This was the Trophy game that year, selected by Wayne "Duke" Millard because "he wanted to do another game in the snow." A description of the historical fight can be found elsewhere in this issue. There was the usual flyer handed out to those interested in the game and which was also up on display. There were also maps of the fight on display and some large coloured plates of Indian and US Cavalry combatants, plus a big black and white Remington picture up on the display boards to catch the publics' eye. The game went well, with Duke in the role of Fetterman, Pops Herbert as Grummond, and Chiz Chard, Lucky Pete Reynolds and Tex Tipping as the Plains Indians. The terrain looked great, with 4 or 5 lb. of flour on it to make the snow. It was so realistic we were shivering standing around it! Special Rules We used the Old West rules with the Fire Control Etc rules rather than the full Code of the West because Doc wasn't there to interpret and we wanted to keep things moving. Botch produced some simple Special Rules [reproduced elsewhere in this issue] based on information he and Chiz had dug out on the historical fight. To speed up handling of the large number of figures we simplified factors and abilities, as we normally do in these large games. All in all the ideas worked well and did create some of the incidents which happened in the real fight. The small group made up of the 2 civilian scouts, Wheatley and Fisher, and 4 veteran cavalrymen were ahead of the main body of cavalry and the group of infantry brought up the rear. Duke decided to dismount the scouts near some rocks and trees to cover the advance of the main force down off Lodge Pole Ridge [the very thing Fetterman had been forbidden to do by his CO.] No sooner had he done so than the first Indian appeared from the other side of the creek. He was alone and he was intent on counting coup - just like Eats Meat in the historical fight, and just like Eats Meat he was shot down almost immediately by one of the scouts. More Indians Attack Infantry As luck would have it, the next few phases produced Indians in some quantity and all of the right beside the infantry. Pops did his best to halt them with firepower but the green troops just didn't seem to respond. In the end he had to fall back to the nearby rocks and have his men clamber up them in an attempt to gain a defensive position. This manoeuvre was largely successful because most of the Indians in these parties seemed to be counting coup rather than trying to kill the Walk a Heaps. Next it was the scouts turn again and this time they didn't have all their own way. Mounted and dismounted Indians burst upon them from 2 sides and those who survived the hail of arrows were soon engaged in desperate hand to hand combat. The outcome was never really in doubt and it wasn't long before bloody scalps and the precious firearms, including one of the Henry rifles, were being held triumphantly aloft. All this time the cavalry had not been directly attacked and Fetterman continued to lead them down of the ridge with the intention, no doubt, of engaging the hostiles in a mounted sabre charge. It was not to be. The ice and snow on the slope of the Ridge caused considerable problems for the unskilled riders and eventually Fetterman [Duke] realised that his only chance was to dismount and seek a defensive position amongst the rocks on the ridge as the infantry had already succeeded in doing. So out rang the command "Dismount, horse holders to the rear" as Fetterman tried his best to save his command. By this time more and more Indians were pouring onto the table and more and more arrows were falling onto the dismounted cavalrymen and their horses. Fetterman Struck Down One of the arrows hit Fetterman, knocking him down with a serious wound. This was the beginning of the end for the cavalry. The command disintegrated into individuals fighting or fleeing as they panicked and broke. One of the horse holders mounted and, releasing the other mounts, shouted "Hold them here I'm going for help!" and attempted to ride down the reverse slope of the Ridge to escape - and may even have done so as no Indians appeared on that side throughout the whole game! A veteran sergeant and trooper made a gallant last stand in the rocks but by this time mounted Indians had reached the trail and the Whitman were soon either ridden down or had been felled by arrows. Further back along the Ridge, the infantry too were slowly being whittled down. They too panicked when their office was seriously wounded but their better position enabled them to hold on for longer than the cavalry. But in the end, all the Whitemen were swamped and went under - a glorious victory for the Indians, just as the real fight had been. Back to MWAN #117 Table of Contents Back to MWAN List of Issues Back to MagWeb Magazine List © Copyright 2002 Hal Thinglum This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com