Kettie's ambush - Dumas campaign p. 6

In our new game I had the challenge to bring a wagon to a small abbey in a narrow valley and had no idea where Kettie would try to prevent my arrival at the abbey, where a certain gent in red waits to give me a sack of coins to pay troops to follow his further instructions [1]. 

All of Kettie's troops are hidden in houses or woods. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

I decided to let the wagon be guarded by a unit of pikes and August von Wiesel himself while a forlorn hope was send out to find ambushers in the woods. Besides I had 2 troops of ordinary musketeers, some commanded shot and a troop of heavy horse to protect the wagon on the narrow road.

A man in a red robe is waiting for my arrival. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

Unfortunately the gent in red had little intention to help me and ordered his 6 guards to stay with him at the abbey. Therefore they could only fight if attacked by Kettie. 

 

I ordered some musketeers to advance towards the hamlet. The cart is moving using the road. (photo: F. Hanselmann)

 

 But after some early bad luck I decide to challenge Kettie to maybe force her troops into failing morale tests... (photo: C. Hanselmann)

Kettie could place two troops of musketeers of the king in the buildings of a small hamlet or in one of the woods in the valley or at the hilltops. A third unit of ordinary musketeers could be hidden in one of the four woods. 
 

Our pike unit is moving through the hamlet as fast as possible. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

Kettie herself commanded a troop of Royal musketeers on horseback and had a unit of pikemen to follow her orders which could arrive in the area on one of the smaller roads. My opponents rolled a 2 for both units and therefore they came from the mountainside (on a 3-4 they would come from the opposite direction and on a 5-6 they would not arrive in the turn). 

A small group of forlorn hope is my only unit which manages to shoot - here they fire at the storage building, where 6 musketeers of the king are hidden. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

Some intensive fighting in the hamlet. (photo: F. Hanselmann)

 

 

In the first turns Kettie's ordinary musketeers fired very effectively from a hill and finally routed one unit of my musketeers and later the second unit left the field two shot down from different units. My forlorn hope moved into the wood next to a small farm which was empty to find out that there was nobody. Afterwards they had only one job to do: to kill as many hidden Royal musketeers as possible shooting out of the forest. But the Royal musketeers at the storage building stayed there even when they lost half their strength. I have to say that I rolled very badly in the whole game and therefore my Commanded shot hit only one more of our enemies: a member of Kettie's bodyguard. 

 

Meanwhile our heavy horse bypass the danger to support my pike unit which is under immediate pressure from all sides. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

Early in the game after so much bad luck I saw no other way but to kill or capture Kittie in a duel. It came out as a draw and when she challenged myself too, I had the misfortune that August von Wiesel was wounded or killed - we didn't know. 

My pike unit is routed and I don't think that I can rally them. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

You will not be surprised that I didn't managed to arrive at the abbey with my wagon. At least August von Wiesel was not killed but lightly wounded and came back with a good story to the headquarters of our army - surely telling some lies about his adventures in the valley. Therefore he was promoted to captain. Obviously they saw his cowardice and therefore my character got the second trait to not attack with his own unit in the next games... 

 

Kettie finally routed my riders when they were very close to the abbey and could reach the abbey in one turn. Please notice too, that her musketeers from the wood are leaving the wood and the guards from one cottage are coming out to pursue my routed cuirassiers if necessary. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

 

Kettie performed very well. Her units were nicely placed and could fire in nearly every round and kill and rout so many of my troops, that in the end my forlorn hope as the last standing unit remained in the valley, well covert behind the trees of the small wood. She earned 5 honours for capturing the wagon and fulfilled all of her missions leading to her own promotion... 

Text: André Hanselmann

Photos: Cecilia Hanselmann, Ferdinand Hanselmann

Finally I gave up the game. (photo: C. Hanselmann)

 

Notes: 

1) It's one more by myself written scenario not really close to the book or not more then the bikers-as-musketeers series. ;-)