The Governor’s Treasure

‘Why don’t you have a bigger battle? I’ve not seen your sandy cloth out for a while?’

Wargame spouses, for the above quote was from the Estimable Mrs P., have a lot of responsibility for what happens on the table. After that, what could I do but think of some sort of scenario to put on the table, using the full length and my desert sand cloth.

For some reason, my thoughts turned to the British activity in Tangier in the later part of the 17^th Century. Now, from my days as a younger, more foolish (and, apparently, much richer) wargamer, I do have a bunch of North African troops from the period, craftily assembled from various ranges by Irregular. Of course, I do not have any suitable post-Restoration British (actually, that is not true. I do have a few, but insufficient), but I reckoned that I could assemble something from the ECW troops that would look the part, sort of, at least.

So, a scenario. Having just started the Japanese in Korea stuff, I was not really looking to a new campaign but needed something to get the armies moving with a purpose. By means that I cannot describe, a scenario was invented.

The British governor of Tangier (or somewhere close by) has been waiting supplies and some civilian guests arriving by sea on the frigate We Are Loyal to the King, Honest, recently renamed to that from Speaker. Unfortunately, the frigate has run aground half a day’s march from the port on an uncharted sand bar. In order to try to refloat the vessel, the cargo and passengers, as well as some guns, have been unloaded. This has aroused the interest of the locals, who are lurking to both defeat the British intruders and grab the loot. As the passengers include the governor’s ‘niece’, he has a very personal reason to rescue them.

The picture shows the set-up. In the far distance is the port, with fortifications, from where the governor and his men will sally forth. In the left foreground is the ship with a landing party, some naval guns, stores and the civilians offloaded,. The guns are behind some temporary fortifications. The playing cards you can see around are potential ambushes, in or behind woods, behind hills and rough going. The mosque in the middle distance is on a hill, and there is a hill in the far distance on the right.

This was a bigger scenario than I am used to. 25 British bases faced 26 Moorish. The former had 12 bases of foot, 8 of horse, two dragoons, 2 guns and the naval landing party. The Moors had 10 tribal foot, 7 cavalry, 3 Janissary shot and 7 light cavalry. On the table, the Hearts playing cards were keyed to the forces. These would be turned up either by the British gaining line of sight or getting within 3 base widths of the stack of cards, or could be revealed by the Moorish general if he wished, at the cost of a tempo point. Each side also had 2 generals, as previous experience with armies of 20+ bases suggests that the extra command is necessary.

This was quite a complex action, and I cannot do a blow by blow account of it. The British used a base of dragoons to ‘spring’ the first ambush at the hill, which was of light and heavy cavalry, and a complicated action ensued with some British horse and foot mixing it with the Moors there. Meanwhile the rest of the British emerged from the port and headed along the road, deploying as opposition mounted as more ambushes were revealed.

I thought I had learnt from the Spanish problems with the Romans a few games ago, in a similar situation. The tribal foot in the wood on the right of the picture are in trouble and I have tried to withdraw them. One base is getting away, the other in under heavy fire from the British foot there. Meanwhile the horse face each other off, while the British infantry advance astride to road. I had thought that if I were the Moorish general, I would defend the mosque complex the most strongly. That is, indeed, what the cards revealed.

However, it all went a bit pear-shaped for the Moors before the ambush at the mosque could be triggered. On the Moorish left the British infantry and cavalry combined to beat the tribal foot in the wood. The Moorish cavalry charged, broke through the British infantry but were stopped and routed by the cavalry. The Moorish light horse could only pick away at the advancing British, while the firefight between the Janissaries and British foot was indecisive. What was decisive was British cavalry, under the governor himself, infiltrating along the shore and then taking the Moorish infantry at the Mosque in flank and routing them. With that the Moorish army ran away, leaving the British in peace to collect their supplies, refloat the frigate and, of course, observe the joyful reunion between the governor and his niece.

The picture shows the final positions. To the top left you can see the governor and his victorious cavalry. Next to them, the Janissaries are coming under pressure, while in the foreground the Moorish light cavalry are forming a semblance of a wing against the advancing British.

That was quite a lot of fun. The card system for the ambush worked well, and the scenario seemed quite nicely balanced. The charge of the Moorish horse on their left was a bit desperate. I had made a mistake with the rest of their cavalry earlier, and they had wandered into the line of fire of the advancing British infantry and cavalry on the road, with disastrous consequences. The Moors were really on the back foot then.

The other thing I could have tried was revealing the ambushes nearer the ship sooner, and attacking the gun and landing party. These cards revealed 4 bases of tribal foot, so it might have worked against a gun and a tribal foot equivalent naval landing party, it might not. But the British could probably have got cavalry there if they had been desperate enough.

It was a nice game, played out over three sessions. The only problem is that now I am wondering about a ‘proper’ Restoration army.