Our Christmas Game Concluded: A Sad End for Ol' Dad. . .

The conclusion of our Guilford Courthouse refight quickly went from bad to worse during the hour or so we played after lunch earlier this afternoon.  My gun crew promptly ran away after firing a final ineffective shot into the approaching Flickenhoffer Fusiliers of young General de Latte leaving theeir gun to be captured.  Their mounted officer suffered a less pleasant fate.

 

On my right flank during Turn Nine, The Young General's company of Croats basically wiped out my squadron of Bosniaks.  Clearly, my numerous six-sided dice do not like me.  I don't think I made a single saving throw during the final two turns of our game as General de Latte meted out gleeful punishment across the battlefield.  He takes real pleasure in my crummy saving throw rolls.

 Meanwhile on my left flank, the Irish Grenzers rout after retiring shaken at the end of Turn Seven and sitting out Turn Eight.  There ought to be a law.

 

The dastardly General de Latte gnashes his teeth, twirls his mustache, and celebrates yet  another victory.  He was quick to point out that he has won all three of our games since last January 1st!

As is so often the case, at least when I have faced The Young Master across the table this last year, our games are pretty slow going for the first four or five turns as we move our units into position and shake out the cobwebs.  By about Turn Six, however, things always seem to pick up considerably, reaching a rapid crescendo before too much longer.  Invariably, my troops suffer heavily before I can accomplish much with them, morale tests are failed, and the units disintegrate.  

Seeing the writing on the wall, I typically concede to preserve what is left of the armies at my disposal.  Not so with The Young Master, who is clearly cut from a different cloth when it comes to fighting a battle.  He is bold where I am (overly) cautious.  He clearly is blessed with the coveted coup d'oeil while I prefer to study the ground and consider various possibilities before committing troops.  Much to my detriment.  

Finally, Young Paul is not bothered by the thought of husbanding his troops and wagers all in massive frontal assaults, which, thus far, have served him well.  I, on the other hand, adopt more of a wait and see approach mindful that my forces are limited.  Suffice to say, my progeny is more Napoleonic in his approach to tabletop warfare than ol' Dad.

Our Christmas Week game, based on Guilford Courthouse 1781, was no different.  We played slightly over an hour today, and wrapped up our tabletop battle quickly.  

In my front line, my militia battalion on the right finally routed after taking considerable punishment yesterday (almost 60% casualties) and holding on as long as it could.  Over on the left flank, my battalion of O'Malley's Irish Grenzers, who retired yesterday at the end of Turn Seven to collect themselves following a sound thrashing mid-game, gave up the ghost altogether.  They failed another morale test at the end of Turn Eigth, routing and basically running as fast as they could for the nearest table edge.

And still General de Latte's Zichenauer hordes pressed forward in Turn Nine.  His company of Croats soon scored an unprecedented 11 hits (at long range mind you) on my remaining Bosniaks who were posted on my far right.  Amazingly, I was unable to make a single save, and the last four figures took off at the gallop for the table edge beyond once the smoke cleared.

At that point, the bloodthirsty General de Latte suggested we begin Turn Ten.  However, I countered that he had effectively decimated my front line already and was poised to turn both of my flanks in Turn Ten.  I conceded the game, waived the figurative white flag, and we shook hands following a celebratory photograph for which Young Paul informed me that he displayed his 'evil face' rather than a more pleasant smile for the camera.

Well, what else is there to say?  Paul and I enjoyed our game immensely.  In the heat of battle, time just seems to fly by, which strikes me as the best sign of all that we enjoy ourselves.  The rules seem to work reasonably well thus far, pleasing the two of us at least.  And we are planning another game for January 2nd.  Possibly a small wagon train ambush, or maybe a raid of some kind?  

Meanwhile, The Young Master has another Christmas Week Tae Kwon Do Zoom seminar at 5:30 this afternoon with Master Fayett, and I get to pack up everything this evening after dinner.  As I say to The Grand Duchess when I manage to win a game of Scrabble (a rarity I assure you), "Loser cleans up and puts way the game!"  

For the record, she has won two out of three chess matches and a backgammon game during the evenings since Christmas Day. 

-- Stokes