Monday 19 March 2018

French Indian War Campaign - Game 5

The 5th campaign game was going to be a smaller game than previous. The background for the attack on Fort Stanwix can be found on Jonathan's Palouse Wargaming Journal.

Attack on Fort Stanwix
The orders of battle. Each campaign regiment (in brackets) is represented on the tabletop by 3 units.

British
No named commander
3 (1) Regulars
1 Artillery based in the fort
Army resolve = 3

French
Commander Drucour (A0D1)
3 (1) Regulars
3 (1) Militia
Army resolve = 7

The British forces were all deployed in Fort. The French deployed south of the fort with the intent of conducting a straight forward assault on the fort with all units.



The game was setup on a 4x4 foot space with the Mohawk River on the East flank and woods and a hill on the West flank.

Table setup with British defenders waiting in the fort 
French forces turn up ready for the assault
British defenders open fire as French units come into range
Casualties mount on the attackers as the close. The rules halve the range of weapons when attacking units in fortifications. While those units in the fort can re-roll shooting rolls, but must accept their second score.
A milita unit is eliminated. A roll of 3 against their army resolve reminds the attackers the need to push ahead.
A French unit scales the walls after the defending artillery unit is eliminated. British roll a 2 against their meager army resolve of 3. 
British units counterattack and eliminate the French unit - gaining control of the fort again.  The French  resolve is weakening.
A second French unit scales the walls and the British surrender.
Another victory for the French and an important political victory in terms of the campaign. This was quite a fun little game, but has raised a question for me about army resolve when defending a fort. I am now thinking the rules should allow a defending force to increase their army resolve by 2.

12 comments:

  1. Looks terrific! Forts seem to be taken more times than not. Your suggested change may help correct that result.

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    1. Thank you. The defending forces do not seem to benefit sufficiently from the fort and the resolve rule change will hopefully address this.

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    2. Peter, one thing I notice is that you count all troop grades the same towards Army Resolve. That is, a unit of militia contributes the same points to Army Resolve as does a unit of Regulars. A force of Regulars ought to exhibit more staying power than a force composed of militia, I think.

      Perhaps consider making Army Resolve a function of troop quality with Militia/Natives/Rangers contributing one point per base, Irregulars contributing two points per base, and Regulars contributing three points per base? Bases in forts have their point value increased to the next troop value such that militia in a fort fights as Irregular and Irregulars fight as Regulars. Regulars in a fort would fight as a regiment of Grenadiers (say, four points per base).

      This increase in overall Army Resolve also might lead to regiments being eliminated in battle before Army Resolve breaks.

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    3. I currently allow militia to double the hits accumulated before elimination, but have underdone the regulars. A mistake I need to rectify. The army resolve factoring in a unit's quality would also need to take that quality in to consideration when they are eliminated. I tried to avoid that complication in my rules, but may need to consider it.
      Thank you for the ideas.

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  2. Agree, over a number of battles I was feeling that the forts fell rather easy.... perhaps they did!

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    1. All being well the change to the rules will help redress the balance. Although I am not sure historically how difficult these forts were to attack.

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  3. Peter- Once again the Fort has fallen - perhaps some negative factor could be applied to the Attackers when attempting to 'scale' the Fort walls...just an idea. Cheers. KEV.

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    1. An option for me to consider. The defence presently are allowed to accumulate more hits before elimination to compensate for being behind defences.

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  4. Brilliant stuff!
    This is such an interesting period. I am really pleased to see a unit-based game. What rules are you using (apologies if you have covered this in one of the earlier posts).

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    1. Thank you kindly. I am using a variation of One Hour Wargames using D3 dice rather than D6 and a few other added rules. There is a link at the top of the page with the rules.

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    2. Thanks Peter. I should have looked around better, sorry!
      A nice, simple set of rules on ‘one page’ is always good.

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    3. Neil Thomas's One Hour Wargaming rules have been a big influence on my approach to rules.

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