French Indian War - Game 12

Game 12 has French Commander Drucour defending Fort Oswego with one regiment of regulars, who are being treated as veterans due to Drucours defensive capabilities. He is facing Commander Amherst with one regiment of regulars and two militia regiments. Due to Amherst's attacking qualities the regulars are treated as veterans and the militia as regulars. (see previous post which discusses the commander capabilities)

The campaign date is May 1758 and the operational progress can be found here on Jonathan's Palouse Wargaming Journal.

While at 3:1 odds advantage is definitely with the British. Providing they are not careless or unlucky with the dice.

The British line advance quickly to be within range to avoid accumulating unnecessary hits from the fort artillery.

The British first line closes and engages the French units manning the fort walls

The British plan was quite simple. Advance quickly and use the Militia to wear down the French garrison, before the regulars assault the fort. As Militia units start to accumulate hits they are withdrawn to avoid unit losses and any reduction in the army resolve. (Army resolve is equal to the number of units plus one. On the loss of each unit a D3 dice is rolled and the score subtracted from the army resolve. Once an army's resolve is reduced to zero the game is lost for them.)

Militia units are withdrawn from the line as hits are accumulated. There is a risk to the British that they fail  a movement test and take another volley which eliminates the unit. Timing and luck are important. 

The Militia are doing their job and the fort walls are soon replenished with fresh units. The British  regulars are taking quite a pounding and are forced to push a unit forward to the walls, thus forcing the French to redirect their volleys against the closest enemy unit. 

Finally the French succumbed to the British assault and sue for terms of surrender, which are accepted.

This game was the first time incorporating the commanders capabilities into the tabletop game using a similar approach to the campaign game. Overall It seems to work well. Without being able to upgrade all his units British commander Amherst would have faced a greater challenge.

From a campaign perspective neither side had any units totally destroyed, but another British victory is only putting them in a stronger position.