First off, this series is being done as a bit of a lark as wargaming has absolutely nothing to do with Christmas so if anyone is offended, please just stop reading now.

On the 6th day of Christmas War Gaming my true love gave to me…

6 Miami Warriors Assaulting

Kekionga!: A Dark and Bloody Battleground, 1790 from High Flying Dice Games is a game that I came across in 2016 solely because of the look of the graphics on the cover and the board. The game is set during the late 1700’s when the fledgling United States of America was dealing with friction on the western frontier of the new country. The struggle for the Old Northwest Territory (what would become the future states of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Wisconsin) was terribly violent. Massacres and atrocities seemed to follow one upon the other and the Battle of Kekionga in October 1790 was the first battle fought by the United States Army after the War for Independence. The campaign had been ordered by President Washington against the Miami settlement of Kekionga located near modern day Fort Wayne, Indiana, the center of Native American resistance to US migration across the Ohio River at the time.

In the game, the 6 Miami Warriors have moved into position to defend their village in the middle of the Cornfields with a second group of Warriors amassing in the Woods to the left to engage the remaining American units. Their leader, Little Turtle is shown at the top left of the picture and will assist in various parts of the game including rally attempts and Assault Combat. The Miami Warriors will get bonuses on Assault Combat when they are attacking out of the Cornfields and in this picture they have setup perfectly to force the American units to have to wade into the Cornfields to engage as their musket fire cannot pass through the corn. Assault can be done only if units are adjacent. Various modifiers are included such as a -1 DR if attacking unit is stacked with an unwounded leader, -1 DR if attacking player’s Morale level is more than double opponent’s Morale level (this can happen quite often) or -1 DR if an Indian unit is attacking from the Woods or Cornfields. In this game, rolling low is better and the proper use of the Cornfields by the Indian player is key to their chances of victory. If the attacker rolls a 6, they miss but also will take a Disruption as the attack went very poorly. If this happens when the attacker is already Disrupted, it will be reduced.

The game has really easy rules, a good combat system that evokes the bloody hand to hand combat that would have characterized these vicious battles, and the Cornfields. I love the Cornfields! Have you ever been in a cornfield? With 6′ tall stalks of corn, that would have been dry and brown by the time of this battle. They would have disguised movement, caused great fear and panic among the US Militia when the war whoops would have come screaming through the rows from all directions. There would have been suffocating smoke from the musket volleys. It would have been chaotic, and in battle, chaos leads to death! I can actually feel the fear that they would have felt and any game that can make me feel that way, is a good one!

Here is a link to our video review:

If you are interested in Kekionga!: A Dark and Bloody Battleground, 1790, you can order a copy for $15.95 from the High Flying Dice Games website at the following link: http://www.hfdgames.com/dabb.html

You can catch up on the posts in this series to date at the following links:

A Spotter in a Smokestack – Saipan: The Bloody Rock

2 Bridges Blowing – Holland ’44: Operation Market Garden

3 Blockade Runners Running – Kaiserkrieg! The Great War 1914-1918

4 Moudjahidate Defending – The Red Burnoose: Algeria 1857

5 Sherman Tanks – Sherman Leader: The World War II Ground Combat Solitaire Strategy Game

-Grant