French Indian War Campaign Relay - Game 2 Report

Game 2 of the French Indian War campaign has a defending British force mainly made up of militia commanded Johnson defending Fort Willian-Henry which is situated next to Lake George. An attacking French force of regular infantry commanded by Rigaud approaches.

This game is part of a campaign relay and collaboration with Jonathan of Palouse Wargaming Journal who runs the campaign and came up with the concept. The game setup is described in my previous post.

British Orders of Battle
Commander: Johnson, (A0D1)
6 Militia Units (representing 2 Militia Regiments from the campaign)
3 Ranger Units (representing 1 Ranger regiment from the campaign)
1 Artillery piece which must remain within the fort.
Army Resolve = 10 (9 units plus 1 for Johnson's defensive quality of D1)

French Orders of Battle
Commander: Rigaud (A0D1)
6 Regular Units (representing 2 Regular Regiments from the campaign)
Army Resolve = 10 (9 units plus 1 for Johnson's defensive quality of D1)

On to the game report...

Start of the game

Turn 1 - The main body of French start to move forward towards the fort and militia. Trying to stay clear of the Ranger units deployed in the hills.

Turn 1 - Ranger unit starts to move in to harass the advancing French.

Turn 3 - Being out of musket range the Ranger units move out into the open to get into range.

Turn 4 - As the advance progresses musket fire is exchanged and the French looking rather hemmed in against the river. The British commander seems to have taken the initiative in the battle.

Turn 5 - The experienced French units musket fire began to tell on the militia units outside the fort and they began to retire.

Turn 6 - The Rangers were proving to be remarkably annoying and were drawing the attention of  French units away from the fort. As a consequence French lines were becoming fragmented.

Turn 7 - The militia shooting had been effective early on, but they began to falter and were eliminated as the musket fire intensified.

Turn 8 - Ranger units in the open were starting to suffer from controlled volleys of musket fire from French Regulars. However, they had done an effective job of disruption and slowing the French advance. The French commander was having to carefully positioning himself so all adjacent units would benefit from an increase in their unit resolve. This meant holding up the advance.

Turn 9 - Finally the assault on Fort William-Henry itself begins. The French Grenadiers were left behind to mop up or see off any remaining Ranger units.

Turn 10 - Shaken militia retire behind the fort to avoid being eliminated and further impacting the British army resolve.

Turn 11 - The last of British Ranger units are eliminated or forced to retire.

Turn 12 - French attacks on the fort are now in full swing and soon to be assisted by their Grenadiers who are rushing up in support after eliminating the Ranger threat.

Turn 13 - Some of the French units worn down by hits while advancing upon the fort are eliminated. At this point French army resolve had almost been reduced by half, but their opponent's army resolve was soon to be teetering on the edge.

Turn 14, 15, 16 and 17 - With the support of the late arriving grenadiers the fort is stormed and with the loss of those defending units British army resolve fails and Fort William-Henry surrenders.

So a French victory with a smaller experienced force overcoming the larger British militia force who surrender the fort. All regiments involved in the battle were depleted, but not destroyed from a campaign point of view.