French Indian War Campaign - Game 1

With my French Indian War campaign map and some basic rules for linking a few games together it was time to start. There were a number of opening map moves, where each side took turns to move one of their forces at a time.

The campaign map - the British objective is to take the town 

French forces all start located in their fortified area. The British line up ready to  enter on one of the two roads in the bottom left-hand corner of the map

Initial moves have the British entry and French pushing forward on the south of the river

Contact as British forces meet French forces - the first game now needs to be played. 

For my games I am using some home grown rules which required a quick re-read to refresh my memory, having not played them for quite a few weeks. There is a link top of the page for those interested.

The first step was selecting the forces to be used. For this game both sides selected 12 units which were whittled down to 8 using playing cards.

British force after selection using playing cards (see previous post on approach)

French force

The second step was to set up terrain on the tabletop. I first laid out the roads using the campaign map as to guide what roads are required and the type of terrain required. In this case: 4 woods, 3 hills, and 2 rough terrain features. Each feature taking up 2 squares on my gridded tabletop. The terrain is randomly placed based upon the roll of the dice.

Terrain laid out and units placed ready for a game

Step three was positioning of units. Both sides roll to see who goes first. Units may only be placed in the first two rows on their base side and not in either two squares on the flanks. The losing side has to place 50 percent of more of their  units on the second row from the base side. Once done the winning player does the same on their side. Then the losing player places all remaining units on the row on the base side. Finally the winning player places their remaining units in the same manner.

Note: the purpose behind not placing units on the flank squares of my 6x4 foot table when setting up is to allow sides to make flanking moves.

Opening Moves

Everything is now ready for the game with the player who lost the placement roll getting to move first.

In the game's opening moves the French quickly took up position with their artillery piece on a hill to cover their right flank. The British moved around to attack the French left flank while the French moved forward and held their lines.

The lines close

The British flank attack was progressing well and the French left flank was under serious threat of failing.

Musket fire ripples down the lines

After securing the flank - British prepare to storm the hill

The British successfully stormed the hill beside the road but at a price. They lost their commander and the surviving units were all close to exhaustion. The French made a last counterattack which came close to reversing their fortunes, but with no success they had no option but to retire from the battlefield.

The French counter attack to hold their line

Game 1 over and a marginal victory to the British as they open the campaign.