Song of Drums & Tomahawks Second Play

This week we tried a second game of Song of Drums and Tomahawks.  This time we tried a scenario driven game.  My Provincials had sent out a patrol to capture an evil French Spy from their base, the Inn they captured before.  The French and their Indian Allies were trying to rescue the poor Italian priest the wicked British had dragged away from his flock.

The Provincials forces comprised:-

Garrison
One Officer
One Grenadier
Four Line Infantrymen

Patrol
One Sergeant
Two Rangers
Four Line Infantrymen

The French and Indians forces were:-

Indians
One War Leader
Four Warriors
One Young Indian Warrior

French
One Officer
Four Marines

This is the Inn garrisoned by the Provincial's Officer and a small group of soldiers.

This is the patrol with their prisoner in tow.

This is the end of turn one with the patrol hurrying back to their base with their prisoner.  The French are close behind and the Indians are hiding in one of the woods.  The patrol has gambled on the Indians being in one of the woods on far side of the board.  They moved in a group using the March move.  We allowed the Rangers to use this group move even though they normally wouldn't have been allowed to.

The Indians were in one of the woods on the far side of the board but quickly moved out using the Indian File group move.

Luck was with the British as they were able to double time whilst the Indians faltered and failed to move at all, meaning their French Allies didn't appear.   The patrol rushed onwards whilst the Indians slowed. Only the Young Warrior managed to move to get close to the patrol.

The French finally appear in not so hot pursuit.

The patrol slowed as the Indians managed to finally catch up, making for cover from which to snipe at the soldiers even though the Inn was in sight.  The Grenadier had opened the gates in readiness.  Two of the Provincial Infantrymen stopped and fired at the Indians.  They both missed but the Grenadier was able to knock down the foremost Indian.

More fire from the Inn knocked down a second Indian.  Things looked good for the patrol.

The French were far, far behind.

When it appeared safe the patrol faltered and the Indians managed to recover and come howling into the attack.  The Sergeant dragged his prisoner and a single Soldier and pressed on, just failing to reach safety.  The garrison began to sally forth to help.  The Grenadier charging into contact, while the War Leader engaged one of the Rangers and the Young Warrior attacked the stragglers.

The officer tried to grab the Priest and run back into the Inn but he tripped and his side lost the initiative.  The Indians rushed into the attack.  One of the stragglers killed the Young Warrior but was then shot by another Warrior who drew his scalping knife and began to move to collect his trophy.  The Grenadier was knocked down by the Warrior he was fighting despite his strength and a soldiers support.  The War Leader killed the outmatched Ranger he was facing and another Indian caught the Provincial's Sergeant making him release his prisoner.  The Priest had a chance for freedom.

The Provincial's Officer was having none of it he slapped the Priest across the face, grabbed him and hauled him back into the Inn, winning the game.  The British Sergeant attacked his outnumbered opponent and just like last week ended up on the ground.   The rest of his force engaged in inconclusive skirmishing with their enemies.

To be honest this was the third time we'd played this scenario.  The first two occasions were on a smaller board and both the Indians and French started off the board.  The French came on after the patrol crossed the third hex and the Indians came on after a scoring equal to or under the current turn number starting in turn two.  They would come in on either board edge, chosen before the game began.  This didn't give too much of a game with the patrol easily outstripping its pursuers.  Below are a few photos from these earlier games:-

The Indians making use of their Woodsman ability and in Indian File.

The patrol outpacing their French pursuers.

The patrol almost safe.

The French scatter to fire on the patrol.

In the second game the patrol was outguessed by the Indians and had to double back to avoid them.

Song of Drums & Tomahawks First Play

This is an after action report on the first game of Song of Drums and Tomahawks a couple of us played last night.

     I took the British and my friend Mark took the French.  My force was comprised of:-

1 British Officer
1 British Sergeant (a drummer in the photos)
1 British Grenadier
2 British Rangers
3 British Soldiers

Mark's force was:-

1 French Officer
1 French Sergeant (Customised to drop the Primitive Weapon but add a Musket)
3 French Marines
1 French Courier de Bois
1 Civilian (with a Pistol and Strong)

The location of the battle was at a remote Inn in the far north of the British colonies.  The aim of both sides was to capture the Inn, the French to loot and burn the British to occupy.  The first picture shows my forces deployed on the board edge.  Mark's troops were in the wood on the far side of the Inn.

This is a close-up on my Provincial Troops.

Mark's troops went first and his Marines took up position on the far side of the Inn.  His Courier de Bois tried to outflank the British. The rest moved to occupy the Inn.  The British moved up the two Rangers firing on the Marines.  First Blood to the British when a lucky shot wounded one of the French Marines.  The Courier de Bois was knocked down by more Musket fire.  The photo below shows the scene with the British Sergeant in the Inn yard aiming to occupy the Inn.  Harder to see is the British Grenadier by the front door of the Inn.

Things didn't go well for the British with return fire from the Marines wounding the Ranger who had brought down their friend.  The Courier de Bois recovered before he could be finished off and the French occupied the Inn first knocking down the British Sergeant in the yard.  The British Grenadier still couldn't get inside.

Things went from bad to worse with the French civilian wounding a soldier with his pistol from an Inn window.  The Sergeant failed to get up and the Grenadier still couldn't get through the door.

 The British Grenadier burst through the door and attacked the French Sergeant.  The Sergeant easily defeated the Grenadier leaving him wounded on the floor.  The British Sergeant regained his feet and followed the Grenadier through the door but couldn't come to grips with the burly Frenchman.  The French civilian knocked down another British Soldier.  Things were going very badly for the Brits.  To make matters worse the vulnerable Courier de Bois had made it back into the lee of the Inn.

The Brits through a combination of bad luck and poor choices did very little for several turns.  Their Sergeant was driven back by a series of attacks by his French opponent.  More Frenchmen entered the Inn.  It looked like the end for the plucky Brits.

Another turn of British inactivity with their Sergeant driven back again by his opposite number.  The remaining British Ranger was knocked down by musketry from the French Marines.

In following up his success the French Sergeant had moved in front of the open door.  The British Officer taking careful aim with his pistol fired and brought the French Sergeant down.  Two French casualties now to three British but the morale tests made by the French meant the two remaining Marines disappeared back into the woods and the Civilian abandoned his place to fall back.  The Courier de Bois was made of sterner stuff and didn't move.

Most of the British gathered outside the Inn gate whilst the Sergeant faced the French Officer and Civilian inside the Inn.

All the focus was now on the interior of the Inn.  The British Officer sent in a Soldier to support the Sergeant.  It looked to be too late when the Sergeant was knocked down by a shot from the French Civilian.

The British started to move up to support the Sergeant.  He made it back to his feet and into contact with the French Leader only to be knocked down again.

The climax of the battle came in the interior of the Inn with the British Sergeant repeatedly knocked down yet surviving attack after attack.  Finally with support from the Soldier he killed the French Officer and most of the Frenchmen fled leaving the field to the British.

The final view inside the Inn.

It was a close game with my poor play and poor luck almost costing me the game after 4-5 turns.  It was the lucky shot that killed the French Sergeant that turned the game in my favour.  I probably should still have lost as my Sergeant had to survive several attacks whilst knocked down.  When the tables were turned his luck held and he killed his opponent.

The rules work well but there are a few differences to other Ganesha rules most notably the Group Action rules.  These only allow certain types of troops to move as a group and then only in groups of the same type of troop e.g. Regulars, Rangers or Indians.  Each of these groups has their own type of group move and Leaders usually get to move along with their troops.  The weapon rules are similar to other Ganesha rules but Muskets are pretty powerful though not super-weapons.  Overall a good set of rules.  Next time we'll try some other troops with perhaps some Indians. 

Power Legion - Serpent Society Redux

This post revisits the Serpent Society as several more members have been released in heroclix form in the Superior Foes of Spiderman set. I've included characters that are still to be released in clix form too.

Sidewinder

Sidewinder (462 Points)
M	A	S	K
d8	d6	d4	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d8
Teleport d8, Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Side Effects Drones), Leadership d8

Anaconda

Anaconda (358 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d8	d8
Damage Resistance	d8+3	Activation	d6
Armor d6, Stretching d6, Amphibious

Asp

Asp (344 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d8	d4	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d8
Ranged Damage d8 (Limited: One-use), Acrobat

Black Mamba

Black Mamba (332 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d6	d4
Knockout	d4	Activation	d6
Telepathy d10, Poison d6

Boomslang

Boomslang (248 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d8	d4	d6
Knockout	d6	Activation	d8
Ranged Damage d6 (Device: Boomerang)

Bushmaster

Bushmaster (484 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d8	d8	d6
Knockout	d6	Activation	d8
Lethal HTH Attack d8, Poison d8, Super Leap d4, Entangle d8 (Limited: Range 1L), Long Move

Coachwhip

Coachwhip (308 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d6	d6
Knockout	d6	Activation	d6
Weapon Master d8, Lethal HTH Attack d8

Cobra

Cobra (534 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d12	d6	d8
Knockout	d8+2	Activation	d12
Stretching d4, Armor d4, Clinging d8, Poison d8, Lethal HTH Attack d8

Constrictor

Constrictor (530 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d6	d8
Damage Resistance	d8+2	Activation	d6
Armor d4, Lethal HTH Attack d8, Entangle d8 (Limited: Range 1S), Damaging Aura d10

Copperhead

Copperhead (428 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d6	d6	d6
Damage Resistance	d6+3	Activation	d6
Armor d6, Ranged Damage d8 (One at a Time ), Blast d6 (One at a Time )

Cottonmouth

Cottonmouth (307 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d6	d6
Knockout	d6	Activation	d6
Lethal HTH Attack d8, Armor Piercing

Death Adder

Death Adder (538 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d6	d8	d6
Damage Resistance	d6+3	Activation	d6
Armor d6, Superswimming d8, Lethal HTH Attack d10, Poison d8, Weapon Master d10

Diamondback

Diamondback (628 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d8	d6	d6
Knockout	d6	Activation	d8
Ranged Damage d8, Poison d8, Blast d8, Acrobat

Fer de Lance

Fer de Lance (288 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d8	d6	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d8
Lethal HTH Attack d8

Princess Python

Princess Python (426 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d8	d4	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d8
Entangle d8 (Device: Python), Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Python), Poison d8

Puff Adder

Puff Adder (380 Points)
M	A	S	K
d4	d4	d8	d8
Damage Resistance	d8+3	Activation	d4
Stretching d4, Poison d8, Armor d6

Rattler

Rattler (426 Points)
M	A	S	K
d6	d6	d8	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d6
Sonic Attack d8, Shield d8

Rock Python

Rock Python (338 Points)
M	A	S	K
d8	d8	d6	d6
Damage Resistance	d6+2	Activation	d8
Armor d4, Entangle d10

Viper

Viper (394 Points)
M	A	S	K
d8	d8	d6	d8
Knockout	d8	Activation	d8
Poison d6, Ranged Damage d8 (Device: Laser Pistol)