Napoleonic Liberdy: The raid on Rider au bord de la mer

Owain put on an excellent 28mm Napoleonic skirmish game set in south-western France in 1814. We used Liberdy , our home-grown skirmish rules.

Capt Pickleton and his troops engage the troops of Capt Escargot and Lt Picard

British forces

Captain Pickleton, a Sergeant and 4 Line Privates
Ensign Fotheringay and 5 Line Privates
Sgt Smollett and 5 Line Privates
Sgt Obediah and 4 Riflemen

Objectives
1. Capture the docks intact
2. Capture the town magistrate and the port official
3. Stop any French troops escaping via the docks

Just another day in the sleep port of Rider au bord de la mer

French forces

Capitaine Escargot and 5 Légère
Sgt Chef  Grenouille and 5 Légère
Lieutenant Picard and 5 Ligne
Lieutenant Roquefort and 5 dismounted Dragoons

2 Supply wagons

Objectives
1.Get the supplies to the docks
2. Hold up the British as long as possible
3.Take as many boats as possible to hinder the British

 French troops under Lt Picard await the arrival of the supply wagons

and the same from a different angle

Capt Escargot sprints his troops into the town

Capt Pickleton and Ens Fotheringay rush to the docks

Capt Pickleton engages Lt Picard in a scrimmage

Capt Escargot takes up a position to aid Lt Picard

The supply wagons arrive escorted by Lt Roquefort's Dragoons

and the same from a different angle

British riflemen take up positions in the churchyard whilst Sgt Smollett's troops engage Sgt Chef  Grenouille's Legere in the middle distance.

Ens Fotheringay sees his men fall in a withering hail of bullets from Capt. Escargot's troops

Sgt Obediah's Riflemen advance to help Ens Fotheringay

Sgt Smollett's depleted troops follow up the Riflemen but Lt Roquefort's Dragoons can be seen across the town square

Capt. Pickleton's troops start to lose the firefight

The good townsfolk of Rider are not overly concerned by the action developing

With the help of the Riflemen, Capt Pickleton charges the boat whilst the Dragoons try to intervene

Sgt Smollett and Sgt Obediah push their troops towards the boat

As his men are shot down Capt Pickleton attempts to avenge Ens Fotheringay's death

Capt Escargot backed up by Sgt Grenouille engage the surviving Riflemen

Capt Pickleton forces his way onto the boat closely followed by Sgt Smollett

"The blood fell from the decks, like a river it did run"

Lt Picard deals a mortal wound to Capt Pickleton who falls next to Ens Fotheringay

Sgt Grenouille arrives to seal the fate of the British forces

A cracking game that was in the balance to the last. As with every game of Liberdy there is barely a man standing and bodies litter the streets. Objectives be damned, kill the opposition then sort it out.

And for those thinking of paying Rider au bord de la mer a visit - it is quite a pleasant place

The town square

The Port master

The smithy

Supplies for the Inn

All good Bonapartists

But every town has it's dodgy characters

Thanks to Owain for putting on the game and to Cameron, Dave Mike,Paul, Rodge and Shaun for playing.

A special mention must go to Paul for his outstanding shooting skills

The rules can be found here

Jelli Bannu North-West Frontier skirmish

Rodge put on an excellent North-West Frontier game using Liberdy, our Wild west rules.

The small village of Jelli Bannu is holding it's weekly market. Among the traders is an arms dealer who has cases of rifles for the Pathans and a British informant who knows the arms dealer's identity.

The three  British players, Chris, Paul & myself, each commanded a squad of 1  officer and 3 riflemen.  Whilst the  three Pathan players, Mike, Owain & Shaun, each commanded a group of 1 chieftain and  3 tribesmen.

The main objectives of the British are to

• Keep the identify of our informant hidden from the Pathans
• Find and arrest the local arms dealer and confiscate his weapons

The Pathan's objectives are to

• Get the cases of rifles from the arms dealer
• Find and kill the British informant.

Just another normal market day in Jelli Bannu - the British informant is at the top of the picture

The Pathans take up firing positions to cover the arms dealer - the stall with red stripes

More Pathans bring up the donkey to carry the guns away

Having identified the arms dealer the British move in to  arrest him

The RSM simultaneously interviews the arms dealer and haggles for a carpet 

On the far build the Pathan chieftain attempts to get the villagers to rise up whilst avoiding getting shot at from the cental tower

Both the British and the Pathans attempt to seize the rifles 

British Guides advance to support their comrades

Having been beaten back from the rifles the British attempt to outflank the Pathans

The Pathans make a desperate attempt to load the weapons on the donkey

The Pathan chieftain makes a brave but futile attempt to rush the British as they capture the donkey and the rifles

So honours to the British for meeting both of their objectives. As with all of our Liberdy games this one was a complete bloodbath with 4 British and 3 Pathan surviving.

The Civilian reaction table worked well with the locals running here, there and everywhere. 

We tried out some leader rules but they need working on.

Four of the players had not played these rules before but picked them up very quickly.

Rodge supplied all of the toys. He made all of the buildings and the figures are from various 28mm manufacturers.