Blunt's Village

With an extra player recruited for the evening, a three handed game was the order of the day for our skirmish campaign. To be fair I use the term campaign in the loosest of senses, Blunt appears in most of the games and so they are a vaguely linked series of battles. We try to come up with a scenario or theme for each one as well.

Anyway, with three players, we tossed around a couple of ideas ,and settled for attempting to seize a village. A problem arose quickly, in that a club primarily for GW based games has yet to get much in the way of suitable generic buildings for historical type games. We ended up with a mixed bunch that suggested Bavaria more than Spain!

Each side was of roughly 150 points (as the point system in the rules stands, not for much longer though). Gav with the Spanish had 21 men in three units, and a character; Neil had 21 French in a similar composition. I had the British, numbering a princely 12 men, including Blunt. Quality not quantity.

The French marched in to the village first. A special rule of the scenario was that any building represented a temptation of Looting to the men; any unit that started it's turn within a normal move of the entrance to a building had to roll a control test - initiative/morale roll.

If it failed it would ignore any orders and run into the building instead to begin looting! Another dice roll decided what they would do: 1- Stay inside looting, roll next turn; 2 - Torch the building and exit next turn; 3 - Leave the building loaded with women and booze, move randomly on the next turn and will only fight in self defence, continue to act this way each turn, until they rally; 4-6 In control (there was nothing to loot).

The Spaniards, from a Junta army playing fast and loose with the rule of war in order to bag trophies from either side, or the villagers, were the first to fall for such a trap. They marched into the northern house, found it empty, so set it alight in disgust. Shortly after the British light infantry dashed into the chapel ruins, but found it empty. It gave them excellent cover however and they used it to fend off the Spanish line. Before launching an attack on the French line

In the centre the Spanish and French commanders entered into one of the epic duels the game produces so often, although the French swordsmanship was superior, the tough old Spaniard won the day. As he did so the British light infantry charged the French Line and broke it after a hard fight

Blunt was being openly criticised by the French for his unwillingness to get stuck in, the very idea! With a rousing cry of "Come on then, ya Buggers!" he set to the Spanish line, and terrified it into a retreat, he then made for the tower where the Spanish commander was licking his wounds.

The other Rifles tried their luck against the French Leger, and were badly mauled. Meanwhile British Light were seduced by the lure of a new building, only to find more Leger were inside already, their spirited defense sent them packing too. So it was only Thanks to Blunt's late heroics - if cutting down the wounded Spanish commander can be called that - that I could claim any part of the village.

At the end of the game the French held one building too, but Gav's Spaniards had snuck two units into the large farmhouse and were taking pot shots from its' windows. Broadly a draw, we felt if anyone could claim the day it was the Devious Spaniards!

The idea of buildings as a distraction to troops fits well with the sort of things one reads about the period, and so I think a refined version of it will become a part of the main rules. All in all another different and highly enjoyable game.