Sunday 25 March 2018

French Indian War Campaign - Game 6

Game 6 of the French Indian War campaign has French and British forces fighting over the familiar ground of Fort William-Henry. The campaign moves leading up to this battle can be found on Jonathan's Palouse Wargaming Journal blog.

Order of Battle
The figures in brackets are the campaign regiments which are represented by 3 units on the tabletop.

French Defenders
6 (2) Regulars
1 Artillery piece within the fort
Commanded by Dieskau (A2D2)
Army Resolve = 8

British Attackers
6 (2) Regulars
3 (1) Rangers
3 (1) Militia
Commanded by Monckton (A2D1)
Army Resolve = 13

A quick note on a rule change for this game. Over the last 5 games defending forces have failed to successfully defend their fortifications. Rather than allowing a defending unit the option to re-roll a poor D3 score when shooting. Now units within fortifications add 1 to their score when shooting at unit adjacent to the fortifications.




Battle Plans
For the French the plan is to defend both flanks of the fort. Grenadiers on their right flank aim to hold off any attack from the hills. While on the other flank 2 units or Regulars will hold position adding their fire to those of the fort.

The British plan is to move up their Rangers along the hills and once the French Grenadiers are engaged move their lines up veering towards the French right flank.

As British Rangers move up through the hills French Grenadiers open fire. 
Some Ranger units are delayed, but advance units engage the Grenadiers whose shooting is proving very accurate.
With the French right flank engaged the British line advances.
All Ranger units are engaged trying to put pressure on the Grenadiers. 
The Fort and left flank open fire as the British line move into range.
Grenadier musket fire eliminates a Ranger unit.
The British assault on the fort begins.
Militia units are brought into the line to provide extra musket fire.
Both sides have Regular units eliminated as the assault moves into full swing. The British units were unable to storm the fort due to the number of hits they had accumulated. Forcing them to remain adjacent to their commander and allowed the French to reinforce the walls.
The French Grenadiers finally succumb to musket fire from Rangers and supporting Militia units. While on the other flank Commander Dieskau prudently retires to avoid being eliminated. 
The British right flank retires as they concentrate their efforts on the left corner. Both siders were wary of accumulating any more losses and failing their army resolve.
A final push by the British to get a toe hold in the fort.
Two Brush units are lost and they fail their army resolve, a victory to the defending French.
A French victory and another close game. The French army resolve would not have survived another unit loss. I plan on keeping the rule change for the next game.

12 comments:

  1. Two to one odds was not enough. I wager the Brits will try again. Were any units completely eliminated in this battle or all losses from depleted units only? Good looking game! The French are experiencing a very successful 1756.

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    1. No units were destroyed as both commanders were careful with their troops. The French took a very defensive posture on the tabletop successfully falling back as their hits mounted. Also having just regular units made them a resilient force.

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  2. Another great looking game Peter. Did the rule change affect the outcome of the battle?

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    1. The plus 1 rather than a re-roll option made the defensive musketry more consistent. This certainly did help the French defenders in this game, but I did not think unreasonable so. Poor rolling on the British army resolve had a greater influence in the end.

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  3. Good to see the Fort being successfully defended. Great report.

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    1. I am hoping the rule changes have the right balance for the defenders of fortifications.

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  4. Interesting choice for fortifications to give an offensive bonus rather than a protective one.

    This combination is certainly proving an interesting series of games.

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    1. I am certainly enjoying these campaign games with many thanks to Jonathan for the operational aspects to the campaign.
      The approach to fortifications and to differentiate to just being in cover. Was to allow most troops to gain from cover (by being allowed to accumulate more hits before elimination) but inflict more hits when shooting. Working on the idea that most fortifications are planned to improve fields of fire.

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    2. My pleasure, Peter! Hopefully all of these games are inspiring you to continue development of your rules while providing you an interesting background. We have not seen either a leader loss or capture yet. Is that possible under your rules?

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    3. Leaders are attached to a unit. If that unit is lost then I would roll to see if they escaped injury, wounded and out of action for a while, or killed. I will give this some more thought.

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