Philippine Finale

 As the calendar turns to Fall, we are coming to the end of lawn gaming season. But we were able to get in one more game on Saturday (despite an iffy weather forecast). This time Kevin brought his Philippine Insurrection (AKA Philippine-American War) game. Kevin had originally planned to run the game at Enfilade 2020, but since it was cancelled this was a good chance to get the figures out. 

Some Filipino irregulars set up to stop the Yankee imperialists

The game used Daniel Mersey's "The Men Who Would be Kings" rules, which led to a fast paced game. The Americans were making a three-pronged attack involving regular U.S. Army units, U.S. Volunteer units, and a naval landing party. The Americans trying to capture a Filipino supply cache and destroy as many Filipino units as possible, while limiting casualties. The Filipinos were made up of irregular and tribal troops with a wide variety of not very good weapons (except for melee combat). They are trying to delay the American advance and get as many supplies and units off the map as possible. 

Washington State Volunteers were pushing from the west

U.S. Army regulars with dismounted cavalry

We started out by going over the rules (most of us have played other Mersey rules, but these have a few different twists) and setting up the troops. With everything in place, we were ready to begin the battle. 

The battlefield and troops all set up. The Filipinos had to exit off the edge at the bottom of the photo

In the west, the Washington Volunteers began pushing the Filipino irregulars back, while the U.S. Army regulars pushed to close the escape route and the naval standing party steamed into the bay.

Volunteers on the attack

U.S. regulars move to push the enemy out of the rice paddies

The naval landing party (Marines and Sailors) coming in for a landing

The Filipinos had their tribal units (good in melee, but not ranged combat) picking up supplies to move off the board, while the irregulars tried to delay the Americans.

Filipino tribal infantry getting supplies and hoping to get into melee combat

American firepower did a lot of damage to the Filipinos in the open. Over in the rice paddies, the irregulars hid behind the berms, forcing the Americans to charge in to force them out. Meanwhile, some of he tribal units began making their way to the edge of the board.

Skirmishing continues in the west

Filipinos moving to escape

Army regulars clearing the paddies

Marines landing party being greeted by "friendly" natives

On the bay, the Marines were jumping off their boats and the Sailors had docked their gunboat and began unloading the Marine field gun. The Army and Volunteers continued to press the Filipino units back, but were taking their own casualties. 

Marines on the beach, ready to chase

The Marine field gun and sailors unloading

More fighting in the paddies

At this point, the Filipinos saw a chance to inflict some heavy casualties on the Americans as one tribal unit decided to turn around to attack the Marines, rather than getting the supplies off the board. 

Die Marine!

It looked like things were going to go bad for the Marines. The attack caused heavy losses, reducing the unit to half-strength and forcing it back. The situation did not looks good, but the second Marine unit was able to use superior firepower to stop and pin the Filipinos, giving the damaged unit time to recover.

Marine firepower blunts the attack

The heavy Marine firepower eventually wiped out the Filipino unit, leaving their supplies stuck on the battlefield.

Meanwhile the Army regulars drove off the Filipino irregulars, closing the easy retreat path. the Sailors moved to start taking long range shots at the other Filipino units.

U.S. regulars closing the door

The Washington Volunteers continued to press the Filipinos back to the regulars. 

Volunteers clearing out the bamboo forests

The situation was looking pretty bad for the Filipinos, but the still had some fight left in them. A tribal unit (with a fierce rating for extra melee bonus) slammed into an Army regular unit, wiping out the American unit. But American firepower again saved the day, pinning the tribal unit.

At this point things looked pretty bad for the Filipinos. They were surrounded and being pressed on all sides.

Filipinos caught in the crossfire of the Volunteers (left) and naval landing party (right)

Army regulars pin down the Filipino tribal unit

With most of their units pinned or destroyed and little chance of getting off the board, the Filipino players called it a game. They did get one unit off the board (although it was technically retreating) and killed an American unit. But they did not get any supplies off and most of their army was wiped out. So a pretty resounding American victory.

It was a fun game (at least from the American side) and it was great to see all of Kevin's figures and terrain on the table. 

We'll keep our eye on the weather for any more outdoor gaming opportunities, but we all expect this to be the last for a while. We are talking about next steps for games, but there are still a lot of variables out there. So it may be back to painting and in-progress work entries on my blog. Overall, I was really glad I bought the pop-up canopy and had the chance to do some lawn gaming.