The Pearl of the Antilles - Haitian Revolution AAR #4 Hold the line.

Painting and posting has slowed to a trickle but hopefully the Christmas period will give me that free time to get juices flowing and some of the back log cleared.

Last weekend saw the Wyvern Christmas all dayer, we were a little thin on the ground but it's always nice to get in a full days gaming without rushing the end of the game with the usual what might have been discussion.

This years outing took us back to Haiti and a combined British and French Affair.

The slaves were revolting, several plantations were in ruins, the land owners and loyal staff had nowhere to go but the coast in the hope naval units would rescue them from the slave army.

 

The civilians queue on the beach hoping that what remains of the French and British garrisons in the area would be able to hold back the slave army before the row boats could lift them off the beach.

The idea for the game was split it into two parts the morning saw both British and French forces manning the barricades as the Haitian forces cam on in three entry points in a random order, but allied players needed to keep their forces largely intact as they needed to be the dominate force in the area once the slaves were put down.

The British line their barricade awaiting the first wave of slaves to show themselves.

They did not have to wait long as the first unit out of the bag was 12 wallahs with big choppers, they charged forward and were met with a full volley which sent them running for the tree line.

Meanwhile on the French side of the table they were having a worse time, slave skirmishers had somewhat surprisingly taken out a number of the French defenders including one of the officers who was knocked clean out, a unit of knife armed slaves got to within striking distance before being beaten back.

Meanwhile on the British front the bulk of the slave army had appeared and had begun to inflict a number of casualties on the defenders, but keeping good order the British, presented aimed and fired which slowing drove up the shock and casualties of the Haitian army as it failed to make any head way against the thin red line.

The morning came to a close with the defences still intact and the Haitians force morale sitting on a lowly 3.

The afternoon saw both sides regroup and reposition themsleves, the British and French carried over their casualties whilst the Haitians were back to full strength, this time the Haitians opted for massed columns with skirmishes out in front.

Alas the allied line held, the Haitians had gambled on one of the allied players pulling back from the line to head for the waiting naval transport, but in a rare show of honour both players opted to trust each other destroy the flame of liberty so they could continue to line their pockets with the ill gotten gains of the slave trade.... (Yep I was feeling a little picked on, I was sure one them would buckle and run for the boats) :-)

The Haitians were firmly beaten but to be fair it was to be expected, facing a well trained formed enemy behind defensive works what did I think the outcome would be?

The lack of a couple of extra officers/bigmen in the Haitian units would have kept them moving but the levels of shock and poor quality bigmen kept them surpressed.

A great game regardless and one day the island of Haiti will be free and they will win a game.

You can guess what's on the paint table next.