Bridge at Tufik

SCENARIO MAP

David O'Brien - This is a scenario for Donnybrook and although I have set this around the area of Tangiers in the 1689's it could easily be transported to Spain, Italy, Belgium, Bavaria or Ireland. The rules are not yet available (though they will be soon), but you could easily run this with any skirmish set.

Following on from the recent attacks on Fort Henrietta and destruction of the walls by Moorish artillery the Governor, Colonel Percy Kirke has decided to launch a surprise attack against the bridge across the gorge at the village of Tufik. Having counter attacked and destroyed the Moorish artillery outside the walls of Henrietta the main route for any new guns has to cross over that bridge otherwise it involves a huge diversion of many weeks marching. The destruction of the bridge would be a major headache for the Moors and would also undermine the influence of Ismail Ibn Sharif the Sultan of Fez so a small volunteer force has been dispatched overnight to surprise the guards and blow the bridge.

For the attacking force William O'Brien 2nd Earl of Inchiquin recently retired from the Tangiers regiment has offered to lead a force of the best men from all the garrison of Tangiers. For my four units I have chosen some grenadiers from the Tangiers regiment, another group of grenadiers from the King's regiment and an elite musket unit and pike unit from the Tangiers regiment. Captain Hilton, Ensign Harrison and sergeants Talbot and Donohoe have all volunteered to join the expedition. This force can be made up of any troops you have to hand but I would suggest that you make them all elite or grenadiers.


The bridge is lightly guarded as it is so far behind Moorish lines that it is assumed it can't be attacked so only one unit of drilled spearmen are on guard supported by a recruit unit of peasants armed with improvised weapons. Not far away is a cavalry camp of recruit cavalry so it should be expected that help will arrive from that side but will they be in time? There are a few special rules just for this scenario that don't appear in Donnybrook...

• The first ruling is that as the attack takes place in the dead of night the infantry guards are in bed and should be marked in which houses they are asleep in, only 2 guards can be placed anywhere the defender wants.
• The attacking player should then place his troops at any point he wishes on the table edge  as it is assumed that local guides have shown them hidden paths.
• The defenders cannot react until they have been warned by a shout from the sentries and likewise no cavalry reinforcement cards can be added to the deck until after the alarm has been raised.
• At the beginning of each move both players roll a d6 and the highest controls the sentries, he rolls another d6 to see how far each one moves and the controlling player can move them anywhere they want, they then roll a direction dice and this is the direction the sentry is now looking.
• Every move after the first and before rolling for sentries a player should roll a d6 and on a 1 then an unarmed civilian will appear from a randomly selected building which is why they are numbered.
• Any civilians and sentries are now controlled by the highest rolling player as normal.
• If any of the attackers contact a sentry or civilian they will automatically be killed but there is a chance that they let out a muffled yell or the scuffle is heard, roll a d6 and on a 1 the sleeping guards are alerted.
• Visibility is only 6" on the first move and will increase by 2" at the beginning of every move.
• I have assumed that all attacking units will have enough powder to blow the bridge but if you want to make things more difficult for yourself then you could just nominate which unit you want to carry the powder. It will take the attackers one move of doing nothing else to place the charges and the bridge will blow at the end of the turn unless the defender can roll a 1 on a d6. The attacker can make as many attempts as they want to blow the bridge.
• Even though the cavalry would be too far away to hear a sentry call out their cards should be added into the deck of cards as soon as the guard are alerted. Each cavalry should dice to see which path they enter the table from.