Brookshire Campaign against Bandits

         With the ongoing war between Shiak and Brookshire, Shiak has been encouraging bands of bandits to join their fight against Brookshire.  With the promise of loot, the bandits form "Free Companies" and wage a private war against the Brookshire forces. Shiak keeps an "advisor" whose job it is to make sure the free companies only go after Brookshire forces.

      However, there has been a stalemate in the war, both sides pulling back to regroup. The Brookshire high command has used the lull to go after the free companies. With the increased pressure against them, most of the free companies break up with the bandits going back to their old ways.  All except a particularly well organized company that goes by the name of "Lark's Legion" after "General" Lark, who has formed his own legion and has taken over an area as his own. To defeat Lark's Legion would be the final blow to the free companies.

   General Mitchell gathers a small army together. Among his units is a company of bicycle infantry (used as cavalry), a bicycle machine gun unit, and the newly reorganized Rifles under Lt. Col. Barnaby.

Lark's Legion is on the top of the picture (General Lark's HQ is the farm house on the left hill). The Brookshire Army is on the bottom of the picture. General Mitchells HQ is in the village.

The bicycle machine gun unit moves to set up on the hill to support the advance on the army's right.

Barnaby's Rifles captures the woods on the right, with a regular company moving in support.

A company of bandits attack the grenadiers holding the woods in the center. A troop of horsemen move up in support. The machine gun fires on them but misses.

The grenadiers manage to throw back the bandits.

The volunteer company captures the woods on the left and inflects heavy losses on the bandits approaching.

The bandits counter attack on the left woods is too much on the volunteers, who break and runs.

In the center one troop of bandit cavalry attacks the machine gun unit, while a bandit infantry company, supported by cavalry captures the center woods.

A general view of the Brookshire counterattack. On the left the Volunteers, supported by a company of regular push forward towards the left woods. A troop of cavalry advances around the left of the enter woods. On the right the rifles and regulars push for the right hill.

On the right the Brookshire fire forces back the bandit infantry.

The fire from the machine gun and bicycle unit wipes out the cavalry troop.

A view of the fighting in the center.

The  attack on the left has pushed back one bandit company.

On the right the bandits counterattack and push back the infantry. The last bandit cavalry attacks the machine gun, without success. The fight around the woods is inconclusive.

On the left the bandits push back the volunteers, but the regulars hold fast.

The machine gun pushes back the  bandit cavalry. The infantry attack on the hill pushes the bandits back again.

The infantry on right hits the bandits hard and the regular cavalry attacks the bandits artillery, without success.

The bandit infantry on the right refuses to give up, and causes 50% casualties to the regulars, who once again fall back.

The bandit cannon uses canister and wipes out the regular cavalry!

The bicycle infantry moves up to protect the machine gun's flank. The machine gun misses the cavalry. In the upper right of the picture, it can be seen the rifles and regulars have finally worked together to seize the hill.

The infantry on the left has finally pushed back the bandit infantry, and now the regulars are trying to work their way to the left to protect themselves from the bandits gun.

The bandit infantry on the right hill have eliminated the regular infantry and turns on  the rifles.

The bandit cavalry loops around behind the bicycle corps to once again attack the machine gun! This they once again fail at..

The regulars on the left, hit by both the bandit infantry and artillery, suffers 3/4% losses.

Now comes a major disaster for the bandits. The machine gun and bicycle unit turns on  the cavalry and inflects 50% losses. what's more, a "retreat" dice is rolled. The cavalry has positioned themselves so they cannot fall back towards their lines, which means they are eliminated!

Meanwhile on the left, the infantry eliminate the last of the bandit infantry and force the artillery to retreat, thereby putting the farmhouse between the infantry and the artillery.The artillery would have to spend their turn trying to maneuver back to get a clear shot, which would mean the two infantry units could close in for the kill. General Lark flees the battlefield and the rest of his army scatters to save themselves. General Mitchell has succeeded in breaking the largest of the bandit gangs, and for now relative peace comes to Brookshire.


The rules used are Bob Cordery's Memoir of Battle.  Once again the Peter Laing Boers were used. I am thinking that the Boers could easily be used as Confederates. It would be easy enough to raise a Peter Laing Union Army and use them with Battle Cry scenarios. Perhaps I should have saved my money and not bought all those 1st generation minifies ACW.