War in the Woods Game 2: The Scrap at Stag's Head

The pleasant early-summer temperatures have drawn the settlers of Stag's Head out of their cabins and into the sunshine. While the men and boys tend to the frontier outpost's crops or scout out the next patch of forest to be harvested for lumber, the womenfolk and children tote chairs and tables out onto the grass and have a meal of fresh bread and meat pies topped with mushroom catsup.

Young Miss Charity Scroggins is something of a guest of honor at the get-together outside her cousins' cabin. Her father Ichabod is an uptight schoolteacher who came west from the Puritan settlements in New England and has managed to crowbar his way into a position of influence in the valley.

The girl's kin are determined to show her a proper good time during her stay, and by all accounts things are going splendidly. One of the young men has just taken a break from the fields and struck up a lively tune on his fiddle when one of the village boys comes tearing out of the woods.

"Indians comin'!" he yells, waving his arms. He's lost his hat in the hurried flight. "'n Frenchmen!" he adds, breathlessly, as his bare feet beat the packed dirt of the trail in front of the cabin.

Pandemonium sweeps the hamlet. Someone bumps into the fiddler and one of the catgut strings snaps with a loud twang, like an arrow being loosed. Some of the settlers try to gather the tables and chairs, either to preserve their property or to bar doors and windows, but most simply scatter, herding loved ones along with them.

As some of the men begin to come up from the fields and learn of the coming danger, Miss Scroggins stands paralyzed in fear. Growing up in Graeme's Station, protected by a blockhouse full of provincial troops or British regulars, attacks by natives have always been less of a reality than directly on the frontier.

Someone grabs her by the arm as the first musket crack is heard and they flee with the rest.

The raid on Little Eden in the western side of the valley has proved a diversion for the main French effort, an assault on the logging settlement of Stag's Head on the opposite side of the river. While the British authorities reel from the sudden and violent fighting at Little Eden, a force of more than 50 French colonial troops, Canadian militia, and Huron warriors descend on Stag's Head.

Whether by guile or by fortune, the daughter of militia captain Ichabod Scroggins is in the hamlet visiting relatives, and the French and Huron raiding force, under the command of the young but capable Capitaine Adrien Grenier, intend to capture her.

First they'll have to find her, however. The dice in the above photos mark the areas where she could be — each of the cabins, the forest, and the cornfield. Each side will have to search these locations during the fighting to capture or rescue her.

This portion of Stag's Head winds along the main road in the region, and the French and Huron force will be emerging from the woods on the left side of the table. A force from Scroggins' militia company and a group of allied Mohawks are marching to the sound of the guns, but when they'll arrive is anyone's guess.

The French and Huron forces fan out rapidly and approach the nearest cabin, moving through the trees in considerable number. Capitaine Grenier leads a group of the best shots from his company of colonial troops.

On their flank are two groups of Huron skirmishers, one led by the lesser sachem and so-called "praying Indian" known to the Europeans as Captain Samuel.

The others are under the command of a Huron holy man. Born Taychatin, he has become known to his people, other natives, and the Europeans as Le Voyant. He's been upgraded to a holy man this game using support points.

While the French and Huron may have an advantage in numbers, fortune refuses to smile on them. One of the residents of Stag's Head, Edwin Bevins, has swiftly armed his sons and wife and rushes to meet the threat. While searching a cabin for additional powder and ball, they locate young Miss Scroggins.

Despite this early windfall, the settlers are still outnumbered three to one, and there's no sign yet that help is on the way.

The groups of Huron skirmishers advance on either flank, with Grenier's colonial troops advancing up the middle.

The settlers flee into the cornfield, where they'll have some concealment for the fight to come, although the stalks offer little protection.

They fire a hasty volley at Captain Samuel's advancing Huron, but it has little effect. Tom Bevins, the oldest son of the clan, purports to be something of a marksman, but he's yet to prove those boasts under fire.

Le Voyant's men advance into the road and open up on the settlers in the corn. They also have a marksman among them, but the results of their shooting are just as disappointing as the colonists'.

The Bevins family reacts quickly, scampering back out of sight into the corn field to reload their pieces.

They're still in a very dangerous spot, with French and Huron closing in all around them. The fearsome war cries of the Huron skirmishers would be enough to chill any Englishman's blood. Still, the faint tramp of marching feet on the road can be heard in the still moments between the rattle of muskets.

Still more raiders appear, with a group of Canadian militia skirmishers under Sergent Hector Vidal joining the fight. These men are from Capitaine Jean-Daniel Bergeron's company of Québécois militia.

Vidal cut his teeth fighting the Iroquois on the St. Lawrence, and earned his nom de guerre — Le Crane de Fer, the Ironskull — after he survived a tomahawk blow that would have split any lesser man's skull. In this game, he has been bumped up to a Level II leader using support points.

Le Voyant's band seizes the initiative and moves up into some tall grass by the roadside. The Huron reload their muskets, although the marksman takes a little more time to carefully patch his round ball.

With more war cries and the crashing of heavy bodies toppling corn stalks, Captain Samuel's warriors dash into the cornfield, coming up just short of a hand-to-hand fight with the settlers.

It's right at this moment that the two groups of militia under Captain Scroggins arrives on the road, shaking out into an uneven line. Their arrival evens the odds a bit, but will it be in time to save the Bevins family and Ichabod's own daughter from the Huron's blades?

Le Voyant's skirmishers advance to face the militiamen, hoping to hold the new threat at bay for a moment while their allies finish off the settlers in the cornfield. The Canadians also advance, hoping to make up for their delayed deployment.

Grenier's colonials also move up to support Captain Samuel's warriors, although they can't get a good view of the situation or the militia line beyond through the stalks.

The Huron go in with their tomahawks, but the settlers are able to evade them, fleeing for their lives. They manage to make it over the rail fence with only a point of shock to show for their brush with the native warriors. Mr. Bevins sprains his ankle getting over the fence in a hurry, but it does little to delay the group's escape.

Having caught a glimpse of their fellow settlers fleeing in terror from the Huron, the line of colonial troops rushes to their aid, clambering over the fence in a poor display of military drill. Capt. Scroggins, who fancies himself as something of a latter-day Caesar, is hopping mad with their performance. The aging schoolteacher begins to bark loud but confusing orders, seeking to return his men to order.

Seeing the militia distracted, Le Voyant's men attempt to steal around the flank, with the Canadians following suit further back.

Having made good their escape and with help on the way, the settlers whirl around and fire at the pursuing Huron in the corn, cutting down one of them with their volley.

The militia are still making their way over the fence and Captain Samuel's warriors return fire on the settlers, inflicting a point of shock and wounding Edwin Bevins. That costs the British one point of Force Morale, they're down to 7 now.

The Huron don't stay and fight, instead they pull back into the corn to reload and regroup. They pass the advancing French on their way.

The Canadians are also still on the move.

Just in time, a group of Mohawk skirmishers turn up, led by the young but aspiring Little Crow. He and his men have bad blood with the Huron and are eager to address the flanking threat from Le Voyant's skirmishers.

Ironskull's Canadians finally get to work, firing across the road at the settlers at long range. The shots don't find their targets, though, and the settlers once again cheat death.

Scroggins finally manages to browbeat his militia into a rough line facing down the road, although they aren't able to commence firing yet.

Le Voyant's warriors take their turn firing at the settlers. Now that they've come out of the corn, they're drawing a lot of fire. Fortunately they only take one shock from the Huron volley.

Bevin, wounded, steels his resolve and directs his family to fire at the Canadians across the road, but the Quebecois are quick and get off a volley first. It puts one more point of shock on the settlers, while the English inflict two points on the Canadian militia in return.

As an editor's note, this volley from the Canadians was an error on my part, they had already activated this turn.

Despite some success, the settlers just aren't able to keep up in such a swirling gunfight. While they're focusing on the militia, Captain Samuel and his warriors pop back out of the corn. The Hurons' chewed balls tear through the air, putting another shock on the group and incapacitating Edwin.

The patriarch crumples to the ground, holding his head, as his sons crowd around to see how bad his wounds are. This shakes British morale once more, bringing it down to 6. The French and Huron still sit at Force Morale 10.

To their relief, Mr. Bevin manages to get to his feet, and during a brief lull in the fighting he manages to recover himself.

But there's little time to spare, as the French Troupes de la Marine are finally getting into the fight. One of Bevin's boys falls in a cloud of black powder smoke, and they take yet another point of shock.

Captain Samuel's men get off another volley and it kills another of the settlers, driving them back involuntarily. Things are starting to go from bad to worse for the British, and their morale takes another hit, falling to 5.

All it takes is another volley from Le Voyant's warriors to break the brave but outgunned colonials. With more shock than men, they rout off the table, taking their wounded leader and the terrified Miss Scroggins along with them.

British force morale falls all the way down to 3, but the turn of events is actually something of a windfall for the English. It removes the girl from play, denying the French and Huron a total victory.

Still, it probably doesn't feel that way to the men of Scroggins' militia company as they finally shoulder arms and deliver their first uncontrolled volley.

The weight of their fire tells, however, as musketry cuts down one of Samuel's Huron and two of Grenier's men, also leaving the French with two points of shock to grapple with.

Le Voyant's men try to relieve the pressure by firing on the colonists, but they have no effect on Scroggins' line. Grenier, on the other hand, snaps into action. He rallies the shock from his men and commands them to quickly reload, fire, and reload again.

The snap volley delivered by the well-drilled Frenchmen only inflicts one shock on the English foe, but a musket ball clips Ichabod's arm, lightly wounding the leader. The already shaky British morale falls again to 2.

On the opposite side of the cabin from Le Voyant, the Mohawks give Grenier's men a volley, putting a point of shock on them.

Captain Samuel's Hurons keep up harassing fire against the Hurons, but it's really Grenier who keeps the French in the fight. Exhorting his men to load and fire rapidly, the young capitaine gets off two volleys before the colonists can reply.

One militiaman is killed, and the line takes another two points of shock, but most crucially, the French have caught another leader in their sights. The junior sergeant who is supposed to be helping Scroggins keep his militia in order takes a hit.

The unfortunate injury is enough to bring British morale perilously low, down to just 1.

The Quebecois fire at the militia after their tough sergeant has rallied 2 points of shock off of them. They inflict a single point of shock on the foe.

The colonial line manages to get off another volley through all of the harassing skirmisher fire, but it's not quite as powerful as the first. It inflicts a point of shock on Captain Samuel's Huron and two on Grenier's troops.

As I recall, the third figure standing behind the colonial line in a white shirt is a physic that was brought along using support points. Unfortunately, either Jesse forgot to use him or didn't have the time to leave Ichabod inactive for a whole turn while he was patched up.

Displeased with the results of their shooting, Le Voyant's band decides to investigate the sounds of musketry they've heard from the other side of the cabin.

The Mohawk warriors are sharp, though, and turn to face the creeping Huron, pulling back a little from the cabin toward the cover of some underbrush.

On the other side of the road, the fight has descended into the hot and grimy work of ramming powder and ball, priming pan, and trying to get a volley off before the other fellow can.

Shooting from the French and Canadians puts more shock on the militia, but another volley from them puts further shock on Grenier and Samuel's groups and kills one Frenchman.

In fact, Scroggins seems to be finding his footing, and waves his musket in the air as he rallies his men, urging them to keep up the fire.

Another volley rips into the cornfield, scattering leaves and kernels as it wounds Captain Samuel, kills one of his warriors and a French soldier, and puts a shock on the remaining men in Grenier's group.

The French troops, reduced to less than half of their original numbers and bearing excess shock, are forced back involuntarily, which finally puts a dent in their morale. Still, the drop from 10 to 9 is much more bearable than the tumble the British morale has taken.

Captain Samuel's warriors, who were so eager to pounce with knives drawn on surprised and untrained settlers, won't brave this uneven fight, and they flee back into the cornfield at his command, out of sight of the militia.

Little Crow's Mohawks see the enemy forces start to waver and they move in to get their share of the glory. The take up positions in the cover of the fence and take shots at the Canadians, but can't seem to find the range.

However, Le Voyant seizes the initiative and his warriors rush out from behind the cabin, drawing up to fire into the backs of Little Crow's skirmishers.

The sudden volley kills one Mohawk outright and disorders the rest, dumping 4 points of shock on them in seconds.

The Canadians pitch in with their fire down the road into the Mohawk's flank, inflicting an eye-watering 6 shock that is enough to see Little Crow and his men break and rout off the table. The sudden blow craters British Force Morale.

With his flank turned by Huron warriors, Scroggins is forced to call the retreat and surrender the field before he can complete the destruction of the crack French light infantry to his front. Grenier is saved by the timely intervention of his Huron allies.

The French and Huron have wrested control of the little logging settlement from the British crown, but at some cost. Four of Grenier's best colonial troops were killed or wounded too seriously to continue the raiding campaign, while three of the Huron warriors breathed their last in the struggle for Stag's Head.

Aside from the loss of Stag's Head itself, British losses were light. Scroggins' militia company lost just one man, with Little Crow's Mohawks also losing a man. Both Scroggins and his sergeant were grazed by musket balls, but the wounds are not severe.

Two of the Bevins boys were killed in the fight and Edwin was badly wounded, but as they were settlers defending their land and not regular or militia forces, they don't count against the crown's muster rolls. Despite this, their heroics in saving Miss Scroggins helped deny the French one of their important objectives.

Without her to serve as a bartering chip, the raiding is sure to continue. Over the last 12 hours, fighting has broken out on both sides of the valley from organized French and Huron raiding forces. The war burning between colonial powers all across the globe has come home to the settlers of the Hemlock River Valley.

As the afternoon sun rises high over the bodies of the dead, Grenier gives the order to set fire to the cabins and fields of Stag's Head after they've been thoroughly ransacked for supplies and valuables. From where they've withdrawn to lick their wounds, the men of Scroggins' militia company, some of whom called the settlement their home, watch black smoke rise over the trees with growing trepidation.

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That's a wrap for the second installment of our FIW campaign. You've been introduced to a majority of the key French and Huron characters, and many of the British and Mohawk ones, although the cast will grow as the game goes on and heroes are both made and slain.

It was interesting to see the effect of Force Morale on this game. I think we've mostly found that in Sharp Practice, losing morale is not nearly as serious of a concern as in Chain of Command. But obviously it was a deciding factor here. The British militia had a lot of fight left in them on paper, but not in practice.

We organized this campaign around a crude and improvised map, with each player separating their allocated forces into at least two groups that could attack, defend, or fall back at will. Each player also had wild cards that could be played that would trigger special scenarios (although don't get your hopes up, I don't think either of us used them.)

Now you've seen fights in both of the conflict zones, which are located close enough to each other that leaders and groups could be transferred between them with a small delay. The campaign narrative will largely flip back and forth between these two areas of fighting.

I won't be showing the map itself, mostly because it was an improvised affair just meant to link the locations and battles together. I would do it slightly differently if I had it to do again. It was a good learning experience, especially compared to the more linear ladder-style campaign organizations I'm familiar with for Chain of Command campaigns.

You can find the next game here.