K Company for Yellow Ribbon

 

Here is Lieutenant Edward Godfrey and K  Company 7th Cavalry.  They are intended for Yellow Ribbon.  

Above, you see them mounted.  Below they are dismounted.

 

Set tactics required a skirmish line spaced about 5 yards apart to minimise incoming damage.  The troopers would then volley or fire at will.  Mostly it worked.  

Mounted charges were mainly reserved for when the Indians were caught napping.  Fighting with mounted troopers against Indians who were ready rarely paid dividends.

Dismounted troops need horse holders.

Otherwise the Indians will run off with the horses.  Even with horse holders they might do so.  Your first decision personating Godfrey is who your horse holders should be. Use picked men with proven skills and you weaken the skirmish line.  Use ordinary troopers and the Indians might best them and take your horses.  Yellow Ribbon demands lots of decisions.  Constantly.

What can we say about K Company?  Yellow Ribbon requires you to rate your cavalry units.  The various skill levels do impact on the game.  Let us rate K Company.

K Company	US 7th Cavalry	Lieutenant Edward Godfrey
Movement Foot	Dismounted Cavalry
Movement Mounted	Average
Exhaustion Foot	10
Exhaustion Mounted	9
Field Craft	Average
Close Combat	Average
Marksmanship	Average
Weapon	.45, Sharps Carbine
Ammunition	() () () () () () () () () () () ()
Morale	14

 

 Not a bad outfit.  Average was pretty good for the cavalry in those days.  Godfrey is assisted by three non commissioned officers, First Sergeant, Sergeant, and Corporal.  Godfrey was a little deaf.  There must have been a more than average amount of shouting in K Company.

There are also two troopers who count as picked men.  These might be the Bugler and the Guidon-but need not be.

The rest are ordinary troopers.  As was usual in the US Cavalry of the day there were many Germans and Irish and some other newly arrived fellows.  The temptation to do the "Grand Bounce" was high.  Custer exerted an influence on that.  Once he took over desertion sky rocketed.

We have glimpses of Godfrey the man in the accounts that survive. Amidst the massacre at Washita he lamented the fact that he was ordered to destroy a particularly fine example of a decorated buckskin Cheyenne Wedding Dress.  Betimes he mentioned it for the rest of his days. This was noted and so I relay it to you.  It bespeaks of a man not entirely comfortable with what he was doing.

Godfrey and K Company survived the Little Big Horn.  Lt. Godfrey went on to become General Godfrey.

There is also a train of two mules with a Packer.  This is where the extra ammunition is carried.  

Godfrey might need it so the Mules are important.

Should any of K Company be seriously wounded Godfrey needs to detail men to get them to safety.  Failure to do so will cause K Company’s Morale to collapse.  Everyone knows what happens to those left behind.  Those detailed cannot help the fight.

Lieutenant Edward Godfrey has a lot to get right.  He has to find the Indians, fight them, keep hold of his horses and pack train, not exhaust his men, minimise casualties and succour the wounded.

The figures you see, except the Peter Pig wounded, are the original castings of the dedicated range made to support Yellow Ribbon.  They are still available from QRF.  I recall Geoff and Chas re-did the moulds so todays castings may well be sharper.  You can get a pdf of Yellow Ribbon from QRF too. 

Back in the day Geoff and Chas intended to do a reprint illustrated with painted figures from the QRF Range.  That would have been nice.  Doubtless other business priorities precluded it.  A sound idea all the same.

Yellow Ribbon

 

I recently re-read ARCHAEOLOGY, HISTORY and CUSTER'S LAST BATTLE by Richard Allan Fox, Jnr.  The definitive work that cut through a century of wishful thinking,  self -serving nonsense and plain just getting it wrong.  Very good you say, and?

I have a hard copy of Greg Novak's Yellow Ribbon rules for the Plains Wars.   Amongst aficionados of the period Yellow Ribbon claims the Laurels.

I also have a box full of 15mm figures.  Last opened circa The Men Who would Be Kings.  I opened the box.  I had thought I was going to need horses for the horse holders.  Not so, I had already bought them but not painted them.  Grand.

Yellow Ribbon requires 16 figures per Company of cavalry.  Mounted and dismounted.  This I had.  I had more but not enough for a second company.  I also have Crow Scouts and some infantry.  There are some pack mules some where and figures suitable for Packers. One packer for 2 Mules, two Mules per Company.

I will do a second Company.  I also need some wounded cavalry figures.  They are an important feature of the game.

As for the Plains People I have loads of warriors.  Yellow Ribbon requires bands of 12 to 18 figures.  Mounted and dismounted.  These I have in great store.  I need more Indian women, children and elderly-dismounted only.

I could go more Tepees too.  Irregular again I think.  It is the cost effective option.

First though I need to make a QRS for Yellow Ribbon.  No small task.  The original is in small text, produced on machines that have long been obsolete, the pagination has gone wrong and the information could have been ordered better.  No matter, this is one of the Great Games.  Superbly conceived and covering all aspects of the War on the Plains.  In Yellow Ribbon Indians behave as Indians and the Cavalry need to take care.

Should you fancy doing the Plains Wars 10mm has much to recommend it.  Mine are 15mm. My point is the more space on the table the better.  

The West was vast and empty. Until it wasn't empty.  Hoka Hey!

In my next Yellow Ribbon post I will show you my first 7th Cavalry Company.  That means 16 cavalry mounted, 12 cavalry horses, and 13 dismounted cavalry.  Three troopers remain mounted as horse holders. Also two Pack Mules and a Packer to lead them.  That is the basic USA unit for Yellow Ribbon.  Mine represents Company K 7th Cavalry led by Lieutenant Edward Godfrey.

Some judicious additions have been ordered. They include a pony herd, a USA Wagon, additional troopers and Indian non combatants.

Above we see one of my Indian bands.  They are organised into Warrior Societies.  We will meet each of them as we go.

If you are new to the Plains Wars you might be asking What is so special about Yellow Ribbon?  The answer is simple.  The Indians behave like Indians did in the Plains Wars.

Do ride along with me as we head into the West.