Wednesday, 6 June 2018

French Indian War - Game 14

Game 14 has French commander Rigaud spring an ambush on a regiment of British Regulars as they march through mountains near Oswegatchie. The game setup is described in the previous post and the campaign lead up moves on Palouse Wargaming Journal. Where Jonathan makes all the solo campaign moves and the results from my solo tabletop battles are fed back into the campaign.

British light infantry encounter a blocking force of French Regulars.
Light Infantry from both sides exchange musket fire. While the main British column advances.
The French Militia spring the ambush on the unsuspecting British units.
The British column begins to organise itself and engages blocking French units.
The flanking French Militia are spotted by the British and they realise their dire predicament as their escape route is threatened.  
The British reorganise pulling their light infantry back to hold open their path of escape.
French Regulars start to push forward to pressure the British as they struggle to defend both their front and flank.
Militia firing volleys at the British flank units.
The light infantry prepare to defend against advancing Militia.
Militia cross the river under fire from light infantry positioned in the woods.
While sustaining losses the French Regulars advance.
Both sides are losing units as British units retire.
Light infantry hold off the Militia.
The retreating British units are delayed by the Militia. 
The French close in.
The British resolve ends after losing their second unit. 
At this point I would have normally ended the game and declared a French victory, but this is an ambush and an ambushing force would press ahead with their advantage and attempt to completely rout the surprised force. So I opted to carry on playing the game and see if the British could extricate their remaining forces or be completely decimated.

British units fail to dislodge the blocking Militia and lose another unit.
Another British unit is lost before their Light Infantry are able to flee the ambush.
So a decisive French victory with the British regiment decimated, but at a cost. Their Militia regiment was severely mauled.

8 comments:

  1. Can't believe you are game 14 already, the too and fro of good / bad fortune has really kept the campaign on the boil.

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    1. Fourteen battles thus far makes for a sizable campaign!

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    2. I did a quick check to see when the campaign was started, which was late February. So the rate of games is a tad under one per week. For the most part these games have been balanced which has helped to the too and fro nature of the campaign.

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  2. Peter! This was a very entertaining scrap! Excellent BatRep and your account riveting. Even though the British escaped, now that the French are deep in the woods, how will they fair during the upcoming attrition phase?

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    1. The French Regulars suffered few casualties, but their Militia lost 3 out of 4 units in the game, the same as the British, and would be at risk this coming winter.

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  3. Peter- You are certainly setting a good pace with your Campaign Battles- this one is very interesting - a costly ambush by the French...how are the British Forces bearing up overall in the Campaign? A synopsis of affairs would make for interesting reading. Regards. KEV.

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    1. KEV. Sounds like a good idea for a post. Thanks Peter

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  4. Looks like a great little game - nice to see smaller sized units and scenarios rather than the usual table groaning under the weight of metal!

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