The Battle Of Puketutu (Maori Wars)

After a prolonged absence, our stalwart reporter headed to the frontier-land that was North Island New Zealand in the 1840s. With Phil acting as a “dutiful husband” and staying in Hitchin, myself and Tony, played a scenario supplied by Dave, which I think comes from an old copy Wargames Illustrated. Set during 1845, it sees the British and their Maori allies starting to push inland and take on the dominant Maori chiefs Hone Heke and his ally Kawiti. The scenario didn’t supply forces, so I went with those from a Lard Magazine, but used the table layout from the WI article.

My initial reaction was that the terrain was too open and so it proved. Tony chose the British and I took the Maoris. The Maori dispositions saw some troops deployed in the scrub on one end of the table,

 
with others in the Pa.

It was a short game. Tony quickly moved up his Maori allies and Volunteers, with the latter able to operate in open order. They closed with one Maori unit and blew it away with close-range musket fire, plus judicious use of flags to take a second firing action. They then continued to advance on the second 6-figure skirmish unit who were soon running. Maori morale started to plummet. The Maoris tried to fire on the massed British regulars from a thicket in the centre of the table. They killed several Redcoats and inflicted shock, but the 24 regulars simply turned, presented and shot at close range, killing three including the leader. Maori morale dropped dangerously low. With half his force destroyed or fleeing Hone Heke decided that discretion was the better part of valour and he slipped away from the Pa with his remaining followers leaving the British victorious.

After the game we realised that we hadn’t used some Maori “advantages”, such as cover being one level higher for skirmishers. This might have helped a little, but Tony did roll a lot of 6s! I also noted that a force comprised completely of skirmishers does need very careful thought and handling, something I failed to do! Finally, the terrain does need to be denser, a factor I had suspected before the game.

Simon