I was cleaning out some pictures from my cell phone, when I ran across a couple of photos from a six or eight player game of Muskets & Tomahawks I had the pleasure of playing in some time ago.  Muskets & Tomahawks bills itself as a game of “skirmishes in North America during the 18th century.” I enjoy the game not only for how it plays, but because I have an interest in the French and Indian Wars.  .

Thank you very much to Gamemaster Nick of the South Bay Game Club of Saratoga, CA for putting together and running this game.

The scenario we played was one where a group of British regulars were tasked with moving up cannon and shelling a French fort.  They were supported in this by a group of rangers and a sizable war party of Mohawks.  I tend to favor the native warriors, so I played the Mohawk contingent.

Fight for the village.

We first encountered the French native allies, who took up positions on the mountain and brought our columns under fire.  As might be expected, the natives in Muskets & Tomahawks are experts in making use of terrain when they fight.  The British column continued toward the fort while the rangers spent much of the rest of the battle skirmishing with the French native allies.

My Mohawks broke into two groups.  The first, led by a very aggressive, young chief, who wanted to make a name for himself, charged down the hill into the village.  He and his men made quite a terrifying and colorful spectacle whooping and waving their clubs and axes.  A sharp battle took place in the village, which included fighting inside the wigwams and long houses.

The Mohawk chief was killed, which took the fight out of his warriors.  They torched a couple of buildings and fled in all directions, melting back into the forest and taking no further part in the battle.

Game Master Nick certainly puts together some nice battlefields!

Now the other Mohawks, led no doubt by an older and wiser warrior, took up firing positions overlooking the village.  They were quite successful keeping the remaining native warriors pinned down inside their longhouse and killing any who tried to venture outside to put out the fires.  They also drove away a group of native reinforcements from the fort, who were trying to use their canoes to flank the British.

The battle ended with a British victory.  At the end, my fierce and perspicacious fighting men sat and ate some deer jerky and cornbread, enjoying the spectacle of their European allies driving off the French, who sallied from the fort, and then taking it under fire.  As the sun went down they began creeping toward the burning remains of the abandoned French position to take advantage of the opportunity for loot and perhaps captives….