F&I War "Battle on Snowshoes"

Battle on Snowshoes, March 13th 1758. Colonel Rogers led his Rangers forward to ambush Indian scouting parties. The Indians fell back pursued closely by the Rangers. The Rangers then found that as the Indians fell back further they had lured the Rangers into a superior force of French. Heavily outnumbered, the Rangers made a stand on a wooded hill.

Initially the French tried to outflank the Rangers with the Indians but the Rangers quickly moved to intercept the Indians.

A furious exchange of fire then took place between the French Militia and Indians and the Rangers. Colonel Langy began to advance with the French Regulars to keep the pressure on the Rangers.

The French Militia and Indians took heavy losses but inflicted some casualties on the Rangers in return. Colonel Langy lead his Regulars into the centre of the Ranger line to try to break through.

Langy was shot down as the Regulars attempted to close and the remaining French attackers either fled or were killed.

Colonel Rogers and the remaining Rangers were then able to retire and make their escape.

British victory over the French in 9 turns. British losses 5/10 Rangers. French losses Colonel Langy, 4/12 Regulars, 5/10 Militia and 8/10 Indians. Another historical outcome, in reality the Rangers held on until nightfall and withdrew after heavy losses on both sides.

F&I War "Lake George"

The second game was set on Lake George, September 8th 1755. The British established a fortified camp near Crown Point on Lake George commanded by Colonel Johnson. They then sent out a detachment under Captain Williams to try to locate the French and their Indian allies. Unfortunately, this detachment was ambushed by the French under Colonel Dieskau (I see a pattern emerging here!) who had anticipated the British advance.

The French ambush opens fire with relatively little effect.

The British start to fall back and begin to take casualties.

The British continue to fall back but take heavy casualties including Captain Williams. The French Iroquois swarm around the retreating column.

The last few survivors of the scouting party flee into the forest while the French Regulars move forward to storm the fortified camp. If the British can hold on they could still defend the camp but morale is falling rapidly.

In a desperate attempt to save the day Colonel Johnson rides out to try to rally the survivors of the scouting force but is cut down by the Iroquois. The remaining British break and flee on seeing their commander fall!

French victory over the British in 10 turns. British losses amounted to Colonel Johnson, Captain Williams and 8/18 British Militia, 4/4 British Huron Indian allies and 0/2 British artillery. Remarkably the French suffered no losses at all. In reality after an initial setback Johnson managed to rally enough men to defend the camp and drive the French off. One interesting rule in this scenario is that the Indians on either side will not shoot at or attack each other!

F&I War "Fort Duquense"

A couple of years ago at Salute I picked up a copy of the 'Hold the Line!' AWI board game and the accompanying French and Indian wars supplement. In general I'm not a fan of board games (or computer games come to that) much preferring to play with figures but this game is quick to set up and play.

I intended to play all the scenarios and actually did play three, the first of which was Fort Duquesne, July 17th 1755. The French ambush a British army attempting to attack Fort Duquesne.

The ambush is sprung! Indians swarm around the surprised and confused British column.

The British continue to take heavy casualties! Most of the head of the column has been killed or wounded.

The British survivors fall back to the supporting Americans under Colonel Washington. The French have taken some casualties among their Indian allies.

Commandant de Beaujeu leads the French regulars forward to finish off the survivors of the ambush.

Mon Dieu! Shot down at the moment of victory Commandant de Beaujeu falls as the British and Americans break and scatter under attack from the French regulars.

French victory over the British in 13 turns. British losses 20/27, American 6/9. French losses 6/14 Indian allies, 4/10 French plus Commandant de Beaujeu killed. An historical outcome apart from the British commander, Braddock, managing to survive the battle in the first game!