This is a special guest post by Neil Amswych.
Neil was one of the original playtesters for Blood & Plunder a DECADE ago, and is recently getting back into the game after not getting many (any) games in for a long time. He games with a group in Sante Fe, New Mexico.
Neil’s spirit animal is the Blundermonkey.
Intro
It has been six years since I saw combat. I thought those days were behind me but my people needed me. For years, I fought under the flag of the English, but now, for the first time, I fight for my Native Americans.
Scenario
Under the leadership of Benjamin Church, the English and French had forged a brief alliance and had taken over a local Spanish outpost. The Spanish needed our help to get it back, and promised us great riches if we were successful. Given the quality of life we’re experiencing now, I could not refuse….
Forces
- Native Americans
- Experienced Standard commander
- 7 Warriors with Bows and Thrown Weapons
- 6 Young Braves
- 6 Braves
- Spanish
- I really don’t remember, sorry. Standard commander.
- I think two units of 5 Milicianos and 1 unit of 8 Lanceros. I think.
VS
- French
- Experienced Standard commander
- 5 Boucaniers with Bayonets
- 4 Flibustiers
- 6 Marins
- English – Church’s Raiders
- Benjamin Church
- 4 English Militia
- 4 English Militia
- 4 Braves (Trained)
- 3 Young Braves (Trained)
Setup & Objectives
We just yeeted scenery down onto the table and played that from turn 3 onwards, each side would take a strike point if they didn’t have an Unshaken unit within 4″ of the Blundermonkey statue. On reflection, that gave a HUGE advantage to the defenders.
The outpost had a main entrance and a few smaller entrances. In the center of the outpost was a statue of the great Blundermonkey. We knew that if we could hold that, we would crush the spirit of the English and French. This would be difficult, though. They had the entrances well guarded, or so they thought.
The Spanish set up to the right flank. Their commander, a hapless fool, attached himself to his Lanceros, protected on either side by Milicianos.
I set up our men to the left flank. I had noticed a vulnerable gap in the walls that I intended to exploit with the Braves whose unit I joined. My Warriors were armed with bows, as were my young Braves. We intended to bring a Rain of Arrows onto the English and French to break their spirit.
The Milicianos surged forward, hoping to fake an entry into the outpost but then dash round to the right to fire over the walls.
The French Flibustiers burst through instead, cutting many of them down.
From afar, my warriors dedicated themselves to rain arrows on our opponents, but every time they started to waver, Church shouted words of encouragement to them and they seemed to rally.
The English set up a trap by the statue.
With the right flank occupied, the Lanceros made their move. Using the walls, they feigned as if they were going through the main gate but then rushed right to push the Flibustiers back.
The Milicianos instead held their opponents at the main gate, but were disturbingly ineffective. Do the Spanish not even train their men?
The Spanish casualties were already heavy.
The Lanceros started pushing to the right, luring some of the units that were inside the outpost to attack them.
That was when we made our move.
Church took up position on high, and it seemed that whenever his troops started to droop, he lifted them up. Was the man possessed by spiritual abilities from their God? I’ve never seen such influence on the battle field before.
Barely any Milicianos remained, but they held position at the gate drawing fire.
Raining arrows and slowly moving forward, we started attacking the left flank as the Braves exploited the gap in the wall and started murdering the men inside before ducking back behind cover.
The Spanish numbers dwindled much faster than expected, and we were going too slow to get inside.
Church had used some of our brethren in his force and killing them felt like an affront to everything I believed. But the long-term survival of my people had to take precedence over these traitors.
The Lanceros stared pushing the French back but just weren’t getting in the kills they needed, and once they were out in the open, were easy pickings.
The Warriors, who had whittled down the English from afar, burst into the outpost.
As the Warriors started mopping up the English, my Braves made a dash for the statue.
But my Warriors had been too slow, firing from too far away, and the Spanish Commander died out in the open. We fled before we took any more losses.
I will have my revenge.
Resolution
We were close to victory. With better strategy, we could have won the day. I curse my lack of experience from years away from battle that has clouded my once warlike spirit.
The terrain setup and Blundermonkey objective could have been spaced more fairly. On reflection, that gave a HUGE advantage to the defenders. If the Spanish hadn’t broken, the Native Americans would have won the following turn by straight out murdering Benjamin Church and the rest of the English. I forgot to Push my men and that cost the game.