were encountered.
Father, we have met the enemy and dealt them a
rousing defeat! My chaps in 3rd squad gave them a good pasting --
killing 20 with only 3 British casualties. More later. Your son
Richard Collingsworth
Wow - this one got nasty fast. Every PEF converted
into enemy forces. The British were lucky to escape with as few
casualties as they did.
Sergeant Anderson led the 10 man patrol. Rep 4.
Martian major morale 3.
TURN ONE - TURN THREE.
PEF
A takes off and moves toward the hill each turn. It would turn out
that this PEF holds the enemy C-in-C so maybe that makes sense! The
British stayed in colum the first two turns and then moved into Line
formation on turn three -- just in time as on Turn 4 PEF A charges over
the hill!
PEF A converts to two units -- one of city dwellers with muskets and one of ferocious Hill Martians with melee weapons.
The Brits score well on their Test of Wills and Volley fire. 2 hits and 1 figure runs away.
This ends the Martian activation and on the British activation a
second round of Volley fire causes no casualties but passing 0d6 on the
resulting received fire check causes the remaining Hill Martians to run
away. British spirits are high!
TURN FIVE
Martian 2 British 1
The
city dwellers are led by the Rep 5 C-in-C. Let's see what they are up
to. They are on a Patrol mission, too, which converts to a Defend
mission after passing 2d6 on the check. They fire -- Rep 5 plus 1d6 for
Muskets. 5 dice (1/2 figures firing) results in 1 hit, not an officer,
and a Carry On by the Brisih after the Received Casualty check.
Finally, PEF C charges over the hill, too, resulting
in another Hill Martian tribe. British pass 0d6 on Test of Wills so
fire normally but are down to 4 dice due to the casualty. 1 hit and
Martians pass 0d6 on casualty check so 1 in 3 run away.
The British get to fire 4 dice at the musketeers for
no result at all. With a Rep 5 leader, that city-dweller unit is going
to be hard to take out of the fight.
TURN SIX
Martians 1 British 4
British fire again with the same
result. They probably should have run instead..... The city dwellers
fire and cause another casualty. The British score 2d6 or "Stiff upper
lip, wot, wot!".
The Hill Martians want to charge and after checking
they do! Unfortunately the British get to fire, causing 1 hit and
causing 1 in 5 to run away -- which results in 4 Hill Martians
contacting 8 Brits. Not pretty -- the British roll 10 dice to the
Martian 4 and totally wipe them out for no casualties.
TURN SEVEN
With time running out (actual
play time, not game time) the city dwellers and Brits exchange fire
again for one more British casualty. The British decide discretion is
the better part of valor and withdraw. We determine that the PEFs who
are even now charging toward the top of the hill would have resulted in
two more units of Hill Martians.
So in one final cinematic moment, the leader of the
city dwellers sweeps his sword down and they loose off one last volley
as the two new Hill Martian units top the rise, their weird ululations
echoing after the retreating British column.
ANALYSIS
Open-order units in cover are
going to be VERY difficult to dig out. I believe the British could have
done it, but not with unending hordes of wild Hill Martians bearing
down upon them every turn. The Brits were very unlucky in that I rolled
consistently highly to determine PEF reputation, which made them very
aggressive. And there was not a single false alarm! The Martians were
definitely prepared for the patrol -- perhaps one of the civilian
Martians in the camp tipped them off?
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