The Penultimate Mohican

Introduction

‘Damn this land.’

‘No need for that, sir, it is already damned by God.’

Captain Forsythe called his men to a halt and with his embroidered handkerchief wiped the perspiration from his forehead. ‘Two days and nights we have trod these forests, and for what purpose? To pursue a bunch of savages who are now probably a hundred miles from us.’

‘They are our orders, sir.’

‘Yes, Hopkins, I’m very much aware of that.’ Forsythe gazed into the forest around him. ‘A tree might get lost in such a place. How I long to see England again. I wouldn’t have believed how much I could miss her.’

There was a murmuring from down the ranks. Forsythe cast an annoyed glance back at his men, but didn’t have the will to go and investigate. He gestured to his sergeant. ‘Go and find out what the commotion is, Hopkins, there’s a good lad.’

‘Sir.’

It was tempting to lean against one of the tall trees and get his hip flask out and forget about the world with a strong drink. Alas that they needed to pick up the pace if they were going to reach the river before nightfall. They’d already been forced to make too many stops on account of the cold that was going around his soldiers.

Forsythe noticed he had a runny nose himself. He was just thinking of a particularly stylish insult to the colonial lands when Hopkins hurried over to him. There was a strange expression on the young man’s red face.

‘What is it?’

Hopkins took a second to get his breath back. ‘Peterson is missing.’

‘Say again?’

‘Peterson is missing.’

‘What do you mean he’s missing?’

‘He’s gone.’

‘Impossible, counts heads. He’ll be here somewhere.’

‘I’ve already counted the men, twice. We’re one man short.’

‘When was the last time anyone saw him?’

‘Where we stopped for lunch.’

‘That was three hours ago.’

Hopkins merely nodded.

Forsythe found he was again wiping his brow. Suddenly the perks of being an officer were forgotten under the weight of responsibility. His mouth felt dry.

‘What are we going to do?’ Hopkins asked.

‘We shall go back and look for him.’

‘What about the mission?’

Forsythe never let professional responsibilities get in the way of personal ones. He now had the excuse he needed to abandon the mission. They would head back and look for Peterson, and whether they found him or not, they would then march back to the fort.

‘Do not question my decision, Hopkins. Tell the men we’re going back.’

‘Very good sir.’

Hopkins turned back and prepared to shout the orders when a deer appeared from the undergrowth, heading towards them. A few of the men laughed and pointed at it, but Hopkins’ face went pale.

‘Perhaps we should shoot it, eh Hopkins?’ Forsythe said. ‘We can have some fresh meat for the journey back.’

Hopkins didn’t respond. He merely stared at the fleeing deer.

‘What is it Hopkins?’ Forsythe asked.

‘The deer, it’s running our way.’

‘So? It’s not even a stag, don’t tell me you’re scared of it lad.’

Hopkins shook his head but he didn’t share Forsythe’s smile. He looked his captain in the eye. ‘I’m not scared of it, sir, I’m scared of what it’s running from.’

Realisation dawned on Forsythe. He looked into the trees and glimpsed shapes rushing towards his position. Shapes that moved at ease in the forest and promised death with their gleaming tomahawks. He couldn’t tell how many were, but he could see that there were far more than the dozen they had been pursuing.

Then he heard movement in the trees behind him and spinning around he saw that this men were surrounded. He was disgusted with himself for being led into an ambush but he knew he would get his due scorn if he should live to return to the fort. If…

‘Sergeant, tell the men to ready their weapons. Now.’

Hopkins was already un-slinging his musket.

‘Yes sir!’

A Snippet of History

During the late 17th and 18th Centuries Britain and France fought a number of wars in North America which would become known as the French and Indian Wars. They were part of an ongoing global struggle between the two nations.

The goal of the various conflict was the dominion of North America which with the victor ultimately proving to be Great Britain though through the fighting the colonists would become less reliant and concerned with their transatlantic father which would eventually lead to the American Revolution.

Scenario Notes

This scenario takes place at a non-specific date during the French and Indian Wars and involves a clash between native Mohicans and an English brigade. The exact provocation for the skirmish has been left deliberately ambiguous and should this scenario be used as part of an ongoing campaign set in the era feel free to come up with more concrete reasoning to fit the campaign requirements.

To run the scenario we’ve opted to use the Lord of the Rings (LOTR) battle game by Games Workshop, although with some modifications (as you might expect) and unsurprisingly neither side has access to magic, uruk-hai or anything else from Middle Earth. The LOTR rules are very good at handling fights between small groups of combatants and provide sufficient detail to make the scenario interesting and fun without getting bogged down in tables and number crunching.

Rule Modifications

Further on you’ll find statistics for the English troops and the Mohican warriors. Their statistics are used in exactly the same way as they would be in a typical game of LOTR. Profiles for two new weapons are provided for this scenario, the musket and the tomahawk. Both sides have access to muskets, but only the Mohicans will be armed with tomahawks.

The Musket

The standard firearm of the time took a horrendous amount of time to reload but was able to easily kill a man with a single shot. All muskets are considered to be loaded and ready to fire at the start of the battle and anyone so armed obeys the Moving & Shooting rules outlined on page 21 of the LOTR rulebook. In addition to this however, once the musket has been fired for the first time anyone armed with one is unable to fire in the shooting phase if they make any move at all, on account of having to prepare the musket to fire.

The Tomahawk

The tomahawk is the iconic hatchet sized axe used for hacking an enemy to death and scalping him as well as being used as a throwing axe. If a Mohican chooses to throw his tomahawk he loses the weapon until he is able to go into base-to-base contact of the slain enemy to retrieve it.

If the Mohican does not do this is Fight ability score is reduced by 1 as he is forced to fight only with a knife. Finally, Mohicans may throw their tomahawks in the shooting phase even if they have moved more than half their permitted distance.

Movement

All units on both sides can move 6” in the move phase. Mohican units do not move at half speed when going through wooded areas, instead they only lose a third of their movement and are therefore able to move 4” through such areas.

To Scalp or not to Scalp

That is the question. Any Mohican who slays an opponent in the fight phase must make a courage roll to see whether he scalps his opponent. If the courage test is successful the warrior takes the time to get his trophy before continuing to fight. In this instance he loses half his movement from the time it takes him to scalp his dead opponent.

The Map

The scenario is designed to take place in a forest and the table should therefore be filled with as many trees as is humanly possible to get hold of. These should be thickest at the table edges and less dense the closer you get to the table’s centre, simulating the forest trail the Captain Forsythe is leading his men along.

Otherwise the exact layout can be whatever you think is appropriate, keeping in mind that the English should have little cover in the centre of the table whilst the Mohicans should be provided with plenty of cover in their deployment zones.

A 4’ by 4’ playing area is all that is required with the small forces used and with the English deploying in the centre of the table provides just enough distance around them to make the choice between running and fighting a difficult one.