Get The Colonel's Lady Home !

Captain MacLeod heard the order but could not believe he was expected to go through wooded, marshy terrain firmly in French and Indian territory to return the Colonel's Lady back to HQ.

"Why me ?"  He thought, this is going to be decidedly risky. But orders are orders.

"Lieutenant Foster, get the men ready and make sure the Rangers and our Indians are on hand to help us" 

The British party enters from bottom right - who knows where the enemy is !!!

Two groups of Scots lead the way, the Captain and Colonel's Lady behind them

Rangers make their way through the woods on their flank

and allied Indians too

in the north, a strong column of French regulars marches on, lead by their CO

and they have Indians in the marshy and hilly area dead centre of the table

and a long shot from there causes some shock on the head of the British force

British light infantry cover the high ground to the right of the column

The French commander has sent a small unit of French skirmishers out to guard the approach through the marshes

The Rangers have fired at the enemy Indians and killed one at long range

Good shot that man !

But a second group of French Indians appears in the marshes too

The French regulars reach the  small settlement of French farmers

Alarmingly, the British column has racked up four shock and one dead and they have barely got going

Its down to both groups of French Indians pouring musket fire on them. Admittedly, with some return fire and kills.

The French militia are now on the wooden causeway over the marshes

The Scots Captain rallies his men and dispels their shock for now

He orders the light infantry to move up and engage the enemy Indians

The French column steadily marches through the farm clearing

The Scots are ordered to hurry along with the Captain and Colonel's Lady in tow

The British Indians now emerge from the woods and engage the enemy militia on the causeway

A devastating volley from the French Indians has killed four Scots, which is a big blow

The remnants of that group flee despite their lieutenant trying to calm them down

The light troops need to do more - fire at those bloody Indians !

The Captain reorganises his surviving Scots behind the light troops

The French column is getting much closer - this could get much worse, thinks the Captain

The British Indians advance on the causeway with muskets blazing

The British light infantry decide to charge the enemy Indians on the hill

but not before they get off another devastating volley against the Rangers. Three killed !

This was a bad move by the light troops ! They lose the melee badly and are wiped out as an effective force

Using this distraction, the Captain gets his Scots to run as he and the Colonel's Lady pick up pace on their horses

The British Indians melee with the enemy militia

and wipe them out but take several casualties themselves too

they sweep over the causeway, in so catching the attention of the nearest enemy group of Indians

The French commander can now see his prey 

The Indians exchange fire but the French have the benefit of some cover

The Scots make another dash, just as the French column tries to block off the woods

The Lieutenant orders a volley at the French and shouts to his Captain "Use those horses, Sir - gallop for the woods with the Lady whilst we distract the French" He hated to do it but the mission was clear. "The best of luck, Lieutenant, I hope to see you at the Fort after this"

A melee ensues as the Captain grabs the reins of the Lady's horse and they are off into the cover of the woods

The Scots infantry could not hope to win but they bought some time and made the French pay with blood

"Let's get you away, Madam, whilst we still can"  And off they went, safely to home

Its been a while since Sharp Practice has been on the table. Great little solo game today.