The Battle of Skag Moor

The following action takes place immediately after the events mentioned in the previous blog post.

The witches had followed the trayned band column back to All Hallows where they witnessed sentries being posted and a burial party detailed for the fallen musketeer before the rest were given permission to fall out and return to their homes and lodgings. Elsbeth Graves, Abigail Roseberg, Raven Winter, Hazel Knotley and Aggie Stone then took up positions around the village to watch for any comings and goings, while Old Mother Bankes, Violet, Bronwyn Pickering and Agatha Blackwood made their way to Skag Moor to await Mikhail's arrival.

The Vampyre's plan was simple - he would conceal the main part of his force in the woods behind Skag Hill, while Delcroix took the mercenaries forward to engage the sentries at All Hallows. Whichever "side" the village idiots were on in the accursed 'Civil War' currently afflicting the country, they would assume Delcroix's men were "the enemy" and muster the rest of the troops and engage them. Delcroix was then to lure them out of the village by carrying out a fighting withdrawal to Skag Hill, and the trap would be sprung!

Deployment.

The mercenaries (who have taken 2 casualties during the withdrawal) can be seen here on Skag Hill, with the Trayned Band (and village militia) hot on their heels and about to enter the table. Mikhail and Old Mother Bankes, Violet, Bronwyn and Agetha are behind the hill, with the nocterlinger in the woods to their right and barghests among the trees on their left.

Yes, I've "compressed" the salient features from the map onto a 3'x3' table and I've used to Aldi grass mat offcut with felt roads and river along with some 'bottle brush trees and pan scrubber marsh - Old Skool or what?? The sabot bases are new though, a cheap find on ebay that I've only just painted and textured, and ideal for using 'skirmish' minis in formed units.
Turn One.
The All Hallows company marched on in good order, and espying the enemy atop Skag Hill, Captain Jessop drew the men up from their column of march into line formation. Despite his best efforts, the good Doctor Hugo failed to curb the enthusiasm of the militia (the term "clubmen" didn't arise until later in the war), who disordered the left of the formation when they pushed through the musketeers, so keen were they to take a position at the front.

Convinced his opponent has simply taken an over confident stance on high ground, Jessop concidered his own disposition and was confident that the woods to his right, and the river Erewash to his left, with the marshy ground on its northern bank gave him secure enough flanks to proceed with the engagement.
Up on the hill, Delcroix gave the order to fire to the mercenaries under his command, but at this point they were intent on throwing insults and generally goading their opponents down on the road (which is probably why they failed their activation test - thus passing the turn back to the Trayned Band).
Turn Two.
Ignoring the shouting going on up on the hill, (which no-one could understand a word of....), both sleeves of shotte gave fire, cutting down several of the malignants, and the pike block began its advance. The village militia also regained some semblance of order and wheeled to face the enemy.

Upon receiving such a heavy salvo, the mercenaries wavered and were forced to retire (failed their morale test). Mikhail immediately stepped forward to bolster the men's courage - or remind them of the terms of their contract!.........

The witches made their way along the edge of the wood towards the riverbank and right flank........

.....and the barghests broke from cover and headed for the trees to the left of the enemy line. 

Turn Three.
With the hill vacated, Captain Jessop ordered a general advance along the whole line, but lieutenant Hargreaves had spotted the barghests and instructed his unit of shotte to wheel as they advanced and face this new threat.

With the mercenaries fighting spirit restored, Mikhail entered the wood to his left....

....and emerged in man-bat form on the far side! (What is it with vampires and their dramatic entrances?!)

The barghests abandoned their plan of a 'sneak attack' through the woods and charged directly at the musketeers who were now facing them.

Tooth and claw were met by mortuary swords and butt ends of muskets in a fierce struggle,

where casualties fell on both sides in even numbers, (two each), and the barghests were forced to retire.
The nocterlinger now shambled forward from the cover of the trees and climbed Skag Hill, while the witches took to their brooms and flew along the course of the river Erewash.

Turn Four.
With the barghests momentarily driven back, lieutenant Hargreaves ordered his men to give them a volley of shotte and was happy to see another of the beasts fall - their numbers were now much reduced (to half strength in fact)
The second unit of muskets also gave fire as Lieutenant Timpson ordered his men to engage the approaching horrors which had appeared on the hill. (The nocterlinger took their first two casualties, but thought nothing of it - I suppose being part zombie they never thought much of anything really! I'd decided they wouldn't be subject to any of the morale tests that "normal" units would take during the game.)
With the crash of musketry to either side and black powder smoke in his eyes and nostrils, captain Jessop led the pike block onto the hill slope - not realizing, or not caring that he had been led into a trap - the militia however, were no longer so keen on being in the front, and decided to hold their position! (failed activation)

Unfortunately, remaining below the crest of the hill, the militia never saw the witches approaching until it was too late - not that they could have done much about it anyway, but perchance it would have been less of a surprise. The airborne quartet lobbed down thunderbolt grenadoes into the hapless formation, causing seve casualties and forcing them to retire, wavering to the point Doctor Hugo was struggling to keep them on the field.

Over on the other side of Skag Hill, Mikhail stormed into the pike block. 

The vampyre's brutal attack and superhuman strength took down three of the pikemen, though he received a wound himself. The nocterlinger joined the fight, but with markedly less success - only causing a single casualty but taking four themselves. Failing to get past the 'point of pike', they fell back and regrouped (they'd also now lost half their number)

Turn Five.
With the militia wavering and pikes still locked in combat with the vampyre, it was down to the musketeers to try and resolve the battle.Hargreaves men finished off the barghests and Timpsons brave boys took down another nocterlinger.

The pikes however were unable to inflict any further damage to the vampyre, while he took down two more of their number, causing them to waver and fall back.

At this point, Mikhail was beginning to contemplate calling off the attack, but Delcroix had spotted Captain Jessop in the front rank of the pikemen, taking aim himself, he ordered a volley from the mercenaries. Mikhail charged the musketeers and the nocterlinger shambled down the hill slope and into the pike block.

From their aerial position, the witches could see the tide of battle turning and ignoring the militia, flew straight towards Timpson's musketeers - the only remaining 'whole' unit of the opposing force, and also the only threat to the witches themselves IF they managed to fire a salvo of muskets at them!

Turn Six.
This all out attack by Mikhails forces was too much for the All Hallows company. The witches grenadoes had inflicted three casualties and caused the musketeers to waver - despite desperate rallying calls from the officers and NCO's, the Trayned Band and accompanying survivors of the militia broke and fled.

Epilogue.
Mikhail had underestimated his foe, and though the fleeing survivors would be hunted down (which will be another story), he realised that not only must he recruit replacements for the days losses, but he would need more and better troops for the defence of Fernbeck House.
The Trayned Band had fought hard against the diabolic enemy, but its remnants were now scattered between Skag Moor and All Hallows. Captain Jessop needed to round up as many of the men as possible and hopefully save the remaining good folk of the village - to be continued.

For this company level game, I took these rules.......

...and added a splash of these for flavour......

.......and came up with Dragon's Lament   The Pikeman Rampant    something I've been wanting to try for quite a while and I'm pleased to say, it worked rather well and gave a thoroughly enjoyable game.
They share the same core mechanics I've previously talked about here :- The Pikeman's Lament AAR and here:- Dragon Rampant AAR, so I've pretty much stuck to the narrative of the battle.

Thanks for dropping by and thank you for reading. Sorry for some of the blurry photo's being even more blurry than the rest of them - sometimes it's hell being a front line journalist when you get caught up in the action!