"The Battle of Fort Louis", July 20th 1758, 28mm FIW Skirmish Game.

7 Rejects gathered for a French Indian War skirmish game a few weeks ago, myself, Lee and John randomly picked the British through scrunched up pieces of paper, myself and John were horrified that we had drawn Lee"Offends Dice Gods" Hadley but what can you do?

We tried bribery but Postie wanted too much, something about firstborn?

"Fresh from their victory twelve days ago at the Battle of Ticonderoga the French have sent a small force across Lake Champlain with the intent of building another Fort directly opposite Fort Carillon. This new structure will be called Fort Louis and will be another blow to British morale and prestige. The British commander in the area, Major General Abercromby, has dispatched a small force to try and disrupt the French plans. 

The French start the game busily building Fort Louis, some troops are on patrol, some resting, others being trained in fighting skills. The mood in camp is quite relaxed as no trouble is expected. Meanwhile the British start the game moving towards the French position but no French troops have been sighted yet."

Kind words and introduction above written by the Dark Lord himself........Postie!

Order of Battle
French Forces - CO Surjit, 2iC Smiffy
  Leader Major - 1
  Guyenne Line (Muskets) - 18
  Compagnies Franches de la Marine (Muskets) - 12
  Quebec Militia (Muskets) - 10
  Indian Warband (9 Muskets + 1 Rifle) - 10
  Indian Warband (Bow/Hatchet) - 10
  Pioneers (Improvised Weapons)- 6
  Character (Rifle) - 1
  Camp Followers - 4

British Forces - CO John, 2iC Fran, 3iC Lee
  Leader Colonel (Mounted) - 1
  60th Line (Muskets) - 20
  80th Gages Light Infantry (Muskets) - 20
  55th Line Marksmen (Rifles) - 6
  Rodgers Rangers (Muskets) - 10
  Gorhams Rangers (Muskets) -10
  Militia (Rifles/Muskets) - 12
  Characters/Indians (Rifles) - 2

The French consider the wood for the trees.........

Seriously over the top with the trees Postie.........

I started at the table edge with militia and rangers......

John had the regulars or don't go in to the woods infantry........

The French Indian allies gather.....for football.............

Construction on Fort Louis stops when word of the British reaches the camp.......

Supplies or a handy escape route..........

The felt is also considered forest or something to snag on your clothing..........

Smithy, the Indian leader or also known as "Runs with Scissors"...........

The advance starts as we run towards the woods..........

But the French wait, this figure is considered hidden unless he fires.........

John is still upset with Lee being on our side..........

The British advance with still no sign of the French..........

Lee hides his forces in the woods.......

The French start sniping and the first British casualties occur......

The French would and then move back in to the trees where they could not be targeted.......

Regular French forces are dispatched from Fort Carillion........

My boys have entered the woods to smoke out the French.......

We are getting nearer and nearer to the sneaky French.......

My Rangers break cover to draw French fire, you had to spend a turn reloading or they would have to retreat further in to the woods....

The regulars continue across the lake, the French had to dice each turn to see if there was a mishap on the lake........

Lee waits in the woods for the right moment..........

Just on a side note, the wall of fame was updated...........

My advance gives Lee a chance to........

.....and he's off........

Lee would have limited success as some dice rolls for morale went a little sideways.......

Giving them a volley..........

An aerial view of the fighting..........

A mishap on the lake........

John enters the woods in a desperate, some would say (Lee) foolish gamble to engage the Indians........

Surjit has a good run of dice and likes to show his unsporting joy...........

Contractual Postie shot but John is nervous..........

The casualties mount on both sides.........

Who ate all the Viennese cakes, 2 boxes of them......... 

This was John firing approx 19 shots at the Indian leader, needing a D20 in all fairness......

No success at all, Smithy seems happy...........

Ray had turned up and joined in with the mocking laughter.......

This would lead to some close combat and melee with the Indians, don't get in to melee with Indians for future reference.......

We would get victory points if we could stop the construction......

The casualties are still mounting........

The face of evil and cake scoffing..........

The winners and Lee ..........

The game was called and went on victory points, about 15 leaders (captains, lieutenants and colonels) had died, unit and army morale checks and in the end it came down to 12 points (3 Indian casualties), luck swung back and forth and don't engage Indians in the woods with regular forces, a very close game but a good game to spend in the heat that day.........

French Indian War 28mm Skirmish Game- Colonial POV

...or bad day at Blackrock!

Myself and Ray had a skirmish game last Monday after SELWG 2012, it was put on by Postie and was a skirmish raid by Indians on a small town of colonial settlers during the French Indian Wars, this was 1:1 figure skirmish with 20 Indians and 24 settlers present (only 12 settlers were armed).

To see who got initiative first we had to have a duel????............

The story featured our characters, mine been retired Colonel Francis "Bulldog" Lee and Ray's lowlife character Askook!

The duel start.......

The initial set up of the town of Blackrock......

10 paces, turn and fire (roll a D10) and I suffer a mortal wound and would die the next day......fecking hell!

A rifle shot rings out and brings the always ready settlers to their doors and armed, the Mitchell family search for the cause of the shot....

The local pastor holding a wedding ceremony in the old colonial militia blockhouse....

Devious shite Postie contractual shot......

The Webb family stream of out their home to investigate further.....

The initial plan for the settlers is to head to the blockhouse for safety especially women and children, I believed this was the best option with armed men covering.....

The first band of Indians emerge, the rules gave them better chances of killing on the dice and the chance of double moves but reloading would take a turn, the settlers found it harder to hit and had no double move...... 

The second band using their double move to run towards the town........

Ray's character can be seen brandishing his musket (the big bleeding show off)......

A devastating volley left a member of the Webb family mortally stricken but there was no time to recover the body( Ray later scalped him).....

The race towards the blockhouse continues as women and children are covered by men at the crossroads.....

Ray (Askook the backstabber) and his band attempt to steal the wagon but two braves pay the price......

I step into the fray myself and give a brave both barrels....

"Keep running, leave the livestock".....

The long road and race to safety, 5 settlers had died by this stage......

Askook (Ray) enjoying his arson!

Some settlers have reached the safety of the blockhouse but there is still danger.....

A Mitchell lies dead and scalped........

...but an Indian pays the price......

Most of the civilians have reached the blockhouse but only 4 armed settlers remain but the Indians have stopped their raid and head back towards the woods licking their wounds......

The points were tallied up by Postie, the settlers got points for killing Indians (10 killed) and Indians got points for killing settlers (10, my character survived, I nearly got Ray at one point but he pulled one of his braves in front of him and they took the round), scalping, setting fires, how much supplies they captured etc......

.......and in the end the settlers won by 40 points to 38 (since then there have been several attempts to change the score in favour of the Indians but a win is a win regardless of Indian player shenanigans), the game was good and a few points were raised and sorted, I believe I played the game like somebody who would protect the womenfolk and children but I also believe that the people of this time were a hardy bunch and most women would have been armed or at the very least known how to use muskets. Maybe this could be covered by the picking up of weapons from casualties......a victory out of a tough and good game though!