The Pearl of the Antilles - Haitian Revolution AAR #1Cold Steel.

August 1791 Bosou Delaroo had been hiding out in the foot hills above Limbe having slipped his chains a few months earlier, his name was published in the wanted pages of the Gazette Generale de Saint-Domingue but no one came looking as the weeks went on he was joined by others and soon his "Maroon" band numbered more than 100 members. 

Recently a detachment of troops filed up the mountain path but rather than firing on Bosou they threw down their arms and joined his community providing him with valuable firearms.

Bosou could sense change was coming and he prepared his men for the coming conflict.

An unexpected prize came his way one Sunday morning a visting English dignitary on her way to church was intercepted by a few of his men, she fled into the forest as her buggy was ransacked by the Maroons.

 Find the Lady - Lady Smyth.

Unbeknown to Bosuo, Lady Smyth was an English spy who was off to meet a naval landing party to provide them with details of the defences of Saint-Dominique, as she darted into the bush she sent her man servant telling them of her location in an collection of abandoned huts near the coast and awaited the rescue party. 

But who would find her first?

Bosou sent his largest detachment of troops forward - 30 Musket armed fighters looking to test themsleves against the British Navy. If they came to within 3" of the door of any hut they could peer in and spot Lady Smyth.

The Maroons get the drop on the Royal Marines and using there first fire bonus and single controlled volley poor fire into them inflicting over 16 points of shock across the two groups.

The Brits looked pale were they really to be bested by slaves??

Holding firm the landing party presented and fired, the slower more accurate rate of fire started to tell on Bosou's men, who returned fire at evey opportunity uncontrolled volley's let fly but they were unable to find that rich vein of form that they found on that first turn.

 

The naval landing party rushes up to support the Marines who were now facing off against the entire Maroon force including trained skirmishers previously in the pay of the French.

 

A firing event causes the Maroons to advance, flushes Lady Smyth out of hiding, but Bosou's men are to busy blasting away at the men in red to move to capture her.

Fearing for Lady Smyth's safety and her valuable knowledge the Navy charge home sweeping the ragged musket line away. The first group is wiped out, the Senior leader with them killed and the formation broken. Suddenly the force morale is very shakey as Bosou Delaroo looks on from the tree line.

The remaining skirmish units snipe away at the Royal Navy who hold the centre of the village, a wound to a minor leader see's the Maroon's morale fall to zero and Bosou Delaroo leads his men from the field to the safety of the forest. Lady Smyth is out of harms way.

A fun encounter to blood the "Slave Army" as I build up wider forces.

This run through has highlighted the need for a couple of tweaks to the force composition perhaps weakening the fire factor for the musket troops, the sailors fighting as clan in hand to hand were bloody deadly and definately won the day - Nothing like a little cold steel to shift an enemy from the field of battle.

Next up Free Men of Colour.

Reinforcements for the front.

Nothing like a little game time pressure to get the painting queue moving. With barely 2 hours before the first outing another batch of troops come off the production line.

Once again these are Trent Miniatures from their Caribbean range they are listed as Chasseurs Des Irois who are typically in a dark green and fought for the British but given the body of the sculpt is the same as the earlier Chasseurs and only the head gear is different I have painted them up in Red tunic to give me the option of a larger body of men should they be required. Given the lack of information available on uniforms within the conflict I should be able to get away with it apart from the purists out there.

Given the track record of newly painted figures and their first outing I hope they have not been rushed through for nothing.

Full ARR to follow.

Gordon's alive

And hiding out in Hay on Wye....

 

A few days away in Hay on Wye or the "Town of Books" as it is known to bibliophiles. Whilst it is all to easy to jump on to Amazon and within a couple of clicks you have a full basket, there is something quite satisfying about hunting down titles a little more off the beaten track. 

The Internet has certainly taken it's toll on Hay and there are far fewer book shops than I remember as a kid, there are still around 12 books shops many housing extensive military sections many of which include a number of titles never seen on a google search engine. 

As the rain beats down (it is Wales) what better way to spend a sunday.

Apart from several new purchases on Egypt and Haiti which I have slipped on to the bookshelf, I spotted these tucked away in one of the less occupied areas of one of the book shops. The complete works of Alex Raymond's -Flash Gordon what a find and perfect timing.

On my return home the chaps at Hydra Miniatures had delivered my latest purchases from their War Rocket Range, which I shall be using the Star Eagle Rules.

After the last brusing encounter I figured I needed something a little more bulky for Ming's forces to defend and the Class 4 War Rocket will do just the job to represent Ajax.

I also picked up some Pirate fighters which look very slick perfect for whizzing round the table.

Settling down to read the opening episodes the first story line involves an attack by Gyro's on the Capital. - Looks like another faction in the offing.

Chasseurs Ste Domingue - Trent Miniatures

After what seems like weeks, finally some paint time and some extra's for the Haitian Project a small skirmish unit of Chasseurs Ste Domingue from Trent Miniatures.

As these forces begin to take shape I have been thinking about how I might pull the various forces together, I figured on creating a Maroon/Slave force from the early days of the rebellion and at the same time construct a conscript force made made up of free men, which could be used to surpress the slave force or both could face off against British, Spanish or French opponents.

I created the following stats for these fine fellows within the Sharp Practe 2 rules.

Skirmishers					Type	Irregular Skirmishers
Points Value	6	Weapon	Musket		Size	6
Formation	First Fire	Controlled Volley	Crashing Volley	Step Out	Drill	Characteristics
No	Yes	No	-	3	-	Tactical, Moveable DP, No Bayonets.

Moveable DP - May be selected as a support option.    

Tactical - Can perform Ambuscade when two cards are available.

No Bayonets - These troops are at a disadvantage in Fisticuffs.

The Chasseurs can be used to hunt down escaped slaves and members of the Maroon bands hiding in the mountains of Haiti or defend the island from the invading British.

Snow in August....

What with one thing and another games have been a little thin on the ground recently.

When it was suggested by a fellow gamer that he had never tried Chain of Command and as he had been making a US Para force could we run through the rules how could I resist.

Besides it gave me a chance to try out the new winter cloth that I have been slowing building up everytime I reach the end of a can of undercoat. I am rather pleased with the result I was looking looking for that melted snow effect and the dark brown faux fur shows through over a heavy dusting of white. What do you think?

A small encounter with the Russians looking to push past a German defence line made up of a platoon of Panzer Grenadiers in early 1945.

As usual my patrol phase was a nightmare, as the Russians I was pinned on the table edge and the Germans bagged all the best defensive positions perfect the numerous MG34's the sections contain.

Overwatch is the order of the day, as the Russians wait it out to amass enough 5's to play a Chain of Command Dice.

The Russians make their play throwing two sections and a HMG into the German defenders, the shock is starting to mount up for Jerry.

 

The Senior leader arrives and a reserve section. He begins the task of bring the shock levels back down and the additional firepower begins to tell on the already battle scared Russians.

The Russians break and with it their force morale.
Another loss for me... I swear these rules are cursed, still a good introduction to H and plans are now afoot for another outing in 28mm.

Right back to the brushes.

Arab Engineers for Sharp Practice.

The Haiti prep continues with the first batch of troops currently sitting on the side whilst the filler dries before the bases are given a liberal coating of sharp sand.

I thought I would clear a couple of items which have been hanging around since March and Hammerhead, the first items which need to be cleared off the paint table is an Engineering section for Egypt.

Within Sharp Practice the support option is made up of an Engineer Group with Cart it should be made up of six men and a Status I leader, I have five painted up from foundry but pretty sure I have a spare Arab knocking about, and a donkey or camel might be more suited to the desert than a cart.

When in a defending force an Engineer Group may always have 8” of prepared Breastworks or 12” of Barricade blocking a road or similar good news as I painted some of these recently but they have yet to grace the table yet.

Within SP Engineers who are given tasks to perform will generally complete those tasks faster, re‐rolling any 1’s rolled on the Task Roll however Engineers will not engage in firing nor will they attack an enemy. However, if attacked they fight as Aggressive troops in Fisticuffs.

A useful addition to the Egyptian project or any other Middle Eastern adventure.