At the end of the British afternoon phase, I reduce *all* units’ – both friendly and foe – disruption by one step. It’s a simple way to ensure disrupted units are at the disrupted state once during the opponent’s action segment. There is no rolling for leaders to bring them back – in this game they will self-heal.
At night, all movement is halved. Although it was tempting to create some sort of “getting lost” mechanism, I decided against it. There are enough rules already.
The British regulars and provincials’ combat factors are also halved. What I haven’t still implemented is a first day French combat bonus – it’s a rare missing feature. Mostly I concentrate on removing and streamlining the features. So, the night might provide an opportunity for the French to attack a stack or two.
As the French army is still outnumbered 3:1, they stay quietly in their breastworks and try to beef them up as much as possible. The line will be bypassed, so it might not even face a determined British attack. That we will see in the morning. Only small adjustments are made by moving some more men to both ends of the line.
A bigger boost was gained by the reinforcements arriving during the night, numbering a staggering 1700 men (half of the historical French army at Carillon). It is quite apparent this scenario is very different from what actually happened there in 1758. Who knows what kind of battle would have taken place, had Vaudreuil approved Montcalm’s request to concentrate the army in one place.
The French blocked the British from exploiting a gap on their left by landing some of the reinforcements at the foot of the Montagne de Serpents de Sonettes (Rattlesnake Mountain).
1000 of the reinforcements were taken as far as they could travel at night. Arriving by boat, they could first move up to the waterfalls on La Chute River from where they continued along the rudimentary Portage road. This is a significant force and might ultimately prevent the British from making any significant gains in the area. These units now protect the tip of Lake George, where some French artillery and the pontoon bridge are located.
1000 Canadian reinforcements arrived at night to become the main reserve for the French. From their location, they can move to intercept any incursions into the French rear.
In the morning we’ll see how the British try to deal with this formidable army. In any case, forcing it will be an expensive effort and heavy casualties are something that will hit the morale of the army.
The British army decided to move a lot of the troops that had landed on the western shore across the lake to the eastern side. Some guns and mortars were slowly hauled uphill to support the upcoming assault.
The British army prepares its positions during the night. 7th of July will be a big day.
Some small action ended up with light casualties: 2 SP for the British and the French lost a Grenadier company as they didn’t voluntarily yield to the force of 1000 Massachusetts light infantry…
In the next post, I’ll take a brief look at the Maintenance Phase before we get down to business.
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