HMGS-MidSouth

The Battle of German Flats, 1757

It is the third year since Jumonville was murdered in Pennsylvania, thus starting this war. Earlier in the year Fort William Henry on the Hudson fell to the French, thus opening the New York colonies to attack. The French turned their Huron allies, along with a body of Canadian Cour d’Bois, loose on the hapless settlers. The original events of this attack saw the slaughter of the German settlers owing to the fact that they took no defensive measures, even though warned. In our game, however, they were prepared as best they could, even though they were outnumbered by more than two to one.

The settlement consists of nine farmsteads, with one being a small stockade on the eastern edge. The western edge was guarded by a stone and log blockhouse. The settlement was prosperous, with large herds of animals and barns full of the summer’s produce. It had rained for a couple of days beforehand, so the thatch and shingle roofs were damp. The attacking Hurons and Canadians were on a mission to burn out the settlement, take as much livestock as they could manage, take women and children captive and kill or drive off the men.

Just before dawn the Indians began to stream from the woods to the north. One of the war-bands began building a fire to use on the cabins and barns. Shooting started immediately, as the settlers had loop-holed their cabins. Women figures were not allowed to melee’ or to fire, but they could load the muskets of their men, thereby doubling the firepower of their families.

David Raybin was the leader of the Indian war-bands, and Neel Woodall, Pat Held, Mike Randles, Tony Staggs and Sam Duncan were his squad leaders. Mike Pecollo and Don Crownover shared the command of the settlement, with Patrick Held, Gerald Swick and Albert Domm acting as settlers. Tom Price ran the game, his first, and did a wonderful job of it. Things flowed smoothly, and well. We used Bob Moon’s “Scalp-lock” well-written and thoroughly play-tested rules. Most of the figures you see in these photos were also painted by Bob. David Raybin and I acquired his 25mm collection when he went to 40mm. As you can see, Bob Moon is one of the very finest figure painters in the country.

It should be said here that the Indian players were bitten by the movement dice, and their forward progress was sloooow in the extreme. This gave the settlers an ample chance to fire repeatedly into the Indians and Canadians, causing terrible casualties. Only one cabin of settlers was taken with all the men killed and the women taken captive. Another bright spot on the Indian’s part was when a family of settlers were running down the road, and about to find refuge in the blockhouse. Mike Randle’s Indians were at the fence, and every shot hit. The entire group of settlers was cut down in the road.

Two other rather remarkable occurrences took place. There were three wanderers spending the night in the blockhouse. They were Hawkeye, Chingotchcook and Unkas – all armed with rifles. Using a gaggle of women to reload for them, they kept up a destructive fire on the Indians for the entire game. Another wholly unexpected series of events occurred with the settler’s dogs. We had special set of “dog rules” for the game, and the mastiff dogs went wild, attacking the Indians at every turn. The final score was Indians 6, Dogs 5. Not bad for canines! Poor Neel Woodall might just be scarred for life, as dogs were on his Indians every time he turned around.

Most of the settlers fled their cabins and headed for the blockhouse or the stockade. These two stoutly-built structures were never really threatened. Never the less, the Indians managed to burn nine of the settlement buildings and carry off quite a load of livestock, along with most of the meat locker, before they ran out of steam and fell back into the woods.

Using Bob Moon’s scoring system, the settlers prevailed with a score of 250 to the Indian’s 150. About half of the settlement’s buildings remained, and most of the settlers survived – certainly enough to rebuild. The Indians and Canadians took terrible casualties and ended up with only about 55% of their figures remaining. It will be a long time before the Hurons come this way again.

Bob Duncan, for the Mancave

Columbia, Tennessee

Photos  by David Raybin

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