Raid on Deerfield Convention Game

The Raid on Deerfield (a Massachusetts frontier town) gets under way as raiders set fire to a house

Each year, I pick a new game to run at conventions to promote my French & Indian War rules, Song of Drums and Tomahawks. This year, along with my coauthors Keith and Mike, we decided to stage the 1704 Raid on Deerfield, fought as part of Queen Anne's War between the French and British. This wintertime raid by roughly 300 French and Indians devastated the Massachusetts frontier town. They took dozens of captives back north to Canada with them. However, the interesting thing was that some of the houses fought out till relieved by a force from neighboring towns. Unlike the Raid on Schenectady (which was our original choice), the execution of this attack was much more haphazard. It seemed like a better fit for a man-to-man skirmish game.

 

Our Deerfield -- pooling together the buildings of myself and my coauthors Keith and Mike

The three of us met one Saturday, bringing all of our 28mm buildings, to lay out the map. At that time, we were still planning on Schenectady, and we laid out each of the four 3'x3' battlefields which would be arranged in a square. A couple weeks later, when we decided to change to Deerfield, I referred to my catalog of buildings and online images and layouts to create a Deerfield version. A key part of our multiplayer Song of Drums and Tomahawks games are that each pair of opponents essentially plays their own one-on-one game. The four games are tied together strategically and tactically -- with players being able to send reinforcements if they wish to another table. But to make it work in the eyes of the players, I needed clear delineations and blocked sight lines between neighboring board sections. I decided to use fence sections to accomplish this, and was pleased that when it was all laid out on the tabletop, the battlefield did appear broken up.

 

More French militia and Indians pour into the town looking to create havoc and take captives

As part of getting this ready for the tabletop, I needed to create four new battlefield mats to represent a snowscape. Prior to the raid, it has snowed heavily and drifts piled up against the town palisade actually permitted Indians in snowshoes to climb up them and surmount the walls. These infiltrators then opened up the gate the rest of the force. A trip to Joanne's Fabrics produced a white felt with glitter set inside it, which was subtle enough to give a reflective sparkle here and there, like light reflecting off of ice and snow. I used the same method I'd used for my other felt battle mats. I used a sifter filled with Woodland Scenics blended green Turf, shaking it lightly over the surface. I then sprayed it with a 50/50 mix of water and Acrylic Matte Medium. It is important to spray the mixture up and let the droplets settle on the felt rather then squirting it directly. Once the first coat has dried, the second coat and be sprayed more directly onto its surface.

 

Some townsfolk men rally together to try to save some of their neighbors

I also painted another batch of winter dress Indians, this time from Knuckleduster Miniatures. These Grand River Nations (Winter Dress) Warriors are not as detailed and nice as my normal Conquest Miniatures, but they add nice variety and a few of them are quite striking. I also touched up my some of my friends' contributions to our pool of women and children townsfolk -- a few of which weren't flocked and needed this to look nice on the tabletop. Similarly, I touched up a few buildings my friends had donated (but shh, don't tell them that!).

 

My first running of the Raid on Deerfield filled up with 8 players

We ran a playtest of it one Sunday evening, and I was glad that I did. We came up with two key instances that the rules would need to be modified for the scenario. I was satisfied with the solutions I came up with both, but it is always better to encounter these situations when playtesting rather than on game day. The first convention running of the Raid on Deerfield, 1704, would be at the brand new DayCon 2017 held in Fairborn, OH, Feb. 18. The night before I had laid out all four battlefields and packed all the buildings and scenery needed for each sector of the battlefield into their own separate boxes. Being anal like I am, I even put a sticker on the bottom of each terrain piece recording its location. For good measure, I took a photo of each with my cell phone so that I could refer to it when setting everything up. As it was, the table size I'd requested turned out to not be available. Instead of a 6'x6' square, I was given an 8'x5' area. This required some squeezing together of each sector of the battlefield, which actually worked out better as it broke up the sight lines even more.

 

Townsfolk spot some Indians lurking in a copse of trees and rush to attack them

I had a full 8 players for my afternoon event at DayCon. All eight had played the rules before, so this abbreviated the introduction time and let me get into explaining the scenario more quickly. Essentially, the four French & Indian players each start with a force of 8-9 figures entering on one corner of the board. The Townsfolk started with four armed men in the opposite corner. Each board had six buildings containing random numbers of townsfolk. They could include more armed men, armed women, unarmed women, and children. When either the raiders or townsfolk player had figures open the door of the building, the townsfolk player reached into a bag and drew a chip which designated what was inside. To enter a building, you had to batter down the door, which could take anywhere from one to five turns depending on the player's roll and the number of figures battering away at it.

 

A rare shot of me here on my blog, center, teaching two new people how to play Song of Drums and Tomahawks

The goal of the Indians is to take captives. I ruled that any time a French or Indian player wounded (killed) a townsfolk figure, they could count it as knocked out or subdued. Then, they could shuttle it off board by moving it to a designated point on the edge of the board, returning after dropping it off with the off-board forces marshaling and stringing together the captives. Historically, the French wanted to simply create havoc and chaos, terrorizing the frontier. So, players were equally free to simply kill townsfolk. The objective of the townsfolk was to try to save as many of the women and children as possible. The game was a lot of fun, with each player having a lot of leeway in how they tried to accomplish their mission.

 

Townsfolk also could go house to house, collecting up their neighbors to try to save them from the raiders

We received a lot of compliments on how the table looked. There certainly were a LOT of buildings on the table. One of the four sides of the town was lined with my Acheson Creations fort palisade. I think it would have been really cool to be able to line all four sides. Who knows? Maybe I can get them to cut me a break on more fort wall pieces -- I certainly showcase their products a lot in my games...ha, ha!

 

A French officer surveys the havoc being caused by the raid

The only sour note of the process of getting this game ready to run at this year's conventions was that we missed the deadline for Cincycon. I was so busy that I simply did not see or notice the deadline had come and gone. It is unfortunate, as I have been running games there for a number of years, now.

 

Successful Indian raiders lead off two captives for the long journey north to Canada

Otherwise, look for The Raid on Deerfield at the following conventions:
May 6: First Capital Gaming Convention, Chillicothe, OH
May 19-20: Drums at the Rapids, Fort Meigs, Perrysburg, OH
July 12-16: Historicon, Fredericksburg, VA
Oct. 6-8: Advance the Colors, Springfield, OH

Beaver Wars in Ohio playtest, Turn 10

 

The Beaver Wars playtesters gathered for one final time at the party room of a local pizzeria

Our final turn of the Beaver Wars campaign began with two tribes, the Shawnee and Neutrals, within one point of each other. There was an outside chance the Mohawk, at 3 points back, could make up enough points and win. It would take the perfect combination of battle results, though. However, I was surprised by the card play, as none of the top three tribes chose a high War card, which could enable them to control which opponent they were matched against. Cleverly, the Neutrals played the highest ranking Hunt card which automatically meant they would likely pass up the tribe in front of them in the standings for Beaver Pelts obtained.

 

Shawnee hunters meet an attacking Miami warparty at the ford of a river

This was the first turn where any of the tribes played Reward cards that affected the turn order. The Shawnee played a “Prophecy of Dreams” card which allowed them to switch out their card. The Seneca played a “Deceit in Council” card which allowed them to switch positions with a tribe immediately in front of or behind them in the attack order. When it was all said and done, the cards played and choices by the highest ranking War cards resulted in the following battles:

• The Honniasont (in last place) attacked the Neutrals (who were in 2nd).
• The 6th place Miami attacked the 1st-place Shawnee.
• The 8th place Susquehannock attacked the 3rd place Mohawk.
• The 4th-place Seneca attacked the 5th place Kickapoo. The Kickapoo player was feeling ill the morning of our meeting, so my 7th place Erie tribe stood in for them.

 

The Mohawk player (in red) advances his braves to attack the Susquehannock invaders

What had happened was that the lower-ranking tribes had all individually attacked the front-runners, meaning that none of the top four were going head-to-head. As GM, I was kind of hoping they’d be matched up against each other — especially since I knew that the Neutrals would make up a point and enter the battle phase of the turn tied with the Shawnee. It also meant the leaders were facing slightly weaker opponents, as tribes with more Scenario Victory Points (SVPs) can buy more upgrades to their figures — allowing them, in essence, to field more points worth of troops.

 

Facing a counterattack by Neutral tribe warriors, Honniasont youths scurry to answer the summons of their warchief

What’s more, the battles were a clean sweep by the higher ranking tribes. All four of our top finishers ended up winning a Major Victory in their final battle. Speaking from the Erie’s point of view, it was not because my opponent had an edge in upgrades, though. In fact, I felt my Erie were in total control of the battle and well on their way to defeating the Seneca. My opponent became desperate and charged two braves to attack my entire war band, one of them contacting my chief. In an astounding series of die rolls (not the first time it had happened in the campaign to me), I managed to lose four straight melees even though I held a significant edge in each. My chief was killed, crippling my force and giving the Seneca the momentum and ultimate victory.

 

Seneca horse thieves attempt to rustle some stock belonging to the Erie tribe

The Honniasont gave the 2nd-place Neutrals a run for their money, too. One more lost brave would have forced the Neutrals check morale — quite likely scattering their force, fatally. However, they killed a Honniasont youth to force their opponent to check morale first. This resulted in too many Honniasont fleeing, and the Neutrals prevailed.

 

The Seneca player attempts a desperation attack on the Erie defenders who are gunning them down from a cornfield

I counted up the points and it ended up being an exact tie! The Shawnee and Neutrals ended up with the exact same total in Prestige Points (which essentially tracks the number of Major or Minor Victories, and Minor Defeats). The Shawnee had the edge in Beaver Pelts, while the Neutrals had the lead in SVPs. Out of a maximum 30 possible points, both tribes score 25.5! AS GM, I offered each the chance to battle it out in a final rubber match, but they declined. They declared they would share control of the Ohio Valley and its rich hunting lands.

 

More Seneca race to attack the Erie defenders as they shoot out at them from the edge of the cropfield

The players said they enjoyed the campaign quite a bit, and were completely happy with the format and logistics. I have decided to tweak the way Beaver Pelts were awarded in the final rules, so that the campaign will play out similarly whether there were a large number of players or just a handful. Most of the suggestions my players made over the course of the campaign were on how to make scenarios more balanced. This led to me continually tweak individual scenario setups and victory points. By the end, we had played 10 turns with 8-9 players, meaning The Beaver Wars in Ohio generated 40 battles. We met about once a month, and it took us about a year to playtest those 10 turns. You can see the final standings and individual statistics at the end of this post.

 

The players gather around the final battle of the campaign, as the Neutrals player, left, desperately tries to retake his village from a Honniasont raid

With this playtest, the rules are essentially complete. I will now begin assembling them and rewriting them into a rulebook. It is my hope that they will be available by the beginning of the 2017 — if not before. I hope everyone enjoyed reading about the fun we had during our playtest. I will post here when the rules are available. Thank you for reading!

 

The Honniasont answer the call of their chieftain and battle the Neutrals mightily, finally falling to the superior foe

READ THE REPORT FROM THE NEUTRALS PLAYER ON HIS BATTLE

FINAL STANDINGS

Tribe	Place	Victory Points
Shawnee	Tied 1st	25.5 points
Neutrals	Tied 1st	25.5 points
Mohawk	3rd	20.5 points
Seneca	4th	16.5 points
Kickapoo	5th	14 points
Miami	6th	12 points
Erie	7th	11 points
Susquehannock	8th	7 points
Honniasont	9th	3 points

PRESTIGE POINTS (Battlefield Victories)

Tribe	Prestige Points (PPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	25 (8 MajV, 1 MinD)
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	25 (6 MajV, 3 MinV, 1 MinD)
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	18 (5 MajV, 1 MinV, 1 MinD)
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	18 (4 MajV, 3 MinV)
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	11 (2 MajV, 2 MinV, 1 MinD)
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	10 (3 MajV, 1 MinD)
Erie (Mike Demana)	8 (2 MajV, 2 MinD)
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	5 (1 MajV, 2 MinD)
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	3 (1 MinV, 1 MinD)

BEAVER PELTS

Tribe	Beaver Pelts
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	60
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	53
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	52
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	48
Erie (Mike Demana)	44
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	41
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	38
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	33
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	23

SCENARIO VICTORY POINTS

Tribe	Scenario Victory Points (SVPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	144
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	136
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	117
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	111
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	88
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	72
Erie (Mike Demana)	69
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	65
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	43

Photos from Raid on the Ohio Frontier at Advance the Colors 2016

 

French &  Indian War fun for the whole family!

I ran two sessions of my French & Indian War skirmish game, Song of Drums and Tomahawks, at Advance the Colors 2016 two weekends ago. Both games were completely full with six players. Everyone seemed to have a good time. Since most people have read earlier blog posts about this game and setup, this entry will be mostly photos.

The event has 3 one-on-one scenarios taking place simultaneously, as the Indians launch a raid into Ohio to drive back the frontier. For some reason, I did not take many pictures of "They Died in the Smoke," but there are plenty of others of the other two.

Settlement Raid
A small settlement deep on the Ohio frontier is raided by Indians on the warparth

 

Frontiersmen take cover and fire as Indians close in for the attack

 

Tribesmen use the cover of the settlers own fields and fences to move closer to the defenders

 

Not knowing where the raiders will appear, the frontiersmen must watch all sides of their settlement

 

A group of Indians use the cover of a log cabin's walls to enter the settlement

The settlement leader keeps a wary out for signs of the raiders at the start of the skirmish

Wagon Train Through Peril
An extended family loads up their wagons with women and children and tries to make it through to local blockhouse

 

"Here they come!" As feared, Indian raiders lay in wait along the family's path to the blockhouse

 

As muskets are discharged, combat becomes brutal and bloody with tomahawk and knife

 

After more than two years of running my game, I get more and more repeat players all the time!

 

And for only $15, you too can enjoy fast and bloody skirmishes (available through our website)

Beaver Wars in Ohio playtest, Turn 9

 

Four games were running as the campaign comes down to the wire to see which tribe will be victorious

Our next-to-last turn of the final playtest of the Beaver Wars campaign rules took place last weekend at the local pizzeria. All players were in attendance, so as GM I sat out with my Erie tribe. An interesting dynamic had developed in the strategic card play phase of the game over the last two turns. Early on, most tribes played Hunt cards, to obtain more beaver pelts. Now, there was a preponderance of War cards as tribes competed to be near the top of the order for launching attacks. Both 2nd and 3rd place tribes (Neutral and Mohawk) chose high value War cards and both chose to attack tribes far beneath them in the standings. Each player claimed that they did that because they had not fought that particular opponent in the campaign yet, but I’m not so sure they weren’t targeting a tribe that would field a potentially less powerful force (as far as firearms and trait upgrades go).

 

The Honniasont quickly cut off the pathway, forcing the Neutral Scouts to fight

The first battle saw the Honniasont turning the tables on the Neutrals in the Ambush the Scouts scenario. The Honniasont are our last-place tribe — mainly because Bruce joined the campaign several turns into it and has been unable to close the gap on points. His strategy of fielding a force of all Youths with one Chieftain has been challenging to everyone he has faced. Keith’s Neutrals were the first opponent to take a Youth-heavy force to oppose the Honniasont. The Honniasont moved to block the Neutrals path, and sabotaged Keith’s idea of racing around the enemy to exit the table (as the victory conditions required).

 

The Honniasont spring their ambush and charge in to catch the Neutrals unaware

Bruce’s rolls were good and soon he had slain several Neutrals. Bruce was living up to his reputation of giving everyone he faced a challenging struggle. Keith’s favorite tactic in this campaign, though, has been to try to kill his opponent’s chieftain. Anytime an enemy leader enters the fray (or gets within his movement range), Keith will try his best to swarm him and force his opponent to take the required morale test if he successfully kills him. Plus, a force without a chieftain is more vulnerable to activation turnovers than one that is well-led. This tactic has served Keith well in the campaign, as the Neutrals’ position in the standings will attest.

 

Keith points out how he plans to kill the Honniasont leader to Bruce

Keith’s bid to kill the Honniasont chieftain was successful, and Bruce’s forces were scattered by morale failures. With that, his good fortune at activation rolls seemed to disappear. The game quickly went from a hard-fought struggle, with the Honniasont having the edge, to a mopping up operation by the victorious Neutrals. It was a Major Victory for the Neutrals, with the score 18-3 in victory points.

 

The Mohawk advance through the Susquehannock town, driving the defenders before them

The Slaughter Amidst the Lodges scenario that pitted the Mohawk attack on a Susquehannock town catches the battle in the middle of all its fury. The entire board is an Indian town, with the players using the birchbark longhouses and various skin-stretching frames, sweat lodges, and fish-drying racks as cover. The Mohawks had used their upgrades to make many of their warriors Strong (+1 in melee). So, they were quick to close with the enemy. Although they lost a couple warriors, the Mohawks quickly began tomahawking their enemy. Soon, Steve’s forces fell below half and were scattered by the mandatory morale check.

 

Steve moves his Susquehannock warriors to try to stave off the Mohawk attackers

The chieftain and three others remained on the table, and bravely continued the fray. The Susquehannock leader even rushed to attack a Mohawk warrior, but was soon outnumbered and cut down. His remaining warriors fled the village with his loss, leaving the Mohawk in possession of the town. This battle was actually our biggest margin of victory, with the Mohawks triumphing 19-2 over the Susquehannock.

 

As the Miami spring their ambush, the Seneca hunters drop their bundles at the portage

The third battle was another ambush — this time of a Miami raiding party catching Seneca hunters at Ambush at the Portage. The Miami concealed themselves and waited until the Seneca were very close to spring the battle. Apparently, there was confusion among the Miami, as the warriors did not recognize the signal to attack and remained frozen in place. The Seneca took advantage of the Miami activation failure and dropped their bundles and quickly closed with their ambushers. Seneca matchlock fire was deadly and soon Miami warriors were dropping as the momentum quickly swung in favor of the defenders.

 

Jenny looks on in despair as the Seneca aggressively charge her Miami and begin to cut them down

As more and more of their warriors fell, the Miami knew their attack was doomed to failure. The Seneca showed little mercy — scalping their opponents and continuing to close on the reeling and disorganized enemy. The Miami did account for three of their attackers, but lost eight of their own, including their leader. It was our third Major Victory of the turn, as the Seneca rolled 18-3.

 

The Kickapoo traders stalk forward, certain that some of their goods have been stolen by the Shawnee also visiting the fort

The final battle took place between two trading missions that encountered each other within the walls of a European fort. Both had arrived within a day of each other and had just concluded trading their pelts for firearms, powder, and European goods. Unfortunately, the white man’s curse, whisky and rum, was also sold to the Indians. Combined with past wrongs, that sewed the seeds of conflict between the Kickapoo and Shawnee parties.

 

Andy's Kickapoo -- I really enjoy how so many of the players have painted up their forces as the campaign progresses

The entire battlefield of the Who’s a Thief? scenario is contained inside the fort, with cabins and warehouses as cover. A special scenario rule has a hostile soldier appear anytime an Indian tries to enter a cabin or climb atop the palisade. Neither side risked angering the soldiers, though. The warriors instead massed towards a passageway between the walls and a warehouse. The Shawnee quickly gained the upper hand in the fighting. As a warrior fell, more entered the dusty lane. Soon, the Kickapoo began to retreat and fled back towards their encampment. Once again, the Shawnee held the upper hand in a battle. Their 14-4 victory maintained their position as the most dominant tribe in the Ohio Valley by 1 single point! I'm sure that both they and the Neutrals will be examining the categories to determine how they can move up in the categories they are competing in.

Tribe	Place	Victory Points
Shawnee	1st	25.5 points
Neutrals	2nd	24.5 points
Mohawk	3rd	22.5 points
Seneca	4th	18.5 points
Kickapoo	5th	14 points
Miami	6th	12 points
Erie	7th	11 points
Susqehannock	8th	8 points
Honniasont	9th	3 points

Tribe	Prestige Points (PPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	22 (7 MajV, 1 MinD)
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	22 (5 MajV, 3 MinV, 1 MinD)
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	15 (4 MajV, 1 MinV, 1 MinD)
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	15 (3 MajV, 3 MinV)
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	11 (2 MajV, 2 MinV, 1 MinD)
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	10 (3 MajV, 1 MinD)
Erie (Mike Demana)	8 (2 MajV, 2 MinD)
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	5 (1 MajV, 2 MinD)
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	3 (1 MinV, 1 MinD)

Tribe	Scenario Victory Points (SVPs)
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	124
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	121
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	101
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	98
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	83
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	72
Erie (Mike Demana)	65
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	62
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	36

Tribe	Beaver Pelts
Shawnee (Joe Merz)	54
Mohawk (Dave Welch)	47
Neutrals (Keith Finn)	43
Kickapoo (Andy Swingle)	42
Erie (Mike Demana)	37
Susquehannock (Steve Phallen)	36
Seneca (Mike Stelzer)	33
Miami (Jenny Torbett)	32
Honniasont (Bruce Adamczak)	23