Setting the Nepean ablaze: 1816

The year is 1816, the place is Smith's farm in the Nepean valley, in what is now New South Wales, Australia. We are using the rules Smooth and Rifled (with some house rules) as they work very well for this level of skirmish. We are using a scenario from A Grab Bag of Games.

At first the Darug people though only a few didjurigura garraway (white men) would come. But more than could ever have been imagined come up the river and the roads.

Fearing trouble, Governor Macquarie sends soldiers of the Veteran Company under Lieutenant Rivers, that loyal public servant, to Smith's Farm. 

A Darug leader, known in Lieutenant Rivers' journal as 'Ecstatic Traveller', or to the settlers as Happy Wanderer, or to the soldiers as just Happy decides enough is enough. He decided to gather the warriors and attack the place where the "fluffy-white kangaroo mob" lives.

Smith's Farm near the Nepean River

Smith's family and assigned convict labourers tend to their herd.

This industrious scene is shattered as some hostile Darug warriors  approaching from the north east.

Even more are approaching from the north west.

Today, the Darug, normally friendly, do not look happy.

At this point Lieutenant Rivers and his company happen to come swinging up the road from Parramatta.

Farmer Smith looking from soldiers to warriors and back to his family, instantly decides to get his family, and importantly his sheep, out of harms way.

The Darug warriors, however move incredibly quickly and throw a shower of spears as they run, wounding or terrifying the settlers.

The other war party start throwing spears and terms of abuse over the fence.

At this point the Darug warriors stop in amazement for two reasons. Firstly they make a terrible command roll. But secondly, the soldiers all simultaneously turn as one man. One end of the 'snake' stays still, the other marches forward. "What is this" cries Happy, "some sort of dance". 

Recovering their composure, the warriors resume throwing spears and creative insults over the fence.

Offended and hurt, the convicts run away, or sink to the ground wounded. Warriors jump the fence to round up the white-fluffy kangaroos.

Then the soldiers stop their weird dance, and at a cry from their officer raise their djarraba (Darug for musket) and all fire at the same time. The warriors are appalled and watch in shock as the soldiers do the ritual that makes the djarraba shoot again. This volley happens to kill Happy, throwing the warriors into more confusion. A third volley is somewhat more ragged, but sends the warriors fleeing down the road.

At a shout from Lieutenant Rivers, the drummer play a different tune and the soldiers stop firing and start to reload. The strange snake-dance begins again and the soldiers advance on the larger body of warriors. The warriors see no point in hanging around near these weird people, and fade back into the bush.

Here we see Happy's spirit nervously measuring the range to his warriors.

Lieutenant Rivers has not noticed that behind the enemy skirmish line, warriors have made off with most of the sheep.

The aftermath

Lieutenant Rivers reports back to Governor Macquarie the great great victory over the restless tribe. Farmer Smith, gingerly pulling a Darug spear out of his posterior, vows to leave the Nepean for good. Soon most of his neighbours follow him back to Sydney and the Nepean Valley once again becomes the unfettered hunting ground for the Darug. The Darug elders reflect on the events of the day and vacant spots around the fire, and vow never to fight against djarraba in the open again.

The battle of Parramatta Road 1816

More of my knowledge about 19th century warfare comes from watching movie matinees than I would care to admit.

Typically, in these movies, a company/platoon/troop wanders off into the wilderness, threatened as much by the conflict between the handsome commanders (and a femme fatale), as by the dogged, skillful and honourable tribesmen fighting for freedom.

Now there are some skirmish rules I like, Sharpe Practice and The Men Who Would Be Kings to name two. In my head though, the 'groups, in these rules act like companies.

In the movies, the impossibly handsome commander growls: "Corporal o'Brian, take two men and sout that gully". Every time the two men get tomahawked, while Corporal o'Brian staggers back to the main body, to be ministered to by the "love interest". Perhaps the impossibly handsome commander should have sent five men and Sergeant Smith.

In my search for a set of rules that fits this niche I bought "Smooth and Rifled" and played the big version. To be honest my opponents found controlling several units overwhelming, and rules in English are a bit hard to understand.

Still, there were things I really liked:

1. A man could act as an individual, or as part of a group using the same mechanisms.
2. Fire can be by crashing volleys, or by a popping individual fire
3. The army lists make different forces act quite differently.

The author of Smooth and Rifled, Lorenzo Sartori said that  he wanted to do a second edition and could I help. Therefore I decided to play the medium version of the game again.

My friend, who you might know as "Happy Wander" latest obsession interest is the Australian Frontier Wars. Now, in Australia we envy overseas wargamers who get to play games that happened a few miles away. So I find the opportunity to game the local tribes fight against colonisation very interesting.

So we decided to try Smooth and Rifled (with quite a few rules amendments).

The game is set at Cleland's Farm on a bend of Parramatta Road  which runs westwards from Sydney in 1816. A section of the Rum Corps has been detailed to keep the road clear of some combative elements of the Eora tribe.

The main body  comes marching up the road preceded by Private Jonno Smith who sees trouble behind every ghost gum.

Meanwhile Sergeant Parr select four of the less inebriated privates to scout the bush to the south of the road. 

 

The thick bush means that Parr's detachment losses contact with the column.

While the main body swings on down the road.

Private Smith thinks he sees something, nah, its just a kan-ga-roo

 Wrong! Angry warriors rise silently out of the thick bush.

One warrior dashes forward and throws a spear into poor Private Smith

The commotion in the bush stops the regular troops in their tracks

While a cloud of spears from between the gum trees knocks two off their feet.

Overcoming their shock, the regulars deploy into line, poke their heads into the bushes and open fire. Skippy looks on disapprovingly.

A frantic exchange of musket balls and spears develops

But the tribesmen melt back into the bush like ghosts.

 To the South Sergeant Parr thinks he spots a Wombat

Instead spears fly out of nowhere.

A frantic hand to hand struggle in the bush starts

But all of Parr's men are soon captured.

The yells from the bush to the front and rear is more than the Rum Corp can stand. They break and don't stop running till they get back to Sydney.

Which was just as well as there were nine more warriors in farmer Cleland's back garden